Colton Herta did what Colton Herta usually does, dominating from pole position to take his sixth career victory at Leguna Seca.
Herta led the field cleanly ahead of Alexander Rossi, Will Power, and Alex Palou. However, on Lap Two, it was Rossi who tried to capitalise on a brief mistake by Herta, diving down the inside of Turn Two. The Andretti drivrt understeered into Herta and spun out into the gravel bringing out the first caution of the day. Meanwhile, Arrow McLaren SP driver Felix Rosenqvist spun but was able to return to the track and get racing again.
After the first lap, the championship leaders were in fourth (Palou), fifth (Dixon), sixth (O’Ward), and 17th (Newgarden).
Patricio O’Ward was one of the only front runners to start on the primary tyres and would finish fourth. Photo credit James Black.
The restart got underway on Lap Four as O’Ward, who started in sixth and had already lost out to Dixon, started to fall down the order. He was soon swallowed up by Marcus Ericsson and Simon Pagenaud as he continued his season-long struggle on the primary sticker blacks.
Will Power pitted on Lap Ten with an engine issue which kicked started the first stops for other drivers like O’Ward, who desperately needed track position. However, Josef Newgarden had pitted earlier and was able to jump O’Ward out of the pits.
Colton Herta would wait until Lap 19 before pitting, emerging out of the pits comfortably ahead of Alex Palou who had benefited from the misfortune of Rossi and Power. O’Ward would eventually pit again on Lap 40 while Herta would hold a 30 second lead over Palou. However, after both drivers pitted Palou was able to close up to within a second of the leader.
The two drivers eventually were caught in lapped traffic including Felix Rosenqvist , allowing third-place O’Ward to begin carving down the 20-second gap between himself and O’Ward. He would close the gap down to 16 seconds before pitting on Lap 67 alongside Alex Palou, the former losing out to Graham Rahal in the pitlane. Herta would come in on Lap 68 coming out ahead of both but behind Romain Grosjean who was still yet to pit.
With 15 laps remaining, Grosjean pitted for fresh reds and set about carving through the field on an electric final stint passing O’Ward for fourth place. Soon after he passed Rahal for the podium and set about reducing the gap to second-place Palou who was ten seconds ahead but came about on lapped traffic.
With seven laps remaining Grosjean had to overtake Chip Ganassi driver Jimmie Johnson who had been told to make the Dayle Coyne racer work for it. Romain went for an audacious lunge down the inside of the Corkscrew, a move he had pulled of succesfully mutiple times throughout the race. The two made contact as Johnson left little room on the inside but ultimately Romain would come out on top.
Herta would eventually go on to take victory with ease, having led for the most of the race. Palou would take second, with Grosjean third. Graham Rahal finished fourth while O’Ward would round out the top five..
Grosjean takes his third podium of the season while Chip Ganassi teammates Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon finished sixth and 13th respectively, officially ruling them out of the championship title race.
As we head into the final race of the season at Long Beach, we only have three drivers who are mathematically in with a chance of the title. Alex Palou holds a magnificent points lead with Patricio O’Ward trailing by 35 points and Josef Newgarden by 49. It will be a tough ask for the American Penske racer who requires a win, providing his competitors fail to finish the race.
Alex Palou is firmly in the driving seat and will win his first IndyCar championship providing he finishes 11th or better.
IndyCar will take to the WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca, California this weekend for Round 15, as we sprint towards the conclusion of the 2021 season.
The penultimate round will run from Friday to Sunday with a maximum of 54 points on offer before we bookend the championship with the final race at Long Beach, California.
This is always an incredibly popular destination, with the famous ‘Corkscrew’ section, and with plenty of fast sweeps and narrow apexes to navigate around the 2.2-mile circuit, as well as a tricky pit lane that could cause some chaos in the race.
The title fight has also taken an interesting turn following the events of Portland with only a handful of contenders still mathematically in contention.
Can Anyone Stop Alex Palou?
The Spaniard went into Portland ten points behind rival Patricio O’Ward and on the first lap, you would be remiss in thinking he may have lost his championship hopes.
However, after falling down the order a fantastic two-stop strategy, helped by a few cautions, allowed him to fight up the order and take his third win of the season.
A 35-point swing in Palou’s favor means he now leads O’Ward by 25 points. Newgarden is third in the standings, 34 points behind Palou. Dixon is 49 points behind in fourth, and Ericsson, now the last driver that is mathematically eligible to win the championship is fifth, and 75 points behind.
But should we really be surprised? He has shown remarkable speed, consistency, and maturity beyond his years, and had it not been for a run of misfortune he would have definitely been out of reach in the points standings.
