Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

maanantai 2. joulukuuta 2019

Abu Dhabi GP: Hamilton underlined his sixth world championship!

For the first time this season, I didn't watch the race live on TV. I went to the cemetary to decorate the little Christmas tree at my son's grave. I also drove to our future home to hang some Christmas lights with my husband. We watched the race together after getting home.

I expected Sebastian to take a strong start on the soft tyres, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Pole-setter Hamilton held strongly on his lead, and Leclerc proved the Ferrari driver, who caught his rivals by surprise. The lightning-quick Monegasque made his way past Red Bull's Verstappen, claiming P2. Bottas, who had started to the race from the back of the grid, made his way up wisely, avoiding any contact in the first corners. By lap 9, the Finnish Mercedes ace had already made his way among the top ten.

Surprisingly, both Ferrari drivers pitted on lap 13 already, in spite of starting to the race on a different tyre. The Red Team made a double pit stop, with Charles pitting first for white-walled hard Pirellis. Unfortunately Sebastian's pit stop didn't go to plan, as the team had difficulties with attaching the rear-left tyre. Sebastian lost valuable seconds, until he was back on track on a fresh set of hard Pirellis as well. His track position left a lot to hope for, as he had re-joined the track behind Bottas, who was stuck behind Renault's Hulkenberg. Sebastian made a couple of bold moves on the Finn, but Valtteri defended his fifth place with ice-cool attitude.

Towards the halfway point of the race, Bottas was the fastest man on track. He was rapidly decreasing the gap to Charles. Meanwhile, Verstappen was called into the pits from P2. The Dutchman switched to the hard compound, aiming for a one-stop strategy. Mercedes reacted to Red Bull's strategy and called race leader Hamilton in. However, the Briton's top spot was so secured, that he re-joined the track in the lead. Charles was second and Verstappen third. Bottas in P4 was the only top six driver, who hadn't pitted yet. The Finn finally pitted on lap 30, also opting for hard Pirellis. He re-joined the track in P6. Red Bull's Albon was 13 seconds ahead of the Finn.

Meanwhile, Verstappen had closed the gap to Charles, and the aggressive Red Bull ace was putting immense pressure on the Monegasque. And when Max puts pressure on somebody, it usually leads to an overtaking move! This case was no exception. Max attacked Charles, stubbornly robbing him of the second place. Charles tried to take his place back at the next straight, but there was no way Max was going to let his position be taken back. This is what I really admire about Max Verstappen; he doesn't wait for chances to come to him, but he takes chances into his own hands! He is a driver, who doesn't hesitate to make things happen on track.

Bottas was also on flames. He was two seconds faster per lap than any of his rivals! Valtteri clocked an outstanding new track record, constantly decreasing the gap to Albon. The Thai driver was only three seconds ahead of the Finn. Meanwhile, Ferrari were unable to make a one-stopper work. Lap 39 saw another double stop for the Ferrari teammates. Charles switched to the red-walled soft compound, whilst Sebastian opted for the medium rubber. Charles re-joined the track just barely ahead of Albon and Bottas. Sebastian, on the other hand, dropped down to P6. It was eye-catching, how tame the Ferrari duo's pace was. But Bottas continued his impressive performance. He made a classy overtaking move on Albon, claiming P4. Next target was set, and it was Charles in his SF90.

Hamilton had an absolutely dominant lead in the race. The gap to Verstappen had increased into almost 15 seconds. The most interesting battles were between Bottas and Charles for P3 and between Sebastian and Albon for P5. Because of Ferrari's toothless performance it made my day to see Sebastian overtake Albon for P5 on the second last lap! Bottas made it in the striking distance from Charles, but the laps simply ran out.

Hamilton left absolutely no questions about his masterclass performance. He was truly in a class of his own; the dominant victory at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP definitely underlined his sixth world championship. A revealing statistic detail tells, that the Briton is the only driver to score points in every race of the 2019 season. Verstappen finished second, and Charles completed the podium. Initially there was a threat, that Charles was to be excluded from the results due to a fuel infringement, but no such penalty was given in the end. Bottas made a spectacular job by making his way from P20 to P4. Sebastian finished the race fifth, leaving Albon sixth. Racing Point's Perez was the "best of the rest", finishing 7th.

Due to Ferrari's missing pace, Verstappen finished third in the drivers' championship standings, leaving Charles fourth and Sebastian fifth. I'm confident, that Verstappen will be a serious championship contender next season. He stands so brightly out of the crowd thanks to his amazing driving skills and one-of-a-kind attitude!

So the 2019 season is all wrapped up now. I'm so grateful for this season, although it hasn't brought the success I was hoping for in terms of my favorite red-suited driver. But Formula 1 has brought so much joy and light into my life in this most difficult and hardest year of my life. In my darkest days Formula 1 has represented continuity in my life. Even in the pitch-black moments of despair, there has always been the next race to write about! Thank you Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen for driving in this series! Thank you for being people, whom I can look up to and admire!    

lauantai 30. marraskuuta 2019

Abu Dhabi GP / Qualifying: First pole for Hamilton since Germany!

The 2019 Formula 1 season is inevitably coming to an end. The season finale takes place at breath-taking Yas Marina Circuit. Putting the season-ending F1 weekend aside, this was an utterly unique weekend for Sebastian, whose third child was born on Thursday. Warmest congratulations for Sebastian for a new-born baby boy! In addition to this wonderful family news, Sebastian stood out of the crowd in another way. In the first free practice session he made a mistake, ending up into the wall. Sebastian was very angry at himself, and he enumerated a handful of Finnish swearing words! I can't help wondering, how flawlessly Sebastian pronounces Finnish! I burst into laughs when I heard Sebastian's outburst!

Mercedes have absolutely owned the Yas Marina Circuit since the beginning of the turbo hybrid era. So the odds were definitely on the Silver Arrows' side, in terms of pole position. Hamilton went fastest on his first run, but Red Bull's Verstappen was only a tenth down. Ferrari were also in the mix, as Charles was third fastest. Sebastian made a rookie-like mistake and spun on the start straight, which ruined his first attempt. Luckily the German managed to put together a competitive lap on his second flyer, which made him jump fifth in the charts. However, there was half a second separating the red-suited teammates in favor of Charles. Ferrari showed great performance on the first and second sector, but the third sector with slow corners was very challenging for the Red Team. Meanwhile, Bottas had jumped third. Towards the end of the first session, both Mercedes aces managed to improve their lap times, with the newly crowned world champion having the upper hand. In the midfield it was extremely tight. Kimi was under the threat of being knocked out already in Q1. The Iceman made it 14th on his final run, but as his teammate and a couple of others managed to improve, the Finn was out of Q2 in the end! It was an extremely poor qualifying for Alfa Romeo Racing, as Giovinazzi qualified 17th and Kimi 18th! What a disappointing way to end the season!

Q2 came down to the tyre strategy again. It was a bit surprising to see, that both Ferraris came out on the soft compound. Hamilton, alongside the Red Bull duo and Haas' Magnussen, opted for the yellow-walled medium compound. Once again, Hamilton made it on the top of the time sheets in spite of the tyre choice. Charles was second, only 63 thousandths of a second off the Briton's benchmark, and Sebastian was third. Bottas came out on a fresh set of mediums as well, jumping second. In spite of the Red Team's plan to use the soft compound in Q2, Charles switched to the medium rubber at the end of the session. And what a lap he put together, robbing Hamilton of the top spot. The pecking order of the midfield was quite straight forward today; in addition to the three big teams, both McLaren and both Renault drivers made it among the top ten.

In spite of having clinched the world championship already, Hamilton was hungry to take his fifth pole at Yas Marina. He grabbed provisional pole firmly in his hands, as Verstappen in second was three tenths off the pace already. Bottas was third after his first run, followed by the Ferrari duo of Charles and Sebastian. Albon was sixth, having proved unable to match his teammate's pace. The decisive session saw drama in terms of the Ferrari drivers. They were sent out so late, with all the drivers slowing down massively in the last corner, so Charles missed out on his last flyer! A mistake, that the Red Team couldn't have afforded! Hamilton managed to improve his lap time, as did his teammate. However, a Mercedes front row was only symbolic, as Bottas had been given multiple grid penalties due to using new power unit elements. Due to the Finn's penalty, Verstappen is promoted on the front row. The second row is locked down by the Ferrari duo, with Albon fifth and McLaren's Norris 6th. Renault's Ricciardo, McLaren's Sainz, Renault's Hulkenberg and Racing Point's Perez round out the top ten.

I don't know, whether the volatile situation between the Ferrari teammates due to the crash in Brazil has been successfully cleared out. However, tomorrow's starting grid contains all ingredients for another explosion. Charles in P3 will start to the race on the medium compound, whilst teammate Sebastian will start on the soft rubber, which possibly offers an advantage at the start… I really hope, that the Red Team will end the season on a high! And by the way, I would love to hear Sebastian celebrate his win on the team radio in Finnish! Maybe with some nicer words than those used on Friday! :D Go Sebastian!

maanantai 18. marraskuuta 2019

Brazil GP: Ferrari's worst case scenario led into a surprise podium!

Over the years Brazil GP has produced exciting and action-packed races. So there were all ingredients for a cracker of a race on Sunday. Of all top drivers, Verstappen has failed most often in terms of taking a good start. But this time Max had both his nerves and his Red Bull perfectly under control. He accelerated into the lead with no mistakes. Hamilton took a magnificent start as well, making his way past Sebastian and claiming P2. Sebastian was third, and Bottas managed to maintain his fourth place at the start. Leclerc, who had started to the race from modest P14, had made his way up to P11 by lap 2. Kimi's start to the race was also impressive. Alfa Romeo's race pace proved competitive, and Haas' Grosjean had no chance to defend his 7th place against the ice-cool Finn. However, the Iceman had a threat of his own, as in no time Charles had made it at his tail.

In the midfield there was a fiery fight between Renault's Ricciardo and Haas' Magnussen. Unfortunately it has often proved true, that where there is Magnussen, there's a collision. No exception this time. Magnussen was trying to keep the Australian behind, and a collision took place. Ricciardo's front wing took serious damage, and the Honey Badger had to pit for a new nose cone. The Dane, too had damage to his front wing, and they both dropped down to the very back of the pack. This time it was Ricciardo, who was proven guilty; a few laps later Ricciardo was given a 5-second time penalty for causing the collision.

By lap 20 Charles had jumped to 6th already. He was lurking right behind Red Bull's Albon, hungry to get past. Meanwhile, the pit window was open. Hamilton was the first top driver to pit. The world champion opted for another set of soft Pirellis, and re-joined the track in P6. Race leader Verstappen pitted a lap later, for a similar tyre strategy. Unfortunately, Williams' Kubica was released unsafely right in front of Max, which cost the Red Bull ace some valuable seconds. Due to this incident, Hamilton moved ahead of Max. However, nothing on track proved an obstacle for Max, who was absolutely on flames. He swept past Hamilton in Turn 1; what a fighting spirit Max showed! The lion was unleashed.

Sebastian drove into the pits on lap 26, for a differing tyre strategy. The German switched to the medium compound, so theoretically, a one-stop strategy would be possible. For one lap Bottas was leading the Brazil GP, until he pitted on lap 27. Interestingly, the Finn switched to the hard compound. Valtteri was clearly aiming to make a one-stopper work. Charles, who had started to the race on the medium compound, pitted not until on lap 30. The Monegasque, too, opted for the white-walled hard compound. There haven't been many races this season, where tyre strategies would have been this versatile!

