Horner summoned and given warning by FIA after ‘rogue marshal’ comment

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Christian Horner has been given an official warning after calling into question the competence of marshals at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was handed a five-place grid penalty after not slowing during the Pierre Gasly incident which occurred during yesterday’s qualifying session, the Dutchman maintaining his pace despite waved yellow flags. Red Bull boss Christian Horner was forthright in his views on the matter when speaking to Sky F1 earlier today, putting it it as a “rogue marshal”. “We’re really struggling to understand it,” Horner said to Sky Sports. “It looks like a complete balls-up. The FIA have effectively said, ‘Play on, the circuit is safe, it’s clear.’ Max was in the first sector, we had so much time to look at it. The dash, everything for him, if indicated otherwise, we would of course, had informed him. “Unfortunately there’s a yellow flag — he just didn’t see it. He saw the white one (panel), he saw the car, he even saw a green light on the right-hand side. I think it’s just a rogue marshal that stuck a flag out. He’s not instructed to by the FIA — they’ve got to have control of the marshals. It’s as simple as that. That’s a crucial blow in the championship for us. We’re now starting P7 at a track you can’t overtake at. That is massive. “What’s frustrating is that the race director has said, ‘Get on, it’s fine, it’s a safe track, finish your laps.’ All the signals that we have say that the track is safe, even the slippery surface is gone, so there’s nothing to communicate to the driver. I think there needs to be some grown-ups make grown-up decisions.” Red Bull’s young driver guru Helmut Marko wasn’t much softer with his words. “It’s ridiculous. You know the FIA can’t organise a proper marshalling system and they are hiding their incompetence on the shoulders of the driver. Unbelievable.” The comments weren’t warmly received by the FIA, which duly summoned Horner to the Stewards office as soon as the flag fell in Losail for allegedly being in breach of the International Sporting Code – specifically Articles 12.2.1 f) and 12.2.1 k), in relation to competitors conduct. The two articles concerned say an offence is committed if a competitor has issued: “Any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motor sport and on the values defended by the FIA.” After apologising to the Stewards, Horner was issued with a warning. “Team Principal (Christian Horner)[…]explained his reaction was one that was made under the pressure of competition following the penalty imposed on the driver of Car 33,” an FIA statement said. “The Stewards explained that the marshal concerned was doing his job in precisely the way prescribed in the International Sporting Code. “Mr Horner offered to apologise to the marshal concerned and explain to the media he meant no offence. “He also offered to participate in the 2022 FIA International Stewards Programme in early February.” Prior to the hearing, Horner was apologetic when interviewed by Sky after the race. “Some comments from our interview earlier, where you asked me about the marshalling – marshals do a wonderful, wonderful job and volunteers, they do a great job and my frustration in what I voiced earlier wasn’t a marshal’s [fault] it was a circumstance and so if any offence was taken by any individual then obviously I apologise,” he said. When Damon Hill suggested that Horner is “quite punchy” with comments he makes in the media, the Red Bull boss replied: “I’m straight, I tell you what I think. If I think you’re being an a* I’ll tell you you’re being an a*.” Tensions have been mounting in the F1 paddock as the title fight between Mercedes and Red Bull has intensified, with Horner earlier this week accusing the Brackley squad of contravening rules by using an alleged flexi-wing, saying the team’s speed was “not normal”

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Hamilton wins Qatar GP cutting Verstappen’s championship lead down to 8 points – Race results