For example, Palou was set for a Top Five finish at the recent outing at the IMS road course before a frustrating engine failure spelled the end of his race. He has also faced grid penalties due to engine changes resulting in a nine-grid place penalty and starting 21st at Gateway. But after carving through the over 60 Laps the Spaniard would be collecting in a three-car crash out of his control.
If you were to assume he would have finished fifth at IMS, disregard Gateway altogether, and take his average finishing position since Detroit Race Two it would be a remarkable third.
That consistency is what may seal the championship for Palou.
Concern for O’Ward?
The Mexican driver had no explanation for his lack of pace on Sunday, suggesting he lacked three-four mph on the straight as his race deteriorating after he switched on the black primary tyres.
It will be a concern that out of the previous three finishes outside the Top Ten this year, two of them were because of a lack of pace. He has struggled with consistency as of late and has only been able to complete three races in a row that he was happy with. This inconsistency could be the difference between being an IndyCar champion or not.
O’Ward definitely has the ability to pull it out of the bag on his day, evidenced with a series-leading four pole positions. Moreover, he set the pace during the pre-season test at Laguna Seca in March and has previously won here during his Pro Mazda Championship campaign in 2016.
Without a doubt, this is one of O’Ward’s most important races of his career.
Who Else Is In The Mix?
The three contenders that remain include Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, and Marcus Ericsson but realistically the first two are the ones that have a good chance.
Josef Newgarden is always on top form come to the tail end of the season, having had two wins and been inside the Top Ten at every race since Mid Ohio. His race at Portland saw him qualify near the back but was able to run a magnificent counter-strategy to finish inside the Top Five.
Scott Dixon remains without a win at Laguna Seca in his career and will be looking to steal a march on his high-flying teammate. A podium at Portland has rescued what has been a difficult few races for the New Zealander. However, the six-time world champion is accustomed to pressure and will now his objectives going into the final two rounds.
Colton Herta will be another one to watch out for after winning here in 2019 while Rinus VeeKay dominated the circuit during his Indy Lights campaign.
You would be fooled into thinking this was a relatively easy win; a pole-to-win scenario for Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou at the Grand Prix of Portland, right?
Well, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. After having to avoid contact at the start, the Spaniard was left to fight through a competitive field, fraught with danger and risks at every turn.
The start of the 110-lap race was somewhat chaotic. Pole sitter Palou got a brilliant start, with third-place Scott Dixon in hot pursuit. However, Felix Rosenqvist came upon them two at a frightening pace, clipping the rear-left of Dixon and as he avoided heavier contact he pushed both Alexander Rossi and pole-sitter Alex Palou into the Turn 1 runoff. In fact, all the front-runners missed Turn 1 as further mayhem ensued – James Hinchcliffe, Oliver Askew, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, and Romain Grosjean also ran wide.
IndyCar insists that cars that make the chicane are given priority when it comes to reordering the pack, so all three (Palou, Dixon, and Rosenqvist) were relegated to the back while Arrow McLaren SP’s Patricio O’Ward was promoted to the race lead ahead of Graham Rahal, Ed Jones, Marcus Ericsson, and Sebastien Bourdais.
However, a cautionary period followed after contact between various cars including Helio Castroneves, Calum Ilott, and Romain Grosjean who took Andretti’s James Hinchcliffe out of the race.
O’Ward led from the restart on Lap 11, stretching a solid gap right ahead of Graham Rahal, while championship rivals Palou and Dixon were left floundering near the bottom, but having taken the initiative to go onto an alternative strategy and pitted early.
However, things turned when O’Ward pitted from the lead on Lap 29. Graham Rahal would stay out five more laps before pitting and would eventually assume the race lead after O’Ward struggled to make his new black tyres work.
On Lap 52, Dalton Kellett and Callum Ilott both stalled on the same lap which brought out the next caution. Some drivers, such as O’Ward would take this opportunity to pit for their second out of three pit stops, while others such as Graham Rahal would stay out, opting to use the extra yellow time to make it to the end on just one stop.
Patricio O’Ward inherited the lead on Lap 1 but would eventually finish down in 14th. Photo Courtesy of Chris Owens.
O’Ward suddenly found himself down in 12th needing to pass 11 cars on track in order to retake the race lead. On the restart, the Mexican reported a loss of power due to being in the wrong fuel mode and was quickly swallowed up by a multitude of cars which would signal the beginning of the end of his race.
Meanwhile, Rahal had remained in the lead on the restart, however, his choice not to stop meant that he needed to excessively fuel save across his final two stints. He led heading into his final stop on Lap 75 followed by Ed Jones and Jack Harvey.