Determined Verstappen was leading the race, with Hamilton second and Sebastian third. This trio was followed by Bottas, Albon and Charles. One-stop strategy proved no option for any driver of the three big teams. Hard tyres didn't offer the performance Mercedes had hoped, and Bottas pitted already after 14-lap stint on the hard Pirellis. Teammate Hamilton pitted a couple of laps later; they both opted for the medium compound. Red Bull had to react and call race leader Verstappen in. Medium Pirellis were also the race leader's choice. Max re-joined the track just barely ahead of Hamilton. Bottas was putting pressure on Charles, whose pace on the hard compound was quite mediocre. Valtteri pushed all power buttons available, but Charles had decided, that overtaking wasn't going to happen. His defending moves were somewhere in "the grey area", and Bottas was stuck behind him.

After Sebastian and Red Bull's Albon had pitted for the second time, Verstappen was back in the lead, with Hamilton following him closely. Sebastian was in P3, hunted by teammate Charles and Mercedes' Bottas. However, at Interlagos Mercedes proved vulnerable after being bullet-proof the whole season this far. On lap 52 there was smoke coming from the rear of Valtteri's W10, and an engine issue was an undeniable fact. Valtteri's Mercedes stopped on track, and safety car was deployed. The deployment of the safety car opened the chance for a strategic game. Verstappen pitted from the lead, whilst Hamilton stayed out. Max, who now had fresh softs on, re-joined the track in P2 behind Hamilton. This anticipated trouble for the six-time world champion!

As the safety car was about to come in, Hamilton slowed down to walking speed, trying to optimize his position at the re-start. But what did Verstappen do at the re-start!? He made an unbelievable move into the outside of Hamilton, squeezing himself past the Briton's Silver Arrow and snatching the lead! Wow, what a crazy move it was! Max definitely owned this race!

The re-start started a series of action-packed events. Albon, who also had fresh soft tyres on, was putting serious pressure on Hamilton. The Briton was suffering from the decision not to pit under the safety car. Sebastian, who had lost his third place to Albon at the re-start, was breathing to the Thai driver's neck. Sebastian dived alongside Albon already, but the Red Bull ace wasn't going to crack under pressure. Albon was so close to achieve his very first podium finish in F1!

Lap 66 took my breath away. Charles forced his way past Sebastian in Turn 1, and it seemed, that the German was truly caught by surprise. Sebastian was gutted for losing the position to his teammate; he moved into the outside of Charles, accelerating past his teammate... But the wheels of their cars touched with dramatic consequences! The contact caused both Ferraris a puncture, and Sebastian's adventurous move swept both red cars out of the race! I was absolutely devastated! And sad! And disappointed! Sebastian's setback-filled first half of the season had turned around only shortly, and now this... I couldn't believe my eyes!

Safety car was deployed for the second time, and Hamilton, too pitted for the second time. The order of the top five was extremely interesting; Verstappen was leading the race, with Red Bull's Albon second and Toro Rosso's Gasly third! Hamilton was fourth, followed by McLaren's Sainz and the Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi and Giovinazzi! Red Bull were on their way to an unbelievable 1-2!

After the re-start there were two boiling hot laps to come. Hamilton swept past Gasly, taking P3 from the Frenchman. Kimi was doing everything he could to pass Sainz, but the Spaniard wasn't going to surrender. Hamilton had so much hunger to get past Albon; so much, that it proved costly for the Briton. Hamilton made a move, which led into contact with superbly performing Albon. The Thai driver spun, and Gasly snatched P2 from the sister team's driver. Hamilton had damage to his front wing, but he continued putting pressure on Gasly until the end.

Verstappen, the unleashed lion, drove to the chequered flag as the celebrated race winner. Unbelievable but true, Gasly won his battle against the six-time world champion and finished the runner-up! Hamilton crossed the finish line in P3, but after the race the Briton was handed a 5-second time penalty for causing the collision with Albon. Hamilton dropped down to P7 in the final results. This promoted Sainz to his very first podium finish! Kimi was remarkable 4th, with teammate Giovinazzi 5th! What a cracker of a race in terms of results!

I definitely would have wanted to be at Ferrari's post-race team meeting! There have been a lot of rumors concerning the tension between the Ferrari teammates, and the Brazil GP made the worst case scenario true! The team have a lot of laundry to do before heading to the season finale in Abu Dhabi!

lauantai 16. marraskuuta 2019

Brazil GP / Qualifying: Flying Verstappen made it on pole!

Towards the end of the week I've felt exhausted. So a thought of me, sofa and Formula 1 felt irresistibly wonderful. I could forget all my worries and concentrate on Sebastian, Max and Kimi driving around the challenging circuit of Interlagos.

From the first moment of Q1 there was no stopping Verstappen, who was absolutely on flames. In spite of traffic on his first flyer, Max made it on top of the standings, with teammate Albon two tenths off Max's benchmark, which was an impressive lap from the Thai driver. Ferrari seemed to be the second team in the pecking order, as Charles was third and Sebastian fourth. Mercedes had more pace to find, as Hamilton was fifth and Bottas sixth after the first flyers. Meanwhile, Sainz in his orange McLaren was hit with technical woes; the Spaniard had to pit due to engine issues, with no lap time set. There were some improvements at the end of the first segment, as Charles made his way to P2 and Bottas to P4 in the charts. Alfa Romeo were very close to the knock-out zone. On his last attempt Kimi was able to move 14th, which guaranteed the Iceman a place in Q2 alongside his teammate Giovinazzi. In addition to unlucky Sainz, Toro Rosso's Kvyat, Racing Point's Perez and the Williams teammates of Russell and Kubica were eliminated from Q2.

As the light at the pit exit turned green, the Mercedes aces headed out on the red-walled soft tyres. Charles was the only driver to go out on the medium rubber. There was an obvious explanation behind Charles' tyre choice; the Monegasque was to serve a 10-place grid penalty due to a change of multiple power unit elements. Charles showed amazing performance on the medium tyre wear, as he went fastest on his first run, leaving Hamilton second and Bottas third. But out of the shadows came Verstappen, who set a dazzling lap time! Max was so at home on the Brazilian soil. Sebastian went third fastest, but was left two tenths shy of his teammate's time, in spite of the soft tyres! Kimi stood out of the crowd as well, as the Iceman was able to make it among the top ten, even though he made it just barely. There were no improvements on the second runs; partly because of Kimi's teammate Giovinazzi, who spun at the closing stages of Q2, bringing out the yellow flags. McLaren's pace left a little to hope for, as neither one of the McLaren drivers made it to the last segment. On the contrary, Norris was the first driver to miss out on Q3. Out were also the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi and Racing Point's Perez.

The drivers of the midfield teams -Toro Rosso's Gasly, the Haas duo of Grosjean and Magnussen and Alfa Romeo's Kimi- came out on a used set of soft tyres, as they had only one fresh set left. Max made an obvious mistake on his first run, but his one-lap pace was still magical. The flying Dutchman took provisional pole by eight thousandths of a second to Sebastian, who also had a wobble in the last corner. Charles was third, Hamilton fourth and Bottas fifth. The margins were minimal, so it seemed, that any driver of the three big teams could conquer pole. Kimi, too had made an excellent first attempt, and was in P8. But Max had come to Brazil to stamp his authority all over the circuit that he loves! He improved his lap time on his final run, snatching his second career pole! The Dutchman's performance was outstanding, as he topped the time sheets in all three sessions! Sebastian made it on the front row, which was such a joy. Hamilton managed to improve in the end, robbing Charles of P3. Due to his penalty, Charles will drop down to P14 on the grid. The Monegasque's penalty will promote Bottas to P4 and Albon to P5. Gasly in the sister team's car will start from P6. Haas' Grosjean and Alfa Romeo's Kimi will line up on the fourth row, followed by Haas' Magnussen.

I'm sure Max will unleash the lion at the start tomorrow. Whether it is enough to win the race, let's see. Mercedes have been in trouble with the tyre management, as the Silver Arrows have suffered from overheating of the tyres. It's interesting to see, how this will affect the world champions' race. It should be a dry race; if it was wet, it would only increase Max's chances to win the race! I'm sure Sebastian will put up a passionate fight for the victory. I'm so happy to see my two favorites on the front row! And so afraid, that they will hit each other in the first corner!

tiistai 5. marraskuuta 2019

US GP: Where did Ferrari's race pace disappear?

The Red Team were in trouble already at the start. Pole-setter Bottas kept shining at the lights out; the Finn held firmly on his lead. Aggressive Verstappen took a splendid start, making his way to second. The most impressive start was taken by Hamilton, who made it look easy to jump from P5 to third. Sebastian had something wrong; even teammate Charles made it past Sebastian. On the second lap Sebastian lost his fifth place to McLaren's Norris, and reported on the team radio about massive under steer. He felt like there was something wrong with his Lina, although he hadn't had contact with anyone that far. A lap later also Renault's Ricciardo made a successful overtaking move on Sebastian. Meanwhile, also Charles in P4 was missing pace badly. The gap to Hamilton in third had already increased into over six seconds.

Kimi, who had started to the race from modest P17, made an excellent job on the opening laps. Alfa Romeo had provided the Iceman with a genius strategy, with Kimi having started to the race on the soft compound. On lap 7 Kimi was pushing immense pressure on Haas' Magnussen, challenging the Dane for P10. But what a bitter turn Sebastian's race saw on lap 8! All of a sudden, Lina's rear suspension failed completely, Sebastian having hit the kerb! This kind of a complete suspension failure isn't often seen. Sebastian was cruelly out of the race! One's misfortune is another's fortune; Sebastian's DNF benefited Kimi, who had been able to pass Magnussen, claiming P9 already.

Race leader Bottas had increased the gap to Verstappen into three seconds. Hamilton, on the other hand, was right at the very tail of the Dutch Red Bull ace. Red Bull opted for the undercut strategy, calling Max in on lap 14. The Dutchman switched to the hard Pirellis, re-joining the track in P4. Mercedes reacted to Red Bull's strategy and called race leader Bottas in on the sequential lap. Mercedes pit crew made a perfect job, and the Finn re-joined the track ahead of Verstappen. Bottas' pace was outstanding; the Finn had no difficulties to pass Charles, moving to second. Valtteri kept storming, banging the fastest lap time in the race. Charles pitted on lap 21, but the pit stop didn't go to plan at all. The pit crew had difficulties to get one of the tyres attached, and the pit stop took 7.7 seconds! A podium finish was slipping through the Monegasque's fingers...

By lap 24 Bottas had closed the gap to his teammate, who hadn't stopped yet. The team gave Valtteri a permission to attack, and, with DRS open, he moved past the champion-to-be, claiming his lead back. Hamilton, who was on a different strategy to his teammate, stopped on the following lap. The Briton re-joined the track in P3, with Bottas and Verstappen ahead of him. He was to drive a long second stint on the hard tyres. He faced a true challenge; on one hand, he should set extremely competitive lap times to challenge Verstappen and Bottas for the victory, but on the other hand, he was advised to save tyres. Would it be an impossible equation?

