Racetrackmasters

The rivalry between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton seems to be building all the time. In Imola the two drivers hit each other on the opening lap and in Portimao they were constantly close to each other in the opening stages. Not only during the race they put pressure on each other, but also during practice they are in each other’s way. In the final free practice session, Verstappen was on a slow lap and the first car behind him was Hamilton, judging by Verstappen’s reaction it wasn’t the first time the seven-time world champion wanted the slipstream from the Dutchman. “Yeah, is it him again behind? It’s unbelievable this guy in the last sector.” The times of Verstappen and Hamilton do not seem to be far apart and so the two rivals will battle for pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in qualifying.

Max Verstappen removed the sandbags and hit the front in FP3, with Red Bull driver calling Lewis Hamilton “unbelievable” – not for a good reason. The light went green for final practice but it took five minutes before Spain’s Fernando Alonso decided to break the silence. The Alpine driver clocked a 1:21.020 as the session’s first time. 10 minutes later he was down in third place as Sergio Perez hit the front with a 1:20.388, Daniel Ricciardo up second. They were the only three times on the board. Ferrari joined the party on the soft tyres with Charles Leclerc hitting the front, Carlos Sainz P4 with the two Alfa Romeos, also on the red Pirellis, second and third. Ricciardo brought out the yellows as he got it wrong at Turn 13 and went off the track. Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were the last three drivers to make their mark, the Mercedes team-mates on the softs, Verstappen on the mediums. Bottas P1, Verstappen P2 and then Hamilton went P1 with a 1:18.304, 0.119s up on his team-mate. Hamilton upped his pace to a 1:18.117. Verstappen was not happy with Hamilton for getting in his way at the exit of Turn 10. “Is it him again behind? Unbelievable this guy in the last sector.” AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda wasn’t a happy driver, complaining about late radio messages. AT’s response: “Calm down Yuki.” Raikkonen, having jumped up to seventh, returned to the pits with a deflating right rear tyre, a big cut in the rubber. While he made his way back to the garage, Lando Norris was spinning into the gravel at Turn 10 after losing the rear of his McLaren. Red Bull returned to the action having swapped their mediums for soft tyres. Verstappen went on a flier but did make a small mistake, crossing the line with a 1:17.835. That put him 0.235s up on Hamilton with Leclerc third fastest, a further 0.24s down. Sainz was fourth ahead of Bottas and Norris. Pierre Gasly, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Perez completed the top ten. At the bottom of the timesheet was the two Haas drivers with Mick Schumacher once again having an advantage over Nikita Mazepin. Times1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:17.835 11 laps soft tyres2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.235s 14 laps soft tyres3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.473s 17 laps soft tyres4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.575s 18 laps soft tyres5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.588s 15 laps soft tyres6 Lando Norris McLaren 0.659s 14 laps soft tyres7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.700s 17 laps soft tyres8 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 0.747s 21 laps soft tyres9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 0.762s 17 laps soft tyres10 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.771s 16 laps soft tyres11 Fernando Alonso Alpine 0.827s 18 laps soft tyres12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 0.838s 21 laps soft tyres13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 0.865s 15 laps soft tyres14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1.042s 18 laps soft tyres15 George Russell Williams 1.170s 16 laps soft tyres16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1.379s 18 laps soft tyres17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1.528s 18 laps soft tyres18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1.557s 16 laps soft tyres19 Mick Schumacher Haas 2.164s 17 laps soft tyres 20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 2.402s 15 laps soft tyres

The Canadian Grand Prix has been replaced by a weekend in Istanbul, Turkey, but there is a chance that the GP will not take place there either. The government of the United Kingdom has put the country on the red travel list which means that travellers from Turkey have to spend ten days in quarantine when they return home. In fact, there is already a negative travel advice in place. The British transport minister Grant Schapps said Friday that countries on the red list ‘should not be visited except in the most extreme circumstances’. Corona infections have risen sharply in Turkey in the past week. Formula 1 is aware of the decision and is reviewing its options. A Formula One spokesman said in a statement, “We are aware of the UK government’s announcement regarding travel restrictions for Turkey and are assessing the situation and will provide more details in the coming days.” So for now, it’s just a case of wait and see. The weekend in Turkey will take place from 11-13 June. This will be followed by a week of rest before travelling to France and Austria respectively for a double-header. With an obligatory quarantine that is almost impossible, especially considering the fact that all cargo from Turkey has to be shipped back to Western Europe.