However, others on the two-stop began to use the overcut to good effect. Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, and Alex Palou all separately leapfrogged one another on overcuts, resulting in Palou taking the race lead ahead of Rossi before two separate spins brought out the final two cautions of the day.
The first was brought out on Lap 86 by Simon Pagenaud who spun coming out of the pits after coming into contact with teammate Will Power. The second on Lap 90 by Oliver Askew who would also, unfortunately, spin and stall the car.
Alex Palou won his third victory from pole position to retake the lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski.
Alex Palou led the final restart from Rossi, Dixon, and Harvey, and Newgarden but was able to masterfully hold off his American Andretti rival in impressive fashion. The gap was brought down to 0.3s with 10 laps remaining, but it would be the Spaniard who crossed the line victorious to take his third IndyCar victory of 2021.
Rossi, Dixon, Harvey, and Newgarden would complete the Top Five while Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Herta, McLaughlin, and Rahal would round out the Top Ten.
O’Ward eventually finished in 14th place after struggling to make any significant ground on the restarts.
It would be a massively important win for Alex Palou who retakes the lead of the Driver’s Championship with two races remaining at Leguna Seca and Long Beach. The Spaniard now holds a 25 point lead over the Mexican, with Josef Newgarden a further nine points behind and Dixon another 15.
Marcus Ericsson is still mathematically in with a shout of the title but would have to overcome a 75 point deficit to achieve what would be a ‘Deus Ex Machina’ type scenario at this point.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri took his second win of the season after converting pole position in the Monza feature race, while Dan Ticktum and Carlin provided a late-race threat with a fortuitous tyre gamble.
Piastri got away well from pole to hold the lead into Turn 1, but had to watch his main championship rival Guanyu Zhou assume second place by passing Jehan Daruvala off the line. Daruvala struggled for traction at the start and lost another place to Liam Lawson, while Felipe Drugovich pressured him for fourth throughout the opening lap.
The race was neutralised soon after when Guilherme Samaia spun out of the race at the second Lesmo and brought out the safety car. On the restart on lap 5 Piastri managed to break the tow on the rundown to Rettifilo to see off Zhou, while Zhou then came under attack from a rapid Lawson and lost second place into the Roggia chicane.
Piastri, Lawson and Zhou spent the opening laps more or less matching each other’s pace, with the gap between the three of them never more than 1.5 seconds. On lap 5 Piastri set the fastest lap but wasn’t able to definitively break clear of DRS range from Lawson.
On lap 8 Juri Vips, who was running seventh between Theo Pourchaire and Ticktum, slowed suddenly with a mechanical failure in the middle of the Roggia chicane. That caught out Ticktum who made contact with the rear of the Hitech, although he escaped with no significant damage to his own car.
The safety car was brought out again while Vips’ car was cleared away, and the leaders took that opportunity to make their mandatory pit stop from softs to mediums. But Piastri, Lawson and Zhou were followed into the pits by everyone apart from Ticktum, Marino Sato, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong and Alessio Deledda, who had started the race on mediums instead.
Sato then dropped out of the race with a mechanical problem of his own, which meant that Piastri rejoined the race in fifth place behind Deledda. Lawson lost out in the pitlane scramble and not only came out behind Zhou but also Daruvala.
At the restart on lap 11 Piastri immediately set about clearing Deledda to get back towards the front. Meanwhile Daruvala found a new turn of pace on his medium tyres and began battling with Zhou for net second.
Daruvala got ahead of Zhou at the Roggia chicane but completed the move off track and was ordered to give the place back. He did so on the main straight, but used the momentum to immediately repass Zhou into Rettifilo. But as they came to Roggia again, Zhou went around the outside and reclaimed the position from the Carlin.
By lap 13 Piastri, Zhou and Daruvala had got past Deledda and set about clearing Armstrong as well. Deledda fell back to ninth by the end of the lap, then at the start of lap 14 he made contact with Enzo Fittipaldi at Rettifilo. That allowed Fittipaldi and Robert Shwartzman through, but Drugovich lost out avoiding the HWA and dropped to P12.
Drugovich then dropped out of the midfield battle altogether thanks to a miscommunication with his team. He’d asked his engineer on the radio to check if his front wing was damaged in the incident, but his engineer thought he was reporting wing damage and called him in to pit for repairs — when Drugovich left the pits after the confusion he was in P18 and last.