Kevin Peterson010 mins

Lewis Hamilton claimed a dominant victory at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix to close in on Formula 1 title rival Max Verstappen in the championship, as the Red Bull driver recovered to second. Hamilton led from start to finish with a commanding drive to convert pole position into his seventh victory of the season to further cut Verstappen’s championship advantage with his second consecutive win. A superb start helped Verstappen overcome a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect double waved yellow flags in qualifying as the Dutchman charged from seventh to second in just five laps. While Verstappen was never really in contention to challenge Hamilton, he importantly took the fastest lap bonus point to hold an eight-point championship lead heading into the final two rounds. A one-stopping Fernando Alonso turned in a stunning drive to claim his first F1 podium since 2014 as he finished third for Alpine. Sergio Perez had a strong start and moved up into 8th, progressing further ahead past Sainz and later Ocon to be 6th by lap 8. Valtteri Bottas on the other hand had a very poor start from the dirty side of the track and found himself in 12th after the first lap. In stark contrast, Verstappen got past Gasly when he went wide on the final corner of lap 2, followed by an easy DRS pass on Alonso another lap later. At the time, the gap with Hamilton was 3.3s as Mercedes soon requested Hamilton to “at least” maintain this gap. On lap 10, when Tsunoda and Raikkonen had already pitted to exchange their soft tyres for fresh mediums, Hamilton had 5.77s in hand. Alonso meanwhile on the soft tyres dropped back rapidly, trailing Verstappen by 17s. Gasly failed to keep up even that pace and got passed by Norris for 4th that same lap. Perez soon did the same to take 5th and then 4th by passing Norris. Gasly on the other hand got pitted on lap 13 to switch his dying soft tyres with a fresh set of medium compound Pirellis. Roundabout that time, Bottas also seemed to have come alive as well, steadily making up positions to end up in 7th. On lap 17, Verstappen pitted to take on hards, followed by Hamilton the next lap do do the same. Both retained their positions as Alonso and Norris in 3rd and 4th were stretching their first stints on their soft tyres. As Norris got company from Bottas, he lost some pace trying to defend his position, helping to further increase Alonso’s advantage to P4. When Bottas eventually made it past the McLaren, the gap to the Spanish Alpine driver ahead amounted 11 seconds. Alonso then pitted on lap 23 of 57, changing to hard tyres and rejoining the race in 8th, 4s behind Leclerc and coming out just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Ocon shadowed the same pitstop the next lap, ending up in 12th. At the very front, the gap between Hamilton and Verstappen remained largely the same as both drivers exchanged fastest laps and drove away from everybody else. In the battler for fourth, Sainz first got out of the way of Alonso by pitting and then Leclerc missed his braking point to give Alonso an easy pass. It took Perez a little bit longer, but he too got past the Ferrari driver half a lap later before passing Alonso around Turn 1 after a DRS draft on the main straight. On lap 33, Bottas suffered a puncture and ended up in the gravel trap. He managed to continue and return to the pits, but by the time he arrived there, he got passed by Perez and Alonso. The Finn got a new front wing and hard tyres, rejoining the track down in 14th, one lap down on race leader Hamilton. On lap 40, Verstappen pitted to take on a fresh set of medium tyres while maintaining position. The same lap, Perez pitted as well, rejoining the track in 7th on used medium tyres. Without surprise, Mercedes shadowed Verstappen’s pitstop one lap later, switching to a set of used medium tyres. These stops brought Alonso back up in fourth, 35s behind Verstappen. Norris followed in 4th, halfway in the 14s gap between both Alpines. Lance Stroll was 6th with Perez closing up quickly on his new mediums. Perez quickly got past Stroll with DRS on the main straight, and despite having been asked to defend with “elbows out”, Ocon really had nothing to keep Perez behind. Lando Norris then pitted from 4th to take on new medium tyres. At the same moment, Russell pitted with a broken front wing and took on soft tyres and Bottas was told to pit and retire the car. A single lap later, Latifi found himself with a punctured front left tyre. As the Canadian had just passed the pit entry, he retired from the race at the end of the race. Meanwhile, Alonso was asked to avoid the kerbs in high-speed corners as he tried to nurse his tyres and maintain fourth ahead of a charging Perez. 3 laps from the end, a VSC period is started to get Latifi’s Williams cleared off the track. During this period, Verstappen pitted for softs, securing the fastest lap of the race in the final lap as the VSC ended just in time. As Hamilton won, Alonso was voted as driver of the day as he returned to the podium after a 7-year draught, making for a brilliant result for Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship as well. Qatar Grand Prix Full Race Results Pos. No. Driver Car Laps Time Pts 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 1:24:28.471 25 2 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 57 +25.743s 19* 3 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault 57 +59.457s 15 4 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 57 +62.306s 12 5 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 57 +80.570s 10 6 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 57 +81.274s 8 7 55 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 57 +81.911s 6 8…

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Horner blames Verstappen grid penalty on ‘rogue marshal’

Kevin Peterson05 mins

Red Bull has blamed a “rogue marshal” for Max Verstappen receiving a five-place grid penalty for Formula 1’s inaugural Qatar Grand Prix and has demanded that the FIA has “better control of their marshals”. Verstappen improved on his final qualifying lap to qualify second but passed double-waved yellow flags that were out for Pierre Gasly’s stricken AlphaTauri. The stewards met four hours before the start of the grand prix on Sunday to discuss the incident with Verstappen and his team. Although Red Bull argued that there was no trackside light panel or yellow flag on his dashboard display, the stewards noted that Verstappen ignored the physical double-waved yellow flags that require the drivers to react. Therefore the stewards said they had no choice but to award the usual five-place drop for ignoring double-waved yellows, moving Verstappen down to seventh on the grid. The decision was finally announced 90 minutes before the start of the race and led to immediate fury from Red Bull Christian Horner when he spoke to SkySports F1 about the penalty. “I’m struggling to understand it,” Horner said. “The race director [Michael Masi] effectively said ‘play on, it’s safe, it’s clear’. “Max was at the beginning of the lap, in the first sector, so he has so much time to look at it. Otherwise, we’d have informed him. Unfortunately, there’s a yellow flag, he just didn’t see it, he even saw a green light on the right-hand side [in the pitlane]. “I think it’s just a rogue marshal that’s stuck a flag out, he’s not been instructed to by the FIA, they’ve got to have control of their marshals, it’s as simple as that, because that’s a crucial blow in this world championship for us. “Now he’s starting P7 at a track you can’t overtake at. That is massive.” Horner admitted that there’s “no point” in appealing the decision with such little time before the start of the grand prix, and expressed his frustration that Sainz was not penalised for failing to slow for yellow flags like Verstappen and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was. “What I really don’t understand is Carlos Sainz has done exactly the same thing,” Horner explained. “He hasn’t seen it, driven straight past, gone past with his DRS open, fully planted, he’s lifted about 10 meters before the line and that’s OK.” The stewards report indicated that Sainz hadn’t seen the yellow flag as Horner stated, but he did “make a significant reduction in his speed in the relevant mini-sector” when he saw Gasly’s stricken car. Horner said there “needs to be some grown decisions made by grown-ups” and fumed that the “race director should have control of the circuit”.

