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F1’s latest rivalry revs up once again

When Formula One’s new regulations were revealed for the 2022 season, it was with the hope that it would lead to closer, more exciting racing. Two races in, they’ve certainly delivered.

In Bahrain, it was the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who came out on top as the Scuderia secured a 1-2, after late race breakdowns for both Red Bulls left them pointless. There were no such issues for the reigning champions in Jeddah though, as Max Verstappen kickstarted his championship defence with a hard-fought, and well-thought, victory.

Once again, the top two toyed with each other when it came to using DRS on multiple occasions. Verstappen made the first move into the final corner, but as we saw a week ago, Leclerc was able to instantly fight back on the next straight. Thus began the cat and mouse games that might define this generation of Formula One. Just one lap later, neither driver wanted to cross the all important detection line into Turn 27 first, with the Monegasque driver catching Verstappen napping, and briefly being able to build a one-second lead. When Verstappen got back within DRS range however, Leclerc was powerless to stop the Red Bull driver marching to his first victory, and first points of the season.

The final few laps at Jeddah 2022. Image courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

Many expected Verstappen and Leclerc to be stars of the future from the moment they set foot in an F1 car, and it looks like this season will be the first time we get to see them fight consistently against each other at the front. Admittedly, the ‘fights’ have so far been fairly straightforward DRS overtakes. Albert Park, home of the next race in two weeks time, is usually a much tougher place to pass, so might see Max and Charles get closer than they have done so far this season, perhaps even repeating their antics from Spielberg and Silverstone in 2019.

Those previous battles three years ago might be why we’re seeing a tamer Verstappen than we saw last year. He knows that Leclerc isn’t afraid to get his elbows out, whereas Lewis was more likely to try and avoid contact at any cost. It would not be surprising if this year’s top two send carbon fibre flying on more than one occasion throughout the remaining twenty-one races.

The battle between Max and Charles which entertained us all at Silverstone 2019. Image courtesy of Red Bull content Pool

So far, it is one each between Max and Charles, but it could have been so different. Sergio Perez was unlucky with a pit-stop the lap before Nicolas Latifi found the barrier and brought out the safety car, turning a possible victory for the Mexican into a lonely race to fourth. His misfortune promoted Carlos Sainz onto the podium for the third consecutive race, but this was another weekend where the Spaniard looked off the pace compared to his teammate. The battle between the ‘number twos’ could be crucial in determining the destination of both champions this year, especially on any weekend when one team has a clear pace advantage.

The midfield entertained as always, with both Alpines adding many grey hairs to team principals Otmar Szaufner’s head in the opening laps. Kevin Magnussen also pulled off some good moves, but the early safety car meant that anyone that was starting on the hard tyres would be on the back foot when it came to strategy.

This was also the case for Lewis Hamilton, on arguably his most difficult weekend (pace-wise) in the hybrid era. One point will be scant consolation for the seven-time world champion, with George Russell coming home in fifth. Barring any issues for Red Bull or Ferrari, a porpoising fix, or performance found in a ‘reliability’ engine upgrade, it looks like fifth will be the best the Brackley team can manage over the next few races.

The leading Mercedes of George Russell at Jeddah. Image courtesy of Mercedes Media

Sunday’s race passed without any controversy, which definitely couldn’t be said about last years. Once again though, the track proved to be brutally punishing, with Mick Schumacher and Cem Bolukbasi both missing their races after heavy accidents at Turn 12. These crashes, and the missile strike at the nearby Aramco refinery during Friday practice, will quite rightly raise questions about the wisdom of holding a race in Saudi Arabia.

No matter who you support, perhaps the best news from this weekend is that it is over, and everyone is able to leave safely.

 

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Verstappen victorious in Round 2 of Ferrari vs Red Bull

Verstappen wins a good race in Jeddah after a safety car meant Perez dropped positions behind both Ferrari’s.

We started off today one car down with Haas deciding to run only 1 car after Mick Schumacher’s crash in qualifying. Schumacher is ok but they were worried that if he had another crash they wouldn’t have enough parts to go to Australia with.

Just when we thought we would get a 19 car grid Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari had an issue with an hour to go. Fortunately for him they fixed problem and he made to the grid. However, whist on the way to the grid to join Sainz, Tsunoda stopped on track with an engine issue therefore having to miss the start of the race.

Lights out and everyone managed to get away clean. Verstappen got a great start getting down the inside of turn 1 to then sweep around the outside of Sainz at turn 2, putting him in P3. Zhou seemingly had the same problem as Bottas last week with a poor start meaning several drivers past him and into turn 1 he was late on the brakes, tapping the back wheel of Ricciardo but coming out worse off.

Lap 4 and the alpines were locked in a battle between themselves. Alonso had DRS down the main straight, but Ocon made a late defensive move to stay in front. Only a few laps later Alonso did get past but that was not the end of it.

Ocon tried again on lap 8 but had to use the runoff at turn 1 and 2 to keep the place. This meant he had to give the position back he tried 1 more time on lap 12 when Ocon went too deep again, and Alonso stayed ahead.