At the front of the field, Piastri passed fellow Alpine junior Lundgaard for second place on lap 15 and only had Ticktum 1.5 seconds up the road. From the pace of Lundgaard, Armstrong and Deledda it was clear that the worn mediums had run their course, but Carlin kept Ticktum out in front to gamble on another safety car in the final phase of the race.
Dan Ticktum, Carlin (Lars Baron, Getty Images / FIA F2)
Piastri kept closing in, bringing the gap to half a second by lap 18. But Ticktum’s gamble paid off a few laps later when Lawson stopped on the main straight after his fire extinguisher went off and the safety car was deployed. Ticktum immediately pitted for softs and rejoined the race in P12, while Piastri led from Zhou, Pourchaire, Daruvala and Shwartzman.
The race restarted on lap 25, with six laps to go. While Piastri locked up heading to Rettifilo and had to get on the defensive to keep Zhou behind, Ticktum immediately began clearing the cars ahead with his fresh soft tyres. The Carlin driver had a hairy moment at Roggia when he was tapped off the road by Ralph Boschung and narrowly avoided collecting Roy Nissany, but he regrouped to hold seventh place by the end of the lap.
Over the next few laps Ticktum continued to improve with uncontested moves on Nissany, Shwartzman and Daruvala, then on the penultimate lap he passed Pourchaire into Rettifilo for third place. With half a second between him and Zhou and only another eight tenths to Piastri up the road, it seemed inevitable that Ticktum and Piastri would be fighting for the lead on the final tour.
But shortly after Ticktum got past Pourchaire, Bent Viscaal and David Beckmann came together at Rettifilo further down the pack and brought out yet another safety car. With just under two laps left to run, the race was completed under the safety car and Ticktum was forced to settle for third place behind winner Piastri and Zhou in second.
Guanyu Zhou, UNI-Virtuosi (Clive Mason, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
Pourchaire finished fourth ahead of Daruvala and Shwartzman. Richard Verschoor took seventh place from Lirim Zendelli, who made a two-stop strategy work to give MP Motorsport a double points finish, and Nissany and Armstrong rounded out the final points positions for DAMS.
With Piastri and Zhou finishing first and second, they remain in the same positions in the championship standings with 15 points separating them. Shwartzman remains third, albeit 21 points behind Zhou and 36 adrift of the lead.
Formula 2 returns on 25–26 September at the Sochi Autodrom in support of the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix.
Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala took his first win of the season in the second Formula 2 sprint race at Monza, leaving the field behind him with a dominant drive from the front.
Daruvala started from second on the reverse grid beside the Campos of David Beckmann, who also started Race 1 from reverse pole. And like in Race 1, Beckmann was forced into defending straight away as Daruvala got the quicker launch and took the inside line into the Rettifilo chicane.
Daruvala came out of the chicane ahead of Beckmann and set off in the lead of the race. Behind them, Bent Viscaal moved up to third by passing Juri Vips.
With the slipstream and DRS posing such a danger at Monza, Daruvala set about pulling an early lead over Beckmann with several fastest laps. He was helped by Beckmann having to switch from chasing the Carlin to defending from Viscaal, who had managed to stay within a few tenths of second place and was on the attack.
Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Lars Baron, Getty Images / FIA F2)
At the back of the points positions, championship leader Oscar Piastri and Race 1 winner Theo Pourchaire were locked in a fierce battle over seventh place. Piastri had started there but Pourchaire nipped past up the inside of the Rettifilo on lap 3 and saw off Piastri’s attempts to fight back through Curva Grande and the Roggia chicane.
Piastri set the fastest lap on lap 6 as he tried to reel Pourchaire back in. But despite being close enough to try moves into Rettifilo and Roggia, Pourchaire was always able to defend the inside line.
Piastri’s teammate Robert Shwartzman was also making his way up the order in the middle phase of the race. After losing fifth place to Liam Lawson at the start, Shwartzman regained the position at the Rettifilo on lap 8. He then started hassling Vips in the second Hitech, who was struggling to keep his tyres alive in fourth.
Shwartzman sized up Vips through Curva Grande on lap 11 and took fourth place up the inside of Roggia. Vips then lost out to his teammate Lawson at the Ascari chicane and dropped to sixth.
A few laps later Piastri succeeded in retaking seventh place from Pourchaire with a move up the inside of the Rettifilo. That left Pourchaire vulnerable to Guanyu Zhou in ninth, who had closed up behind them as they battled lap after lap.
Theo Pourchaire, ART (Rudy Carezzevoli, Getty Images / FIA F2)
Zhou tried several times to pass Pourchaire through the Rettifilo and Roggia chicanes, but each time Pourchaire hugged the inside line and Zhou was unable to complete a move around the outside. But on lap 17 Zhou forced Pourchaire into braking too late at Rettifilo, and took eighth place as Pourchaire locked up and went down the escape road.
