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  • 2025 Formula 1 Grid Overview

    2025 Formula 1 Grid Overview

    The 20-car grid for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season is officially set. It comes nearly two weeks after the conclusion of a competitive 2024 season that featured seven different competitors achieving at least one Grand Prix victory throughout the 24-race schedule, five teams finishing within 77 points of one another in the midfield region and a season-ending split celebration of the driver’s and constructor’s titles between two championship-winning teams.

    Within the 20-car grid for the 2025 season, three-tenths of the field will feature competitors who are set to embark on maiden full-time F1 campaigns. In addition, half of the entries will be occupied by new names as a bevy of familiar faces are set to embark on new beginnings with new teams to call home for next season. Lastly, all but two of the current 10 teams on the grid will feature at least one new name to their driver roster when a new season of racing commences.

    McLaren

    The team that currently reigns supreme among the remaining nine is the McLaren Formula 1 Team, which will retain its current driver lineup featuring Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for a second consecutive season. Dubbed the second-best organization in F1, the papaya-colored team capped off the 2024 season as the top organization on the grid as it achieved its ninth constructor’s championship by 14 points over Ferrari. The championship, which was a first for McLaren since 1998, comes amid career-best years for Norris and Piastri, both of whom notched multiple Grand Prix victories throughout the season and notched a combined 666 points despite Norris falling short of claiming the driver’s championship by 63 points.

    Norris, a native of Bristol, England, who is coming off his sixth consecutive season as a McLaren F1 competitor, notched his maiden four Grand Prix victories that commenced by winning at Miami in May before he proceeded to win at the Netherlands in August, Singapore in September and the season-finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December. He also recorded career-high stats in poles (eight), podiums (13), laps led (271), average-finishing result (4.3) and points (374). Meanwhile, teammate Piastri, a native of Melbourne, Australia, is coming off a second F1 campaign with McLaren as he notched his maiden two Grand Prix victories, where the first occurred at Hungary in July before he won at Azerbaijan nearly two months later. Piastri would also rack up eight podiums, an average-finishing result of 5.1, 292 points and a fourth-place result in the final driver’s standings.

    As for the future, Norris inked a multi-year contract extension with McLaren this past January while Piastri inked a multi-year contract extension in September 2023 that would keep him at the team through the 2026 season. Both enter the 2025 season with goals to defend McLaren’s constructor’s title and deliver the first driver’s championship for the team since 2008.

    Ferrari

    Despite ending up one points position shy of claiming a record 17th constructor’s title with a combined points tally of 652, the Scuderia Ferrari HP team scored a big silly season victory before the start of the 2024 season by acquiring seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton to its driver roster for the 2025 season. Hamilton, a native of Stevenage, England, who initially signed a two-year contract extension to remain at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team through the 2025 season in August 2023, ended up exercising a break clause in his contract by signing up for Ferrari on a multi-year basis this past February, which made the 2024 season his final campaign with Mercedes.

    Hamilton’s move to Ferrari will mark his maiden F1 campaign with a team that is not affiliated with Mercedes. This past season also marked Hamilton’s conclusion of a 12-year dynasty with Mercedes, a team where Hamilton won six of his record-tying seven driver’s championships and 84 of his current 105 Grand Prix race victories, including two in 2024 at Silverstone and Belgium. The pair of victories this past season also marked Hamilton’s first trips to the top of the podium since 2021. Amid the victories, he ended up in seventh place in the 2024 standings with 223 points, five podiums and an average-finishing result of 7.0.

    For the 2025 season, Hamilton, who continues his pursuit for a record eighth championship, will compete alongside new teammate Charles Leclerc, the latter of whom has been competing with the prancing horse organization since 2019 and inked a contract extension this past January to remain with the team beyond the 2024 season. This past season generated a strong season for Leclerc, a native of Monte Carlo who notched three Grand Prix victories (Monaco, Monza and Austin), a career-high 13 podiums and career-best average-finishing result of 4.5, which was enough to settle in third place in the driver’s standings with a career-high 356 points despite falling short of his maiden F1 title by 81 points. Both Hamilton and Leclerc will attempt to deliver the first driver’s and constructor’s titles for Ferrari since the 2007 and 2008 seasons, respectively, in 2025.

    Red Bull Racing

    The 2024 F1 season generated mixed results for Oracle Red Bull Racing, an organization that swept both the driver’s and constructor’s championships over the previous three seasons and had won all but one of the 22-race schedule in 2023. The good news for the organization was that Max Verstappen, a native of Hasselt, Belgium, managed to defend his series’ title for a fourth consecutive season as he also notched a season-high nine Grand Prix victories. Verstappen’s victories throughout this past season occurred at Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, Italy’s Emilia Romagna, Canada, Spain, São Paulo and Qatar. Amid Verstappen’s fourth consecutive championship-winning season, the organization dropped to third place in the final constructor’s standings and was unable to reclaim the team title by 77 points.

    With a combined constructor points total of 589, 437 of the points were contributed by Verstappen, the latter of whom also notched a total of 14 podiums, while the remaining 152 were recorded by Sergio “Checo” Perez. Compared to his previous three seasons at Red Bull, Perez, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, endured a difficult 2024 season where he went winless for the first time since 2019, finished on the podium four times and recorded an average-finishing result of 9.6, the latter category of which was his lowest since 2019. Perez settled in eighth place in the driver’s standings after being outscored by teammate Verstappen and after he struggling to keep pace to run up front for the majority of the season.

    Despite inking a two-year extension to remain at Red Bull this past June, Perez would depart the organization on December 18. Currently, Perez, who first competed in F1 in 2011 and is the winningest Mexican competitor in F1 with six through 281 career starts, remains uncertain of his racing plans for next season. A day after Perez’s exit, Red Bull announced the promotion of Liam Lawson to partner alongside Verstappen, the latter of whom is under contract with the team through 2028. Lawson, a native of Hastings, New Zealand, who spent the previous three seasons as a reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team, also spent the previous two making a total of 11 starts for the latter organization, where he has notched three ninth-place results. He will become the 13th competitor overall to compete in an F1 Grand Prix event while representing Red Bull as both he and Verstappen strive to return the team atop the standings in both the driver’s and constructor’s categories.

    Mercedes

    With the departure of Sir Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team has elevated newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli to pilot Hamilton’s Mercedes entry for the 2025 season. Antonelli, a former champion in Italian F4 and Formula Regional’s European and Middle East series from Bologna, Italy, spent this past season competing in Formula 2 for Prema Racing, where he notched two victories and finished in sixth place in the standings. Having first joined Mercedes’ Junior Team in 2019 upon winning multiple events and titles in karts, Antonelli also participated in his first pair of free practice sessions in F1 at Italy and Mexico City midway into the 2024 season in preparation for the 2025 season, where he is set to become the sixth competitor to compete for Mercedes since the brand returned as a constructor in 2010 and the first Italian Grand Prix competitor since Antonio Giovinazzi competed in 2021.

    For his maiden F1 campaign, Antonelli will compete alongside George Russell, a native of King’s Lynn, England, who first joined Mercedes in 2022 and whose contract with the Silver Arrows organization runs through the conclusion of the 2025 season. After achieving his maiden Grand Prix victory at São Paulo in late 2022 before going winless in 2023 along with the Mercedes team, Russell rebounded by notching two Grand Prix victories in 2024 (Austria in June and Las Vegas in November). To go along with four podiums, four poles, a career-best average-finishing result of 5.6 and a career-high 138 laps led, he settled in sixth place in this past season’s standings with 245 points. He also contributed to Mercedes settling in fourth place in last year’s constructor’s standings with 468 points overall as the organization strives to return atop the standings in both the driver’s and constructor’s regions since the early years of the 2020’s era.

    Aston Martin Aramco

    For a third consecutive season, the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team will retain its current driver roster that consists of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, both of whom notched a combined 94 points and contributed to the team settling in fifth place in the constructor’s standings for a second consecutive season.

    Alonso, a two-time F1 champion from Oviedo, Spain, is coming off his 21st season in competition, where he recorded an average-finishing result of 10.2, 70 points and settled in ninth place in the final standings. Despite recording zero podiums in 2024 compared to eight during his first season with Aston Martin in 2023 that was capped off with a fourth-place result in the driver’s standings, Alonso scratched his name off of the silly season picture by inking a multi-year contract extension with Aston Martin this past April that would keep him with the team through the 2026 season. Two months later, Stroll, a native of Montreal, Canada, who has been competing with the organization since 2019, inked a contract extension for himself to remain with the team through the 2026 season. Like teammate Alonso, Stroll is coming off a quiet 2024 campaign where he recorded an average-finishing result of 13.1 and 24 points, which relegated him to 13th place in the 2024 standings a year after ending up in 10th place.