The Alpines in a battle between each other. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Room

All the battles at alpine mean that Bottas had closed the gap. When Ocon was told to hold position, he backed off meaning Bottas then had DRS down the main straight into lap 14 and made an easy overtake into turn 1.

At this point Hamilton had made it past Norris into P11, making up 3 places in 6 laps. He was quickly gaining places and on the hard tyre he appeared to be going for a 1 stop strategy.

Lap 16 and Leclerc starts the pit stops with a radio call, but the strategy was do the opposite of Red Bull. Ferrari came into the pit and Red Bull reacted bringing Perez in. Leclerc stayed out and Ferrari seemed to have successfully bluffed Red Bull into a stop.

The Perez pit stop. Image courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

Just as Perez came out of the pits Latifi crashed into the barriers and a virtual safety car was initially deployed, playing into Ferrari and Leclerc hands. He now had an almost free stop, coming out of the pit lane still leading the race. However, Verstappen had also stayed out meaning he had to pit during the safety car, gaining places to come out P2.

A full safety car was then deployed when Sainz came into the pits. As he left however Perez was coming down the main straight. Sainz looked as if he got to the safety car line first but Perez closed the door on him to stay in P3.

The lights went out on the safety car to indicate it was going in on lap 20. As it pulled away from Leclerc he was controlling the pack but Verstappen kept moving alongside Leclerc in an attempt to force him to make an error or go early.

On the restart though Verstappen couldn’t keep up with the Ferrari staying in P2. Carlos gained the place back on Perez with but radio messages revealed Perez was told to give the place back to avoid a penalty.

Lap 23 and Hamilton gets past the Haas of Magnussen at the final corner but with DRS down the main straight he got back past. The next lap and this time Hamilton closed the gap but backed off into the final corner to get the DRS down the main straight and late on the brakes overtook into turn 1.

Hamilton makes the move stick. Image courtesy of Mercedes Media

Hulkenburg was holding his own after the restart however he began to drop back rapidly with Ricciardo, Norris and Gasly passing him on the main straight on laps 27, 28 and 29.

Lap 35 and Alonso was now battle the Haas. He got DRS down the mains straight making a simple pass into turn 1 however it didn’t stick with Magnussen making back past just 1 lap later. This battle quickly turned into a problem for Alonso though when on lap 38 he started moving slowly on track. He reported no power with an alarm on his wheel to say cool the car. The engine had overheated.

Almost simultaneously Ricciardo stopped on track just in front of the pit lane entry when he lost drive coming out of the last corner. Just as that news was being shown Bottas was retired from the race but had made it back to the garage.

The pit lane entry was eventually closed but Magnussen and Hulkenburg had managed to get in and change his tyres before the message. Hamilton just missed the pit lane as the virtual safety car was deployed so couldn’t change his tyres. Hoping that it would end as he came round to the pits again Mercedes were on the radio but unfortunately for Hamilton he had to wait another lap, when he was round the other side of the track and the VSC had ended.

As the VSC ended Verstappen seemed to have gained on Leclerc so the gap was much tighter. On lap 42 Verstappen had DRS into the final corner and took the lead but Leclerc could fight back on the main straight using DRS himself and took the lead again into turn 1.

Verstappen the went too deep and locked up on the inside line into the final corner on the following lap meaning Leclerc could sweep around the outside. This time even though Verstappen had DRS down the main straight it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Ferrari.

At the end of lap 46 Verstappen had learnt to have patience into the final corner and backed out of an overtake to make sure he had DRS this time. He made the move stick into turn 1 but his challenge now was to hold off the Ferrari which had been stronger in sector 1 all race.

Leclerc did close the gap on lap 48 and lined up a move but double waved yellows into turn 1 meant that but couldn’t overtake. Albon and Stroll came together when Albon tried to overtake stroll down the inside. Albon received a grid penalty in Australia for this.

This saved Verstappen from a move, but they were racing all the way to the line. Leclerc lined up a move at the final corner on the final lap, but sadly for him, he wasn’t close enough. Verstappen took with win with Leclerc in P2 and Sainz in P3.

The podium in Jeddah. Image courtesy on Pirelli F1 Press Room
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Perez on pole for the first time

Perez finally gets a pole position with an outstanding lap around Jeddah. He beat both Ferrari’s and his teammate to start at the front of the grid tomorrow.

Q1 started as normal but with 11 minutes to go Latifi had a big accident into turn 13 hitting the wall at high speed and causing a red flag. It looked like the back end stepped out and he hit both the front and back of car against the barriers. Thankfully he was ok.

Once going again Tsunoda’s qualifying came to an end early where he had to retire with issues that are fuel related. This was later confirmed to be a cooling system issue which couldn’t be resolved quickly.

The Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in particular were having speed issues for the whole session. While Russell managed P4 in Q1, Hamilton couldn’t get much faster than P13, ending up being pushed down into the bottom 5, finishing P16. A shock departure for him from qualifying by not making it into Q2 for the first time since Brazil 2017.