Back at the front, Daruvala had pulled more than five seconds clear of Beckmann by lap 17, while Beckmann was still dealing with Viscaal just a few tenths behind him. But on lap 19 Viscaal was able to do what Zhou did to Pourchaire and pressure Beckmann into locking up at the first corner, opening the door to second place.
Nursing a flat spot, Beckmann fell back into the clutches of Shwartzman and Lawson in the final laps. With just three tenths separating them at start of lap 20, Beckmann fell from third to fifth as Shwartzman passed him into Ascari and Lawson got by through the Parabolica.
Shwartzman therefore completed the podium behind Viscaal and runaway winner Daruvala. Lawson finished fourth ahead of Beckmann and Vips, and the two championship contenders Piastri and Zhou took the final points in seventh and eighth respectively.
Theo Pourchaire took his second win of the season in the opening Monza sprint race, putting in a lightning performance to overhaul longtime leader Juri Vips.
Vips jumped into the lead at the start of the race, passing reverse polesitter David Beckmann on the run down to the Rettifilo chicane. Beckmann then came close to losing second to Dan Ticktum as well, but was able to regroup himself through Curva Grande to hold the place.
Juri Vips, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
Ticktum then found himself under pressure from Pourchaire through the rest of the opening lap. Pourchaire was close enough to dive to the inside of Ticktum into Rettifilo at the start of the second lap, but he braked too late and went down the escape road. At the same time Ticktum spun on the chicane’s kerb and stalled the car, and was clipped by Felipe Drugovich and Ralph Boschung who both damaged their front wings and had to pit.
The safety car was brought out for Ticktum’s stranded Carlin, with Vips leading from Beckman, Pourchaire and Liam Lawson. At the restart on lap 5 Lawson moved to the inside of Pourchaire into Rettifilo but got caught out by Pourchaire’s defence and damaged his front wing.
The racing only lasted for a few corners after the safety car restart, as Drugovich spun off at Ascari on cold tyres and brought out a virtual safety car. When the VSC ended on lap 7 Robert Shwartzman took advantage of the timing to pull alongside his teammate Oscar Piastri through the Lesmos and muscle his way up to sixth. Piastri ran wide into the gravel at Lesmo 2, losing another place to Roy Nissany.
Oscar Piastri, Prema (Lars Baron, Getty Images / FIA F2)
At the front, Pourchaire set the fastest lap on lap 8 and started mounting an attack on Beckmann’s second place. Beckmann defended the inside line into Rettifilo at the start of lap 9, but on the next time around Pourchaire pressured Beckmann into locking up at the chicane and he took second place as Beckmann ran down the escape road.
With flat-spotted tyres Beckmann then began falling back through the pack. On the same lap after losing second, Beckmann was bumped off the podium altogether by Guanyu Zhou who moved up into third. But he was saved from losing any more places straight away when Nissany spun out through Ascari and brought out yet another safety car.
At the restart on lap 14 Beckmann lost fourth place to Shwartzman, while Pourchaire immediately started shaping up for a move on Vips in the lead. He was unable to get past into Rettifilo at the first opportunity, but on the next lap around Pourchaire moved to the inside and decisively took first place away from Vips.
Once out front Pourchaire’s pace carried him to a lead of well over a second, while Vips fell back to defending from Zhou in third. Zhou tried several times to get past the Hitech, first through Curva Grande and Roggia on lap 15 then again at Rettifilo and Roggia on the following two laps.
Guanyu Zhou, UNI-Virtuosi (Clive Mason, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
Vips was able to hold the inside line each time, but on lap 18 he locked up into Rettifilo and not only let Zhou through into second but dropped back to fifth behind Shwartzman and Christian Lundgaard.
Vips then found himself in the same position Beckmann had been in earlier. Over the next few laps he was passed by Piastri, Lawson and Bent Viscaal to fall to the back of the points after leading for 14 laps.
With Zhou being held behind Vips for several laps before moving into second, Pourchaire was able to sprint clear of the pack to take the chequered flag by almost six seconds in the end. Shwartzman was third on the road behind Zhou, but a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off-track at the start dropped him off the podium and gave third place to Lundgaard.
Piastri finished fourth, meaning he retains the championship lead by five points despite Zhou’s podium. Lawson was fifth, Shwartzman’s penalty dropped him to sixth, and Viscaal and Vips rounded out the last two points positions. Beckmann finished the race in tenth, meaning he will still the second sprint race from reverse pole this afternoon.