    With Aston Martin recruiting Red Bull’s longtime global chief technical officer and designer Adrian Newey as its new managing technical partner, both Alonso and Stroll also continue to pursue the first championship between the driver’s and constructor’s categories for the team, which returned Aston Martin as a branded team in 2021 following a six decade-plus absence.

    Alpine

    After spending a majority of the 2024 season mired with mixed on-track results and multiple changes towards the team’s technical and management front while also hovering towards the bottom of the constructor’s standings, the BWT Alpine F1 Team rallied over the final four events on the schedule and capped off the season with momentum by muscling up to sixth place with 65 points achieved.

    The competitor who nailed the final set of points for Alpine to claim sixth place in the standings during the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was Pierre Gasly, who also managed to overtake Nico Hülkenberg for 10th place in the final driver’s standings by a single point. Gasly, a native of Rouen, France, who transitioned to Alpine from the Red Bull team in 2023, racked up an average-finishing result of 12.9 and he recorded 42 points. His lone highlight of the season was notching his fifth career podium during the São Paulo Grand Prix in November by finishing in third place and sharing the podium with his teammate and childhood rival Esteban Ocon. Like Gasly, Ocon’s lone highlight of the season was finishing in the runner-up position at São Paulo, which marked his fourth career podium result and first since finishing in third place during the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. Amid Ocon’s podium, he only racked up 23 points and notched an average-finishing result of 13.7, which placed him in 14th place in the final driver’s standings.

    Compared to Gasly, Ocon, a native of Évreux, France, was not retained by Alpine for the 2025 season and he ended up being replaced by newcomer Jack Doohan during the finale in Abu Dhabi. Doohan, a native of Gold Coast, Australia, who spent the previous two seasons as Alpine’s reserve driver and notched six victories in Formula 2, is set to embark in his maiden campaign in F1 competition in 2025 as he will partner with Gasly, the latter of whom inked a multi-year contract extension this past June to remain at Alpine beyond 2025. Both Doohan and Gasly enter next season with equal attempts to deliver the first driver’s and constructor’s titles for Alpine, a team that was rebranded from Renault since 2021.

    Haas

    After plummeting to dead last in the 2023 constructor’s standings, the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team rallied by climbing three spots to seventh place in this year’s constructor’s standings and racking up its second-highest accumulated points to a season at 58 following a yearlong battle to nearly crack the top-six mark.

    The competitor who led the charge to Haas’ on-track success in 2024 was Nico Hülkenberg, who racked up 32 more points than his previous season at 41 and jumped five spots in the final driver’s standings to 11th place. The Emmerich am Rhein, Germany, native also recorded an average-finishing result of 11.6 and two season-best results of sixth-place runs in back-to-back Grand Prix events between Austria and Silverstone. Kevin Magnussen, Hülkenberg’s teammate from Roskilde, Denmark, who is coming off his sixth season as a Haas F1 competitor, managed to withstand a season where he was absent for two Grand Prix events (one for being suspended from Azerbaijan and another for being ill at Sao Paulo) to notch an average-finishing result of 13.4 and a total of 16 points, which was enough to climb up to 15th place in the standings and be four spots better from his previous season. Magnussen’s best result in 2024 was seventh, which occurred at Mexico City in late October.

    Amid a successful 2024 season, Hülkenberg and Magnussen have both parted ways with Haas as the former transitions to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber while the latter joins BMW Motorsport to pilot a M Hybrid V8 entry in 2025. The competitors who will represent Haas for next season are Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon. Bearman, a native of Havering, England, is promoted to a maiden F1 campaign after he spent this past season competing in Formula 2 for Prema Racing and serving as a reserve competitor for both Haas and Ferrari, the latter of which he notched an impressive seventh place during the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix while substituting for Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, Ocon joins Haas following a five-year campaign at Alpine.

    Visa Cash App Racing Bulls

    With a rebranded identity and a midseason swap of a veteran notable for the return of an eventual Red Bull-promoted driver, the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, which is set to be labeled Racing Bulls in 2025, capped off the 2024 F1 season in eighth place in the constructor’s standings for a second consecutive season.

    The result comes with 46 points recorded as the organization spent the 2024 season flirting within the midfield section of the standings and challenging for sixth place in the constructor’s category. The competitor who led the team’s charge was Yuki Tsunoda, who nearly doubled his recorded points from his previous season at 30, notched a career-high nine top-10 results and claimed a new points result in the standings from 14th to 12th. Tsunoda, a native of Sagamihara, Japan, notched a season-best trio of seventh-place results in 2024, which occurred in Australia, Miami and São Paulo.

    Tsunoda spent the first 18 Grand Prixs competing alongside veteran Daniel Ricciardo, the latter of whom returned to the grid for seven events with Racing Bulls after initially losing his full-time seat at McLaren following the 2022 season. Ricciardo, an eight-time Grand Prix winner from Perth, Australia, who returned to the Red Bull team in 2023, spent the first 18-scheduled events recording three top-10 results and with goals of being promoted back up to Red Bull from Racing Bulls. After Ricciardo was released by the team following the Singapore Grand Prix and amid a difficult 2024 campaign where he struggled to keep pace with Tsunoda, Liam Lawson assumed Ricciardo’s seat at Racing Bulls as he campaigned in the remaining six events on the schedule. During the six-race stretch, he notched two ninth-place results, which was enough for him to be promoted to Red Bull over Tsunoda.

    In 2025, Visa Cash App Racing Bull’s lineup will consist of Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar, the latter of whom is Red Bull’s reserve competitor and is coming off a runner-up result in the final standings to the 2024 Formula 2 season while competing for Campos Racing. Next season is set to mark Hadjar’s maiden campaign in F1 competition as both he and Tsunoda strive to make Racing Bulls competitive alongside Red Bull and place the team to its first top-five result or higher in the constructor’s standings.

    Williams

    Coming off a strong 2023 season, the Williams Racing organization dropped two spots to ninth place in the 2024 final constructor’s standings amid a midseason swap of competitors and a final combined points tally of 17. Like the previous two seasons, the team’s front-runner was Alexander Albon, a Thailand competitor who settled in 16th place in the final driver’s standings in a season mired with only 12 recorded points and an average-finishing result of 14.5. Albon, who is coming off his third consecutive season driving for Williams, also recorded the team’s best finish of the season in seventh place, which occurred during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.

    Logan Sargeant, the team’s second competitor from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, spent 14 of the first 15-scheduled events competing as a Williams competitor, where he racked up a season-best 11th-place result at Silverstone Circuit in July. Sargeant was then replaced by Franco Colapinto, a Formula 2 competitor for MP Motorsport and a Williams Driver Academy competitor from Pilar, Argentina, prior to September and for the remaining nine-scheduled events. The change for Colapinto occurred as Sargeant had racked up an average-finishing result of 17.1 with no points recorded and was involved in two accidents in Japan and the Netherlands that cost the team financially in damages. During his nine-race stint, Colapinto finished in the top 10 twice and notched a season-best eighth place on the track in Azerbaijan, which was enough to claim 19th place in the driver’s standings with five points.

    In 2025, the organization welcomes Carlos Sainz, a native of Madrid, Spain, who departed Ferrari after four seasons and despite recording his maiden four Grand Prix victories over the previous three seasons, including two this season at Australia in March and at Mexico in October. The pair of victories were enough for Sainz to settle in fifth place in the 2024 driver’s standings with a career-best average-finishing result of 5.7 and career-high stats in points accumulated (290) and podiums (nine). Sainz is set to compete alongside Albon, the latter of whom inked a multi-year contract extension in May to remain at Williams through 2027, as both attempt to contend for the team’s first driver’s and constructor’s titles since 1997. Amid Sainz’s first entrance as a Williams competitor, Colapinto is left without an F1 ride for the 2025 season.

    Kick Sauber

    Rounding out the field is Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber that will feature a complete overhaul of its driver lineup in 2025. This past season, the team featured Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu as its drivers for a third consecutive season. The team’s lone highlight was notching four points during the Qatar Grand Prix that was made by Guanyu, who finished in eighth place. The points accumulated by Guanyu were enough for the Shanghai native to climb up to 20th place in the final driver’s standings. Meanwhile, Bottas, who first joined Kick Saber in 2022 following a seven-year campaign at Mercedes, concluded a season with no points for the first time in his F1 career. With a career-low average-finishing result of 15.8 and finishing no higher than 11th, which occurred at Qatar, Bottas settled in 22nd place in the 2024 driver’s standings.

    In 2025, the team’s driver lineup will consist of Nico Hülkenberg, who departed Haas after two seasons, and Gabriel Bortoleto, the latter of whom achieved both the 2024 Formula 2 championship and the 2023 Formula 3 championship. While Bottas returns to Mercedes as a reserve competitor, Gyanyu is left with uncertainties for next season.

    Like the previous season, the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship season will feature 24 Grand Prix events that span across 21 countries and five continents in 10 months. The 2025 season commences with the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, that will occur on March 16.