Hamilton kept decreasing the gap to his race-leading teammate. On lap 32 there were only 15 seconds separating the Silver Arrows. They were split by Verstappen, who was some seven seconds behind the Finn. Lap 36 was a turning point in the race; Bottas pitted for the second time, opting for another set of medium rubber. He re-joined the track 8.8 seconds behind his teammate, who wasn't to stop anymore. But the Finn had victory glowing in his eyes, and he started a hungry and determined chase. Valtteri banged a new track record, and in no time he was already within 5 seconds from his teammate. Hamilton seemed a bit uncertain, whether his tyres were going to last till the end. Nevertheless, the Briton decided to stay out.

Charles, who was driving in secured P4, set the fastest lap time on a fresh set of soft Pirellis. Hamilton was racing against time on his worn tyres; it was only a matter of time, until Bottas had made it within DRS distance. They were tormenting laps for the ambitious Briton... Hamilton could hear his teammate's heavy breath in his neck, and the Finn was definitely "blood-thirsty"! With five laps to go, Bottas already made it alongside his teammate, but Hamilton made a brash move on Valtteri, forcing him off track. But giving up was no option for the determined Finn, who just waited for another chance to attack. And he didn't have to wait long; he smelled his chance on the following lap already. Hamilton had no chance to defend his lead with his dying tyres, so the lead was Valtteri's to take. Verstappen smelled his chance, too and started to chase down Hamilton.

On the second last lap Haas' Magnussen went off due to a brake failure, getting stuck on the gravel. Yellow flags were out in sector two, and this effected crucially the battle between Verstappen and Hamilton. Verstappen wasn't allowed to use DRS at the back straight on the penultimate lap, which helped Hamilton significantly in terms of fighting Max.

Fantastic Valtteri converted his pole into victory, which was his first on Texan soil. Hamilton made it a 1-2 for Mercedes, clinching also his sixth world championship title, which is an incredible achievement indeed. Even P8 or P9 + the fastest lap time would have been enough to secure the title, but now he did it in style. Verstappen completed the podium. Ferrari's race pace left many question marks, as Charles in fourth was over 50 seconds down on the race winner! I couldn't help wondering, where the Red Team's race pace had suddenly disappeared. Albon finished 5th for Red Bull and Ricciardo sixth for Renault. Once again both McLarens made it in the points, with Norris 7th and Sainz 8th. Hulkenberg (Renault) was 9th and Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 10th. Unfortunately Kimi didn't make it in the points after all, in spite of his stunning first stint on the soft tyres.

But where has Ferrari's pace mystically disappeared? Have they made use of a loophole in the rules in terms of engine performance, which has recently been clogged by FIA? Such allegations have been thrown in the air by rival teams. Let's see, how things will emerge in Brazil... I'm looking forward to the next round and more speculation with huge interest!

sunnuntai 3. marraskuuta 2019

US GP / Qualifying: Bottas continued Mercedes' reign at COTA!

Back-to-back weekend brought the F1 caravan from Mexico City to Texas, Austin. Some dark clouds had gathered upon Ferrari in the last free practice session, as Leclerc's SF90 had been hit with an oil leak. This had forced the team to switch an older-spec engine to Charles' car for the qualifying. Sebastian in his Lina made a small mistake on his first run in Q1, which left the German with no time. Meanwhile, McLaren showed amazing performance, as Sainz made it on the top of the time sheets with 10 minutes remaining. Teammate Norris had also jumped fourth in the charts. However, a moment later Hamilton robbed Sainz of the fastest lap time, and Verstappen went second fastest. Bottas was third, and after a successful run Sebastian moved fourth. Unbelievable but true, McLaren had another ace up to their sleeve, as Norris clocked the fastest lap time in the dying moments of the first session! Alfa Romeo's performance, on the other hand, left a lot to hope for. Kimi moved 15th on his last attempt, but teammate Giovinazzi knocked the Iceman out of the second session. As Grosjean moved 15th in the very end, it meant, that both Alfa Romeos were out of Q2 for the first time this season. It wasn't "an ordinary day at the office" for Toro Rosso's Gasly, either, as the Frenchman made it P4. On the other hand, Leclerc was only in tame P12. In addition to the Alfa Romeo duo, also the familiar names of Russell and Kubica were out of Q2. Racing Point's Perez was to start to the race from the pit lane, as the Mexican had missed the weigh bridge in the free practice session (what a harsh punishment!).

Q2 was all about playing with the tyre strategy. Both the Red Team and the Silver Team sent their drivers out on the medium rubber. Red Bull had a differing strategy for their drivers; Verstappen came out on the medium compound, whilst Albon opted for the soft Pirellis. The battle on track was fiery; the top four was all within 0.15s! At this point the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas had the upper hand on the Red Team. However, the tyre choice played for Albon's favor, and the Thai driver went fastest. Verstappen set an impressive lap time on the medium compound, jumping third. Both Charles and Sebastian made another attempt on the mediums, both making an excellent job. Charles went fastest, but Sebastian was only 0.022s shy of his teammate! Both Mercedes aces and Verstappen came out on the softs at the end of the session, but neither one of them improved his lap time. Kvyat's fastest lap time was deleted due to exceeding the track limits in Turn 19, but the Russian was out of Q3 anyway. Renault's Hulkenberg missed out on the last segment, whilst teammate Ricciardo made it among the ten fastest. Racing Point's Stroll and the home team Haas' drivers were eliminated from Q3 as well.

During the modern turbo hybrid era Mercedes have always conquered pole at the Circuit of the Americas. And this year proved no exception! Bottas took provisional pole, pipping Sebastian by as tiny margin as 0.012s! Verstappen was third and Charles fourth, with only two tenths off the pace. Hamilton has always enjoyed driving on the Texan soil, but now he was only fifth after the first runs. Usually the track always improves towards the end of the session, but this time the second runs saw no improvements. Bottas scored his 11th career pole, which was his fifth one this season. It's an impressive piece of statistics, as in spite of Hamilton's firm lead in the championship standings, he has scored only four poles this season. The battle for pole was hair-raising, as Sebastian was only 0.012s down on the Finn! Verstappen in third had only a 0.067s margin to Bottas as well. I don't know, if it was down to the engine change, but Charles was only able to make it fourth. Surprisingly, Hamilton was really left on the fifth grid slot. Albon qualified sixth for Red Bull, and he was followed by the McLaren duo of Sainz and Norris. Renault's Ricciardo and Toro Rosso's Gasly rounded out the top ten.

Today's start will certainly be interesting. Turn 1 is definitely one of the hottest action-zones on the track. The track seems to be extremely bumpy this year, so I wouldn't be surprised to see even some technical failures on the cars. After the difficult two thirds of the season, Sebastian has found his lost self-confidence, so I really hope the US GP will be another sequel to his success story!

maanantai 28. lokakuuta 2019

Mexico GP: An all-red front row turned into P2 and P4!

Qualifying classification saw a dramatic change late on Saturday evening. Pole-setter Verstappen was given a 3-place grid penalty for having failed to slow down under yellow flags followed by Bottas' crash in the final corner. The first lap time would have been enough to secure pole for Max, had only his second time lap been deleted. Max could possibly have got away with impunity, had he kept his mouth shut in the post-qualifying press conference! He was asked about ignoring the yellow flags, as he improved his lap time in the end, although Bottas had crashed into the barrier a moment earlier. Max gave an arrogant answer: "Did it look like I slowed down? No, I didn't. You can delete my second time lap if you want to." After these thoughtless comments the stewards took Max's action into investigation and gave the penalty, which dropped the hot-headed Dutchman down to P4 on the grid. Max is an outstanding driver, but sometimes he really should pay attention to the frogs he lets out of his mouth!

I expected to see irritated Verstappen at the start. This time I got what I expected. There was drama already in Turn 1, with who else than Max Verstappen involved! Charles held on to his lead, with teammate Sebastian right behind him. Behind the red duo, Hamilton and Verstappen made contact. Both cars took damage, but they were able to continue the race. Virtual safety car was deployed. Albon was stunning third after the eventful start! McLaren's Sainz had also benefited from Verstappen's and Hamilton's hullabaloo, having moved up to P4. Hamilton was fifth, McLaren's Norris sixth, Bottas seventh and Verstappen eighth.

After the virtual safety car had ended, Hamilton made a move on Sainz, robbing the Spaniard of P4. Verstappen and Bottas had a wheel-banging battle of their own for P7. Max made an insolent move on the Finn, jumping seventh. But Bottas wasn't to let that happen. Only a moment later he snatched his P7 back from hard-fighting Verstappen. And there was another dramatic turn for Max; he had a puncture, as Valtteri's front wing had touched Max's rear tyre! Max had to limp into the pits for a fresh set of hard tyres and face the reality: he was now at the very back of the pack!

Meanwhile, Bottas was making his way up through the field. First the Finn passed McLaren's Norris and then his teammate Sainz, claiming P5. Norris' race turned into a catastrophe only a moment later; during his pit stop his front tyre wasn't successfully attached, which cost the Briton an awful lot of valuable time. Albon was the first top driver to pit on lap 15. Race leader Charles pitted a lap later. They both switched to another set of medium tyres, which was a clear indication of a two-stop strategy. Charles re-joined the track in P4.

Hamilton wasn't the only driver, who Verstappen made contact with. On lap 23 the flying Dutchman had a slight contact with Haas' Magnussen. Max made a questionable move by overtaking the Dane off track. Hamilton pitted on the same lap for a fresh set of hard tyres. However, it seemed quite unlikely, that the Briton would be able to go till the end on those tyres. Soon after his pit stop he complained on the team radio, that the team had called him in way too early. Hamilton was expected to drive a 48-lap stint on the hard Pirellis! Both Sebastian and Bottas stayed out and continued clocking excellent lap times.

Bottas pitted on lap 36, so it was an obvious one-stop strategy for the Finn. Sebastian pitted from the lead on the sequential lap, also for a fresh set of white-walled hard compound. After the pit stops Hamilton was fourth and Sebastian fifth. But Albon and Leclerc, who were ahead of them, were to stop for the second time. Charles drove into the pits on lap 43, and unfortunately it proved a delayed pit stop for the Monegasque. The red crew had difficulties to attach one of the rear tyres, which cost valuable seconds. Charles re-joined the track in P5. Albon pitted a lap later for a fresh set of hard Pirellis, similar to Charles.

With 25 laps to go, Hamilton was leading the race. Sebastian was three seconds down on the race leader, and Valtteri was two seconds behind the German. Meanwhile, Renault's Ricciardo proved, that an extremely long stint on the hard rubber was doable; the Australian pitted after a 50-lap long first stint! Kimi, who was driving his own race out of points, was asked to drive into the pits and retire the car on lap 59. Sad but true, scoring points has proved almost a mission impossible for Alfa Romeo since the summer break.

The gaps between the top four -Hamilton, Sebastian, Bottas and Charles- were extremely small towards the end of the race. However, an overtaking move of any kind seemed to be out of the question. Meanwhile, Verstappen had made his way up to P6 already in spite of the catastrophic start to the race. He had made his only pit stop already on lap 5, which meant a 66-lap second stint! Tyre management is definitely one of Max's strengths!