The first runs of Q2 and Russell was now the only works Mercedes in the session is also the only driver to come out on the mediums. McLaren have improved from last week putting in solid times and looking to get into Q3 with Russell. At the front, Leclerc still has the upper hand on both Red Bulls but by only 0.04 seconds., but sadly were both out in Q2 in P11 and P12. he just made it through to Q3.

The Haas drivers looked strong today with both drivers setting quick first laps. But with 5 minutes to go though Mick Schumacher was on a flying lap when the back end stepped out onto the curb on the exit of turn 10 which he tried to correct but hit the wall at some speed causing a second Red Flag of qualifying. The speed of the car meant his car finally stopped at the entry of turn 11. Reports were that he was conscious and talking to the doctors but they had to extract him safely from the car and took him to the medical centre by an ambulance. He had spoken to his mum and was taken to the hospital for precautionary scans but was ok.

After a lengthy delay while they fixed the barriers and soaked up the oil, we were underway with nearly 5 minutes left. Those that didn’t have any lap times now needed to nail a lap with almost only 1 shot at it. The Ferrari’s were still on top at the end of the session with Sainz joining Leclerc at the top of the time sheet. 

McLaren sadly couldnt get out of the bottom 5 and were both out in Q2 in P11 and P12. Russell just made it through to Q3 meaning he was the only car with a Mercedes power unit in the top 10.

Daniel Ricciardo on his way to P12. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Room

Q3, the final 10 and the battle again was between the Ferrari’s and the Red Bulls. Everyone made it through the first runs cleanly with Sainz coming out on top with his teammate right behind. Perez was P3 with Verstappen struggling for grip on fresh tyres.

The Alpines split the Red Bulls with laps 0.5s slower than Perez. Gasly was P7, Bottas P8 and K Mag P9 while Russell came out in the gap between runs. He pulled out a great lap for the Mercedes to split the alpines for P5, closely followed by Bottas who put it P6.

It looked like the fight for pole as they all came back out was between the Verstappen and the Ferrari’s. Sainz couldn’t improve on his time but Leclerc had pace and beat his teammate to provisional pole. Perez was next who was on an absolute flyer. He took provisional pole with only his teammate to stop him. Verstappen came round the final corner and he had not improved his time. It was only good enough for P4 so Sergio Perez is finally on pole.

Pole position for Sergio Perez. Image courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

Every person in the paddock was happy for Perez who has worked hard for many years to reach that goal. It will be interesting to see what he can do from Pole.

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F2 Jeddah preview: experience leads the way into Round 2

After an action-packed season opener in Bahrain last week, Formula 2 is back again this weekend for Round 2 of the championship at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

After last weekend’s races it’s experience that leads the way heading to Jeddah. Richard Verschoor and Theo Pourchaire took the two victories in Bahrain, and the remaining podium places were claimed by Jehan Daruvala, Liam Lawson and Juri Vips. In the championship picture it’s Pourchaire who leads the standings ahead of Lawson and Vips, with Ralph Boschung in fourth place.

The only “true” rookie to score in Bahrain was Ayumu Iwasa, who finished eighth in the sprint race despite starting from the very back of the field after an error in qualifying. However Logan Sargeant, Jake Hughes and Jack Doohan – who all made a handful of F2 starts at the end of last year – managed to score as well, with Doohan even taking pole for the feature race.

Ayumu Iwasa, DAMS (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

With a Formula 2 weekend now under their belts and no long break in between, those rookies will be coming to Jeddah looking to take the fight to the more experienced drivers on the grid. For drivers like Doohan and Iwasa that will mean bringing the same rapid speed shown in Bahrain but without the errors and incidents that cost them larger points hauls, while Sargeant’s job will be to unlock the same speed in his Carlin found by teammate Lawson.

The fight at the front is wide open

Although Bahrain was just one round in a long season, the early signs from the weekend are that we can expect plenty of close fights for victory from right across the field.

Pourchaire will come to Jeddah as an obvious favourite for pole and victory, given his position as championship leader. But it’s worth noting the ART driver only leads the standings by a single point, while Lawson’s double Sakhir podium is an impressive marker to lay down at the start of a season.

Felipe Drugovich was another driver who showed pace to watch for last weekend. Seemingly rejuvenated now he’s back at MP Motorsport, the Brazilian looked like he was going to take pole position until Doohan pipped him to it. His new teammate Clement Novalak was also very fast in practice last week, even if that wasn’t converted to points, so expect to see MP Motorsport near the front again in Jeddah.

Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport (Clive Mason, Getty Images / FIA F2)

And if Bahrain pace is anything to go by, keep an eye out for Boschung at Campos this weekend. The Swiss driver took a pair of fourth places in Sakhir after fighting with the frontrunners, but more than that he’s also returning to the site of one of his two podium finishes from last year. Boschung has always run well at street circuits and seems to be bedded in with Campos enough to bring out another great result this year.

Hauger needs a result after a tough first round

One driver who will be hoping to be in the fight at the front this weekend is Prema’s Dennis Hauger. After being tipped as a championship favourite for this year, Hauger opened the season just outside the points in Bahrain’s sprint race, then retired in the pits after being released with only three tyres attached in the feature race.