  • Verstappen wins maiden Formula One World Championship in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

    Verstappen wins maiden Formula One World Championship in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

    In a season-long championship battle for the ages between a legend and a prominent star each representing two powerhouse organizations, a one-lap shootout on fresh tyres handed Max Verstappen his maiden Formula One World Championship after the Dutchman overtook and fended off Sir Lewis Hamilton to win both the title and the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, December 12.

    The 24-year-old Verstappen commenced the 2021 F1 weekend finale by claiming the pole position over Hamilton on Saturday. At the start, however, Hamilton powered his Mercedes to the front on medium tyres. Then in Turn 6, Verstappen made a bold move beneath Hamilton and forced Hamilton off the course, though Hamilton came back on the course to retain the lead. Despite protests being launched from Red Bull Racing over Hamilton’s off-course venture, the stewards allowed Hamilton to continue as the leader.

    From Laps 15 to 20 of 58, where both Hamilton and Verstappen pitted, Sergio “Checo” Perez, the second Red Bull Racing competitor, was leading ahead of Hamilton with the Mexican veteran receiving orders to fend off Hamilton. By Lap 21, however, Hamilton reassumed the lead following an intense battle with Perez.

    With less than 10 laps remaining, Hamilton was still leading, but racing on worn tyres. By then, Verstappen, who last pitted on Lap 36, was trying to cut Hamilton’s huge deficit and navigate his way through lapped traffic.

    Then an opportunity struck with five laps remaining when Nicholas Latifi wrecked his Williams Racing car in Turn 14. Under the safety car caution period, Hamilton remained on the track while Verstappen pitted. As the laps dwindled and the safety car remained on the track, the FIA and stewards instructed for five lapped cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen to overtake them and the safety car to cycle back on the lead lap, which left Hamilton and Verstappen running nose to tail of one another for a one-lap shootout to the finish. The decision was one that left Mercedes, including team principal Toto Wolff, unhappy with the call.

    At the start, Hamilton retained the lead, but Verstappen kept him within his sights. Then in Turn 5, Verstappen made a bold move beneath Hamilton to take the lead. Despite receiving two opportunities to regain the lead, Hamilton could not keep pace with Verstappen’s Red Bull machine as the Dutchman was able to navigate his way around the circuit for a final time and streak across the finish line to claim the race victory and the championship to the delight of his team and nation.

    With the victory, Verstappen, who notched his 10th Grand Prix victory of 2021 and the 20th of his career, became the 34th different competitor to achieve a Formula One World Championship and he became the first Dutchman to win an F1 title. By beating Hamilton by eight points, he delivered the first drivers’ championship for Red Bull Racing since 2013 as Red Bull claimed its fifth championship.

    “It’s unbelievable,” Verstappen said. “Throughout the whole race, I kept fighting and then of course, that last opportunity on the last lap, it’s incredible. I’m still having a cramp. It’s insane. I don’t know what to say. These guys right here, my team and of course, Honda, they deserve it. I love them so much and I really, really enjoy working with them already since 2016, but this year has been incredible. To my team, I think they know I love them and I hope we can do this for 10, 15 years together. There’s no reason to change ever. I want to stay with them for the rest of my life…Our goal was to win this championship and now, we have done that.”

    “It’s just insane,” Verstappen added. “My goal when I was little was to become a Formula One driver. When they play the national anthem, you one day hope they play yours and then when you stand here and then they tell you that you’re the World Champion, it’s something incredible. Especially my dad, the special moment we had here, all the things come back to your mind, throughout all the years where you spent together traveling for that goal, and then you are here together, everything comes together in the last lap. Insane, these people. My whole team, my family, my friends, my best family friends, the people I grew up with go-karting, the ones who pushed me to where I am today, most of them were here. It just sounds amazing. It’s incredible to see all this [Netherlands] orange here, but all over the world where they supported me throughout my whole career and especially in Formula One, it’s just incredible and I hope I can do this for a very long time with the support of my great fans. Throughout the whole race, I just tried to keep on pushing, tried to keep on believing in it even though it didn’t look like it and in some times, miracles happen. Lewis [Hamilton] is an amazing driver, an amazing competitor. He made it really, really hard for us and everyone loved to see it. We had some tough times, but I think that’s all part of this sport and its emotion. Everyone wants to win. It could’ve gone either way today, but next year, we’ll come back and try it all over again.”

    Hamilton, who dominated the finale and was on track in winning a record-setting eighth F1 title prior to the late restart, settled in second place for the eighth time on the track in 2021 and in the runner-up position in the standings, which marked his first title loss since losing to former teammate Nico Rosburg in 2016. With Hamilton’s runner-up result and to go along with Valtteri Bottas finishing in sixth place on the track, Mercedes were able to claim an eighth consecutive Constructors’ title by 28 points over Red Bull Racing Honda.

    “Firstly, a big congratulations to Max and to his team,” Hamilton said. “I think we did an amazing job this year. My team, everybody back at the factory, all the men and women we have at here worked so hard this whole year. It’s been the most difficult of seasons. I’m so proud of them, so grateful to be a part of the journey with them. We gave it everything. This last part of the season, we gave it absolutely everything. We never gave up. That’s the most important thing. We’ll see about next year.”

    Following the finale, Mercedes launched two protests to the FIA over the decision to conclude the finale with a one-lap shootout while also alleging that Verstappen overtook Hamilton during the final safety car period and prior to the shootout. Following an extensive review amid the controversy, where members of Mercedes and Red Bull met, the protests were dismissed and Verstappen’s championship was retained.

    Finishing behind the two championship contenders on the track was Carlos Sainz, who achieved his fourth podium result of the season and capped off his first season with Ferrari in a career-best fifth place in the drivers’ standings. With teammate Charles Leclerc finishing 10th on the track, Ferrari capped off the 2021 F1 season in third place in the constructors’ standings over the McLaren F1 Team.

    “Especially the ending has been particularly great for me,” Sainz said. “With my best race in Ferrari putting together everything I’ve learned through the year, to put together a strong race today with the start, the race management, with a podium, that gets me also P5 in the Drivers’ championship. It all came together. It was a very challenging [season], especially because the lack of testing, so I had no idea how quickly I was gonna adopt. At Bahrain, I saw that I was pretty quick and I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna be there.’ I know I’m quick. I know that when I have the car to my liking, I have the speed to do whatever it takes to be quick in Formula One. The first part of the year was challenging, adapting to two different things of the car that I didn’t fully understand. The last third, I put together everything to put some good qualifyings and some good race finishes.”

    Rookie Yuki Tsunoda for AlphaTauri rallied from an up-and-down rookie season in F1 to notch a career-best fourth place on the track ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly and Bottas, who capped off his fifth and final season with Mercedes in third place in the drivers’ standings. Lando Norris, who wrapped up his junior season in F1 competition and with McLaren in a career-best sixth place in the drivers’ standings, finished seventh on the track followed by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon while Leclerc rounded out the top 10 on the track.

    Finishing outside of the top-10 points-paying results on the track was Sebastian Vettel, who concluded his first season with the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team in 12th place in the driver’s standings. Daniel Ricciardo followed pursuit along with Lance Stroll and rookie Mick Schumacher.

    Sergio “Checo” Perez, who was in late contention for a podium result, ended his race in 15th place after retiring prior to the one-lap shootout. Despite the result, Perez capped off his first season with Red Bull Racing in fourth place in the final drivers’ standings along with five podiums and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory in June.

    Latifi, following his late accident, retired in 16th place while teammate George Russell retired in 18th place and in his final event with Williams Racing due to a transmission issue.

    Antonio Giovinazzi concluded his final event with Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen in 17th place on the track after retiring on Lap 36 due to a gearbox issue. Ten laps earlier, teammate Kimi Räikkönen retired in 19th place, dead last, after spinning in Turn 6 due to a braking issue on Lap 26. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked Räikkönen’s 349th and final career start in Formula One with the 2007 champion stepping away from F1 competition.

    Nikita Mazepin, one of two Uralkali Haas F1 competitors, did not compete after testing positive for COVID-19 hours to the finale.