In spite of an all-red front row, the red-suited warriors had to settle for playing the second fiddle to Mercedes. Hamilton crossed the line as the race winner for the 10th time this season! Sebastian was the impressive runner-up, and Valtteri's race from P6 to P3 was well done, too. Pole-setter Charles was left fourth due to his two-stop strategy. To his comfort, he took the extra point for the fastest lap time. This time Albon was the more successful of the Red Bull drivers, as the Thai finished in P5 and Max in P6. Without the first-lap hullabaloo Max would have had a chance even for a better result. Racing Point's Perez took the honor of being "the best of the rest" in P7. Toro Rosso's Gasly in P9 was split by the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.

Bottas still has a gossamer mathematical chance to win the drivers' championship. To be honest, it's only a matter of time, when Hamilton secures his sixth world title. The US GP this week is his next chance to do so.

lauantai 26. lokakuuta 2019

Mexico GP / Qualifying: Lightning fast Verstappen took 2nd career pole!

I feel so grateful, that it is F1 weekend again! Round 18 brought the pinnacle of motor sport to Mexico City, which is known as the highest venue of the season. The circuit is situated 2.2 km above the sea level, which explains the challenges caused by thin air.

Coming to the weekend, the weather forecasts had predicted rain for the qualifying, but as the lights turned green for Q1, the risk was only 10 %. However, conditions had been damp in the last free practice session, so the track was still slippery, as the qualifying got underway. Albon showed excellent pace at the wheel of his Red Bull and went fastest on his first run. The pecking order of the top three teams was mixed in an exciting way, as Hamilton was second for Mercedes, followed by the Ferrari duo of Charles and Sebastian. Kimi, too had showed superb pace, as the Iceman was "the best of the rest" after his first attempt. Red Bull have been very strong at Mexico in previous years, and Verstappen stamped the energy drink team's authority at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez by clocking the fastest lap time. The top six didn't need to opt for second runs. First McLaren's Sainz jumped 6th, and a moment later the Spaniard was robbed of the 6th place by Toro Rosso's Kvyat. Kimi, too made it into Q2 by making it 11th. Racing Point's Stroll was the first driver to be eliminated from the second session. Alongside with the Canadian, both Haas drivers and both Williams drivers were knocked out of Q2.

It was well expected, that the top three teams -Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull- were going to come out on medium Pirellis in Q2. More of a surprise was the fact, that also both McLaren drivers and both Toro Rosso pilots opted for the medium compound as well. Bottas made a mistake at the stadium on his first flyer. Meanwhile, Sebastian went fastest, with Verstappen second, Charles third, Hamilton fourth and Albon fifth. The Finnish Mercedes ace managed to put together a decent lap on his second flyer, jumping fourth. Unfortunately Kimi was struggling with the performance of his Alfa Romeo in the second session. The Iceman was in tame P13 after his first run. McLaren and Toro Rosso were forced to switch to the soft compound at the end of the session. Sainz underlined McLaren's brilliant performance by jumping fourth on his last flyer. Hamilton and Bottas made a second attempt on the medium Pirellis; Hamilton made it on top of the time sheets, with his teammate second. Both Ferrari and Red Bull sent their drivers out on the red-walled soft compound, but neither one of the drivers improved his lap time. Home hero Perez was the first man in the knock-out zone unfortunately. The Renault duo of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo, who had both been excluded from the results of the Japanese GP due to a brake system infringement, were out, too. It wasn't much of a comfort, that Kimi out-qualified his teammate Giovinazzi, as both of them were out of the top ten.

The fight for pole came down to the final segment, which definitely didn't lack action. Last year Verstappen had lost pole to his teammate (Ricciardo) by 0.026s, so the Dutchman had decided to take his revenge this year. The flying Dutchman was untouchable on his first run. In spite of Ferrari's incredible straight line speed in sector one, Max took provisional pole by a tenth to Charles. Sebastian had set a staggering time for the first sector, but in spite of that he was left third on his first flyer, two tenths shy of Max. Hamilton was fourth, Albon fifth and Bottas sixth. The second runs were crucial. Charles made a mistake on his last run, and was therefore unable to improve. Something dramatic happened in the dying moments of the decisive last session. Bottas was pushing extremely hard on his crucial flyer; so hard, that he lost his W10 in the final corner! He crashed into the wall, and the left side of his Mercedes turned into a wreck. Double yellows were out, which meant no improvements. It was a shame for Sebastian especially, as he had been improving his lap time till the last sector. So Verstappen took his second career pole, with Charles second and Sebastian third! Hamilton had to settle for P4. Albon qualified 5th and Bottas 6th. McLaren locked down the fourth row (Sainz 7th, Norris 8th), and the fifth row belonged to Toro Rosso (Kvyat 9th, Gasly 10th). It was an extremely costly mistake for the Finn; if the team need to replace the damaged chassis with a new one, Valtteri will have to start to the race from the pit lane. 

Mexico is extremely hard both on the brakes and on the cooling of the cars. So will all top six cars make it to the chequered flag tomorrow? The start will also play a thrilling role, as there's an extremely long straight into Turn 1. Sebastian and Charles might benefit from the tow, but will they be able to avoid contact with each other? Tyre degradation is also very high, so tyre management will also be a key factor for victory tomorrow. I think it takes huge effort to beat Max tomorrow, unless he screws up the start (which he has done a couple of times this season). Max is shining so bright this weekend! But the red threat behind him is definitely real!

sunnuntai 13. lokakuuta 2019

Japanese GP: Bottas took victory in spite of all-red front row!

I have waken up to this day three times. My first alarm was set at 3.50 am. All F1 action had been cancelled yesterday, because typhoon Hagabis had hit the Suzuka area on Saturday. Due to the typhoon, qualifying had been postponed to this morning. In spite of the qualifying taking place very early in the morning here in Finland, the qualifying turned out worth waking up for! Ferrari continued their superb performance, and once again Mercedes proved to be the underdog in terms of single-lap pace. Qualifying has been postponed to Sunday morning four times before this year, and there's an odd statistic involved with this procedure. Every time the qualifying has taken place on Sunday morning, there has always been a German driver on pole! And to my joy this year was no exception. Sebastian put together a perfect lap in Q3 and took his second pole of the season with a 0.189s-gap to his teammate. Sebastian's pole was the most perfect birthday present for me, although the official birthday is tomorrow. Mercedes had brought an upgrade package to Suzuka, but in spite of the new parts, they were unable to match the Red Team's pace. Bottas pipped his teammate, and the Silver Arrows had to settle for the second row. Red Bull's pace proved surprisingly tame; Verstappen and Albon set the exact same lap time, but as the Dutchman had set it first, he got P5 and Albon P6. McLaren proved the best of the midfield teams, and the orange cars locked down the fourth row.

My second alarm was set at 7.50 am, as the race start took place at 8.10 in the morning. The typhoon was gone, but the wind speed was still extremely high. Unfortunately pole-setter Sebastian screwed up the start. His Lina moved slightly before the lights had gone out, which cost him dearly. Bottas from P3 took a rocket start, and the Finn stormed into the lead. Charles' start was everything but smooth as well. The Monegasque's SF90 understeered going into Turn 1, which led into contact with Red Bull's Verstappen. Charles' front wing got bad damage, and Max spun and dropped down to the back of the pack. The left-hand side end plate of Charles' front wing was about to fly off, but Charles wanted to stay out, although the team told him to pit. Hamilton put intense pressure on Charles, who was in trouble with his damaged car. There was a close call, as the end plate and some other bits flew off from Charles' Ferrari in full speed. Some of that debris hit Hamilton's car, making Hamilton's right-hand side mirror to fly off. In the end, Charles had no option but to pit for a new nose cone. He also switched to the medium Pirellis, re-joining the track at the back of the field.

The stewards took Verstappen's and Leclerc's first-corner incident into investigation. Sebastian, too was taken into investigation for alleged false start, as his car had moved before the lights out. I was relieved to hear, that there was no penalty given for Sebastian, and that he got to keep his second place in the race! Verstappen, on the other hand, was forced to retire the race on lap 15. His RB15 had suffered too much damage due to the first-lap collision.

Sebastian pitted on lap 17, for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. This was a clear sign, that he was on a two-stop strategy. Race leader Bottas pitted on the following lap, opting for a fresh set of medium compound. This meant, that at least theoretically, the Finn could be on a one-stopper. The third free practice session had been cancelled, so tyre degradation was kind of a question mark for all teams. Initially, the team had planned a one-stop strategy for Hamilton, but it proved to be a no go. Hamilton's tyres were gone on lap 22, and the Briton had no chance but to pit for medium rubber, similar to his teammate. After the pit stops there was about a 10-second gap between the Mercedes teammates, and Hamilton questioned his strategy on the team radio. He asked, why the team hadn't put the hard tyres on his car. His race engineer answered, that the hard tyres hadn't seemed competitive on other cars. Charles pitted for the second time already on lap 27. He switched back to the softs.

Sebastian opened the second round of pit stops on lap 32. The German re-joined the track on fresh mediums, whilst the Mercedes aces opted for the softs for their last stint. After the pit stop roulette Bottas was still leading the race, with Sebastian second and Hamilton third. After the second pit stops Hamilton was literally flying, closing the gap to Sebastian radically. In spite of Ferrari's amazing single-lap pace, Mercedes still had the upper hand in terms of the race pace. Hamilton got within striking distance from Sebastian, but luckily the team told the German, that he was able to extract some extra power from his Lina to defend his position. Sebastian knew, what he had to do to keep Hamilton behind. Meanwhile, teammate Charles pitted for the third time already, and went for the fastest lap time. However, in spite of Charles having the fresh set of soft tyres, Hamilton snatched the fastest lap time under his belt.

Bottas took a sweeping victory, which was his first one since the Azerbaijan GP in April. In spite of the threat from Hamilton, Sebastian finished the runner-up. I don't know, whether Sebastian would have been able to take the victory, had he taken a dream start. I was so happy, that Sebastian drove a flawless race, in spite of the mistake at the start. He definitely drove his heart out, defending his second place like a lion. I was so proud of him and so happy to see him on the podium! Albon finished the race fourth for Red Bull, who were driving the home race of their engine supplier Honda. Sainz crossed the finish line in P5 for McLaren and Charles was able to fight it in P6 in the end. However, the young Monegasque was given penalties after the race. He was given a 5-second penalty for causing the collision in Turn 1 and an additional 10-second penalty for staying out on the severely damaged car, which caused danger to other drivers. The time penalties dropped Charles down to P7 in the final standings. On the other hand, Renault's Ricciardo, who was then promoted to P6, is also under investigation for a brake infringement.

By finishing P1 and P3, Mercedes secured their 6th consecutive constructors' title, which is a remarkable achievement indeed. It is also clear, that a Mercedes driver will win the drivers' world championship. It takes a miracle, if it will be Bottas, but the Finn still has a mathematical chance to take it. Now that all the pressure caused by the world titles is gone, Sebastian seems much more relaxed and comfortable in his Lina. I hope he keeps up this impressive work also in the last four races of the season! Forza Ferrari!

P.S. I woke up at two o'clock in the afternoon for the third time. I watched three episodes of Big Brother Finland and started to write my thoughts on the GP weekend :)

maanantai 30. syyskuuta 2019

Russian GP: Red victory turned into Mercedes 1-2!