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Confirmed starting grid for Qatar GP after penalties

Kevin Peterson02 mins

The top order of the Qatar Grand Prix starting grid has been shaken up in the wake of penalties for Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton will start the inaugural race at the Losail International Circuit from pole position, his first in nine races and the 102nd of his F1 career. But he will be joined on the front row by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly whose puncture in the final moments of qualifying sparked investigations into Verstappen and Bottas. Red Bull driver and championship leader Verstappen drops five places from second to seventh after being found guilty of ignoring double-waved yellow flags as Gasly’s stricken car crawled slowly onto the main straight. Bottas has been handed a three-place penalty for not seeing single-yellow flags and drops to sixth from third. As Bottas completed his timed lap first, his penalty was also applied before Verstappen’s. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has avoided a penalty for an alleged single yellow-flag breach and will start fifth.

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Bottas gets a three-place grid penalty for yellow flags breach in Qatar

Kevin Peterson03 mins

The Qatar stewards have announced that Valtteri Bottas will drop 3 places on the grid for today’s Qatar Grand Prix. Of the three drivers summoned by the stewards post-qualifying, the Finn was the last to be seen, however his was the first ‘verdict’ to be announced. Having reviewed video, telemetry and the marshalling system evidence, the stewards head that Bottas admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at Flag Point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that Pierre Gasly was stationary on the pit straight. Deeming the failure to respect the single yellow flag a breach of Appendix H, Art. 2.5.5.b) of the FIA International Sporting Code and noncompliance with Race Director’s Event Notes 7.2, the stewards deem that Bottas drops of 3 grid positions and is handed 1 penalty point, bringing his 12 month total to 5. Bottas was shown a single waved yellow flag as he approached the start/finish line at the end of his final flying lap in Q3, due to Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri which was stopped beside the pit wall. The stewards said the Mercedes driver “admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at flag point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that car 10 [Gasly] was stationary on the pit straight,” the stewards noted. The penalties for Verstappen and Bottas will promote Gasly, who originally qualified fourth, to the front row of the grid for today’s race.

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Max Verstappen handed a five-place grid penalty for yellow-flags breach in Qatar

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen’s title hopes have been dealt a blow after the Dutchman was hit with a five-place grid penalty before the Qatar Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver was set to start second on the grid alongside rival Lewis Hamilton, who secured pole position as Mercedes took charge in Doha. Now Hamilton has been gifted a chance to close the 14-point gap on Verstappen in the title race with the Dutchman now starting seventh at the Losail International Circuit. Verstappen drops back as a result of an incident at the end of qualifying, where a puncture for the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly caused confusion on track and he did not slow down sufficiently under double-waved yellow flags. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admits the decision is “massive” in the fight for the championship this season. “We are struggling to understand it. There was a yellow flag, he [Verstappen] just didn’t see it,” he told Sky Sports F1. “It’s a rogue marshall that stuck out a flag out. He wasn’t told to do so. This is a crucial blow in the world championship. It is massive.” Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas — who qualified third — was hit with a similar punishment, only taking a three-place penalty as he failed to slow under single-waved yellows. Gasly now starts second with Fernando Alonso in the Alpine third on the grid. The British driver admitted that he was delighted with his final lap on Saturday that secured pole in the inaugural race in Qatar. “I was off [the pace] yesterday so really had to dig deep. I was here ’til midnight working late,” he said. “We found a lot of areas I could improve, made some changes for final practice and it seemed to work. “You have to try to carry that through into qualifying. We didn’t have any traffic and that last lap was beautiful. This track is amazing to drive — all medium and fast corners.”

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Hamilton questions the clarity of F1 rules after Sao Paulo

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Lewis Hamilton said Formula One’s racing rules were unclear after Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen went unpunished for defensively forcing him off the track in Brazil last weekend. The seven-times world champion said a lengthy drivers’ meeting with race director Michael Masi at the Qatar Grand Prix provided no clarification on overtaking and what would be seen as ‘hard and fair racing’ and what would be penalised. “No. It’s not clear. Every driver I think, except for Max, was asking about it just for clarity. But it wasn’t very clear,” Hamilton told reporters. “It’s still not clear what the limits of the track are. It’s clearly not the white line any more, when overtaking. So we just go for it.” “We just ask for consistency. So if it’s the same as the last race then that should be the same for all of us in those scenarios.” Hamilton, who had to run completely off track at Interlagos as Verstappen defended against an overtaking move by braking late and also going wide, said there was no assurance on consistency. “It’s not clear. It could be different with different stewards, is what they said,” he added. Verstappen, who leads Hamilton by 14 points, said the situation was ultimately “pretty clear” and felt there was no need to discuss details in the media. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports television that the stewards taking no action against Verstappen’s aggressive defence in Sao Paulo could have repercussions. Mercedes had tried to force a review of the stewards’ decision not to penalise Verstappen but were denied on grounds that new video evidence was not significant. read more “In my opinion, what it says is you can just launch yourself into a corner and drag the other car out of line. And that obviously can lead to quite some dirtier driving going forward,” said Wolff. “We don’t want to have a messy situation tomorrow, in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, because that would be really bad.”