    Race Results

    1. Max Verstappen, one lap led

    2. Lewis Hamilton, 51 laps led

    3. Carlos Sainz

    4. Yuki Tsunoda

    5. Pierre Gasly

    6. Valtteri Bottas

    7. Lando Norris

    8. Fernando Alonso

    9. Esteban Ocon

    10. Charles Leclerc

    11. Sebastian Vettel

    12. Daniel Ricciardo, +1 lap

    13. Lance Stroll, +1 lap

    14. Mick Schumacher, +1 lap

    15. Sergio Perez – Retired, six laps led

    16. Nicholas Latifi – Retired

    17. Antonio Giovinazzi – Retired

    18. George Russell – Retired

    19. Kimi Räikkönen – Retired

    Final Driver Standings

    1. Max Verstappen

    2. Lewis Hamilton

    3. Valtteri Bottas

    4. Sergio Perez

    5. Carlos Sainz

    6. Lando Norris

    7. Charles Leclerc

    8. Daniel Ricciardo

    9. Pierre Gasly

    10. Fernando Alonso

    11. Esteban Ocon

    12. Sebastian Vettel

    13. Lance Stroll

    14. Yuki Tsunoda

    15. George Russell

    16. Kimi Räikkönen

    17. Nicholas Latifi

    18. Antonio Giovinazzi

    19. Mick Schumacher

    20. Robert Kubica

    21. Nikita Mazepin

    Final Constructor Standings

    1. Mercedes

    2. Red Bull Racing Honda

    3. Ferrari

    4. McLaren-Mercedes

    5. Alpine Renault

    6. AlphaTauri Honda

    7. Aston Martin Mercedes

    8. Williams Mercedes

    9. Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari

    10. Haas-Ferrari

    The Formula One teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Bahrain International Circuit for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, March 20, to commence the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship season.

  • Hamilton wins the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, draws championship tie with Verstappen

    Hamilton wins the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, draws championship tie with Verstappen

    In a race highlighted with two red-flag periods, on-track chaos, controversy and tempers flaring amongst the competitors and teams battling for the season championship, Sir Lewis Hamilton drew himself on equal points level with Max Verstappen after withstanding a late battle and contact with Verstappen to win the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Sunday, December 5.

    Hamilton, who started on pole position for the 103rd time in his illustrious career, led the opening 10 laps before a hard incident involving rookie Mick Schumacher resulted with Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas pitting for hard tyres. This gave Verstappen an advantage by taking the lead and opting to have a fresh set of hard tyres on his Red Bull machine as the race was then suspended for repairs in Turn 23 where Schumacher wrecked. 

    When the race restarted on Lap 15, Hamilton and Verstappen dueled until Verstappen went off the course and cut back in front of Hamilton, which caused Hamilton to step off the gas as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon went by for second place. Following another multi-car wreck and red-flag period that involved rookie Nikita Mazepin, George Russell and Sergio “Checo” Perez, Verstappen relinquished the lead and settled in third behind Ocon and Hamilton. 

    Two laps later, on a Lap 17 restart, Verstappen made a bold three-wide move entering the first two turns to reassume the lead, where he dominated the evening and kept Hamilton in his rearview mirrors. 

    Then, the intensity between Hamilton and Verstappen crescendoed under the final 15 laps as Hamilton narrowed the gap between himself and his championship rival. On Lap 36, Hamilton attempted to overtake Verstappen’s Red Bull machine through the main straightaway, but Verstappen went wide in Turn 2 and nearly made contact with Hamilton while refusing to yield. The Dutchman then went off the course, but returned while still leading the race. Then while instructed by his crew to relinquish the lead to avoid a penalty for going off the course, Verstappen slowed and ended up getting hit by Hamilton, with the reigning seven-time F1 champion sustaining slight front-wing damage. Despite the incident, both competitors continued running straight and in the top-two spots. 

    Five laps later, Verstappen, who briefly relinquished the lead to Hamilton, reassumed the top spot over Hamilton through Turn 27 and entering the main straightaway. Then, the stewards placed Verstappen on a five-second time penalty for his off-track excursion on Lap 42. Finally, Hamilton seized his opportunity during the following lap and pushed Verstappen wide in Turn 27 to take the lead as he pulled away from his rival, who was beginning to lose the rear tyres on his car.

    With no competition lurking behind him, Hamilton was able to nurse his Mercedes back to the finish line and grab his third consecutive victory in recent weeks by nearly 12 seconds over Verstappen.

    By winning for the eighth time in 2021 and for his 103rd Formula 1 career victory, Hamilton left Saudi Arabia in a tie with Verstappen for the lead in the driver’s championship standings as he pursues his record-setting eighth F1 title.

    “The fight [in this team] is so, so deeply great,” Hamilton said. “I’ve been with this team 10 years. I’ve seen their passion all these year. I don’t think I’ve seen as what they’ve just shown me there coming down the pit lane at the end of the race. It’s on a different level, the energy. We’re all hyped. The fight, it’s spectacular and I appreciate it. It’s difficult to fight with a driver that doesn’t work with the same rulebook, but I tried with everything I had to just keep the car on the track and do it the right way. We persevered as a team and I’m grateful for everyone’s hard work. Who would’ve thought we got to this point, it would be like this. But I felt great. Just trying to keep my head down for next week. I’ll try to deliver the best result we can.”

    “I think we are all happy today, but I need to bite my words at the moment because in seven days, there will be another result and I still hope that we are going to be happy as now,” Toto Wolff, team principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, added. “We just need to calm down, really prepare well for next week, have a strong racing car like we had today, have no reliability should because if we have that, the championship is gone within a second and then, all the fun today was destroyed next week.”

    Verstappen, who wrecked during Saturday’s qualifying session while establishing what would have been a pole-winning lap but was able to line up in third place, led twice for 31 laps and rallied from the late on-track controversy between himself and Hamilton to settle in second place for the eighth time in 2021. Despite falling back into a tie with Hamilton in the driver’s standings, Verstappen currently holds the tie-breaker for the top spot based on winning nine times throughout the season compared to Hamilton’s eight and sets his focus towards the finale at Abu Dhabi and with an opportunity to claim his first Formula One championship.

    “Of course, when [the team] told me that I had the five-second penalty, it was not worth fighting anymore because I would never have pulled a gap of five seconds,” Verstappen said. “A lot of action, lot of things that happened. I think ultimately, we didn’t really have perfect pace in the race. Maybe also, the medium tyres were not amazing to the end. I think hard tyres could’ve had a bit more life. That’s obviously easy to say afterwards. There were a lot of moves [with Hamilton]. That five-second penalty, I don’t think is correct, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to talk about it too much because they don’t deserve any word coming out of my mouth.”

    “[The team] told me to give the position back,” Verstappen, who addressed the on-track incident with Hamilton, added. “Immediately when I heard that on the radio, I just pulled off to the right to show that I was gonna move over. I braked, down-shift and [Hamilton] just stayed behind me, so I was just looking in the mirror and I’m slowing down and then, I think it was just a bit of a miscommunication where he then ran into the back of me.”

    “Frustrating race,” Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, added. “I think in the end, we’re probably lucky to get away with second with the damage we had at the back of the car. It goes down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. I thought at the beginning of the year, it would go all the way to Abu Dhabi. Fortunately for all the fans, there’s nothing between [Verstappen and Hamilton]. There’s just one race victory between them, so let’s see where it finish…We got one chance [to win].”

    Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas, who started on the front row but spent the majority of the event inside the top five, edged Esteban Ocon at the finish line to grab the final podium spot in his penultimate event with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. With the points, Mercedes increased their lead in the constructor’s standings by 28 points over Red Bull Racing Honda.

    “It makes a difference to be fourth or third,” Bottas said. “Esteban had a good race and they were actually surprisingly quick. It was not easy to get him, but yeah, got him just at the end. I just kept pushing. It was worth it today not to give up…It’s gonna be a pretty exciting race in Abu Dhabi.”

    Ocon, who made his way up to a podium spot since the Lap 15 restart and retained third place until the final lap, settled in fourth place while Daniel Ricciardo rallied from finishing outside of the points during the previous Grand Prix events to finish in fifth place.

    Pierre Gasly, driving for AlphaTauri, rallied from finishing outside of the points during the previous Grand Prix event in Qatar to finish in sixth place followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Antonio Giovinazzi came home in ninth place in his penultimate event with Alfa Romeo Racing while McLaren’s Lando Norris ended up in 10th place.

    Finishing outside of the top-10 points-paying results was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll along with Nicholas Latifi and Fernando Alonso, who pitted late for soft tyres and ended up a lap behind the leaders.

    Rookie Yuki Tsunoda finished 14th following an on-track collision and incident with Sebastian Vettel on Lap 23, where he spun Vettel and destroyed the front wing of his AlphaTauri in Turn 1.

    Kimi Räikkönen finished 15th in his penultimate F1 event of his career while Sebastian Vettel, who continued following his early incident with Tsunoda, retired late in the event in 16th place due to the damage on his Aston Martin car.

    George Russell, Sergio “Checo” Perez and rookie Nikita Mazepin, all of whom wrecked during the Lap 15 restart, retired in 17th, 18th and 19th.

    Mick Schumacher retired in 20th place, dead last, following his wreck in Turn 23. 