It was known beforehand already, that the start straight into Turn 1 was frighteningly long. Especially for pole-setter Leclerc, who wasn't to get a tow from other cars. Sebastian knew that. The German took a rocket start behind his teammate. Thanks to the slipstream, Sebastian had it easy to move pass Charles, who didn't even try to defend his position. I assume there had been a pre-race agreement between the Ferrari drivers, that Charles wasn't going to prevent Sebastian from overtaking him. Ferrari's target was to get both cars on top, and the mission was accomplished; Sebastian was in the lead, with Charles following him. Hamilton was third, whilst teammate Bottas had lost a position to McLaren's Sainz at the start. Although the top drivers had a clean start, there was action further down in the pack. Haas' Grosjean and Renault's Ricciardo hit each other, which ruined the race for the Frenchman. Safety car was deployed already on the opening lap! Meanwhile, Kimi in his Alfa Romeo had taken a jump start, and the Finn was to get a drive through penalty for his infringement.

After the re-start the race took an interesting turn, as race leader Sebastian was told on the team radio, that he was expected to let Charles past, although the Monegasque wasn't even in the striking distance from his teammate. Sebastian wasn't willing to obey the order, but answered the team by banging the fastest lap time. Charles told on the team radio, that he had done, what had been expected from him (not defending his position at the start). Sebastian was stubborn; he increased the gap into 2.7s already. The situation reminded a lot of the Malaysian GP 2013 and the famous "multi 21" scandal; the Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were told by the team to maintain their positions (Webber 1st and Vettel 2nd), but instead of obeying the team order, Sebastian overtook his teammate and won the Malaysian GP. That happened at the end of the race, but now it was only lap 6 in the race. And Sebastian truly seemed faster than Charles, so why should he have given up on the lead? I love how hot-headed Sebastian is in this kind of situations! I was so happy, that he stuck to his decision to keep the lead!

While the red-suited drivers had their feisty conversation on the team radio, Bottas had made his way past Sainz, moving to fourth. Red Bull's Verstappen, who had started to the race from P9 due to his penalty, had also passed Sainz and was now in P5. Charles was the first Ferrari driver to be called in for the pit stop. Everything went smoothly, and Charles re-joined the track on the medium compound. As Sebastian hadn't given up on his lead willingly, the pit stop strategy was the perfect way to make the switch. Sebastian was called in three laps after Charles, which offered the Monegasque a chance to move ahead of his teammate.

What a dramatic turn the race saw only a couple of laps after Sebastian's pit stop! His Lina was hit with a MGU-K failure, and she came to a halt on track! What made the situation even more ironic, was the fact, that Sebastian's retirement brought out the virtual safety car. Both Hamilton and Bottas had a free pit stop, and Hamilton took the lead! Meanwhile, Russell in his Williams suffered a brake failure, and the Briton, too stopped on the track. Safety car came out again. Ferrari made a risky call and took Charles in during the safety car. Charles switched to soft Pirellis, as Hamilton, too was on softs. Due to the pit stop, Charles lost a position to Bottas, dropping down to P3.

There were 20 laps to go, as the re-start took place. Charles did the best he could to challenge Bottas for the second place, but it didn't turn out easy, in spite of Ferrari's ridiculous straight line speed. Charles was able to make it within DRS distance from the Finn, but there was no going further. Bottas is extremely good at defending his position, when somebody is putting pressure on him. Bottas hardly makes any mistakes under pressure, which makes overtaking extremely hard. Maybe Ferrari were a little arrogant even, thinking that they could afford an extra pit stop because of their superb straight line speed. What had initially looked like a red victory, turned into a Mercedes 1-2! Hamilton took his 9th win of the season, with Bottas making it a glorious 1-2 for the Silver Arrows. Charles was left in P3. The Red Bull teammates finished 4th (Verstappen) and 5th (Albon). It was well done from Albon, who had started to the race from the pit lane. Sainz brought his McLaren to the chequered flag in P6.

I love the fact, that Sebastian was voted as the Driver of the Day by fans! Not only was his start sensational, but also the fighting spirit, that he had! Sebastian's retirement saved the team from the awkward post-race drama, had the German won the race against the team order. But this is definitely the Sebastian I want to see in the remaining races! Relentless and fearless! Forza Sebastian! Forza Ferrari!

lauantai 28. syyskuuta 2019

Russian GP / Qualifying: Leclerc did it again!

The Russian GP at Sochi Autodrom always brings back so many unforgettable memories from the 2017 season, when I got the chance to spend four memorable days at the paddock, watching the free practice sessions at the Ferrari garage and interviewing Sebastian Vettel in front of the Ferrari motor home. It gives a wonderful personal touch to the F1 weekend, when you have actually made the track walk yourself!

The Ferraris came out on the medium compound at the beginning of the first session. Sebastian was pushing hard and made a mistake in the second sector, ending up wide at Turn 13, so the quadruple world champion was unable to set a competitive lap time. Teammate Charles, on the other hand, set the screens purple and went on the top. However, Hamilton snatched the top spot a moment later, due to his softer tyres. Red Bull's Verstappen proved strong as well, ending up only a tenth shy of Hamilton's benchmark. Sebastian was on his second flyer, as Red Bull's Albon hit the kerb and crashed into the tyre wall, which brought out the red flag. Sebastian's flyer was ruined, and the German was in P19, with 6:38 remaining in the clock. The red flag episode forced Sebastian to come out on the softs at the end of Q1. Sebastian's pace on the soft Pirellis was absolutely convincing, and he set the fastest lap time with a two-tenth margin to Hamilton. Both Verstappen and Leclerc sat out the second runs, as they had no need to improve. Unfortunately Kimi's pace at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo left a lot to hope for. The Iceman made a mistake on his last run, and the Finn was knocked out of Q2 by his teammate Giovinazzi, who was the last driver to make it into the second session. It was such a shame, that Kimi missed out on Q2 by 0.085s only! Toro Rosso's Kvyat didn't set a lap time at all, as the home hero had been handed multiple grid penalties for power unit element changes, and the Russian was to start from the back of the grid in front of his home crowd.

In terms of a single lap pace, Mercedes seemed to be the underdog compared to the Red Team. That's why the Silver Arrows opted for a different tyre strategy in Q2. Both Hamilton and Bottas came out on the medium rubber, whilst all others opted for the red-walled soft compound. Once again, Charles stamped his authority all over the place, pipping teammate Sebastian by seven tenths on his first run! Verstappen in third and Hamilton in fourth were separated by one thousandth of a second only, and Bottas in fifth was only about a hundredth of a second off his teammate. Everyone came out at the end of Q2, as the track conditions kept improving throughout the session. Sebastian managed to improve his lap time on his last flyer, but was still a tenth down on his pace-setting teammate. Mercedes teammates had difficulties to match the red cars' pace. Haas' Grosjean was responsible for the most positive surprise in Q2, as the Frenchman made it as high as P6, whilst teammate Magnussen was knocked out of Q3. Alongside with the Dane, out of Q3 were Toro Rosso's Gasly, the Racing Point duo of Perez and Stroll and Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi.

Charles continued his unbelievable form also in the last session. The Monegasque took provisional pole firmly in his hands, leaving Sebastian three tenths off the pace. Hamilton was half a second down on Charles, and teammate Bottas' gap to the provisional pole setter was massive eight tenths already. Verstappen in P4 was almost a second behind amazing Charles. At this point it seemed, that Ferrari were going to conquer the front row. Charles stroke again on his last flyer, slightly improving his lap time. Although Mercedes were struggling with their pace, Hamilton squeezed himself on the front row! Sebastian was left in P3 again, with two hundredths of a second shy of Hamilton. Once again Verstappen managed to out-qualify Bottas, who abandoned his last flyer due to a mistake of his own. However, the Dutchman's joy was only premature. Verstappen had been handed a 5-place grid penalty for a power unit element change, so he is dropped down to P9. Sainz qualified the best of the rest, and due to Verstappen's penalty the Spaniard will start to the race from P5. Renault's Hulkenberg will start alongside Sainz. McLaren's Norris and Haas' Grosjean will be on the fourth row, with Verstappen and Renault's Ricciardo completing the top ten.

The previous Ferrari driver, who scored four consecutive pole positions, was legendary Michael Schumacher back in 2001. These statistics tell a lot both about Charles' skills and the momentum, that he is having. The start straight into Turn 1 is extremely long at Sochi Autodrom, and Sebastian is passionate to challenge his teammate for the lead. The red-suited drivers will probably have a slight advantage on the Mercedes duo at the start, due to the soft tyres. Sochi offers plenty of chances for overtaking, so I'm sure tomorrow's race will be action-packed! I would love to see another 1-2 for Ferrari, preferably with Sebastian on the top step of the podium!

sunnuntai 22. syyskuuta 2019

Singapore GP: Sebastian led Ferrari to a mesmerising 1-2!

The night had darkened, as the bright red lights went out at magical-looking Marina Bay. Pole-setter Leclerc took the start with confidence and stormed first into Turn 1. Hamilton followed closely, in spite of Sebastian trying to challenge him for P2. This time Red Bull's Verstappen managed to take a decent start as well, maintaining his fourth place. Bottas was fifth and Red Bull's Albon sixth, so there were no changes in terms of the top six. All drivers out of top ten started to the race on the medium Pirellis, except Toro Rosso's Gasly, who had opted for the white-walled hard compound. The start was surprisingly clean, as only McLaren's Sainz and Williams' Kubica had contact at Turn 1.

After the start the race saw an odd turn. Race leader Charles set the pace, which almost reminded of crawling on the track. Due to very slow pace, the gaps between the top six were quite minimal. It seemed though, that getting past was a mission impossible. However, Renault's Ricciardo proved otherwise. The Honey Badger had started to the race from the back of the grid, due to a grid penalty for an ERS infringement. The Australian showed, that overtaking was possible if you had the will power, and squeezed his Renault past Kvyat's Toro Rosso, claiming P12.

As the top six was so closely packed, it was all about choosing the right timing for the pit stop. Would it be possible to make the undercut work, or would overcut be the right call? It was impossible to predict, as no one knew, when safety car would be deployed. Sebastian and Max drove into the pits on lap 19. They both switched to the hard rubber, which was to last till the end. Sebastian re-joined the track in P10 and Max in P12. Sebastian's out lap on the fresh tyres was sensational. As teammate Charles pitted on the sequential lap, he was shocked to witness, that when re-joining the track, Sebastian moved ahead of him due to the strategy!

Bottas pitted two laps after Charles, also for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Teammate Hamilton stayed out instead. Bottas banged the fastest lap time shortly after his pit stop, but the team told him to play for the team and slow down, as Hamilton was to pit a couple of laps later. The Briton came in on lap 26, switching to the hards as well, and thanks to Valtteri's "team effort", Hamilton re-joined the track ahead of his Finnish teammate. Unbelievable but true, Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi, who had started to the race on the medium Pirellis and therefore hadn't pitted yet, was now leading the race!

After making an adventurous move on Toro Rosso's Gasly and a bit safer one on Giovinazzi, stunning Sebastian moved to the lead. What a happy moment it was! I was so happy for Sebastian, who needed this more than ever! Teammate Charles was at Sebastian's tail, and Verstappen was third in the race. Lap 35 started a chain of three safety car episodes. Haas' Grosjean and Williams' Russell hit each other, and the wreck of the Briton's Williams stopped on track. This was the 12th Singapore GP, and the 12th time, that a safety car has been deployed during the race!