There’s nothing Hauger can do to avoid a repeat of that pitstop incident. But as for not missing out on points in the race, the key right now will be improving his qualifying. Hauger qualified in 15th in Bahrain and nearly a full second off of Doohan’s pole time, which meant he couldn’t benefit from the sprint race’s reversed top 8 and had to fight hard just to get into contention.

Getting on top of that this weekend will be difficult, as the Jeddah street circuit is completely new to Hauger but known from last year to key rivals like Pourchaire, Lawson and Vips. But Hauger also took nearly half of the available pole positions in his Formula 3 campaign last year, so if he can get to grips with the track early on there’s no reason he can’t be fighting at the front on Friday’s qualifying session.

Dennis Hauger, Prema (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
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F1 Race Preview: The fast streets of Jeddah

Round 2 at Jeddah this weekend and after the reliability issues last time out all eyes are on Red Bull to come back stronger.

Red Bull Reliability

If you haven’t seen the drama of the double Red Bull retirement, Red Bull have said initial investigations seem to suggest a fuel pump/system issue which means that the final few litres of fuel for the end of the race didn’t make it into the engine despite having enough fuel in the tank.

Interestingly this year the fuel systems are comprised of parts made by the teams, the power unit manufacturer and a third party who won FIA tenders to supply standard parts. However, it is not known which part was at fault and therefore who supplied it.

In any case Red Bull get a chance to redeem themselves this weekend at the very high speed circuit in Saudi Arabia.

Last time in Jeddah

When we last raced here the championship was really hotting up and the rivalry between the leaders was getting ugly. The on track battle was epic and summed up the season long battle between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen.

However, this wasn’t the only talking point from that race. This is where the steward’s room and race director came under scrutiny as they were becoming more dominant in each race. They had begun to tell the narrative here at the newest and fastest street track.

Qualifying was thrilling but the race was incident back and the longevity of the circuit came under fire. Changes would need to be made to make this a viable race in the future.

Chaos in the background as Verstappen leads the race. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Room

Both in 2021 and 2022 the human rights conversation surrounding this race is important and getting louder. It is important to keep talking about it especially now with current events in the area. Formula 1 say they are monitoring the situation, but this will continue to be a big part of the race weekend.

The Fast Ferrari’s

In Bahrain Ferrari delivered on the pre-season rumours being the fastest on race day. All Ferrari engine powered cars had great performances with only Mick Schumacher finishing outside the points in P11.

This could mean Ferrari have the advantage at the high speed track in Jeddah. However, as seen last weekend, consistency is very important and Charles Leclerc dos not have the best relationship with street circuits.

In Monaco last year he pulled out a great lap to take pole in the first runs of Q3 but crashed on the final runs meaning he couldn’t start the race with gear box issues. In Baku 2019 he crashed heavily and producing the now infamous line “I am Stupid”.

Despite this, last year he finished P6, ahead of Sainz so will be looking to capitalise on his momentum from last weekend and improve on this result.

Ferrari’s 1-2 last time out in Bahrain. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Room

Qualifying is 5pm GMT and the race starts at 6pm GMT.

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Josef Newgarden gets 600th win for Team Penske at Texas!

Josef Newgarden beat teammate Scott McLaughlin to the line in a drag race at Texas Motor Speedway to get Team Penske’s 600th win for The Captain in the XPEL 375. Scott McLaughlin was stuck behind lap traffic on the final lap allowing Newgarden to set up a run to the line coming off turn four. McLaughlin led over 170 laps of the race, Newgarden led just three but beat McLaughlin by 0.67 of a second. Talking to NBC post-race, Newgarden said he had been “sliding off turn three and four every lap.”

Newgarden beating McLaughlin to the finish line to take the win (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Jimmie Johnson charged through the field like Superman coming from 18th to finish sixth. On lap 185 he got ahead of five-time Texas winner Scott Dixon before dueling with Indy 500 champion Simon Pagenaud with ten to go to take fifth place. Talking to NBC post-race, Johnson said “What a special day, this was a lot of fun.”

Jimmie Johnson racing in the XPEL 375 (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

From the start McLaughlin was fast, taking the lead away from Felix Rosenqvist going into turn one on lap two. By lap 75, McLaughlin had built up a 12 second lead over now second place Newgarden but the gap was halved due to lap traffic.

A big crash on lap 131 brought out the caution after rookie Devlin DeFrancesco tried to make it three wide going into turn three after getting a run on Graham Rahal and Hélio Castroneves, and had dipped his left side wheels onto the apron before losing grip and washing up into Rahal sending him flying into Castroneves. All three were wrecked. Rahal had started dead last but had worked his way up to 11th before the incident.

From left to right: Castroneves, Rahal, and DeFrancesco crashing into the outside wall (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

On the restart it was a Penske one, two, three, in McLaughlin, Newgarden, and Will Power, followed by Chip Ganassi’s Dixon and Marcus Ericsson. With 100 laps to go, thing began to get wild. On a restart on lap 151, Newgarden took the lead away from McLaughlin before taking it back two laps later. Rinus VeeKay sent his Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet around the outside of everyone going from sixth to the lead by lap 159.