    Results:

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 26 points

    2. Max Verstappen, 18 points

    3. Valtteri Bottas, 15 points

    4. Esteban Ocon, 12 points

    5. Daniel Ricciardo, 10 points

    6. Pierre Gasly, eight points

    7. Charles Leclerc, six points

    8. Carlos Sainz, four points

    9. Antonio Giovinazzi, two points

    10. Lando Norris, one point

    11. Lance Stroll

    12. Nicholas Latifi

    13. Fernando Alonso, +1 lap

    14. Yuki Tsunoda, +1 lap

    15. Kimi Räikkönen, +1 lap

    16. Sebastian Vettel – Retired

    17. George Russell – Retired

    18. Sergio Perez – Retired

    19. Nikita Mazepin – Retired

    20. Mick Schumacher – Retired

    Verstappen and Hamilton are tied for the lead in the drivers’ standings while Mercedes continues to lead the constructor’s standings by 28 points over Red Bull Racing Honda.

    Next is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, which will conclude the 2021 Formula One season and where a champion will be crowned. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, December 12.

  • Hamilton narrows championship deficit to Verstappen by winning the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix

    Hamilton narrows championship deficit to Verstappen by winning the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix

    Sir Lewis Hamilton took another swing towards Max Verstappen’s championship standings lead after the reigning seven-time Formula One champion notched a dominant win in the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix at Losail International Circuit on Sunday, November 21.

    Hamilton, who started on pole position for the fourth time in 2021 and the 102nd of his career, was able to launch away from the field at the start and he never relinquished the top spot as he claimed the win by more than 25 seconds over runner-up Verstappen, who kept the seven-time champion within his sights and to maintain the lead in the standings by a narrow margin.

    With the victory, Hamilton secured his seventh Grand Prix victory of the season and the 102nd victory of his F1 career as he reduced his deficit to Verstappen in the standings from 14 to eight while continuing his pursuit for a record-setting eighth F1 title. He also became the first competitor to achieve a Grand Prix victory in 30 different F1 circuits.

    “It was a good weekend,” Hamilton said. “Super solid. I couldn’t really ask for any more. I would’ve loved to have got that extra point out there for the fastest lap, but obviously, I was against with the VSC, obviously with the tyre punctures and everything like that, it was just too risky. It’s been great this weekend. First stint was really strong, [Verstappen and Red Bull] were still really fast as you could see. They went past people so easily. We’ve been strong, so I’m excited for these next two races. I think we’ve got a good car. If we can get the car in a good place these next two [races, I think we should be real strong.”

    Verstappen, who originally qualified on the front row but fell back to seventh as part of a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect double waved yellow flags in qualifying, was able to march his way to the front and settle in second place for the seventh time this season. By pitting in the final laps and notching the fastest time of the event, where he earned an additional point, he maintains the top spot in the standings and maintains his quest for his first F1 title with two races remaining to the schedule.

    “It was an exciting start,” Verstappen said. “It got really close with Fernando [Alonso] into Turn 2, but the race, quite quickly, I was back into P2. From there on, as I tried to keep the gap small so that I could not do a pit stop or like an extra pit stop, and it worked out well because we did the fastest lap like that and any weekend where you like pace and still finish second and get that fastest lap point, I think it’s good. Overall, we’re still lacking pace, also in the race, but of course, very happy with this result.”

    Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso, who started in third place, made an aggressive one-stop strategy work to his perfection after the two-time F1 champion fended off Sergio “Checo” Perez to finish in third place and claim his first podium result since finishing in second place in the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. With the result, Alonso, who returned to F1 competition this season since retiring in 2018, became the 13th different competitor to achieve an F1 podium in 2021 as he recorded the first podium result for Alpine F1 Team since the team won the Hungarian Grand Prix in August with Esteban Ocon.

    “The love keeps going for this track,” Alonso, who was voted Driver of the Day, said. “The car was mega again on the race and we could keep up the pace with Perez and in front of the McLarens, the Ferraris, so I think we were, maybe on pure pace, fourth or fifth, but then obviously, we gambled on the strategy, only one stop. Perez did two [pit stops] and we managed to step on the podium with two great champions, Max and Lewis. That means a lot for me as well. After seven years, waiting for a podium, it was tough sometimes. You go up and down on your career and you need to keep up, never give up and show some determination, some dedication to this sport because you dedicate your life to Formula One, to train and to prepare for the next race. It doesn’t matter if you’re 11th, if you’re 15th or eventually, when you come fight for a podium like today. I love racing and this podium means a lot.”

    Perez settled in fourth-place for his 13th top-five result of the season.

    Esteban Ocon, teammate to Alonso, finished in fifth place for his first top-five result since claiming his maiden Grand Prix victory at Hungary in August, thus keeping the Alpine F1 Team ahead of AlphaTauri for fifth place in the Constructors’ standings. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished in sixth place for his best result of the season and for his ninth top-10 points-paying result of the season.

    Teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc kept Ferrari situated in third place in the constructor’s standings by finishing seventh and eighth followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris, the first competitor scored a lap behind the leaders. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10 on the track.

    Finishing just outside of the top 10 was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who started on the front row for the first time in his career but who failed to make a two-tyre strategy work.

    Daniel Ricciardo settled in 12th place ahead of rookie Yuki Tsunoda, Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, who is down to his final two F1 races this season and with Alfa Romeo.

    Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished 16th and 18th while Williams Racing’s George Russell and Nicholas Latifi ended up in 17th and 19th after both suffered late tyre punctures. While Russell was able to return to his pit stall and finish the race two laps behind the leaders, Latifi was unable to do so as he retired on the track in 19th place.

    Valtteri Bottas, who received a three-place grid penalty and was relegated to sixth place, was able to methodically work his way towards the front in the first half of the event. His race, however, went away on Lap 33 when he suffered a left-front tyre puncture as he slid off the track  and into the gravel in Turn 7. Despite recovering from the issue, he ended up retiring on Lap 50 and in 20th place, dead last, as he retained third place in the driver’s standings by 13 points over Perez.

    Results:

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 25 points

    2. Max Verstappen, 19 points

    3. Fernando Alonso, 15 points

    4. Sergio Perez, 12 points

    5. Esteban Ocon, 10 points

    6. Lance Stroll, eight points

    7. Carlos Sainz, six points

    8. Charles Leclerc, four points

    9. Lando Norris, two points, +1 lap

    10. Sebastian Vettel, one point, +1 lap 

    11. Pierre Gasly, +1 lap

    12. Daniel Ricciardo, +1 lap

    13. Yuki Tsunoda, +1 lap

    14. Kimi Räikkönen, +1 lap

    15. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1 lap

    16. Mick Schumacher, +1 lap

    17. George Russell, +2 laps

    18. Nikita Mazepin, +2 laps

    19. Nicholas Latifi – Retired

    20. Valtteri Bottas – Retired 

    Max Verstappen continues to lead the drivers’ standings by eight points over Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team continues to lead the constructors’ standings by five points over Red Bull Racing Honda.

    With two races remaining in the schedule, the 2021 Formula One season will be taking its final off-week period before returning for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Street Circuit on November 5.

  • Hamilton retains championship hopes with a comeback victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix

    Hamilton retains championship hopes with a comeback victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix

    Sir Lewis Hamilton rallied from a difficult start to a racing weekend by persevering in a late battle with championship rival Max Verstappen and winning the São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos Circuit on Sunday, November 14.

    The reigning seven-time F1 champion’s weekend started off on a rough note when he was penalized five grid spots when his team decided to change engines to his Mercedes. Then he was disqualified from starting on pole position for the F1 Sprint qualification event on Saturday, November 13, due to a technical infringement involving his rear wing and DRS system on his Mercedes. The disqualification relegated Hamilton to start in last place for the Sprint, which he made up for the misfortune by finishing in fifth place. With the five-place penalty grid still intact, Hamilton fell back to 10th place on the starting grid for the main event.


    Rolling off the grid just inside the top 10, Hamilton, who methodically carved his way to the front, spent the majority of the main event battling towards the front with his teammate and pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas along with Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen and Sergio “Checo” Perez.

    Then on Lap 48 of 71, Hamilton made a move to the outside of on Verstappen for the lead entering Turn 4. Entering the turn, however, both title contenders ran off the circuit as Verstappen retained the lead without being penalized.

    Eleven laps later, Hamilton, who made another move to the outside of Verstappen in Turn 4, moved his Mercedes into the lead. From there, Hamilton pulled away and was able to cross the finish line more than 10 seconds ahead of the Dutchman to grab the victory.

    The victory was Hamilton’s sixth of the season, third at the Interlagos Circuit and the 101st of his F1 career. With the victory and the points he earned, Hamilton decreased his deficit to Verstappen by five, from 19 to 14, with three Grand Prix events remaining to the schedule as he pursues his quest to win a record-setting eighth F1 title.