Formula 2 returns from its extended summer break this weekend, taking to the iconic Temple of Speed at Monza for Round 5 of the championship.
When F2 was last on track at Silverstone in July, Guanyu Zhou took his third win of the season in the feature race but it was Oscar Piastri who left as the new championship leader. Coming to Monza Piastri has five points in hand over Zhou and just two non-scores to his name compared to Zhou’s five.
Oscar Piastri, Prema (Michael Regan, Getty Images / FIA F2)
Zhou will be racing for more than just championship points and pride this weekend, though. After a run of major changes in the F1 driver market over the last few weeks, Zhou has emerged as one of the leading contenders to join Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo in 2022.
Zhou doesn’t need to win the F2 title to qualify for a super licence. But returning himself to the lead of the championship would do a lot to impress Alfa Romeo at this crucial time, especially when his two chief rivals for the seat are former F2 champion Nyck de Vries and GP2 runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi.
Whether the prospect of landing an Alfa Romeo seat comes as extra motivation or unwelcome pressure remains to be seen. But what Zhou can depend on coming to Monza is his record so far this season — that is, the most wins of anyone and the joint-most podiums as well.
His strength throughout his time in F2 has always been his qualifying performances. That’s an area where he has the upper hand over Piastri, although Piastri has demonstrated incredible racecraft this year to make up for not always starting near the front. And with Monza being a track where overtaking is much easier than usual, that sets up a fascinating state of play for the next instalment of their title fight.
Still all to play for in the top eight
Robert Shwartzman, Prema (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
Although Piastri and Zhou have become the clear title favourites, it’s still way too early to say that the battle will just be between them. After all, we’ve only had four rounds so far, with Monza, Sochi, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi still to go.
That means there are still plenty of drivers right behind Piastri and Zhou that are far from being written off just yet. Robert Shwartzman for one is just 12 points behind Zhou and 17 behind his teammate Piastri, with two wins under his belt. Monza is a track the Russian knows well, having won there in his title-winning F3 season, and he’ll be going all out to perform well on his Ferrari academy’s home turf.
Juri Vips is another F1 junior looking to kick off well in the second half. After a slow start with no points in Bahrain, Vips has since gone on a run of nine races in the points — the longest streak so far this year — including two wins in Baku. Vips has F2 experience at Monza, having raced there for DAMS last year in place of the injured Sean Gelael, so can hit the ground running this weekend.
The same could also be said of Vips’ Hitech and Red Bull academy teammate Liam Lawson, who won the opening race of the season but now sits eighth in the standings after being disqualified from his second win in the Monaco sprint race. Lawson’s currently lighting up the DTM series, running second in the standings with three wins, and will be fired up to restore himself to contention in F2 as well.
Zhou’s not the only one out to impress Alfa
Theo Pourchaire, ART (Clive Rose, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
And then there’s Theo Pourchaire. After a mighty start to the year that included pole and victory at Monaco, Pourchaire has dropped back from the title fight since — not helped by that Baku crash that led to a broken wrist. After Silverstone he has 65 points on the board, putting him 20 points behind Vips and 43 behind Piastri.
But anyone who watched Pourchaire’s 2020 F3 season will know how well he comes on in the latter stage of a campaign. Last year he went from being an outside contender in Piastri’s fight with Logan Sargeant, to almost snatching the title away from both of them in the final round. And it was at Monza, where he took a pair of second places to begin a run of four podium finishes, that Pourchaire really launched himself into the equation.
It will be a tall order for Pourchaire to repeat that performance in F2. But as a Sauber academy driver he’s vying for that same Alfa Romeo seat as Zhou, and by most accounts is the team’s preferred choice for the future if he can prove himself in F2. With an F1 seat dangling before him and a lot of potential still to be seen, Pourchaire will surely be one to watch this weekend.
IndyCar will take to the Portland International Raceway this weekend, as the fourteenth round of the 2021 championship gets underway.
The action will run from Saturday to Sunday with a maximum of 54 points on offer as we approach the business end of the season. The Oregon road course forms part of the first of a triple-header of races that will see out the championship including Laguna Seca, and Long Beach.
As an incredibly close-fought championship approaches its finale, there are a number of stories to discuss as well as plenty of title hopefuls who will be looking to make their mark.
Patricio O’Ward leads the driver championship with three races remaining ahead of Alex Palou. Image courtesy of James Black.
TITLE FIGHT TIGHTENS
It’s been an incredible turnaround for championship leader Patricio O’Ward who until Nashville was over 40 points behind Alex Palou in the standings but has since enjoyed a whopping 60-point swing in his favour. They now sit on 435 and 425 points respectively.