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Leon Haslam to miss Indonesia finale due to shoulder injury

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Leon Haslam has been forced to miss the remainder of this weekend’s Indonesia WorldSBK, his last race weekend as a world championship rider due to a shoulder injury. The 2018 BSB champion had been dealing with the injury over the last few rounds which led to surgery following last month’s San Juan round. This all comes after a very strong opening day for Haslam and Honda as he finished sixth overall in Mandalika, while team-mate Alvaro Bautista was two places higher in P4. Despite being just three tenths off championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu who dominated proceedings, the team cited a lack of strength and pain as the major reasons why Haslam will miss the final two days. Haslam himself called Friday’s running the best of the year aboard the CBR1000RR-R despite the injury, a situation he called ‘a big disappointment’. “It’s a big disappointment to not be able to race here this weekend. This circuit has been fantastic, especially for the Honda and I was up inside the top six after FP2 despite my injury,” added Haslam. “We were only 0.3 of a second from the fastest so, of all this year’s rounds and even in my current condition, this was probably the best Friday we’ve had, so being unable to race is very disappointing. “I really wanted to round out the season and my time with the team on a positive note, but the guys have been amazing and very supportive of my shoulder injury. “I simply didn’t expect to be in this much pain and that, combined with a lack of strength, means we cannot race this weekend, but I really want to thank Honda, HRC and the entire team because everyone’s been fantastic all season long.”

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Indonesia WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu takes pole as Rea locks out the front row – Qualifying results

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Toprak Razgatlioglu was right at the front on his first flying lap, whilst Championship rival Jonathan Rea took second place after his first attempt. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was third whilst Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) was up in fourth ahead of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). The first run saw most riders head out on the Q tyre, eager to get a banker lap in with the spots of rain in the air. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) were notable outliers as they used the SCX tyre but were both inside the top ten after their initial efforts. With just over six minutes to go, everyone headed back out to try and go for a quick lap time, with Jonathan Rea leading the field around the 4.3km Pertamina Mandalika Circuit. The reigning six-time World Champion meant business as he put in a storming lap of a 1’33.201, the fastest lap we’d seen of the weekend. Scott Redding was next up, he took second provisionally but all eyes were on Razgatlioglu once again, with the Turkish rider storming to pole, with a 1’32.877 seeing him become the first and only rider to get into the 1’32 bracket. With Andrea Dosoli and Kenan Sofuoglu watching on and applauding accordingly, Razgatlioglu took pole ahead of Rea and Redding. The same three it has been all year at the forefront of the grid. Having been third all the way through Free Practice, Garrett Gerloff took fourth, his joint-best Superpole result of 2021 as he looks revitalised and rejuvenated ahead of racing action in Indonesia, coming at the right time as he is in the battle for Best Independent. Fifth place honours went to Andrea Locatelli, with three Yamahas inside the top five. Locatelli has steadily improved over the course of the Pirelli Indonesian Round weekend and, along with Gerloff, will hope to see if they can help Razgatlioglu out in the title battle, should he need it. Completing the second row with a last lap pushing him up the order, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) returned with a bang. Heading up the third row, revelation Axel Bassani will look to get in the fight for Best Independent with Gerloff, as well as support the likes of Scott Redding in Ducati’s quest for the Manufacturers’ Championship. Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) was eighth, his joint-best Superpole result of the season as he looks to close the Honda WorldSBK chapter of his career on a high. Ninth place went to Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), with both the BMWs inside the top ten. It was an impressive showing from Leandro Mercado, who consolidated his pace from the last few rounds by taking a season-best Superpole result of tenth, his first top ten on the grid after Superpole since Magny-Cours 2017, when he was second. In his final round as a rider, Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) was 11th, ahead of an impressive showing from Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha), who took a career-best Superpole result of 12th. Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was 13th as he continued to show his potential, whilst it was a Superpole session to forget for Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), with the Italian, who is fourth in the Championship and just eight points ahead of rookie rival Andrea Locatelli, finishing 14th after setting just two laps, the fewest of anyone. There’ll be plenty of work to do from there. Samuele Cavalieri (Barni Racing Team) was 15th, ahead of Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Oliver König (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing). Leon Haslam (Team HRC) was declared unfit after a right shoulder functional impairment halted his weekend, whilst Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) suffered a crash in FP3 and was ruled out with a right acromioclavicular separation. WORLD SUPERBIKE MANDALIKA, INDONESIA – SUPERPOLE QUALIFYING RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha 1:32.877s 2 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.324s 3 Scott Redding GBR Aruba.It Ducati +0.379s 4 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha +0.688s 5 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha +0.711s 6 Tom Sykes GBR Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +0.795s 7 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +0.898s 8 Alvaro Bautista SPA Team HRC +1.174s 9 Michael Van Der Mark NED Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +1.203s 10 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing +1.277s 11 Chaz Davies GBR GoEleven Ducati +1.550s 12 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Yamaha +1.554s 13 Isaac Vinales SPA Orelac Racing Kawasaki +1.561s 14 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Ducati +1.622s 15 Samuele Cavalieri SPA Barni Ducati +1.700s 16 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +1.783s 17 Tito Rabat ITA Kawasaki Puccetti +2.381s 18 Oliver Konig CZE Pedercini Kawasaki +2.987s