    “It was one of the most fun races I’ve had in a long time,” Hamilton said. “Just a great start and just really bounced throughout. I definitely didn’t know whether or not that I would be able to overtake [Verstappen]. [The Red Bull competitors] are working as well as the team. It was just kind of crazy to think that where we started yesterday, last, and then, I got up to fifth yesterday, and then I realized I got to go back another five places, and then thinking, ‘By the time I even get there, Max will be gone.’ He wasn’t that far ahead when I finally got there. I just keep thinking what a great team I have behind me. We continue to push, continue to raise a bar and not say no to any answers really. From this weekend, we’ve been thrown a lot at us and it was easy to get down and not be positive and not do our job well. They did a remarkable job this weekend. 

    “Success always feel sweeter when you face adversity,” Hamilton added. “Yes, when you start first and have success, there’s a journey to get there, of course, but it’s far, far greater. This is one of the most beautiful feelings I’ve had in a win, knowing that I’ve had all of those pushbacks, setbacks. We never let it stand in our way…I was gonna get [Verstappen] at some stage. That was how my mindset was. I’m coming for you. That’s where we’re headed.”

    Like Hamilton, Verstappen rallied from a difficult start to the weekend when he was fined €50,000 for examining and touching Hamilton’s rear wing in Parc Ferme following Friday’s qualification session for the F1 Sprint. He rallied by finishing second in the F1 Sprint behind Bottas and took command of the lead right from the start, where he dominated the event and was eventually overtaken by Hamilton late in the run.

    Despite coming up one position shy of notching his third consecutive Grand Prix victory in recent weeks, Verstappen, who won at Interlagos in 2019, continues to lead the driver’s championship standings by a respectable margin over Hamilton as he closes in towards his first F1 World Championship.

    “I knew it was gonna be difficult, but I tried everything I could,” Verstappen said. “Clearly, we were just lacking a bit today. Also, top speed wise, it was really tough to defend. You could clearly see when they take a fresh engine, it gives them a bit more power. So hopefully in the coming races, that will die down slowly. At least it was fun. Of course, I would’ve liked to win, but realistically, I think this was a good result. I think it was good, hard racing. That’s how it should be.”

    Meanwhile, Bottas, who won the F1 Sprint on Saturday and started on pole position, ran a consistent event to finish in third place, one position ahead of Perez, who managed to clock in the fastest time of the event at 218.453 kph on the final lap. The third-place result marked Bottas’ 10th podium result of the season as he is down to his final three races with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team before transitioning to Alfa Romeo in 2022.

    “Lap 1 was quite disappointing,” Bottas said. “We had a very average start. Max had a good one and then, I tried to defend Checo [Perez] and went wide, but I tried. We’ll have a look at what happened. After that, I, obviously, kept pushing and we took the opportunity with the virtual safety car. I think the pace was actually OK today, so it was good to be there till the end. It was very close and was actually pretty close to Max…Really good points. That’s something to be happy about.”

    Finishing behind the two Mercedes and Red Bull competitors were the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., with both competitors being the last of six competitors finishing on the lead lap. The top-six results for Leclerc and Sainz were enough to stabilize Ferrari’s positioning of third place in the constructor’s standings.

    Pierre Gasly, the first competitor a lap down, finished in seventh followed by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. Lando Norris, meanwhile, rallied from an opening lap puncture following contact with Sainz, to complete the top 10 on the track.

    Sebastian Vettel was the first competitor to finishing outside of the top-10 points-paying results in 11th followed by Kimi Räikkönen, George Russell, Antonio Giovinazzi and rookie Yuki Tsunoda, who damaged his car following an early collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

    Nicholas Latifi settled in 16th followed by Haas’ Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher, who lost his front wing following an on-track collision with Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo.

    Daniel Ricciardo retired in 19th place due to losing power in his McLaren, which marked his first retirement since the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.

    Lance Stroll rounded out the field in 20th place following his early collision with Tsunoda.

    Results. 

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 25 points

    2. Max Verstappen, 20 points

    3. Valtteri Bottas, 18 points

    4. Sergio Perez, 13 points

    5. Charles Leclerc, 10 points

    6. Carlos Sainz, eight points

    7. Pierre Gasly, six points, +1 lap,

    8. Esteban Ocon, four points, + 1 lap

    9. Fernando Alonso, two points, +1 lap

    10. Lando Norris, one point, +1 lap

    11. Sebastian Vettel, +1 lap

    12. Kimi Räikkönen, +1 lap

    13. George Russell, +1 lap

    14. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1 lap

    15. Yuki Tsunoda, +1 lap

    16. Nicholas Latifi, +1 lap

    17. Nikita Mazepin, +2 laps

    18. Mick Schumacher, +2 laps

    19. Daniel Ricciardo – Retired

    20. Lance Stroll – Retired

    Max Verstappen continues to lead the drivers’ standings by 14 points over Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 11 points over Red Bull Racing Honda thanks to the strong performances from Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

    With three races remaining to the schedule, the 2021 Formula One season will continue at Losail International Circuit for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, November 21.

  • Bottas claims the Turkish Grand Prix; snaps yearlong winless drought

    Bottas claims the Turkish Grand Prix; snaps yearlong winless drought

    While the drivers’ championship battle took another swing, Valtteri Bottas made his yearlong return to the top of the podium after winning the Turkish Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, October 10.

    The Finnish veteran, who originally posted the second-fastest lap in qualifying, started on pole position after his teammate, Sir Lewis Hamilton, was hit with a 10-place grid penalty for competing with a newly installed Mercedes engine in his car. After launching away from the field at the start and on damp conditions, Bottas led the first 37 laps. He returned to the lead on Lap 47 of 58, which he would keep for the remainder of the event as he beat runner-up Max Verstappen by more than 14 seconds.

    With the victory, Bottas, who also set the fastest lap of the event, became the sixth different winner of this year’s F1 season as he achieved his 10th Grand Prix career win. Bottas, who remains in third place in the drivers’ standings, is down to his final six events with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, a team he joined in 2017 and went on to record his maiden Grand Prix victory. He is set to join Alfa Romeo Racing for the 2022 season.

    “It feels awesome,” Bottas said. “It feels good. I don’t know. Almost like a relief to actually win a race this year. It’s been a while and it was not an easy race win. With these conditions, just needed like full focus, non-stop and couldn’t do any mistakes. The pace I had was really good and I was confident with the car. I feel like since Monza, things have been going quite well and quite nicely. There’s not pressure about anything, so I can just really enjoy, focus on the driving and that seems to work.”

    Trailing Bottas to the finish line were Red Bull Racing’s two competitors, Max Verstappen and Sergio “Checo” Perez, both of whom sported a special silver Honda tribute scheme to pay homage to Honda’s final season as a power unit in F1. Verstappen finished in second place for his 12th podium result of the season and reassumed the lead in the drivers’ championship standings by six points over Lewis Hamilton. Perez, meanwhile, settled in third and achieved his first podium result since finishing third at Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix in June.

    “I think we had, in general, a decent race,” Verstappen said. “I think we maximized the result. Valtteri was a little bit faster, but of course this whole weekend, we were a bit behind in pace compared to Mercedes. This race was all about just managing the tyres through a certain lap. As a team, to finish second in Turkey was a very good result. I wish I had a bit more pace in the car so it would’ve been a bit easier. We are in the fight. We’ll keep fighting and we’ll see in the coming races how competitive we are going to be.”

    “It’s been a while since I’m not on the podium,” Perez said. “Unfortunately, I think the last couple of races, we’ve been simply so unlucky. Today’s a special podium because it’s one of those days that I wasn’t fully comfortable with the car, especially on that first stint. It made it very tricky. It was good to get that podium. I think I learned a lot from my first stint to apply to my second one and how I bring the tyre in. That made a good difference. I really hope that from Austin onwards, we can be stronger than [Mercedes].”

    While Charles Leclerc finished fourth after leading nine laps, Hamilton, who was able to methodically work his way to the front, ended up in fifth place after opting to pit for tyres with eight laps remaining while battling for a podium spot. The result left Hamilton furious with his team over the late decision to pit.

    “I feel like I should’ve stayed out,” Hamilton said. “My gut feeling was to stay in and I that’s what I feel like I should’ve done. So frustrated in myself in not following my gut, but I work as a team. [I] Did the best I could with the advice I was giving…That’s life.”

    Pierre Gasly, who qualified in the top five for the sixth time this season, rallied from a five-second penalty for colliding into Fernando Alonso on the opening lap to finish sixth followed by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, who started at the rear of the field while competing in a new power unit to his Ferrari. As a result of his drive from the rear of the field, Sainz was named ‘Driver of the Day.’ Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 on the track.