O’Ward has been in electric form after finishing in the Top Five at the Indianapolis road course before a magnificent second-place at Gateway. And there’s nothing to say this momentum will not continue going into the triple-header after showing seriously strong pace at the mid-season test at Portland topping a field of ten cars.
He has achieved five podiums this season, two of which are victories taken at Texas and Detroit, only one podium behind Palou’s tally this year. The Spaniard has endured a horrendous run of bad luck including an engine failure and a collision that has seen the Chip Ganassi driver collect a measly ten points over the past two races.
However, they may have to look over their shoulder as another rival looks set to pounce if either one falters. Penske’s Josef Newgarden seems to have kicked off his second-half of the season charge, just as he did in 2020 where he took four podiums (two wins) in the final six races only to fall short of the title to Dixon.
The American has taken two wins since Road America and has lept up the standings sitting only 12 points behind Palou. His record at Portland leaves a lot to be desired – but Penske has shown themselves to be strong qualifiers on road courses this year so watch out for the Nashville-born racer this weekend.
Colton Herta led the race from Will Power at Gateway until a driveshaft issue forced him to retire. Photo courtesy of Joe Skibinski.
WHO ELSE TO WATCH OUT FOR?
Our picks for this weekend go to Colton Herta and Will Power who have shown evidence of incredible pace around this track and alongside their current form, stand them in good stead this weekend.
Herta could well have won three races consecutively going into this weekend if not for an array of issues. He led most of the race at Nashville before crashing under pressure while trying to overtake Ericsson for the lead. He fell just short at the Indianapolis road course but would have a potential victory taken away at Gateway following a driveshaft issue. Meanwhile, Will Power comes off the back of two podiums, one of which is a win, and a pole position.
Importantly, this was the site of a fantastic race last year which saw Colton Herta take pole position but would end with Will Power taking the win. As both drivers head into this weekend in-form, we could be in store for an incredible rematch between the experienced champion and the rising star of the future.
Callum Ilott makes his IndyCar debut with Juncos. Having once been touted for an Alfa Romeo F1 drive he has rumoured between IndyCar and Ferrari’s WEC LMP-h program. Photo courtesy of James Black.
AN EXCITING DEBUT AMIDST A RANGE OF DRIVER CHANGES
Callum Ilott makes his IndyCar debut this weekend with the newly formed Juncos Holinger Racing team. The British Ferrari Academy prospect was runner-up in the 2020 F2 season. and has spent this season as test driver for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team and the test and reserve driver for Alfa-Romeo F1.
The highly-rated youngster follows Christian Lundgaard as the second F2 academy driver to be given an opportunity in IndyCar as a potential option for a full-time seat in 2022.
He took part in a test with the team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Thursday 2nd September and will be looking to hit the ground running after Lundgaard’s impressive debut earlier this year.
Alongside him are a number of drivers changes including Oliver Askew who will feature for Rahal Letterman Lanigan for the remaining three races of the season.
Helio Castroneves returns to Meyer Shank Racing after missing Gateway while Ed Carpenter steps back to allow Conor Daly to pilot the no.20 Ed Carpenter Racing entry while Max Chilton takes his spot back at Carlin.
Also returning is Jimmie Johnson who replaces Tony Kanaan in the no.48 car and will remain there for the final three races.
Dennis Hauger claimed his fourth win of the season in the Zandvoort feature race with a lights-to-flag performance that left the rest of the field in his wake.
Hauger seemed to get a slow launch from pole position and had to make a quick defensive move to cut off second-placed David Schumacher into the first corner. But far from being unsettled, Hauger immediately worked to pull away from Schumacher as the Trident came under attack from Victor Martins in third.
As Hauger led the field away, his championship campaign got another boost as his main rival Jack Doohan was tapped from behind by Jak Crawford in Turn 3. Doohan avoided the wall but dropped to sixth behind Clement Novalak and Alex Smolyar.
After only a handful of laps Hauger had already pulled clear of DRS threat from Schumacher, who was driving on his mirrors as Martins put the pressure on for second. With two tenths between them at the start of lap 5 Martins looked to the inside of Schumacher at Turn 1 but was just too far back to pull fully alongside.
David Schumacher, Trident (Lars Baron, Getty Images / FIA F3)
Martins tried the move again on lap 9 but with the same result. As he was forced to back out, Novalak came into play behind them and was told by Trident to go on the attack. But Novalak wasn’t any more able than Martins to make an overtake stick, while Smolyar and Doohan joined the DRS train behind him.