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Bottas and Sainz also summoned by stewards after Qatar qualifying

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz have also been summoned to the stewards after qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix over alleged yellow flag infringements. This comes after Verstappen was summoned for the same issue. Verstappen qualified P2 in today’s session with a lap time of 1:21.282. However, it appears that the Dutchman kept driving through the final sector of the circuit whilst double-waved yellow flags were shown. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified fourth today, but he ended up with a puncture in his front right tyre after going over some curbs whilst going through the penultimate corner. Verstappen improved on his first lap of Q3 by a tenth of a second, which has raised suspicion as to whether or not he eased off the throttle. As a result, Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards for a potential infringement, but he will not be going to see them until 13:00 local time tomorrow on race day. Valtteri Bottas, who took third on your grid, is also under investigation. This was for an incident involving singled waved yellow flags. Carlos Sainz, who took seventh, is under investigation for the same thing. After Verstappen at 13:00 local time, Bottas will meet with the stewards tomorrow at 13:30, and Sainz will follow at 13:45. Speaking about this situation, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel believes that the yellow flag was cancelled at the end of the third qualifying session “because Max was coming”. Vettel was also affected by the flags but is “pretty happy” as he managed to out-qualify Perez, Leclerc, and Ricciardo. He has said that: “I had the yellow flag in the last sector and then the yellow flag cleared, I guess, because Max was coming.” Double yellow flags mean that drivers should ‘abort the lap’ as a car is on the track, which Vettel did but he believes he could have been “the only one”. The flags were there for everyone’s safety and it was clearly shown that debris came off of Gasly’s car when the puncture was obtained. No more has been said at this time as to the outcome of this alleged infringement, so Verstappen and fans will have to wait to find out if a grid penalty will be given to the driver for Qatar Grand Prix race.

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Qatar GP: Verstappen under investigation for ignoring yellow flags

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Max Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon after potentially going through double yellow flags on his final flying lap and not aborting his lap. After Pierre Gasly had run across the kerbs at turn fifteen and damaged his car, the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver continued onto the start and finish straight, only to stop his car on the run to the finish line. Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen continued to attack up until the chequered flag and improved his time, even though it was still 0.455 seconds back on the best time of the session set by Lewis Hamilton. It is unclear to whether the incident triggered a yellow sector with race control. Had it done so, Verstappen’s steering wheel would have illuminated, and he would have been forced to abandon his lap. What is clear was that the double yellow flags were being waved on track. Should he be found guilty, Verstappen faces a grid drop penalty for Formula 1’s first-ever race at the Losail International Circuit, which would give Hamilton an extra advantage at the front of the field. Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, says he will let the stewards make the decision rather than protesting themselves, although he believes the Dutchman is guilty of not slowing under the yellow flags. “I’ve just seen it. I’ve seen that he is passing a flashing light, I think a flashing red or flashing yellow light on the left,” Wolff is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “Then he’s passing the double waved yellows and there is a standing car on the road. I guess it’s a bit of a triple whammy. “They’ve gone after us with a yellow flag, passing a yellow flag on the outside. It’s in the stewards’ hands. I wouldn’t want to comment much more of what should happen or not happen. I think the stewards are looking at it and they need to come up with a verdict.” Verstappen said he had no idea that there were any yellow flags coming through the final sector and does not believe he did anything wrong, something also said by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. “I heard after the session he had damaged his front wing, but from my side it was all okay,” said the Dutchman. “Same thing I heard only afterwards, and I had no yellow flags or anything,” added Bottas.