Scott McLaughlin leading at Texas (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

With one scheduled pit stop left to go it became a 220mph chess match with some drivers racing to the front before slowing the pace down while others backed off to make sure they hit their fuel number. On lap 161, Power did a power move by getting two for one in turn one to take the lead, only to have it taken off him by Ericsson a few laps later.

The final 40 laps saw McLaughlin leading with Newgarden following closely in his tracks, with both pulling a tiny gap to Ericsson, VeeKay and Power. With 19 laps to go, McLaughlin was let loose but could not create a large gap to Newgarden. With two laps to go, lap traffic was waiting ahead for McLaughlin, and a Newgarden storm was coming. Newgarden closed the gap. On the final lap going into turn three, McLaughlin was stuck behind lap traffic and chose not to send it but Newgarden in cleaner air got a huge run and sent it round the outside of McLaughlin in turns three and four and out dragged him to the line.

Newgarden was presented with six 100 dollar bills by Roger Penske in victory lane as a reward for earning him his 600th win. Ericsson would finish third, with Power, Dixon, and Johnson making up fourth, fifth and sixth.

Josef Newgarden receiving six 100 dollar bills from Roger Penske (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

While it was a stellar day for Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing overall, it was a disaster of a day for Andretti Autosport and Arrow McLaren SP. Alexander Rossi brought out the first caution of the day on lap 12 for being slow on the apron and had to retire the car due to a technical issue. Just over a 100 laps into the race, Romain Grosjean would retire after his engine began puffing smoke. DeFrancesco before crashing out of the race, had also pushed up into Takuma Sato in turns one and two, with Sato making contact with the outside wall. Colton Herta had been running in the top half of the field but had a slow final pit stop after the team had issues with the front left tyre. Herta would fight on and earn a 12th place finish.

For McLaren SP’s Rosenqvist, after losing the lead, he fell back to fourth before falling further down the field in the first half of the race after overshooting his pit box on a stop. On lap 140, Rosenqvist came down pit road after experiencing mechanical issues with the car and had to retire. On the same pit stop where Rosenqvist overshot his pit box, Pato O’Ward hit one of his crew members as he pulled into his pit box and did some front wing damage as a result. O’Ward had been running as high as third but would come home 15th.

It was a tough day day for the rookies in the race. Just past the 110 lap mark, Kyle Kirkwood lost grip coming out of turn four racing on the outside of fellow rookie DeFrancesco and went backwards into the outside wall. Earlier in the race, Kirkwood had gone from 23rd to 9th on a fresh set of Firestone tyres. With 17 to go, Christian Lundgaard, with leader McLaughlin close behind, pushed up into the outside wall coming off turn four and damaged his front wing. Callum Ilott was at the end of the lap traffic on the final lap. David Malukas was the highest finishing rookie in 11th place.

Full finishing order: Josef Newgarden (1st), Scott McLaughlin (2nd), Marcus Ericsson (3rd), Will Power (4th), Scott Dixon (5th), Jimmie Johnson (6th), Álex Palou (7th), Simon Pagenaud (8th), Santino Ferrucci (9th), Rinus VeeKay (10th), David Malukas (11th), Colton Herta (12th), Ed Carpenter (13th), JR Hildebrand (14th), Pato O’Ward (15th), Callum Ilott (16th), Dalton Kellett (17th), Conor Daly (18th), Christian Lundgaard (19th), Takuma Sato (20th), Felix Rosenqvist (21st), Graham Rahal (22nd), Hélio Castroneves (23rd), Devlin DeFrancesco (24th), Kyle Kirkwood (25th), Romain Grosjean (26th), Alexander Rossi (27th).

Top 10 in points standings: 1st Scott McLaughlin (97), 2nd Will Power (69), 3rd Álex Palou (67), 4th Josef Newgarden (65), 5th Marcus Ericsson (58), 6th Scott Dixon (55), 7th Rinus VeeKay (50), 8th Colton Herta (50), 9th Simon Pagenaud (39), 10th Romain Grosjean (35).

Featured Image: Josef Newgarden celebrating in victory lane with six-shooters (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

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Charles wins the first race with final lap drama

Charles Leclerc wins from pole in an action filled final few laps of Bahrain. Red Bull had engine problems with Verstappen having to retire and Perez retiring in the last 2 laps of the race.

First race of the season and we had Leclerc on pole to defend against the reining world champion in P2. Most predicted a messy start with neither driver known for yielding. As they lined up on the grid we waited to see if Formula 1 could deliver on their promises of exciting racing.

Lights out and it’s a clean getaway for all the drivers. Verstappen tucked in behind Leclerc as they got very similar starts. Hamilton had a quick launch in the first phase, but Sainz was later on the brakes and kept P3. After a short battle with Perez, Hamilton moved up to P4.

