Qatar Grand Prix

Bottas had a different car from Hamilton in Qatar GP

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Valtteri Bottas has revealed he had a different spec W12 compared to Lewis Hamilton in Qatar, but couldn’t go in further details. The departing Mercedes driver topped two of three practice sessions at the Losail International Circuit and qualified third for Sunday’s race, but the weekend started to unravel quickly after that for the Finn. Slapped with a three-place grid drop for failing to respect yellow flags in qualifying, Bottas lost more valuable places at the start and, just eight laps in, was soon given the hurry-up by a less-than-impressed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. Bottas made slow but gradual progress back up the order, but a puncture just past the pit-lane entry and an eventual retirement from the race due to too much damage to his car compounded his misery. The Mercedes driver said he had no prior warning that he was risking a puncture, but did suggest elsewhere in his media rounds after the race that he had a different set-up compared to Hamilton. “I have found out the reason, but I cannot give details,” Bottas said. “But my car was no longer quite the same as it was, nor was it the same as Lewis’. “There were little differences in the cars.” Meanwhile, Wolff gave Bottas his vote of confidence after being quizzed about the Finn’s latest below-par performance. “We know that he can drive away when he’s at the front,” Wolff said. “So the speed is there. “I have absolute confidence in him for the next races and I hope that we will have a good car. Then Valtteri will be at the front again because we need him there. As for Bottas puncture, Wolff added to Sky Italia: “He’s very unlucky, because his start was very bad, then he recovered, he was P3 on track, and then there was this puncture. “If he had finished the race, we would have had a bit of a safety margin for the Constructors’ Championship, now it will be all decided at the end.”

Ricciardo blames Qatar GP woes on Fuel saving ‘system error’

Kevin Peterson05 mins

McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he was forced to fuel save for half of Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix after a “system error”. After a disappointing qualifying which left him 14th on the grid in Qatar, Ricciardo hoped to bounce back on race day. Ricciardo failed to make any progress on the opening lap after going three-wide into the first corner with Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll. The Australian’s race was thwarted by the amount of fuel-saving he had to do, costing him around two seconds per lap. Explaining the issue, Ricciardo said: “After the start we had fuel saving from super early in the race. I started doing what I thought was already a lot, and it was not enough. “So Tom [Stallard, his engineer] said you need to do more. It is not enough. To a point where at times we were losing two seconds a lap by fuel saving. And without the brakes get cold, the tires get cold, and you lose grip. It is a downward spiral. “So we were fuel saving for a good half of the race, and that took us way out. And then Tom said no more fuel saving. Maximum push. I’m only saying Tom because he is the one that feeds me the information, but it is clearly a system error today. It is a shame because when I could push the referenced time I was able to get… But we were at the mercy of error today with the reading.” Ricciardo believes it cost him a chance of scoring points in Qatar. “It is the most I’ve had to save and the earliest in the race that I ever had to save,” he added. “I think you guys could’ve driven a similar pace when I was fuel saving. I was coasting into every corner. “And it was never enough. I don’t know what happened to the system or if they got another reading, and then Tom said no more just push. “I’m going to look at the bright side and say I’m glad it did not happen in a podium position because that would have been the most painful thing ever. But it definitely took us out of a chance at the points.” McLaren boss Andreas Seidl didn’t have an explanation as to what caused the fuel issue as the team continues to investigate the issue. “On Daniel’s side, a good start to the race, unfortunately, he had a lot of fuel-saving, unexpectedly which compromised his race quite a lot and any chance to get back into the points,” Seidl explained. “It’s something that we need to analyse why this happened.”

‘No time for celebrations’ for Lewis Hamilton after Qatar Grand Prix win

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Lewis Hamilton vows to uphold in the final two rounds of the season the momentum that saw him win in Qatar Grand Prix his second race in succession and reduce the gap to Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ championship to just 8 points. The seven-time world champion is on a roll, as his comfortable 202nd career win in F1 on Sunday at the Losail International Circuit clearly proved. On the track, Mercedes has regained the upper hand over Red Bull while off the track, the two teams continue to spar while their representatives take turns visiting the stewards’ office. After his triumph on Sunday, Hamilton said that he had enjoyed a “straightforward” and relatively “lonely” evening under the floodlights in Qatar, adding that he’s never felt as good as he currently feels, both physically and onboard his car given Mercedes’ strength of late. However, despite his spell of success, the Briton is keeping his head down, knowing that the battle for the title with Verstappen will likely go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. “The last two weeks have been fantastic, just amazing,” said Hamilton. “But there’s no time for celebrations. “I’ll be back in with the team already again next week and just back in training tomorrow. Just stay on it, head down.” Overall, Hamilton has outscored Verstappen by 11 points in the last two races, but with 52 points on offer – including fastest lap bonus points – there’s still all to play for in the final 108 laps of the 2021 season. “I don’t really have too much emotion except for [being] driven right now,” he added. “But it’s amazing… To close that gap by so many points in these last few races has been important. “They’re obviously still very fast as you could see today with their fastest lap and both their cars getting past pretty much everyone quite easily. “So we’ve still got our work cut out and a big shame for Valtteri today. “[But] I feel positive going into these next couple of races. I think they should be quite good for our car, so I’m looking forward to that battle.”

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”

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…