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Qatar GP: Hamilton takes pole position despite stomach ache- Qualifying results

Kevin Peterson09 mins

Lewis Hamilton was celebrating pole position for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix after showing a clean pair of heels to Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas in Saturday’s twilight qualifying session at Losail International Circuit. Mercedes approached the qualifying session with great confidence after its car has enjoyed a significant pace advantage over the weekend at the new F1 venue in Qatar. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton managed to capitalize on that, taking pole position for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix, with title rival Max Verstappen lining up alongside him in second. It was especially sweet for the reigning world champion after he admitted struggling to find the right set-up on Friday when he reported that “I’m definitely not close”, when he was also suffering from a stomach upset. “Yesterday was a really difficult day for me, actually,” Hamilton told former F1 driver David Coulthard in parc ferme after the end of the floodlit session. “Thursday and Friday I wasn’t feeling too well, so I really struggled throughout practice,” he revealed. “I had a bit of a stomach ache from Wednesday. “I was just off yesterday, so I really had to dig deep. But I felt fantastic today,” he continued. “I slept well last night so that makes a big difference. “This track is amazing to drive – incredibly fast on medium and high-speed corners – but it felt good.” Despite feeling under the weather last night, Hamilton said he had stayed late in the paddock to work on the set-up problems with the Mercedes. “I was here until midnight last night, working with the engineers, who also always work so late,” he said. “They’re such hard workers. The first qualifying segment saw the Haas drivers head out first on to the challenging, flowing Losail International Circuit. Kimi Räikkönen was the first driver to fail to get through into the second qualifying session. The Finn set a time of 1m23.159s, just beating Williams driver Nicholas Latifi and his team mate Antonio Giovinazzi. The two Haas driver finished 19th and 20th with Mick Schumacher coming out on top of the intra-team duel. The German beat his team mate by over two seconds, but the staggering difference was mainly down to the lack of running for Nikita Mazepin. The Russian was forced to sit out yesterday’s Free Practice 2 when his team needed to his chassis following substantial floor damage. The 22-year-old driver was unable to gain experience on the Losail circuit after suffering an issue on his power controller in FP3 on his installation lap. The second session saw an extremely close battle between the teams with only tiny margins separating the drivers. The big shock came when Red Bull driver Sergio Perez was dumped out of qualifying. The Mexican was unable to set a strong lap time on the medium compound which forced him to switch to the soft boots. However, even the red-walled tyres were not enough for the Guadalajara-born driver to progress into the final qualifying segment. The other big loser of Q2 was Charles Leclerc, who did not find harmony with his car in the qualifying session. The Monegasque complained about the pure pace of his car on several occasions during the qualifying session, and ended up only 13th fastest. The other drivers not to get themselves through into Q3 were Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell. In the last qualifying session, Hamilton used the superior pace of his W12 to take the pole position for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix. The Briton delivered a strong first push lap, but his second one was a sensational effort which saw him beat his championship rival Verstappen with a margin of 0.455s.Valtteri Bottas seemed to under-perform, and was not able to squeeze everything out of his car, ending the session behind Verstappen. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took fourth for the fourth time this year. Fernando Alonso put his Alpine on to the third row with a clinical lap which earned him a fifth starting position. Behind the Spaniard, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel will line up on the grid for tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix race. 2021 F1 QATAR GRAND PRIX – QUALIFYING RESULTS POS. DRIVER NAT. TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 1 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m21.901s 1m21.682s 1m20.827s 2 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m21.996s 1m21.984s 1m21.282s 3 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m22.016s 1m21.991s 1m21.478s 4 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m22.535s 1m21.728s 1m21.640s 5 Fernando Alonso ESP Alpine F1 Team 1m22.422s 1m21.894s 1m21.670s 6 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m22.839s 1m22.216s 1m21.731s 7 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m22.304s 1m22.241s 1m21.840s 8 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m22.458s 1m22.058s 1m21.881s 9 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m22.565s 1m22.012s 1m22.028s 10 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m22.548s 1m22.146s 1m22.785s 11 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m22.398s 1m22.346s   12 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m22.551s 1m22.460s   13 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m22.742s 1m22.463s   14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m22.688s 1m22.597s   15 George Russell GBR Williams Racing 1m22.863s 1m22.756s   16 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m23.156s     17 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m23.213s     18 Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m23.262s     19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m23.407s     20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m25.859s    

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Valtteri Bottas tops Qatar GP FP2 as Red Bull experience rear wing issues