With six laps to go Hauger had sprung more than four seconds clear of the pack led by Schumacher. His lead was almost erased when Juan Manuel Correa further down the field forced Matteo Nannini off into the gravel at Turn 1, but Nannini was able to keep his car going and return to the track to avoid bringing out the safety car.
As the laps counted down Schumacher looked to have second place under control. But on lap 22 Martins launched a move up the inside of the Turn 3 banking and clipped Schumacher’s left rear, spinning the Trident into the barrier and out of the race. Martins was immediately handed a ten-second penalty for causing a collision, while Novalak and Smolyar came through to inherit the two podium positions.
Victor Martins, MP Motorsport (Bryn Lennon, Getty Images / FIA F3)
With Hauger out in front those podium positions remained the same for the final two laps. Doohan returned to fourth place after the incident with Martins and Schumacher. Caio Collet finished fifth ahead of Logan Sargeant, Crawford, Frederik Vesti and Arthur Leclerc, while Martins dropped to tenth place after his penalty.
Hauger’s pole position, win and fastest lap gives him a 43-point lead over Doohan heading into the final round in Sochi on 25–26 September. Novalak’s podium moves him up into third in the standings, with Martins and Vesti just behind and level on 117 points.
image courtesy of Red Bull content pool/ Boris streubel Getty images
Max Verstappen stormed to pole position in his home Grand Prix at Zandvoort after beating championship rival Lewis Hamilton by 0.038 seconds.
In a qualifying session where Verstappen looked unbeatable, it seemed quite straightforward until the last run of Q3, where an incredible final sector from Hamilton looked set to be enough for pole but would just fall short. Verstappen has now become the 35th driver to qualify in pole position at a home Grand Prix in what was a 70th pole position for Red Bull.
Mercedes will be happy with their qualifying result as Valtteri Bottas seemed quite comfortable with the track and there is a chance that both Mercedes can set about to chase Verstappen. This might become even easier following Sergio Perez’s early Q1 exit as he could not make the chequered flag to finish a lap and will be lining up 16th on the grid.
Pierre Gasly was terrific throughout the weekend and set a blistering lap in the second run of Q3 which will now see him starting from fourth, giving him and Alpha Tauri a real shot at a good points haul. Conversely, his teammate Tsunoda could not get out of Q2 after consecutive red flags towards the end of the session meant that he could not get a lap in. The Japanese rookie driver will be starting 15th and will be looking at a tough race come Sunday at a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Ferrari delivered on their promising Friday pace as both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will start fifth and sixth. Sainz’s participation in qualifying was in doubt at one stage following the Spaniard’s heavy crash in the morning, but a swift job from the Ferrari mechanics meant that he was able to take part in the session.
Antonio Giovinazzi did a stellar job as the Italian driver put in a lap good enough to start in seventh place tomorrow, matching his best qualifying effort from Austria 2019. The driver will be happy with his performance after reports were that he was given an ultimatum by Alfa Romeo to prove himself in the races following the summer break. In a tough weekend off-track for Alfa Romeo with Kimi Raikkonen contracting coronavirus, reserve driver Robert Kubica stepped in and did a decent job of qualifying 18th in what was his first time driving an F1 car since Abu Dhabi 2019.
Alpine managed to get both their cars into Q3 with Esteban Ocon eighth and Fernando Alonso at ninth respectively. The team looks set for a double points finish after a good run in the last few races. However, it was a tough day for McLaren with Daniel Ricciardo being the only car in Q3 and will start from 10th position. Lando Norris looked off the pace and could only manage 13th.
It was a mixed afternoon for Williams as both cars managed to get into Q2 with George Russell set to start from 11th and Nicolas Latifi from 14th but both cars crashed in Q2 which eventually brought out consecutive red flags. Williams mechanics will have their work cut out overnight as there is damage on both the cars.
Aston Martin also had a tough outing as they were unable to make it into Q3 as Lance Stroll could only manage a lap good enough for 12th while Sebastian Vettel was left floundering in Q1 after being blocked by the Haas of Nikita Mazepin while aiming to set a competitive lap time. Mazepin is set to start 20th even before any possible grid penalties that might be awarded while his teammate Mick Schumacher is set to start 19th.
With the championship battle is shaping up nicely and there is virtually nothing between the leaders, the Dutch town of Zandvoort is set to produce a perfect F1 race following its 36-year hiatus. Home hero Max Verstappen starts on pole and with Hamilton next to him in second, it is set to be a cracker of a contest on Sunday.
image courtesy of Red Bull content pool/ Boris streubel Getty images