Charles seemed gutted for losing the lead to his teammate, and complained about the strategy on the team radio. He was told to keep his head down and concentrate on racing. The re-start took place on lap 40, and the pecking order remained the same. But the race was on only for a few laps, as Perez's Racing Point came to a halt on lap 43 due to a technical failure. Safety car was deployed for the second time already, so that the Mexican's car was to be moved off safely.

The second re-start took place on lap 47. Once again Sebastian firmly held on to his lead. Further down in the pack, Kimi in his Alfa Romeo in P9 seemed to be on his way to bring valuable points for the team. But after the second re-start, something happened. Kimi was lacking pace dearly, and the Iceman got overtaken by both Toro Rosso's Gasly and Renault's Hulkenberg. Lap 50 was a dramatic turning point in terms of Kimi's race. Toro Rosso's Torpedo (Kvyat) dived into the inside of Kimi, which caused the Russian to crash into Kimi's Alfa Romeo. The Iceman's front suspension was damaged, and his race was ruined. Safety car was brought out for the third time already!

The final re-start took place with nine laps to go. Charles had been told to bring his SF90 to the finish line, which meant no risky overtaking moves. First Sebastian clocked the fastest lap time, hungry to take the extra point for it. Then Bottas stroke back and snatched the fastest lap time from the German. In the end, neither one of the drivers got the extra point under his belt. Haas' Magnussen, who had pitted at the end of the race, set the fastest lap time in the end, but didn't get awarded of it due to finishing the race out of top ten. On the closing laps Hamilton was putting hard pressure on Max, but the flying Dutchman gave Hamilton no chance to try a move of any kind.

"The good old Sebastian" was back! He won the Singapore GP after a year-long dry season! This was Sebastian's fifth win in Singapore already. Charles made it a mesmerising 1-2 for Ferrari, which was a phenomenal result. Ferrari's previous 1-2 was taken in Hungary in 2017, so it was about time! Max completed the podium, which I was also very happy about. Unbelievable but true, both Mercedes drivers were left out of podium! Albon brought valuable points for Red Bull by finishing sixth, and McLaren's Norris was the best of the rest by finishing seventh.

I was over the moon to see Sebastian win after a long series of setbacks and mistakes! He truly deserved the glamorous win today! He proved, that difficulties can be turned into success. It was emotional to hear him thank his fans in the post-race interview. Me, including so many fans around the world, wanted to show our support to him during this difficult time. I have an Indonesian friend Sheena, who I became friends with in Maranello in 2018. She and her friend had come up with a project to ask Sebastian fans around the world to shoot a fan video for Sebastian. All videos were uploaded on a memory stick, which Sheena gave to Sebastian during the GP weekend. From the moment, that Sheena asked me to take part in the project, I knew I wanted to be a part of it! So my fan video was included on the memory stick with around 70 other videos from all over the world. So Sebastian definitely knows, that he has his fans' support, faith and admiration!

                                           My fan video for Sebastian Vettel.

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lauantai 21. syyskuuta 2019

Singapore GP / Qualifying: Third pole in a row for Leclerc!

The night race of Singapore is one of the ultimate highlights of the Formula 1 calendar. The atmosphere in Singapore is one of a kind; the tall skyscrapers lit with different colors and the bright artificial lights at the track make the venue magical. There´re two drivers, who have scored four wins at magical Marina Bay, and they are Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

In the dark night of Singapore the Mercedes drivers came out on the yellow-walled medium Pirellis, as Q1 was kicked off. Leclerc set the benchmark on his first flyer, the Monegasque being half a second faster than Verstappen at the wheel of his Red Bull. Bottas was third and Hamilton fourth in spite of their different tyre wear. Sebastian had a tame first attempt, being almost a second off his teammate's pace. Even McLaren's Sainz made it ahead of the German on his first run. However, Sebastian managed to improve his lap time, jumping second in the standings. This time there were only three tenths separating the Ferrari teammates. The Mercs came out on the soft compound at the end of the session. Bottas gave a strong impression on the Silver Arrows' pace, pipping his teammate by two tenths of a second. Charles in third was massive seven tenths off the Finn's pace. Alfa Romeo were struggling with their pace at the long and demanding Marina Bay circuit, and especially Kimi was at risk not to make it into Q2. In the end, Kimi managed to make it 13th on his final run. Teammate Giovinazzi out-qualified the Iceman for the fifth time this season, the Italian making it 11th in the time sheets. Out of Q2 were familiar names: Toro Rosso's Kvyat, Racing Point's Stroll, Haas' Grosjean and the Williams duo of Russell and Kubica.

In Q2 there were no differing tyre strategies, but everyone opted for the red-marked soft compound. Personally, I expected Mercedes to raise the bar in the second session. However, Charles went fastest on his first flyer. Hamilton was one and Bottas two tenths down on the "Monegasque with the momentum". Sebastian seemed unable to match his teammate's storming pace, as the gap to his teammate's benchmark was 0.375s. But Red Bull was strong as well, especially in the hands of the flying Dutchman. Verstappen jumped third, being only a tenth slower than Charles. Kimi was pushing hard to extract the maximum out of his Alfa Romeo, which caused the left-hand side of his car to touch the wall on his first run. Kimi was in P14, out of the final session. "The good old Sebastian" was back for a fleeting moment. Sebastian put together a magnificent lap time, making it on top of the charts. However, the fastest lap time was deprived of Sebastian by his teammate only a short moment later, and by seven hundredths of a second only! This time the pecking order of the teams was clear; Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull were "the three big names" and McLaren and Renault were the top two teams of the midfield.

Q3 gave me chills. What a battle for pole it turned out! It seemed, that Sebastian had found his lost self-confidence, as he set an astonishing lap time on his first run. He set the screens purple even in spite of kissing the wall. There was no one to match that lap time, so Sebastian had his hands on provisional pole! Teammate Charles was 0.354s off Sebastian's benchmark, Verstappen was third and the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas only fourth and fifth. What was extremely unexpected, was the fact, that the silver-suited drivers were a whole second off the pace! Where had Mercedes' pace suddenly disappeared? The Silver Arrows waited at their pit garage, as the Ferrari aces headed out for their final runs. Sebastian had a wobble on his final run, and the German decided to abort his lap. Charles improved his lap time on his second run and robbed the pole position of his teammate by two tenths of a second. Also Hamilton managed to make a perfect run in the end, jumping second. A provisional pole turned into P3 on the grid for Sebastian. Verstappen (P4) managed to out-qualify Bottas, whose qualifying was a disappointment. Albon qualified 6th for Red Bull, and the McLaren duo of Sainz and Norris was split by Renault's Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.

This was already the third consecutive pole position for superb Charles! Unbelievably, he has now most poles this season, as Hamilton and Bottas have four poles each. This was already the eighth consecutive time, that Charles managed to out-qualify Sebastian. Ferrari's pace surprised me truly. On paper the street circuit of Marina Bay wasn't supposed to suit the Red Team this well! Statistically, pole means a lot at this track, as following another car, not to mention overtaking, is extremely difficult. Marina Bay is a highly demanding track, as there are 23 corners and no time to rest. The walls are close, so there is absolutely no room for mistakes. The expectancy of a safety car is very high as well, so strategy plays a key role in the race. Let's see, who does the best job tomorrow! Forza Ferrari!

sunnuntai 8. syyskuuta 2019

Italian GP: Glorious back-to-back victory for Charles in front of the Tifosi!

Tifosi were cheering, as the lights went out at Monza. Pole setter Leclerc kept his head cool and took a splendid start. Bottas from P3 managed to make it ahead of teammate Hamilton, but only for a fleeting moment. Hamilton snatched his second place back. Renault's Hulkenberg made it past Sebastian, jumping to 4th. However, the Ferraris were superior in terms of the straight line speed, and Sebastian managed to claim his fourth place back later on. Verstappen, who had started to the race from the last row, oddly missed the braking point into Turn 1 and went wide on the grass. This caused Max a front wing failure, and he had to pit for a new nose cone. What a messy first lap for Max! Meanwhile, Renault's Ricciardo managed to pass teammate Hulkenberg, moving to 4th.

It seemed, that an intense battle was evolving between the top four; Charles, Hamilton, Bottas and Sebastian were all within four seconds only. However, there was drama already on lap 6. Sebastian made a mistake of his own and spun at Parabolica. He was in a rush to re-join the track as soon as possible. But when spinning his Lina around, Racing Point's Stroll came towards him in full speed! Stroll made a dodge, but couldn't avoid having contact with Sebastian's Ferrari. Stroll spun on the grass, and another close call took place, as the Canadian was about to re-join the track. This time Toro Rosso's Gasly had to make a sudden dodge, not to hit Stroll. Sebastian managed to continue the race, but obviously his race was ruined. The stewards took both incidents into investigation. Sebastian was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for re-joining the track in an unsafe manner. Stroll, on the other hand, was handed a drive through penalty for the same infringement. Kimi, too was under investigation for starting to the race on the wrong tyres. The Iceman had set his fastest lap time in Q2 on the soft tyres, but he had started to the race on the medium Pirellis. What a stupid mistake from the team! A moment later Kimi was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the tyre infringement, which ruined the Iceman's race for good.

Leclerc wasn't able to run away from the Mercedes rivals. Hamilton was 1.5s down on Charles, and teammate Bottas was within the same distance from his teammate. This was going to be an epic battle for the victory! Hamilton opened up the pit stop roulette on lap 19. The Briton opted for the medium compound, and re-joined the track in P5. Race leader Charles pitted on the following lap, for a different tyre strategy. The Monegasque re-joined the track on a fresh set of hard tyres, staying ahead of Hamilton. The Briton put extremely hard pressure on Charles, trying to force him into making a mistake. Charles passed Renault's Hulkenberg, so did Hamilton. Hamilton was already within striking distance and tried a move on defending Charles. Charles left no room for his rival, but forced him off track. The stewards gave Charles a black and white flag, which was a warning. No such move was allowed anymore!

Bottas pitted not until on lap 27. He opted for a similar tyre strategy to his teammate. Virtual safety car was deployed twice within only a few laps. At first Sainz was released from the McLaren pit box, although his front-left tyre wasn't fully attached. Sainz had to stop his car on the track. A moment later Kvyat's Toro Rosso was hit with a power unit failure, and the Russian stopped his car on the track as well.

Lap 33 saw a sad incident, where Sebastian was lapped by his teammate Charles. What a setback-filled race this was for Sebastian, who was at the back of the pack due to mistakes of his own. Kimi, too was in a disappointing P17. Verstappen, on the other hand, had made it in the points already.

Race leader Charles was under immense pressure by the five-time world champion. Charles proved to be vulnerable as well; he locked up his tyres, cutting the corner at Turn 1. Hamilton was right at the gear box of Charles' SF90, and the overtaking move was almost floating in the air. But in spite of the mistake, Charles was able to honorably defend his lead!