    Antonio Giovinazzi settled in 11th followed by teammate Kimi Räikkönen, Daniel Ricciardo, rookie Yuki Tsunoda and George Russell. Fernando Alonso ended up in 16th ahead of Nicholas Latifi and Sebastian Vettel, who slipped off the course twice in the opening lap and later spun while trying to enter pit road. Rounding out the 20-car field in the running order were Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

    Results:

    1. Valtteri Bottas, 26 points, 49 laps led

    2. Max Verstappen, 18 points

    3. Sergio Perez, 15 points

    4. Charles Leclerc, 12 points

    5. Lewis Hamilton, 10 points

    6. Pierre Gasly, eight points

    7. Lando Norris, six points

    8. Carlos Sainz, four points

    9. Lance Stroll, two points

    10. Esteban Ocon, one point, +1

    11. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1

    12. Kimi Räikkönen, +1 lap

    13. Daniel Ricciardo, +1

    14. Yuki Tsunoda, +1

    15. George Russell, +1

    16. Fernando Alonso, +1

    17. Nicholas Latifi, +1

    18. Sebastian Vettel, +1

    19. Mick Schumacher, +2

    20. Nikita Mazepin, +2

    Max Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings by six points over Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Mercedes continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 36 points over Red Bull Racing Honda.

    With six races remaining to the schedule, the 2021 Formula One season will be taking a one-week break before returning to Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, October 24.

  • Hamilton scores 100th Grand Prix win in Russia Grand Prix

    Hamilton scores 100th Grand Prix win in Russia Grand Prix

    History was made under a stormy afternoon in Sochi, Russia, after Sir Lewis Hamilton took advantage of Lando Norris’ late race misfortune to lead the final three laps and win the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrome on Sunday, September 26, for his 100th career win in Formula One.

    Hamilton, who started the weekend by wrecking twice during qualifying session and knocked one of his Mercedes crew members on pit road during the second practice session before lining up in fourth place on the grid, remained competitive throughout the event and methodically worked his way towards the front while Norris dominated in his McLaren.

    While the event started on dry conditions, rain fell on the circuit in the second half of the event and would produce slick conditions on the circuit for the remainder of the event. As Hamilton, who was battling Norris late, pitted for intermediate tyres in the closing laps, Norris elected to remain on the circuit on slick tyres. Then on Lap 51 of 53, Norris slipped and Hamilton capitalized to take the lead. From there, Hamilton was able to power his Mercedes home to the win.

    With his fifth Grand Prix victory of 2021, fifth in Russia and first since winning at Silverstone Circuit in July, Hamilton became the first competitor to reach F1’s winning centurion at 100. In addition, Hamilton extended Mercedes’ winning streak in Russia to eight consecutive seasons.

    Overall, Hamilton, who came into Russia trailing Max Verstappen by five points, leads the drivers’ championship standings by two points as Verstappen settled in second place following a slow start to the weekend.

    “It’s incredible,” Hamilton said. “Firstly, I just have to say a big, big thank you to my team. Without them, even today, fantastic on the pit stops, amazing with strategy and just continuing to not give up in this incredibly tight battle. I was really, really grateful for them just continuing to push. It’s taken a long time just to get that one win [100]. Our competitors are super fast as you can see, but nonetheless, I’m really grateful. I was pushing so hard. I had a difficult day yesterday, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to redeem myself somehow.’ Flat out. It’s a great, great feeling. I’m glad that I brought it home.”

    Norris, who achieved his maiden pole position on Saturday and who led a race-high 30 of 53 laps, settled in seventh after slipping on the wet circuit, pitting twice in the final laps and having a maiden F1 victory slip out of his reach in the final laps.

    “I could have won the race and I didn’t,” Norris, who was emotional but earned the Driver of the Day honors, said. “It’s the way it is, it’s the way it went. I made the decisions I made. They were, obviously, wrong at the end of the day. Tough one, but on the positive side, I guess I got a couple points and [teammate] Daniel [Ricciardo] did a good job as well for the team. It was a decent day.”

    Meanwhile, Verstappen rallied from a rough start of the weekend, where he was penalized three places on the grid for igniting a collision between himself and Hamilton in Italy in mid-September and penalized again after Red Bull Racing exceeded their power units use per season by installing a fourth Honda engine unit to Verstappen’s car ahead of this weekend’s event in Russia. Dropped to the rear of the field, Verstappen methodically worked his way to the front following a midway tyre change from hards to mediums and he ended up in second place for his 11th top-two result of 2021.

    “Super happy to be second,” Verstappen said. “If you would’ve told me this morning that I would come second today, I wouldn’t believe you. Luckily, the call to go from the slicks to inters was the perfect one at the right lap. That gave me the positions and keep the car on the track. Super pleased with this. It could’ve been a lot worse in terms of how many points I would lose. To come away with second here was, for us, very important.”

    Behind, Carlos Sainz Jr., who started on the front row, led 12 laps in his Ferrari before settling in third place and achieving his third podium result of this season.

    “It’s mainly [a] happy [podium result],” Sainz said. “I think as a team, as Ferrari, we need to keep analyzing and keeping seeing what we can do better with tyres, with fuel, top speed, to make sure that the next time a Ferrari’s leading a Grand Prix, we’re not overtaken so easy as it happened today. In general, it was a very strong race.”

    Daniel Ricciardo, winner of the previous Grand Prix event in Italy, finished fourth followed by Valtteri Bottas, who rallied from starting at the rear of the field after his Mercedes team elected to install a new power unit in his car.

    Fernando Alonso finished sixth ahead of Norris while Kimi Räikkönen returned from a two-race absence to settle in eighth. Sergio “Checo” Perez finished ninth and George Russell, who started in the top three, claimed the 10th and final points-paying result on the track.

    Aston Martin teammates Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel finished 11th and 12th followed by Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Charles Leclerc. Antonio Giovinazzi finished 16th while rookies Yuki Tsunoda and Nikita Mazepin ended up 17th and 18th.

    Nicholas Latifi retired in 19th while Mick Schumacher suffered his first retirement of the season due to a hydraulics leak, thus finishing 20th.

    Results.

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 25 points, three laps led

    2. Max Verstappen, 18 points

    3. Carlos Sainz Jr., 15 points, 12 laps led

    4. Daniel Ricciardo, 12 points

    5. Valtteri Bottas, 10 points

    6. Fernando Alonso, eight points

    7. Lando Norris, seven points, 30 laps led

    8. Kimi Räikkönen, four points

    9. Sergio Perez, two points

    10. George Russell, one point

    11. Lance Stroll, +1

    12. Sebastian Vettel, +1

    13. Pierre Gasly, +1

    14. Esteban Ocon, +1

    15. Charles Leclerc, +1

    16. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1 lap

    17. Yuki Tsunoda, +1

    18. Nikita Mazepin, +2 laps

    19. Nicholas Latifi – Retired

    20. Mick Schumacher – Retired

    Following the 15th Grand Prix event of 2021, Lewis Hamilton leads the drivers’ standings by two points over Max Verstappen. On the other hand, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 33 points over Red Bull Racing and 163 over McLaren.

    Next on the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship schedule is Istanbul Park for the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday, October 10.

  • Formula One 2021-22 Silly Season Update

    Formula One 2021-22 Silly Season Update

    Thirteen races down and nine remain to a competitive 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season highlighted with a new financial regulation and budget cap for every team, aerodynamic and technical changes to the current F1 cars, sporting regulations, race weekend and on-track activity changes, calendar and circuit changes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a series of on- and off-track, competitive exchanges between two organizations (Mercedes and Red Bull) vying to emerge as champions of 2021.  

    Mixed into the competitive 2021 season are a series of changes pinpointing a number of drivers and teams prior to the 2022 F1 season, with nearly all of the 20 seats on the grid being filled and a majority having guaranteed spots to remain with their current organizations while others are bound to move to a new home for the new season. 

    Here is a rundown of each team and their driver lineup for next season:

    For the first time since 2017, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, which entered this season as the reigning championship-winning team and currently leads this year’s constructors’ standings, will feature a new competitor to its two-car roster. That competitor is George Russell, who was named a Mercedes F1 driver for the 2022 season on September 7. Russell, a native from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, is currently competing in his third racing season with Williams Racing. Despite being mired back in 15th place in the drivers’ standings, he achieved his maiden podium result after qualifying and finishing second in the rain-shortened Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in late August. Russell will be a teammate to Sir Lewis Hamilton, the reigning seven-time F1 champion who has won four Grand Prix events this season and is runner-up in the current drivers’ standings. Hamilton, meanwhile, signed a two-year contract extension in early July to remain with Mercedes, a deal spanning to 2023, as he continues to his pursuit for a record-setting eighth Formula One title and 100 Grand Prix victories.

    Russell’s transition to Mercedes means that he will be replacing Valtteri Bottas, a native from Nastola, Finland, who has been competing with the silver arrow team since 2017 and has achieved nine career wins in F1. While he has yet to achieve his first Grand Prix victory of 2021, Bottas is up in third place in the drivers’ standings. The Finnish competitor, though, revealed on September 6 that he will be joining Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen on a multi-year basis, beginning in 2022. Bottas will be replacing Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 F1 champion who announced his intention to retire from the sport on September 1. Alfa Romeo has yet to announce its full two-car driver lineup for next season, with the status of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo’s current second competitor and a third-year F1 driver from Martina, Italy, unconfirmed. 

