Formula 1 Report December 2021

Turkish Grand Prix – Istanbul – Sunday 10^th October

Track distance – 3.316 miles/5.338km

Turns – 14

Top average speed 141mph/227km/hr

Race lap record – 1min 24.770sec (Juan Pablo Montoya – 2005)

P1 – No major incidents

1^st – Hamilton (Mercedes) on soft tyres – 1min 24.178sec

2^nd – Verstappen (Red Bull)

3^rd – Le Clerc (Ferrari)

P2 – Latifi (Williams) spinning off was the only major incident.

1^st – Hamilton 1min 23.804sec

2^nd – Le Clerc

3^rd – Bottas (Mercedes)

P3 – ‘Raining’ so a wet session. Gasly (Alfa Tauri), Russell (Williams), Le Clerc and Vettel (Aston Martin) all off at various times. A drying track led to:

1^st – Gasly 1min 30.447sec

2^nd – Verstappen

3^rd – Perez (Red Bull)

Q1 – Produced early attempts for a lap time as rain was imminent. Tsunada (Alfa Tauri) and Mazapin (Haas) spun off.

1^st – Hamilton

2^nd – Verstappen

3^rd – Gasly

Q2 – Verstappen, Le Clerc and Stroll (Aston Martin) all spun off causing slight delays.

1^st – Hamilton

2^nd – Verstappen

3^rd – Bottas

Q3 – Hamilton fastest, but started 11^th on grid due to penalty for changing engine components. Ricciardo (McLaren) and Sainz (Ferrari) started at the back of grid due to engine change penalties.

Race – All cars on intermediate tyres as drizzle throughout on circuit. Bottas led from pole, whilst Alonso (Alpine) and Latifi (Williams) spun off on lap one. Schumacher (2^nd Haas) suffered the same on lap 2. Sainz up to 11^th from 19^th by lap 9 with exceptional driving, whilst Gasly and Alonso received 5sec penalties for causing collisions. During the middle laps, Verstappen and Bottas traded fastest lap times. Most cars boxed between laps 35 and 40, with only Vettal unsuccessfully trying slick tyres. All cars continued uneventfully in the main, with the result:

1^st – Bottas

2^nd – Verstappen (plus fastest lap)

3^rd – Perez 

This left Verstappen regaining the championship lead on 262 points, with Hamilton 2^nd on 256 and Bottas 3^rd on 177.

US Grand Prix – Austin Texas – Sunday 24^th October

Track distance 3.425 miles/5.513km

Turns – 20

Top average speed – 128.2mph/206.3km/hr

Race lap record – 1min 36.169sec (Charles Le Clerc 2019)

P1 – Alonso (Alpine) spun off on first fast lap causing the session to be stopped for 10min. Le Clerc (Ferrari) off into a gravel trap causing a further temporary delay.  Soft tyres for most.

1^st – Bottas (Mecedes)

2^nd – Hamilton (Mercedes)

3^rd – Verstappen (Red Bull)

P2 – Medium tyres for most. Alonso spun off with 3min to go whilst Perez (Red Bull) had his fast lap deleted for exceeding track limits.

1^st – Perez

2^nd – Norris (McLaren)

3^rd – Hamilton

P3 – Russell (Williams) spun off half way through the session whilst many times were deleted for exceeding track limits at turns 9 & 13.

1^st – Perez

2^nd – Sainz

3^rd – Verstappen

Q1 – No incidents. The two Red Bulls led the times for most of the session, but Le Clerc pipped them on the final lap.

Q2 – Verstappen quickest followed by Hamilton and Norris.

Q3 – Verstappen on pole in 1min 23.910sec. 2^nd Hamilton. 3^rd Perez.

Race

Hamilton led from first corner after a faster start than Verstappen. A huge battle ensued for positions 4-7 between the 2 Ferraris and both McLarens. Having followed Hamilton from the start, Verstappen pitted early on lap 11 for fresh, hard compound tyres. Hamilton pitted on lap 14, but came out 6 secs behind Verstappen. Further pit stops for both left Hamilton with fresher tyres at the end, but despite closing, was unable to overtake.

1^st – Verstappen 1hr 34min 36.552sec

2^nd – Hamilton +1.33sec (but extra point for fastest lap)

3^rd – Perez

Vestappen now leads Hamilton by 12 points in the championship.

Mexico Gran Prix – Mexico City – Sunday 7^th November

Track distance – 2.674 miles/4.304 km

Turns – 17

Top average speed – 122.2 miles/hr 196.7 Km/hr

Race lap record – 1min 19.741 secs (Valtteri Bottas 2018)

P1 – Soft tyres on most tyres. Le Clerc (Ferrari) and Perez (Red Bull) early spinners, whilst the usual suspects (Hamilton & Verstappen) set the pace. Hamilton & Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) called to the stewards after the session for not following procedure when off at turns 1 & 2.

1^st – Bottas – 1min 18.341

2^nd – Hamilton

3^rd – Verstappen

P2 – Most drivers on medium or hard compound tyres. Both Bottas & Hamilton went agricultural mid-session ending up on the grass. Russell (Williams) forced to retire with no time set. Leading drivers  switched to soft tyres late on, which saw lap times tumbling.

1^st – Verstappen – 1min 17.301

2^nd – Bottas

3^rd – Hamilton

P3 – Tsunoda (Alfa Tauri) set the early pace, whilst the top drivers sat out the opening minutes. Le Clerc’s, spinning off track, caused a slight delay with 15 minutes left.

1^st – Perez – 1min 17.204

2^nd – Verstappen

3^rd – Hamilton

Q1 – Stroll (Aston Martin) crashed into barriers 10 minutes in, causing session to be stopped for several minutes.

1^st – Bottas – 1min 16.721

2^nd – Le Clerc

3^rd – Verstappen

Q2 – Tyres were split between soft and medium compounds.

1^st – Hamilton – 1min 16.464

2^nd – Verstappen

3^rd – Tsunoda

Q3

1^st – Bottas – 1min 15.875 (pole)

2^nd – Hamilton

3^rd – Verstappen

Race

Verstappen took the lead at the first corner, driving round the outside of the two Mercedes. Hamilton was 2^nd after Bottas was hit by Ricciardo in the McLaren. Tsunoda in the Alfa suffered the same fate and when a further incident happened, a full safety car was straight out. Tsunoda and Schumacher (Haas) both out on lap 1.

The safety car left the track at the end of lap 4 and the order differed little until Hamilton pitted on lap 30. Verstappen stayed out until lap 34 leaving his team mate Perez leading his home Grand Prix, until he also pitted on lap 41. Verstappen then lead Hamilton by nearly 10 seconds, the gap steadily increasing as the race went on. Perez closed on Hamilton but was unable to overtake.

1^st – Verstappen – 1hr 38min 39.086sec

2^nd – Hamilton

3^rd – Perez

All bar Le Clerc (5^th place) were lapped by the leaders.

Fastest lap – Bottas – 1min 17.774, a new lap record.

Verstappen now leads Hamilton by 18 points with 4 races remaining.