Bottas, who had stopped almost ten laps later than his rivals, benefited from his fresher tyres at the end of the race. As Hamilton was fighting with Charles, Valtteri managed to close the gap to the battling duo. With ten laps to go, Hamilton made a mistake, going into Turn 1. Bottas thanked for the opportunity and moved past his teammate. The Finn was determined to chase down Charles and deprive him of the victory. Hamilton, whose tyres were gone and who had nothing to lose, pitted for a second time. He re-joined the track in P3 and started to chase the fastest lap time on the new softs.

With only a couple of laps to go, Bottas had made it within DRS distance from Charles. Just being ready to try a move, he made a mistake with the braking into Turn 1, and Charles run away! Hamilton banged the fastest lap time on the second last lap. Bottas tried everything he could to be able to challenge Charles, but the Ferrari ace was too quick today. He took his second career win in front of the passionate Tifosi, which made the victory perfect. The Mercedes drivers Bottas and Hamilton completed the podium. Renault achieved a fantastic result, as Ricciardo finished 4th and teammate Hulkenberg 5th. The Red Bull duo of Albon (6th) and Verstappen (8th) was split by Racing Point's Perez. Giovinazzi made a great job for Alfa Romeo Racing by finishing 9th. McLaren's Norris scored the last point.

Sebastian's career seems to be in a crisis. This year reminds me a lot of the 2014 season, which was Sebastian's last season at Red Bull. That year new teammate Ricciardo came out clearly stronger than Sebastian, with the Australian claiming two victories compared to Sebastian's zero wins. Everything seems to work in favor of Charles at the moment, and Charles definitely deserves all the success. At the same time, everything seems to go wrong in terms of Sebastian. The setbacks have turned into a continually growing snow ball effect... How to stop that snow ball from rolling on? Sebastian's self-confidence has been undermined severely, and he needs to get it back!

Italian GP / Qualifying: Leclerc took back-to-back pole in a qualifying turned into a farce!

The F1 circus moved to Ferrari's home turf, where the grandstands were full of passionate Tifosi. The Temple of Speed is a true motor racing circuit with long straights and corners run with full throttle. It was considered to be the Red Team's kingdom, and the expectations didn't let the Tifosi down this time.

The red-suited home heroes came out on the medium rubber, whilst all rivals had the soft compound on. The Renault duo of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo was amazingly competitive, and they were topping the time sheets at the beginning of the first session. Even the Mercedes drivers were unable to match Hulkenberg's time! Bottas went second, a thousandth of a second off Hulkenberg's pace. Teammate Hamilton was third, a tenth down on the German. Sebastian and Charles made their second attempt on the mediums as well. Charles showed top form and went fastest -only a fraction before the session was red-flagged! Perez's Racing Point came to a sudden halt on the track, which brought out the red flags. There were 4:34 remaining in the clock. As the session was resumed, the Ferrari duo came out on the soft Pirellis. The order of the top four -Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Hamilton- didn't change at the closing stages of the first segment. Verstappen came out not until at the end of Q1, but reported about engine woes and came in without setting a time. The Dutch Red Bull pilot will start to the race from the very back of the pack, as he has been given a penalty for power unit elements change. In addition to Perez and Verstappen, out of Q2 were Haas' Grosjean and the Williams duo.

In Q2 there were no differing tyre strategies, but everyone opted for the red-walled soft compound. Charles had definitely held on to the momentum from the previous race, as the Monegasque went fastest again on his first run. Hamilton was second, Sebastian third and amazing Ricciardo fourth. Kimi had showed promising pace at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo, but in Q2 the latest Ferrari world champion made a fateful mistake. The Iceman lost the rear of his car at Lesmo 1, failing to get a lap time. There was traffic on the track, with two minutes remaining. Hamilton went fastest, but by 89 thousandths of a second only. Charles was second, followed by Sebastian and Ricciardo. Amazingly, Kimi made an impressive second run, which took him into Q3. The margin between Kimi in P10 and teammate Giovinazzi in P11 was minimal 0.002s! Alongside Giovinazzi eliminated were Haas' Magnussen, the Toro Rosso duo of Kvyat and Gasly and McLaren's Norris.

The decisive segment turned into a farce. No driver wanted to be the leading car on the track, due to losing valuable tenths for not getting the tow from other cars. To avoid being the first car on track, the drivers ended up doing weird things. The Mercedes pilots came out of their pit garages first, but they stopped at the pit exit! Sebastian, who was now forced to be the leading driver, made a fake lock-up into Turn 1, cutting the corner. His strategy didn't work, as all the other drivers followed him, cutting the corner as well! So the German had to set his fastest lap time first. His flying lap was controversial, as it seemed, that he had exceeded the track limits with all four wheels at Turn 11, which had been prohibited by the stewards. Q3 saw another fateful mistake by the Iceman. A spin threw Kimi into the tyre wall, and the session was red-flagged, with 6:35 in the clock. Just before the red flags Charles had gone fastest. Hamilton was second, 0.039s down on the Monegasque. Bottas had had to slow down due to the yellow flags, with the Finn being on his way to provisional pole. However, the Finn's time was third fastest anyway. Sebastian was fourth, 0.15s down on his teammate. Ricciardo in P5 was half a second off the pace. At the end of the session, drivers' determination to avoid being the first man on track reached a whole new dimension. The clock was ticking, but everyone stayed in their pit garage! Renault's Hulkenberg finally led the cars out, but there were only two minutes left in the clock. This indicated serious trouble in terms of starting the flying lap in time. Hulkenberg, too cut the corner at Turn 1, but in spite of overtaking the German, the others slowed down and waited for Hulkenberg to re-join the track in the lead. At the end, Charles and McLaren's Sainz were the only drivers to make it to the chequered flag in time! And Charles had no need to improve his lap time, as he was on pole already! What a ridiculous farce this qualifying turned out!

In spite of the farce, Charles definitely deserved his back-to-back pole. Hamilton will start to the race alongside the super fast Monegasque. Sebastian's flying lap was taken into investigation by the stewards, but the German got to keep his fourth place alongside Bottas. The Renault duo made a superb job by locking down the third row, with Ricciardo having the upper hand on his teammate. Kimi's car has had a gear box change and a power unit upgrade, which means, that the Iceman will start to the race from the pit lane. Verstappen, who will also start from the back of the pack, will certainly offer a great overtaking show. One thing is for sure: Charles will have to fight extremely hard to convert pole into another victory, as Mercedes' race pace is frighteningly competitive!

sunnuntai 1. syyskuuta 2019

Belgian GP: Emotional maiden win for Leclerc!

The F1 drivers came to the paddock today with heavy hearts. Yesterday's F2 race had seen a fatal crash at Raidillon on lap 2, which led to the death of young and talented French racing driver Anthoine Hubert. There was a touching one-minute silence before the Belgian national anthem. The late Hubert was a close friend of pole-setter Leclerc, who wanted to win the race in memory of his friend.

The start was eventful, which is typical of Spa. Leclerc took a fantastic start and maintained his lead. Hamilton's start was brilliant, too, and the Briton made it ahead of Sebastian, climbing up to Eau Rouge. However, Ferrari's straight line speed was superior compared to the silver cars, and Sebastian snatched his second place back on the long straight. Once again Verstappen, who started to the race from P5, had a lousy start. He lost two positions right away, trying to compensate his loss, going into Eau Rouge. He dived into the inside of Kimi, where there was no room at all. Verstappen crashed into Kimi's Alfa Romeo, making Kimi's car jump into air and landing on two wheels. The crash damaged the front suspension of Verstappen's RB15, which made the aggressive Dutchman to crash out into the tyre wall at Eau Rouge. What a stupid and desperate move from Verstappen! Safety car was deployed, and Kimi pitted for a new nose cone. However, there was severe damage in the floor of Kimi's Alfa Romeo. The Iceman pitted for the second time on the sequential lap, this time for a fresh set of yellow-walled medium Pirellis. The Finn re-joined the track at the very back of the pack. The safety car stayed out a bit longer than intended, as McLaren's Sainz also faced DNF.

As the race was back on, Leclerc had a firm lead, with teammate Sebastian second. Hamilton was third, followed by teammate Bottas and McLaren's Norris, who had made it from P11 up to P5. Due to yesterday's tragic events, Leclerc had to work extra hard to keep up his concentration. He locked up his tyres going to Les Combes, which caused him to cut the corner. Nevertheless, Sebastian wasn't able to decrease the gap to his teammate.

Sebastian was the first top driver to pit on lap 15. He switched to the medium compound and re-joined the track in P5. After his pit stop Sebastian was absolutely flying. His lap times were significantly better than the top three's. It seemed, that Sebastian was going to take the lead, when his rivals pitted!

It was absolutely heart-warming to see, how the crowd got up to give standing ovation for Anthoine Hubert on lap 19, which was his racing number. Meanwhile, Kimi was really struggling with the performance of his car. Unfortunately the Iceman seemed like a bowl, which got passed one driver by another. A spectacular start had turned into a disappointing P16.

Race leader Charles came in not until on lap 20. Similar to his teammate, he switched to the medium compound. Sebastian benefited from the undercut, and Charles re-joined the track behind his teammate, in spite of a flawless pit stop. The Mercedes duo pitted on the sequential laps for a similar tyre choice. Hamilton maintained his third place, and teammate Bottas stayed in fourth. Charles was significantly faster than Sebastian, although the teammates were on the same rubber. Charles was rapidly catching his teammate.

The tables have turned at Ferrari, as Sebastian was given a team order on lap 26; he was told to let Charles past. The German obeyed, and Charles was back in the lead. Sebastian was in serious trouble with his out-worn medium tyres, which had degraded faster than he had hoped. Hamilton's pace on the medium Pirellis was frighteningly competitive, and the Briton was catching Sebastian lap by lap. Sebastian reported on the team radio, that his tyres weren't going to last till the end. The German was likely to be forced to make a second pit stop.

By lap 29 Hamilton was right at Sebastian's tail. It was only thanks to Ferrari's splendid straight line speed, that Sebastian was able to defend his position. But on lap 32 Hamilton managed to squeeze himself extremely close to Sebastian, and thanks to DRS, the Briton snatched the second place from Sebastian. Immediately there was a new danger lurking from behind: Bottas, who was on a hunt. But as the Finn was on a striking distance from the struggling German, Sebastian drove into the pits for the second time. He re-joined the track on a fresh set of soft tyres in P4. It was a disappointing turn, as it had seemed earlier, that he had an excellent chance to win the race... But success just disappeared in the air.

With ten laps to go, Charles had a seven-second lead to Hamilton, so the Monegasque's maiden win seemed quite secured. Sebastian set the fastest lap time on lap 37. Nevertheless, the gap to Bottas was far too massive (18 seconds) to be caught up. Meanwhile, the battle in the midfield was extremely intense and tight. The Red Bull debutant Albon managed to pass Toro Rosso's Kvyat, making it P7 already. Kimi's teammate Giovinazzi was driving a great race as well; the Italian made an overtaking move on Toro Rosso's Gasly, making it in the points. A lap later he attacked Renault's Ricciardo, claiming P9 already.

On the closing laps Charles' tyres were dying. Hamilton smelled the Ferrari ace's blood, determinedly closing the gap tenth by tenth. With three laps to go, the gap between the top two was under 2.5 seconds already. Hamilton was able to decrease the gap especially on the second sector, which consisted of corners mostly. On the second last lap, the gap was only 1.5 seconds. Would Hamilton be able to try an overtaking move on Charles?