Kevin Magnussen had a very quick start and made it up to P5, he was fighting Hamilton into turn 1 at the start of lap 2. However, just a few laps later he went deep into turn 1 with a lock up which opened up the door for Perez who was able to close the gap. A well fought battle to turn 4, where Perez made it through. Just 1 lap later he went deep again and left the door open for George Russell, meaning he was back down to P7.

The race start. Image courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

Lap 10 and so far the new regulations were delivering with action up and down the grid. Perez had closed the gap to Hamilton, getting DRS down the back straight. Perez was just carrying more speed and swooped around the outside getting back into P4.

3 laps later Hamilton is the first to pit for new hard tyres. It was a very quick stop, but the tyres only had the blanket temperatures meaning they were too cold going into turn 1. Hamilton had no grip and went deep into turn 1 letting Zhou through. Once the tyres had warmed up though he was back past the following lap.

The undercut looks to be powerful here when Leclerc pitted just 1 lap after Verstappen with a 3 second advantage but came out only 0.3s ahead. Verstappen did stay behind but he was biding he time for the next lap.

Verstappen kept the gap within 1 second and got DRS down the main straight. Into turn 1 and Verstappen takes the inside line coming out in front of Leclerc. But Leclerc had good traction out of the corner keeping tight to Verstappen and crucially getting DRS on the way to turn 4. The Ferrari swoops around the outside to re-take the lead.

The battle didn’t end there when Verstappen tried again the following lap, but the story repeated itself. This time Leclerc took the inside line into turn 4 to take the lead. So, attempt number 3, Verstappen had DRS into turn 1 but he locked up causing him to go very deep and leaving the door wide open for Leclerc. The Ferrari then had the advantage, and the duel came to an end on lap 19.

3rd time unlucky for Max Verstappen. Image Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

McLaren meanwhile were having a terrible weekend. At the start of the race both dropped down to the back being the only drivers which started on the mediums. At lap 28 they were running P18 and P20. Norris then pitted for hard tyres, looking to go to the end.

Lap 34 and Verstappen has had enough of his soft tyres which had begun to where off after his battle with Leclerc. He pitted for mediums but was told to take it slightly easier on the out lap but still hoped the undercut would work. Ferrari reacted and pitted Leclerc for mediums. This time Verstappen was too far back which resulted in a frustrated message back to the team saying he would never take the outlap easy again.

10 laps later both Red Bulls are in the pits causing confusion amongst fans. However, Sainz came in and Hamilton follows for soft tyres. Verstappen constantly on the radio though with what appears to be an issue with the steering after the pitstop. He did stay out hoping he could cope with it for the rest of the race.

Just 11 laps from the end Gasly’s car overheats bringing out the safety car while they recover the car which was in flames. He got out the car safely, but it looks like it was an electrical issue. With that, in came Leclerc and almost all the rest of the grid for new softs apart from Mick Schumacher. The pack was bunched together, and the all the lapped cars could unlap themselves.

The safety car in and Leclerc bolts while Verstappen has to deal with his steering problems while Sainz pulls alongside into turn 1. Verstappen comes out ahead and the gaps begin to open up by turn 4. Mick Schumacher on the older tyres suffers and drops back from P10 to P13 in just 3 laps.

Lap 54, Verstappen has battery issues and Sainz passes him at turn 4. Only 1 corner later and Verstappen has to retire with terminal problems. Hamilton at this point was all over the back of Perez who was also reporting problems.

The final lap, Hamilton kept his car within DRS down the main straight. Perez was comfortably ahead turning into turn 1 but the engine had other ideas and cut out mid corner, causing him to spin and was out of the race.

After all that last lap drama Charles Leclerc came out on top, with Sainz P2 and Hamilton P3. Russell finished just behind his teammate which is more than they could have hoped for today. A special shoutout to Kevin Magnussen who finished P5 in the Haas.

The jury is still out on the new regulations, but reliability is key. Both Red Bulls and Gasly’s Alpha Tauri looked to have engine issues which they will need to get sorted to compete for the championship this year.

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Moto2: Chantra Claims Classy First Win in Indonesia

The second race of the 2022 Moto2 season was won in dominant fashion by Somkiat Chantra. He was joined on the podium by Celestino Vietti and Aron Canet, who took second and third respectively.

History has been made at the Indonesian GP with Somkiat Chantra taking his first race win, as well as the first race win for his country, Thailand. He took the lead at the first corner and never looked back, leading every lap of the race from there on. This dominant performance came despite the changeable weather conditions that faced the Moto2 grid.

The final podium spots were taken by our championship leader and winner last time out, Celestino Vietti, and Aron Canet in third. Canet has now taken two podiums in as many races. All three men will be pleased with how their seasons have begun but all eyes were well and truly on Chantra today.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Before the lights went out, it was confirmed that the race distance would be reduced to just 16 laps (two-thirds of the normal race) in an attempt to avoid the excessively high temperatures that were on the horizon. The weather continued to play a part in the race as spots of rain were felt, on and off, throughout.