Toto Wolff has claimed that Red Bull tried to sign around 100 staff from Mercedes’ High Performance Powertrains division to join its new Formula 1 engine project. Red Bull’s recruitment drive for its new Red Bull Powertrains arm that will take over Honda’s F1 power unit at the end of the year and build the team’s first in-house engine for 2025 is in full flow. The Milton Keynes squad has already announced a total of six signings – all of whom have had previous experience at Mercedes – including Ben Hodgkinson, who has been poached from HPP to lead Red Bull’s division. Following the news of the latest five appointments on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes CEO Wolff said he was not surprised by Red Bull’s strategy. “It’s pretty obvious that if you want to set up an engine factory in the UK, there is only one, and that is us,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “We have 900 or so employees there, and if we are fishing out 15 of these or so, that’s pretty normal. “But they went mainly after manufacturing staff, so it’s not really performance. I guess they want to build up the company. “But credit to the project, it’s a Mount Everest to climb. I’d like to have a fight with Red Bull power units.” Wolff went on to add that Red Bull had “approached 100 people or so, and they got 15 maybe.” In response to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko’s claim that Mercedes had offered to double the salaries of its staff in a bid to keep them, Wolff suggested that Red Bull went even further. “Doubling the salaries is one thing, but if you triple them, at a certain stage, you’re not going to compete any more, even for loyal people,” he said. “But it is what it is. I respect everybody that wants to defend his business or build his business, and the retaliation time has not yet come.” Also speaking to Sky earlier on Friday, Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner said it was an “inevitability” that the team would be looking to sign staff from Mercedes. “I think there is an inevitability that obviously we’re based in the UK, we’re only 30 miles up the road from Brixworth where Mercedes have chosen to build their engines in the UK,” he explained. “And they’ve done that for a reason because the talent is within the UK. I think for us bringing the engines on site within the campus, fully integrating it with the chassis is tremendously appealing. “We’ve been very flattered by the amount of approaches that we’ve had. Of course, we’re starting with a clean sheet of paper and it’s important to get the right people in the right positions. “Obviously, we’ve had quite a bit of success in attracting some fantastic talent on top of the talent that we will inherit from Honda when they depart at the end of the year.”

There have been some changes made to Turn 10 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this winter. The corner has been given a larger radius and is now about 35km/h faster than before. Not everyone is a fan of the changes, but what seems certain is that it plays into Mercedes’ hands more than Red Bull Racing’s. Max Verstappen stated that turn 10 is now more fun to drive while completing a qualifying lap, but according to the Dutchman, it will reduce the number of overtakes. Sebastian Vettel is happy with the changes, while Lando Norris is less in favour. The grid is divided. posterAccording to Auto, Motor und Sport the seemingly small change could have a big impact. It would help teams who struggle to keep their rear tyres at temperature for the entire lap. ‘This is good news for everyone who was worried about losing too much time in the third sector with rear tyres that were too hot. Mercedes and Alpine, too. There was no sign of this on the first day of practice’ writes the German medium. Alpine performed surprisingly well on the first day before the Spanish Grand Prix. Where the French formation did not perform well in the first three weekends of the year, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were in fourth and fifth place in the second free practice.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed rivals Red Bull have poached up to 15 members of staff to work in its new powertrains department. Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Red Bull announced it had secured the services of five Mercedes High Performance Powertrains engineers to join technical director Ben Hodgkinson, who will also make the transition to join the team in Milton Keynes. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 at the conclusion of Friday’s running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Wolff said the number of staff lost had in fact tripled. “I think they have approached 100 people or so and they have got 15 maybe,” said Wolff. Responding to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko’s suggestion that Mercedes had offered to double the pay of its personnel to help stave off the allure of Red Bull’s venture, Wolff added: “Doubling the salaries is one thing but if you triple them you are not going to compete anymore, even for loyalty. It is what it is. “I respect everybody that wants to defend their business or build the business. The retaliation time has not yet come.” The developing battle between Mercedes and Red Bull has provided an extra dimension to the showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the world championship this season. However, Wolff conceded he has not been surprised by Red Bull’s recruitment strategy and suggested he is excited for the chance to compete with the rival team on another front. “I think it is pretty obvious that if you want to set up an engine factory in the UK… there is only one and that is us, we have 900 employees or so there,” he explained. “If you are fishing out 15 of these or so, that is pretty normal but they went mainly for the manufacturing staff so it is not really performance, I guess they want to build up the company. “Credit to the project, it is a Mount Everest to climb and I would like to have a fight with Red Bull Power units.”

Helmut Marko was left frustrated by Max Verstappen picking up some minor front wing damage during the second practice session in Barcelona. Having complained vociferously about the vague track limits enforced by white lines and kerbs in Portugal, Marko was left exasperated as the Dutch driver damaged his front wing in second practice by hitting the kerbing at Turn 8 put in place to stop drivers straight-lining the exit of Turn 7. The damage was only minor, with the endplate half ripped off, and likely wouldn’t have required a pitstop under race conditions, and Marko explained that the wing can be repaired. “Here, you are punished in a different way”, Marko explained to Motorsport Magazin. “If the lap times are not taken away, then it is the front wings that will be damaged. We no longer have a spare, but the damaged front wings can be repaired. We will take care of that.” With Verstappen finishing in ninth place, and Sergio Perez in 10th after a low-key second practice session, Marko said there’s no alarm at Red Bull and they are confident of matching Mercedes over the remainder of the weekend. “There is no panic yet,” he explained. “There were some small things that were not right, we have not been able to finish a flawless run. It will be very exciting again, I am sure. We are within a tenth of each other. “Only in the last sector we do not have a good comparison. At first, we drove a purple sector time there, but then we did not have a good run anymore.”