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Rear wing talk continues to dominate discussion at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, with Red Bull suffering from oscillation issues in second practice. While Mercedes replaced Red Bull at the top of timesheet with Valtteri Bottas quickest of anyone in FP2 – setting a 1:23.148, two tenths clear of Pierre Gasly who was a surprise P2 – the main focus was once again on wings as Red Bull’s upper flap on the rear was blighted by severe oscillation. The Red Bull mechanics spent time addressing the issue on both cars throughout the second session, Verstappen finishing the day in P3 three tenths off the pace set by Bottas. Title rival Lewis Hamilton, in P4, was four tenths slower than his team-mate. As darkness descended on the Losail International Circuit and temperatures cooled, the FP2 session offered the drivers and teams much more representative conditions of what they can expect once the lights go out on Sunday. Just 19 drivers would be able to get the vital track experience they needed as Haas’ Nikita Mazepin sat out the session because of an unscheduled chassis change. Visbility was proving to be a slight issue for some drivers as their eyes adjusted to the dazzling floodlights beaming down on the dark tarmac. Sergio Perez needed to come back into the garage to replace the visor on his helmet. After the opening stints, it was Mercedes who were top of the pile as Bottas held a two-tenth gap over team-mate Hamilton. The latter almost got in Bottas’ way in the early stages but, thankfully for them, they managed to avoid an embarrassing collision between them. Bottas then returned to the track and pumped in a 1:23.154, but that lap was deleted for clearly exceeding track limits at Turn 7. At Red Bull, their focus was on rear wings, but their own on this occasion, as there was an issue with the DRS on Verstappen’s car which was soon fixed…or so we thought. Back on track, Verstappen’s team-mate Perez was starting a flying lap, but soon backed out due to traffic problems in sector two. Verstappen found a quieter moment to throw down his first qualifying sim run, yet found himself two tenths down in the first sector. That gap extended to four tenths by the time he crossed the line, but there was a suspicion that his car was carrying a slightly heavier fuel load compared to others. There was also a firm eye staying fixed on Red Bull’s rear wing, which was still misbehaving with the upper flap oscillating when the DRS was open. The problem kept Perez in the garage for much longer than he would have liked. Meanwhile, Verstappen’s former team-mate Pierre Gasly found himself sandwiched in between the two Mercedes drivers after an eye-catching lap on the softs. Verstappen re-emerged for another crack at dislodging Bottas, but again was no match for the Mercedes through the first sector. He did find improvement, but only by a tenth. Work to do, it appears, for Red Bull ahead of qualifying day on Saturday. 2021 F1 QATAR GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m23.148s 2 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m23.357s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m23.498s 4 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m23.570s 5 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m23.632s 6 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m23.705s 7 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m23.735s 8 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m23.787s 9 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m24.020s 10 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m24.033s 11 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m24.041s 12 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m24.056s 13 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m24.095s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m24.135s 15 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m24.631s 16 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m24.954s 17 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m25.072s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m25.290s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m25.575s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team No Time Set

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Verstappen will not be getting a penalty after FIA declines Mercedes review

Kevin Peterson06 mins

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has avoided a penalty for his São Paulo Grand Prix defence against Lewis Hamilton after the stewards rejected Mercedes’ review. The stewards met with representatives from Mercedes and Red Bull on Thursday to discuss Verstappen’s defensive manoeuvre against Hamilton on lap 48 of the 71-lap race at Interlagos. Despite a four-hour session across two periods, the stewards opted to deliberate on their verdict overnight The announcement comes after Mercedes opted for its right to review the incident unfolded between seven-time F1 champion Hamilton and Verstappen. Challenging for the lead, Hamilton attempted an overtake on the outside of turn four at Interlagos, only for both drivers to run wide. The stewards opted not to open an investigation during the race, with race director Michael Masi surprisingly later revealing not all footage was available at the time. Once footage from Verstappen’s front-facing onboard camera emerged, particularly highlighting the Dutch driver’s steering wheel movements, Mercedes launched its right to review. Its belief was the camera angle satisfied the criteria required in that “a significant and relevant new element” had materialised that was “unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned”. The stewards’ conclusion was that while the footage was new, unavailable at the time and relevant, it was not, however, significant. Determining why it was not significant, a stewards’ report read: “Whether this footage is ‘significant’ is really a question of whether or not it is likely to change the initial decision of the stewards. “In the pertinent example brought forward by the competitor from Austria in 2020, none of the footage available and viewed at the time of the decision showed a yellow flag visible to the driver [Lewis Hamilton]. “However, the new and previously unavailable 360⁰ camera footage, which was downloaded the next day, clearly showed that the yellow flag was visible from the car and the driver was penalised for failing to slow down. “In that case, the footage absolutely changed the decision of the stewards and was thus significant. “During the hearing, the competitor asked that if the stewards were unconvinced of the significance of the footage, to be given the opportunity to present its view in that respect. “Following the initial part of the hearing, the stewards gave the competitor the opportunity to do so, there being precedent for this. “The previously unavailable footage was played, and the competitor also presented the footage in a side‐by‐side comparison with the previous lap. “As noted above, the stewards often must make a decision quickly and on a limited set of information. “At the time of the decision, the stewards felt they had sufficient information to make a decision, which subsequently broadly aligned with the immediate post‐race comments of both drivers involved. “Had they felt that the forward‐facing camera video from car 33 [Verstappen] was crucial in order to take a decision, they would simply have placed the incident under investigation – to be investigated after the race – and rendered a decision after this video was available. They saw no need to do so. “The competitor’s position is that this new footage provides sufficient information for the stewardst o come to an altogether different conclusion than they did previously. “However, the stewards determine that the footage shows nothing exceptional that is particularly different from the other angles that were available to them at the time, or that particularly changes their decision that was based on the originally available footage. “Unlike the 2020 Austria case, in the judgement of the stewards, there is nothing in the footage that fundamentally changes the facts. Nor even, does this show anything that wasn’t considered by the stewards at the time. “Thus, the stewards determine that the footage, here, is not ‘Significant’.”