When the race started, Chantra flew off the line, from fourth on the grid, and by the time he had reached the first corner he found himself in the lead of the race. Jake Dixon, our pole-sitter, then slipped back further as Sam Lowes quickly came past him to take second. Meanwhile, Vietti battled with his compatriot, Simone Corsi, for fourth. This played into Canet’s hands as he was able to make his way past both of them and start hunting down Dixon and Lowes.

Image Credit: MotoGP

On lap six, Dixon made a move on Lowes for second but it resulted in the bike falling from underneath him and he crashed at turn ten. This chaos soon led to Canet overtaking Lowes for second place. Lowes then dropped back even further as he lost third place to Vietti.

By this point, Chantra was 2.2s down the road and setting fastest laps to boot. Eventually, with two laps remaining, Chantra had increased the gap to 3s, allowing him to bring home the win with ease. Having never finished higher than fifth before today, Chantra was naturally emotional as he celebrated the win with his team.

This large gap was partly due to Vietti spending too long trying to overtake Canet. He was eventually able to make a move that stuck and, it was Vietti who came out on top as he secured second place. Canet was then able to keep hold of the final podium position, taking third.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Lowes crossed the line in fourth, having spent much of the race without anyone for company. It seemed he simply wasn’t able to keep up with the front runners today.

Augusto Fernandez was able to keep Ai Ogura behind him as they took fifth and sixth place respectively. Fermin Aldeguer came home in seventh with Tony Arbolino in eighth.

Pedro Acosta took the best rookie crown on Sunday as he came home in ninth. He was set back by a long lap penalty which left him in a hot battle with tenth place finisher, Albert Arenas.

With two races under his belt, Vietti remains at the top of the championship standings with Canet nine points behind him. The grid will be in action again in Argentina on the 1st – 3rd of April.

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Victory in Indonesia!

Finally after 25 years Moto GP returned to Indonesia. The sun was shining and the crowds were cheering. A huge welcome in the form of a procession went through the streets, which included the Moto GP riders and the Indonesian President.

The beauty of the island is incredible. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

Qualifying:

Surprisingly, Marc Marquez (Honda) crashed out twice from Q1, resulting in him not qualifying for Q2. Going through to Q2 was Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati).

Pole winner was current champion Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), with an all time lap record (1:37.067) and teammates Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco (Ducati) finished the front row in 2nd and 3rd.

Pre-race practice:

Bad luck continued to follow Marc Marquez and during the pre-race practice session he had another crash, this time much worse than the previous ones and was taken to hospital where it was concluded that he had severe concussion and would not be fit enough to race. Of course we wish him a speedy recovery.

Race:

The sun did not last however. Lighting struck the track, thunder rumbled through the hillsides and rain poured from the black clouds above. The race was delayed for 2 hours while race direction decided whether or not to go ahead with it. A Shaman from Bali was even brought over to deal with the rain. It seemed to work and within half-hour the rain subsided enough for the pit lane to open. It was decided that the race would in fact go ahead but, would be cut short from 27 laps to 20.

Soon the bikes were lining up on the grid, the clouds still loomed large but at least the rain had eased. It was finally lights out!

The rain poured! Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

Front the front Fabio got a great start and was leading the pack with Jack Miller (Ducati) and Miguel Oliveira (KTM) in 2nd and 3rd but it was Joan Mir (Suzuki) that made the best of starts going from 18th to 8th.

Quartararo lead from pole. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

At the start of lap 2 though, Oliveira had passed Quartararo to take the lead. If that wasn’t bad enough for Fabio, Miller then decided to steal 2nd from him too. Now flying, Miller took a couple more corners and passed Oliveria for first place as well.

The front three riders managed to quickly create a gap from the rest of the field and Miller immediately put in the fastest lap.

With spray causing visibility issues, Quartararo suddenly found himself being left behind by Miller and Oliveira who were already 1.217 seconds ahead. He was in the clutches of Zarco and Alex Rins (Suzuki). On the straight both riders managed to pass him with ease with 17 laps to go.

Miller once again took fastest lap.

Rins was now in 3rd place but could he catch up with Miller and Oliveira? Who were now 2.340 seconds ahead.

Lap 5 of 20 – Oliveira saw that he had more pace than Miller and passed the Ducati, taking fastest lap in the process.

88 leads 43. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

Meanwhile, race-favourite Bagnaia had an almost-crash which resulted in him being pushed back to 12th.

Lap 8 – turn 1 – Jorge Martin (Ducati) crashed out after passing Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) on the straight, after hitting a wet patch on the track.

The lonely Repsol Honda of Pol Espargaro also had a moment but was extremely lucky and managed to stay on the bike, with only 12 laps to go.

Back at the front, Oliveira was putting the hammer down and got yet another fastest lap. The treacherous conditions did not faze him at all.

Fastest lap however, would not remain his for long as Zarco from 4th place decided he was ready to fight. He took fastest lap and soon after 3rd from Rins and was hunting down Miller for 2nd.

Rapidly the gap between him and Miller decreased with 8 laps till the end and another fastest lap went to Zarco. Could he steal the win?

It was Quartararo’s turn now and he too started to push and also passed Rins to take 4th place.