Seven times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton led Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes one-two in practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday. Championship leader Hamilton’s closest rival, Max Verstappen, had been second fastest in the morning for Red Bull but dropped to ninth, 0.615 off the pace, in the afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya. Bottas had set the morning pace with a lap of one minute 18.504 seconds, 0.033 faster than Verstappen, but Hamilton put in a 1:18.170 effort on soft tyres after lunch when the conditions were warmer. That was 0.139 quicker than Bottas’s best effort in the session. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the second session third fastest, with Alpine pairing Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso fourth and fifth. Hamilton is eight points clear of Verstappen after winning two of the three races so far. The Briton has won in Spain for the past four years and five times in total. “Less than a tenth between ourselves and Mercedes, at a track like this that’s been a stronghold for them for the last seven years or so, that’s encouraging,” Red Bull principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports television after first practice. “Mercedes have been truly dominant here for the last few years. I think if we can get close to them here that’s a really encouraging sign.” Bottas, who dismissed questions on Thursday about his future and the possibility he could be replaced mid-season, will be chasing his second successive pole position on Saturday. Verstappen’s Mexican team-mate Sergio Perez was only ninth and 10th in the two sessions. Sunday’s race will be Verstappen’s 100th start for Red Bull and marks a return to the circuit where the Dutch driver became the sport’s youngest ever winner on his team debut as an 18-year-old in 2016. The 23-year-old has fallen foul of track limits in recent races, having times deleted for going too far wide, but Horner doubted that would be a big issue this weekend. “I certainly hope it won’t, it’s not that type of a circuit,” he said, adding that there would be more discussion about the rules between team principals on Saturday. The opening session was halted with 15 minutes remaining when Alfa Romeo reserve Robert Kubica, making his first Friday appearance of the season, went off into the gravel at the revised turn 10. Haas’s Nikita Mazepin also spun, something that has become a regular occurrence for the Russian rookie. The virtual safety car was deployed in the afternoon when some bodywork came off Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and had to be retrieved.

Several drivers offered an early verdict on the new configuration of Barcelona’s Turn 10, differing on whether the widened corner will promote overtaking or not. The former left-hand ‘La Caixa’ near hairpin that had been part of the Circuit de Catalunya’s layout since 2004 has been altered and redrawn with a wider arc, a change that provides a larger run-off area, thus improving safety. But the widened configuration implies a higher entry speed into the corner, which in turn could limit overtaking opportunities at Turn 10. Despite the changes, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly doesn’t believe the modification has significantly lengthened the track’s back straight. “Honestly, I don’t have the answer now because we haven’t tried it yet, but it doesn’t make the straight line a lot longer,” said the Frenchman. “Clearly, I think there will be slightly more lines possible out of Turn 10, so I do hope racing improves, and it gives us the opportunity to put a bit of pressure on braking and maybe try something different on exit and overtake. “[That would] give us a bit more opportunities in terms of racing, but in terms of driving, yeah, it’s mostly a bit more open, a bit faster corner.” Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz agreed that drivers could follow different lines through the revised. “In the past, Turn 10 was obviously very difficult to follow a car in front [through] – just because there was only one line,” commented the Spaniard. “There is a strong point [about the changes] – that maybe having a wider line [now], you can maybe place your car a bit differently compared to a car in front and get a bit more clean air. “But, at the same time, it’s a higher speed corner, [where] we will feel the downforce loss if we follow. One thing might compensate the other.” Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc felt the alteration and faster entry is likely to limit overtaking, although the changes could have a bearing on the action further down the road at Turn 1. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that there will be different lines there and that should be a bit better to follow, but I also feel that Turn 10 was an opportunity to overtake, so I don’t know,” said the Monegasque. “I think there will be less overtaking in Turn 10, but if then it helps us to follow closer for overtaking before Turn 1, then that’s great.” Alpine’s Fernando Alonso reckons the changes will have little impact on the racing overall. “Honestly, the corner was there anyway in the past,” he said. So sometimes, if you braked a little bit late into 10, you take that runoff area and you re-joined the track in 12. “So, I don’t that it’s going to be a huge impact on the laptime, on the set-ups, on the overtaking possibilities – I think it’s pretty similar. “It should be quite transparent from outside or from the spectators’ point of view.”