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Indonesia WSBK: Razgatlioglu maintains good form as he dominates FP2

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Toprak Razgatlioglu maintains his FP1 advantage to finish two tenths clear of title rival Jonathan Rea in World Superbike FP2 at Mandalika. Despite being 1.5 seconds down on Razgatlioglu’s overall best time from FP1, Alex Lowes quickly improved to go within two tenths of the Yamaha rider’s 1:34.985s. Jonathan Rea, who lost considerable track time in FP1 due to a technical issue, then went quickest for this session, second overall. Lowes then crashed at turn two – the same spot as replacement rider for Loris Cresson, Oliver Konig did this morning. While that was happening, Razgatlioglu went +0.003s down on Rea’s best FP2 time. After following each other for a couple of laps, Razgatlioglu dropped back from Rea to then start another push lap, a lap that saw him go fastest, although not quite enough to beat his own time from earlier on. However, Razgatlioglu did eventually go on to better his fastest lap of the day on his very next lap. A time of 1:34.815s put him -0.199s clear of Scott Redding who was just the second rider at this stage to set a sub 1m 35s lap. After a brief return to pit lane, Razgatlioglu re-joined the track with team-mate Andrea Locatelli in close proximity. The Turkish rider went another fourth tenths faster which helped the Italian move up to second – six tenths behind the series leader.  Rea managed to split the two Pata Yamaha riders as he went just under two tenths down on Razgatlioglu, but this time it was sector one not four where the Kawasaki rider struggled to match Razgatlioglu. Impressive efforts from Garrett Gerloff and Leon Haslam saw both riders jump up to third and fourth during the final five minutes. Haslam’s team-mate Alvaro Bautista then pipped the British rider to fourth place courtesy of a lap that was a tenth quicker.  WORLD SUPERBIKE MANDALIKA, INDONESIA – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2) POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha 1:34.230s 2 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.174s 3 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha +0.225s 4 Alvaro Bautista SPA Team HRC +0.230s 5 Scott Redding GBR Aruba.It Ducati +0.349s 6 Leon Haslam GBR Team HRC +0.371s 7 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.528s 8 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha +0.647s 9 Michael Van Der Mark NED Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +0.708s 10 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +0.724s 11 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Ducati +0.727s 12 Isaac Vinales SPA Orelac Racing Kawasaki +0.742s 13 Tom Sykes GBR Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +1.181s 14 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +1.186s 15 Chaz Davies GBR GoEleven Ducati +1.206s 16 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing +1.361s 17 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Yamaha +1.407s 18 Tito Rabat ITA Kawasaki Puccetti +1.620s 19 Samuele Cavalieri SPA Barni Ducati +1.706s 20 Oliver Konig CZE Pedercini Kawasaki +4.692s Free Practice One

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Razgatlioglu fastest in the morning session of Indonesia WorldSBK finale

Kevin Peterson04 mins

World Superbike championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu dominated the opening free practice at Mandalika, while Jonathan Rea was only 11th fastest after being limited for track time. Reigning six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had a nightmare, as his team worked on his bike for most of the session, meaning he only completed one full stint and ending the session down in 11th. Razgatlioglu was one of the first out on track and he took to the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit like a duck to water, with the opposition barely seeing which way he went. Razgatlioglu got three stints under his belt and set a sensational time of 1’34.985, some 1.5s quicker than Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in second. Lowes was in good form as he returned to action and was just marginally ahead of Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). The American came good at the end of the session and will aim to help Toprak if necessary, this weekend. Fourth place went to Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as he got dialled in at the new venue, hoping to get on terms with Toprak as he looks to lead Ducati to a manufacturers’ title. Completing the top five was the surprise of the morning Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), with the Spaniard looking good on his ZX-10RR and building on the flashes of brilliance he’s shown in recent rounds. An eager Razgatlioglu made his way past Leon Haslam during the early stages as he set about learning the new Mandalika track. Razgatlioglu’s first few laps saw him continuously lead Rea by over a second, while Isaac Vinales enjoyed an early run inside the top three. Sectors three and four seemed to be where Razgatlioglu was making up most of his time on Rea and indeed the rest of the field during the first part of FP1. WORLD SUPERBIKE MANDALIKA, INDONESIA – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha 1:34.985s 2 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +1.544s 3 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha +1.600s 4 Scott Redding GBR Aruba.It Ducati +1.835s 5 Isaac Vinales SPA Orelac Racing Kawasaki +2.094s 6 Alvaro Bautista SPA Team HRC +2.099s 7 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +2.118s 8 Michael Van Der Mark NED Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +2.155s 9 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Ducati +2.195s 10 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha +2.305s 11 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +2.401s 12 Leon Haslam GBR Team HRC +2.438s 13 Chaz Davies GBR GoEleven Ducati +2.496s 14 Tito Rabat ITA Kawasaki Puccetti +2.797s 15 Samuele Cavalieri SPA Barni Ducati +2.832s 16 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Yamaha +2.899s 17 Tom Sykes GBR Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +3.082s 18 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing +3.435s 19 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +4.096s 20 Oliver Konig CZE Pedercini Kawasaki +8.235s

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