The penultimate lap was highly dramatic. Norris, who was driving a superb race in P5, suffered a sudden loss of power on the very last lap, with his orange McLaren coming to a halt. It was such a shame, that a great result turned into P11 and no points. Also Giovinazzi, who was on his way to the points finish, crashed out on the very last lap, due to a mistake of his own! The yellow flags meant, that Hamilton missed his chance to try a move on Charles. Charles took his well-deserved maiden win at legendary Spa Francorchamps. Hamilton finished the runner-up, only less than a second behind. Bottas completed the podium, and Sebastian was left in P4. Albon drove a strong first race for Red Bull, finishing fifth. Perez finished sixth for Racing Point and Kvyat seventh for Toro Rosso. Renault's Hulkenberg, Toro Rosso's Gasly and Racing Point's Stroll rounded out the top ten.

Is Charles the new number one driver at Ferrari? Sebastian still seems to struggle with his performance, for one reason or another. His strategy wasn't perfect today, but I can't help wondering, why Sebastian's pace on the medium tyres was so poor compared to his teammate's pace on the same compound. Charles was clearly the faster one of the red-suited drivers the whole weekend. Next week the F1 circus moves to Monza, "the temple of speed", which is expected to be the Red Team's territory as well. Hope to see another red victory, preferably by Sebastian!


lauantai 31. elokuuta 2019

Belgian GP / Qualifying: Leclerc led Ferrari to a front row lock-out!

What a delight, that F1 is finally back from the four-week summer break! The legendary old school circuit of Spa Francorchamps was the perfect venue to kick off the second half of the season. Against the odds, the weather was perfect as well. The sun was shining, and there were scorching 29 degrees Celsius, as the qualifying got underway.

The championship leader Hamilton had crashed out at Turn 12 in the last free practice session, which was a rarely-seen mistake from the five-time world champion. The mechanics were still working on the Briton's car, as the light turned green for Q1. However, the first session had a dramatic start. Kubica's Williams was hit with a sudden power unit failure, which saw a dramatic smoke cloud around the car, with also flames coming out of the rear of the Pole's Williams. The session was red-flagged, which gave the Mercedes mechanics some extra time to get Hamilton's car fixed for the qualifying. As the session was resumed, Verstappen reported on the team radio, that he had a problem of the car not responding to the throttle. Ferraris had topped all three practice sessions; their straight line pace was utterly in a class of their own. Leclerc went fastest, edging his teammate Sebastian by half a second. However, Bottas in third was unbelievable 1.5s off the leading Ferrari's pace! On the first sector alone, the red cars were six to seven tenths faster than the Silver Arrows! It felt so incredible to see such a difference in favor of the Italian team, as all pole positions at Spa during the modern turbo hybrid era have been conquered by a Mercedes driver. Red Bull managed to get Verstappen's RB15 back to top form by the end of the session, and the flying Dutchman went third fastest at the end of the first segment. His new teammate Albon, who had been promoted to Red Bull from Toro Rosso during the summer break, was sixth fastest in Q1. Gasly, who had been demoted back to the sister team Toro Rosso, was the first driver to miss out on Q2. The session was red-flagged again, with less than a minute remaining in the clock, as Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi was also hit with a power unit failure. Out with Gasly went McLaren's Sainz, the Frenchman's teammate Kvyat and the Williams duo of Russell and Kubica.

The start of the second session was slightly delayed due to Giovinazzi's incident. All top teams came out on the red-walled soft Pirellis. The young Ferrari ace continued, where he had left off in the first session. Once again he set the screens purple and went fastest, pipping his teammate by a tenth only. Unbelievably, the Silver Arrows were toothless against the Ferraris, with Hamilton third and Bottas fourth. Verstappen was fifth, also dearly missing the straight line speed. Kimi had set an extremely impressive lap time, as the Iceman in P6 was only eight thousandths of a second down on Verstappen! Kimi is called "the king of Spa" for a reason indeed! Albon hadn't set a competitive lap time towards the end of the session, but the Thai driver wasn't even targeting to get into Q3. Due to multiple power unit element changes, Albon is going to start to the race from the very back of the grid anyway. At the closing stages of the second segment, both red-suited drivers improved their lap times, with Leclerc maintaining the upper hand on his teammate. However, Sebastian' gap to Charles was a minimal 0.099s. In addition to Albon and Giovinazzi, Haas' Grosjean, McLaren's Norris and Racing Point's Perez were eliminated from the last segment.

Leclerc was absolutely determined to go for pole. He laid down a marker early in the final segment, going fastest in the first runs. Hamilton was second fastest, six tenths down on Charles. Sebastian made a mistake on his first attempt, which left him massive eight tenths off his teammate's pace. Bottas was fourth and Verstappen fifth. Renault showed impressive performance, with Ricciardo 6th after the first runs. Kimi had made his first flyer on a used set of softs, and the Iceman was only 8th. As the two previous sessions had indicated, there was no one to challenge Leclerc for pole. The Monegasque improved his lap time by a tenth on his last flyer. Sebastian managed to improve, too, and the German made it a front row lock-out for the Scuderia. Nevertheless, Sebastian was massive seven tenths off Charles' pace! Sebastian's last flyer had left a little to hope for, as he had locked up his tyres, but it was so great to see the red cars conquer the front row! The Silver Arrows were left on the second row, with Hamilton having the upper hand on teammate Bottas, whose contract with Mercedes had just been renewed for the 2020 season. Verstappen in fifth was 1.1s down on pole-setter Charles, which was a bit surprising. The Renault duo of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg qualified 6th and 7th, but both of them have been handed a 5-place grid penalty for power unit element changes. That makes Kimi jump 6th on the grid!

Charles will start on pole for the third time in his career. Mercedes' long-run pace was slightly better than Ferrari's on Friday's practice, so they might have a real chance to challenge the red cars for the victory. Sebastian has had a long dry season, as he took his last win at Spa last year. The weather forecast says, that the temperature will drop by ten degrees by tomorrow, and there might be some rain on the way... So there might be some surprises as well.


torstai 8. elokuuta 2019

Hungarian GP: Verstappen wasn't quite able to turn maiden pole into victory!

The Ferrari motor home was utterly impressive.
I had the unforgettable experience to watch the Hungarian GP live at Hungaroring. It is always a dream come true to get into the F1 world! I had a chance to watch the first free practice session at the Ferrari garage. It was absolutely awesome to follow, how the mechanics worked on Sebastian's car. Charles tested the new floor on his SF90 first, and it took half an hour, as the mechanics changed the new floor to Sebastian's Lina. I didn't understand the technical details, what the mechanics were actually doing, but I enjoyed watching all the action so closely. I was absolutely touched, that Sebastian came to me to say a few words in the middle of the practice session.
After the FP1 I had a chat with Sebastian's physio Antti.

Of course I had to take a look at the drivers' parking area!

The qualifying session was a memorable one! Charles had a shunt in the first session, which caused major damage to his rear wing. The Red Team made an amazing job, managing to fix it in time for Q2. The top teams' pace seemed very evenly matched, as all five drivers -Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Leclerc and Vettel- were all within three tenths of a second only! Q2 saw the familiar tyre strategy in terms of the top teams, which opted for the yellow-walled medium compound.

The battle for pole gave me chills. Verstappen laid his hands on provisional pole on his first flyer. The flying Dutchman was absolutely on fire, improving his lap time on his second run. Bottas, who was in P2 after his first attempt, also managed to improve on his last run. It was extremely tight, but Max made it on pole by 0.018s to the Finn! It was such a joy to see Max take his maiden pole at Hungaroring! Hamilton was left third this time. Unfortunately the red cars didn't have enough pace to fight for pole; Charles qualified fourth and Sebastian fifth. In spite of his shunt, Charles managed to out-qualify his teammate, which caught me by surprise.
Sebastian on the start/finish straight at Hungaroring.

I wanted to take a photo with "Max the lion", although some Verstappen fans thought, that the lion shouldn't have agreed to take a photo with me! :D :D :D

The top three of the qualifying.
It was so thrilling to see the start in front of my very eyes! This time Verstappen took a superb start, maintaining his lead. Now it was Bottas, who struggled with his start. The Finn locked up his tyres at first two corners, and he had contact with both his teammate and Leclerc! He lost positions to both drivers. Due to the contact with Charles, Bottas had severe damage to his front wing. Even Sebastian managed to pass Bottas, who dropped down to P5 in no time. Surprisingly, Bottas didn't pit until on lap 6 for a new nose cone and a fresh set of hard tyres. He re-joined the track at the very back of the pack. 

Race leader Verstappen opened the pit stop roulette in terms of the top drivers. The Dutchman opted for hard rubber, and re-joined the track in P2. Ferrari called Charles in for a similar tyre strategy. However, Hamilton came in not until on lap 31, opting for hard Pirellis as well. After his pit stop Hamilton was six seconds down on Verstappen, but started "hammertime" immediately. It didn't take many laps, until Verstappen was in serious trouble with storming Hamilton. It was absolutely hair-raising to watch, how the Briton was right at Max's tail, lurking for a chance to get past! Hamilton even made a move, ending up wide, so Max was able to maintain his lead. However, it seemed to be only a matter of time, that Hamilton was going to snatch the lead... 

Sebastian was on a different tyre strategy. The German pitted on lap 40, for a fresh set of soft tyres. Unfortunately there was an issue with attaching one of the front tyres, which cost Sebastian some extra seconds. Sebastian re-joined the track in P4. To my surprise, Hamilton pitted for the second time on lap 49, switching to the medium compound. The Briton was 20 seconds down on race leader Verstappen, but Hamilton started to set the screens purple lap after lap... He was absolutely determined to hunt down Verstappen by the end of the race. 

With only three laps to go, Hamilton had closed the gap to Max, who was lacking grip due to his outworn tyres. In the end, it was easy for Hamilton to swipe past Verstappen, who had no chance to defend his lead. A wave of disappointment hit me that moment. To be honest, I would have wanted to see Max win the race! But this time Hamilton was on a better strategy. Max pitted on the sequential lap, switching to a fresh set of soft tyres. Max was going for the fastest lap time. Meanwhile, Sebastian had also closed the gap to his teammate, whose tyres were gone. Sebastian moved past Charles, claiming P3. 

At the end of the day, Hamilton cruised to victory with a 17-second gap to Verstappen, who finished the runner-up. I was very delighted to see Sebastian completing the podium, leaving his teammate fourth. Sainz finished fifth for Renault, Gasly sixth for Red Bull and Kimi seventh for Alfa Romeo Racing. In the end, Bottas was able to make it eighth, but Hamilton increased his championship lead into 62 points already.
The starting grid for the Hungarian GP.

Podium: Hamilton 1st, Verstappen 2nd and Sebastian 3rd.
Now it's time for the four-week summer break. I really enjoyed my time in the hectic F1 world from the bottom of my heart. For those four days I forgot all my worries. I wish I could attend a GP weekend more often! Nevertheless, I'm extremely grateful, that I had a chance to attend the Hungarian GP <3 It was a perfect way to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary with my husband!
Me and my husband enjoyed every second at Hungaroring.

Charles Leclerc left Hungaroring in his blue Ferrari.

Pole-setter Verstappen leaving the track in his Aston Martin.

Sebastian didn't leave, until it was already dark.