Is it time to police track limits with yellow and red cards? That is an idea put forward by NOS commentator Louis Dekker. With Mercedes and Red Bull sewing the seeds for an epic 2021 title battle, quite rightly the excitement around Formula 1 has surged. But the subject of track limits continues to hang over proceedings like a dark cloud. We have seen the results of the Bahrain and Portuguese Grands Prix heavily impacted and few are happy with how the boundaries of a track are currently policed. The main issue so far has been the lack of consistency in how each breach is dealt with, so Dekker believes bringing in yellow and red cards could be the solution. “In terms of entertainment, it can sometimes pay off. Why don’t you use all those sensors to go to a system where you give drivers yellow and red cards,” he said during the NOS Formula 1 podcast. “If you do it once, you get yellow. And if you do it again, it’s red. And that means, for example, you have to drive through the pit lane. You can also portray that very nicely. If [Max] Verstappen or anyone else has ‘yellow’ after his name, it will also be fun for the television viewer.” Verstappen is the driver who has bore the brunt of track limits so far in 2021, losing the lead and therefore victory in Bahrain while then being stripped of his pole time and fastest lap of the race at Portimao. It has, of course, been highlighted that these are little errors which the Dutchman must cut out, due to how costly they have been, but Dutch Grand Prix promoter and ex-driver Jan Lammers feels it is wrong to “over-analyse” the situation. “This is just something that happens. These guys drive so much, then it’s his turn and the next weekend it’s the other one’s turn [to make mistakes],” he told RacingNews365. “But that’s top sport. Lionel Messi sometimes misses a penalty. “We shouldn’t draw any structural conclusions from that, we shouldn’t over-analyse it. The fact this was a weekend where things turned out the way they did doesn’t mean this is a recurring theme. “You can say yes, he is making too many mistakes. But when I say that, you can’t avoid saying ‘don’t you notice he has made so few mistakes so far?’ It’s a contrast because he has made so few mistakes in the past.”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin believes Lewis Hamilton was the only difference between the Silver Arrows and Red Bull at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Seven-time champion Hamilton took a commanding 97th career victory at Portimão after fighting back from falling behind title rival Max Verstappen to overtake the Red Bull and later his pole-sitting team-mate Valtteri Bottas. With debate raging on as to which of the two championship-contending teams holds the upper hand after three races, Shovlin pointed to the driving talent as the main differentiating factor. “To be honest, we are sort of splitting hairs really,” said Shovlin. “I think Lewis had the fastest lap of the day on Saturday but any one of the three drivers could have been on pole. “I think, if you looked at today it was Lewis who won it. He was down in P3, he overtook on track twice and got up front and controlled the race. “The cars, it is very difficult to pick them apart but if you are going to pick anything apart, Lewis was the best driver today and that is why he is sat on the top step.” On a low-grip surface, Hamilton was able to control the degradation of his tyres far better than his rivals despite following closely before his race-winning overtakes. Asked as to why Hamilton was able to stretch the life of his tyres, Shovlin added: “Lewis is very good at overtaking. “He seems to know where to position the car building up to it and also often, he doesn’t keep trying lap after lap, he sort of just sits there and takes the opportunity. “His feel for the tyres is the key to how he manages to sit there, not overheat them and look after them but he has got the same tyres as everyone else and he damaged them by getting hot and sliding on them. “The key to it is keeping them cool and limiting the sliding and I think he is just better at it than the others.”

Toto Wolff has dismissed as “nonsense” reports suggesting he may replace Valtteri Bottas with George Russell before the end of the 2021 season. When asked about the rumours by Osterreich newspaper, including the assertion that Lewis Hamilton is ‘almost always’ ahead of Bottas, the Mercedes team boss replied: “Nonsense. “Bottas is really good – he can take on anyone in the field. And again and again he is able to drive faster than Lewis, like last time in Portimao qualifying,” said Wolff. “Lewis deserves to be world champion through being more consistent,” he added. There are also rumours swirling that Wolff is keen to put pressure on seven time world champion Hamilton to kick off his contract talks about 2022. Asked if news on the topic will soon be forthcoming, the Austrian answered: “At the moment we are concentrating on the championship. We must not take our eyes off the ball. “If at some point there is time we will talk about the future, but we haven’t started that yet.” Finally, Wolff was asked about the obvious tension between Mercedes and 2021 title rival Red Bull – especially after the latter poached a key member of Mercedes’ engine operations. When asked about the tension, he said: “It’s very simple – Red Bull recruits employees with the promise of a great future. What I always say is that the future is not clear. “But it’s quite normal to fight off-track. And the fight for the best people is constant.” Red Bull has said Mercedes heads into this weekend’s race weekend in Barcelona as the favourite, to which Wolff replied: “Well, they have the crystal ball. “The truth is that it remains a head-to-head race.”