As action appeared at the front, the battle for 8th place was also heating up. Luca Marini (VR46) lead that pack from 8th, the Binder brothers behind him in 9th and 10th and the Espargaro brothers behind them in 11th and 12th all fighting together for those valuable points.

Back at the front and Zarco had caught Miller up, they began their fight for 2nd place. But it was Fabio that had come along with Zarco who stole 3rd from Zarco on lap 15. The two Frenchmen battled for the spot but it was Quartararo who came out victorious. Fabio was not done there though and soon after passed Miller as well for 2nd. Miller found himself once again in the clutches of Zarco.

With all the battling going on behind him, Oliveira was just gathering more and more time between himself and the remaining podium finishers. The gap had increased to 4.443 seconds with 5 laps to go. But did Fabio have another trick up his sleeve? Could he find something even more extra to catch Oliveira?

Fastest lap – Quartararo!

4 laps until the chequered flag and Zarco finally passed Miller to take 3rd place.

Meanwhile, the battle still raged on for 8th position. With rookie Darryn Binder (Yamaha) having taken 8th, A. Espargaro (Aprilia) 9th, Bastianini 10th, P. Espargaro 11th and B. Binder (KTM) 12th. Heating up further still, three-a-breast went into a corner at one point – D. Binder, Bastianini and A. Espargaro, but it was B. Binder that triumphed and took the 8th place, everyone bravely fought for.

D. Binder lead the pack. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

In a league of his own, out in front Miguel Oliveira took his KTM over the line, Quartararo celebrated his 2nd place and Zarco managed to keep the last podium spot, taking 3rd.

Top 10 race finishers:

1st

M. Oliveira

2nd

F. Quartararo

3rd

J. Zarco

4th

J. Miller

5th

A. Rins

6th

J. Mir

7th

F. Morbidelli

8th

B. Binder

9th

A. Espargaro

10th

D. Binder

Last weeks superb winner Bastianini, after battling hard, finished 11th place.

Championship standings:

1st

E. Bastianini

30 points

2nd

B. Binder

28 points

3rd

F. Quartararo

27 points

4th

M. Oliveira

25 points

At one point the race didn’t look like it was even going to happen, but aren’t we glad it did? Some surprising results in Indonesia and a fantastic track to return to. Only two weeks to wait to find out what will happen in round 3!

 

 

Featured image courtesy of: Moto GP Twitter

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Moto3: Dominant Foggia Wins in Indonesia

Dennis Foggia took a dominant win at the Indonesian GP, putting him at the top of the championship standings after two races. Izan Guevara took second with Carlos Tatay in third after Andrea Migno crashed on the final lap.

Having taken the lead on the third lap of the race, Dennis Foggia on the Leopard Racing machine enjoyed a very dominant race as he quickly put clean air between himself and the rest of the field. After taking the race win in Indonesia he has also now put himself at the top of the Moto3 championship standings.

He was joined on the podium by Gaviota GASGAS rider, Izan Guevara, in second and CFMoto rider, Carlos Tatay, in third. Tatay also enjoyed a positive day as he recovered from a long lap penalty, incurred for taking a shortcut at turn nine. Our winner in Qatar, Andrea Migno was on track for a podium finish before crashing on the final lap of the race.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Before the race started, Diogo Moreira suffered a mechanical issue that forced him to give up second place on the grid and, instead, start at the back of the field. His day went from bad to worse as he then retired on lap eight.

As the race started, Sergio Garcia and his Gaviota GASGAS bike flew from seventh place on the grid to take an early lead. He took Foggia and Migno with him, as they also enjoyed strong race starts. Soon, Garcia had the lead stolen from him by Foggia on lap three.

Foggia was now leading Migno, Garcia and Guevara, as the four broke away from the rest of the pack. By lap seven, Foggia had put a gap of 1.5s between himself and Migno in second – this then increased to a 3.2s gap by lap nine and a 5.1s gap by lap ten. This consistent increase in pace was unsurprising after the times Foggia had posted in the warm-up session.

In the latter stages of the races, Foggia had flown off in to the distance and left a large group of riders all battling hard for a second-place finish. This group included Guevara who was 0.9s ahead in second, followed by Migno, Deniz Oncu, Jaume Masia, Daniel Holgado, Ayumu Sasaki and, as he eventually found his rhythm and caught up to the pack, Garcia.

Image Credit: MotoGP

However, disaster struck as Sasaki hit Migno in to turn 10 on the final lap of the race. The pair were both down and out, whilst Tatay also struggled with last lap nerves. As a result of Tatay going wide at turn 10, and Sasaki and Migno’s crash, Garcia was temporarily gifted the final podium position. That was until the penultimate corner when Tatay struck back to reclaim third.

Next to cross the line was Oncu followed by Xavier Artigas and Masia. The top ten was completed by Elia Bartolini, Holgado and Tatsuki Suzuki, all within a few tenths of each other.

Home hero Mario Aji on the Honda Team Asia bike eventually came home in 14th and was cheered through every corner.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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