    Like Mercedes, the Williams Racing team will feature a new competitor to its organization next season. That competitor is Alexander Albon, a former Red Bull Racing competitor who has competed under the Thai flag, as announced on September 8. Albon made his Formula One debut in 2019 while driving for Toro Rosso, now know as AlphaTauri. Midway into the season, he replaced Pierre Gasly to drive for Red Bull and continued to drive for the team through 2020, where he earned two podium results, before being demoted to the role of reserve and development for Red Bull this season. Albon will be a teammate to Nicholas Latifi, a native from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who is in his second full-time season in F1 and will remain with Williams for the 2022 season. Latifi is currently in 16th place in the drivers’ standings, one spot behind his current teammate, George Russell, while the Williams team is up in eighth place in the constructors’ standings following four top-10 points-paying results.

    Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing Honda, which is runner-up in the constructors’ standings behind Mercedes, will be retaining its two-driver lineup for the 2022 season. Max Verstappen, the current championship leader who has won seven Grand Prix races this season, including the recent Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort, is guaranteed to be with the team through 2023 while Sergio “Checo” Perez, an 11-year racing veteran who won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, signed a one-year contract extension on August 27 to remain as a Red Bull competitor for another season. Perez is ranked in fifth place in the drivers’ standings.

    Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda, a sister team to Red Bull Racing, will also feature the return of Pierre Gasly and rookie Yuki Tsunoda as the team’s two drivers for 2022, which was confirmed on September 7. Gasly, winner of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, has achieved a podium result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June along with 12 top-10 points-paying results while Tsunoda, the 2018 F4 Japanese champion, a three-time Formula 2 winner and a newcomer to Formula One this season, has finished in the top-10 five times. Gasly is currently in eighth place in the drivers’ standings, five spots ahead of teammate Tsunoda, while AlphaTauri is ranked in sixth place in the constructors’ standings.

    Like the two Red Bull organizations, Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow, which is ranked in third place in the constructors’ standings, will feature no changes to its driver lineup for next season. Charles Leclerc, who has won his maiden two Grand Prix races since joining the historic organization in 2019 and is placed in sixth in the current drivers’ standings, is under contract with Ferrari through 2024 while Carlos Sainz Jr., the newest member of the organization who has achieved four podium results since 2019, is scheduled to retain his Ferrari seat for 2022. Sainz, currently, is a spot behind teammate Leclerc in the standings.

    Another team that will feature no changes to its driver lineup is the McLaren F1 Team, which is ranked in fourth place in the constructors’ standings. Lando Norris, who has achieved four podium results since 2020 and is in fourth place in the drivers’ standings, inked a fresh multi-year contract in May to remain as a McLaren F1 competitor for 2022 and beyond while Daniel Ricciardo, the team’s newest competitor and a seven-time Grand Prix winner, is slated to remain with the organization on a multi-year basis. Ricciardo is ranked in ninth place in the drivers’ standings, five spots behind his teammate, with nine top-10 results.

    Coming off their recent on-track successes, the Alpine F1 Team, which rebranded from Renault and is in fifth place in the constructors’ standings, will also feature no changes to its lineup for the 2022 season. Esteban Ocon, who won his maiden Grand Prix event in Hungary in early August and is 11th in the drivers’ standings, signed a contract extension in mid-June to remain with Alpine through 2024 while Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion who returned to full-time competition following a two-year break, confirmed in late August that he will return to compete with Alpine next season. Alonso is currently a position ahead of teammate Ocon in the standings.

    Despite enduring an up-and-down season, the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team, which rebranded from Racing Point and is placed in seventh in the constructors’ standings, is expected to retain Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll as the team’s two drivers for next season. Vettel, a four-time Formula One champion who achieved his first podium result with the team at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, is in 12th place in the drivers’ standings, two spots ahead of teammate Stroll, who has achieved six top-10 points-paying results.

    Finally, the Uralkali Haas F1 Team, which sits in the bottom of the constructors’ standings and has yet to score a single point through 13 scheduled Grand Prix events, is also expected to retain its two-driver lineup for the 2022 season. Mick Schumacher, an F1 newcomer and the reigning Formula 2 champion who is the son of seven-time F1 champion, Michael Schumacher, is in a tie at the bottom of the drivers’ standings with his rookie teammate Nikita Mazepin, who finished in fifth place in the 2020 F2 standings with two victories and is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a Russian businessman who is also the chairman and core shareholder of Uralchem Integrated Chemicals Company.

    With the 2022 Formula One full driver-team lineup yet to be determined, the 2021 F1 season is scheduled to resume at Monza Circuit for the Italian Grand Prix on September 12 followed by Sochi Autodrom for the Russian Grand Prix on September 26.

  • Hamilton achieves eighth victory at Silverstone following early collision with Verstappen

    Hamilton achieves eighth victory at Silverstone following early collision with Verstappen

    Only one victory separates Sir Lewis Hamilton from reaching a major milestone in his Formula One racing career after the reigning seven-time champion snapped a five-race winless drought to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit on Sunday, July 18.

    The victory was Hamilton’s fourth of the 2021 F1 season, an all-time eighth victory at Silverstone and the 99th of his career, the most victories all-time in Formula One history.

    Hamilton’s victory, however, did not come without controversy following a first-lap collision between himself and title rival Max Verstappen in the first corner, where contact between the two sent Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing machine spinning and making hard contact against the infield tire barriers, knocking him out of the race and costing the Dutchman a bevy of points in the championship standings. Though he climbed out of his battered car, Verstappen, who retired in 20th place, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

    Following the incident, Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty, which he served on Lap 28 of 52 while pitting. Falling back to fifth, the Stevenage, England, native, who is a hometown hero at Silverstone, was able to methodically work his way back to the podium spots and overtake Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Lap 50 to return to the lead. From there, Hamilton pulled away and was able to claim the checkered flag by nearly four seconds over Leclerc.

    With the turn of events and the collision between the two championship contenders, Hamilton, who started the event trailing Verstappen by 33 points, is behind by eight points as he continues his pursuit for an record-setting eighth F1 title.

    “I thought I was gonna have a heart attack, to be honest,” Hamilton, who shared the victory with his home crowd, said. “When I got out of the car, it was very emotional. The whole parade lap with the British flag, really proud moment for me. And the emotions just build up more and more as you come around to the end. And then, you just wanna go and hug everyone…What a beautiful day, what a blessing it is…Hopefully, [the win] brought some joy for England.”

    While addressing the incident with Verstappen, Hamilton withstood his ground and his focus to battle Verstappen and Red Bull Racing to the end for the title.

    “I’m open to [a conversation with Verstappen],” Hamilton said. “I don’t have any issues. I don’t know what really to say. Just game on. We’re just gonna keep on attacking. There needs to be respect on the track and if not, then this [incident] will happen more often. I’ve tried my hardest to stay as clean as possible.

    Verstappen was not available for comment, but Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing’s team principal, expressed his frustration towards Hamilton over the incident.

    “It’s disappointing for a driver that’s won seven world championships to make a desperate error like that,” Horner said. “We’re just lucky today that it didn’t have a worse consequence. I don’t think that Lewis can take any real satisfaction out of that victory today because it was unacceptable what he did to Max.”

    Behind Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, who led a race-high 49 of 52 laps compared to Hamilton’s three and who dealt with engine issues throughout the event, settled in the runner-up spot for his first podium result of the 2021 season and his first since last year’s British Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s teammate, came home in third place for his sixth podium result of this season.

    “I don’t really know how I feel,” Leclerc said. “I’ve got 50 percent of me that is super happy, 50 percent of me that is extremely disappointed to lose the win so close to the end. If you look at the overall picture, coming to the weekend, we did not expect to be fighting for a win. I thought it was over in the first stint when he had those engine cuts…I gave 200 percent of me, and it was very, very close.”

    “We can take positives,” Bottas said. “I think, today, we worked well as a team. We got really good points, especially against Red Bull. So that is good.”

    McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had a slow pit stop on Lap 22, and Daniel Ricciardo finished in fourth and fifth followed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Fernando Alonso recorded a strong seventh-place result followed by Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and rookie Yuki Tsunoda.

    Pierre Gasly settled in 11th, the first competitor outside of the top-10 points-scoring positions, followed by George Williams. Antonio Giovinazzi came home in 13th followed by Nicholas Latifi and Kimi Räikkönen.

    Sergio “Checo” Perez, who started at the rear of the field and made a late pit stop for soft tyres, ended up in 16th followed by Haas drivers Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. Sebastian Vettel, who spun early, retired in 19th place.

    Results:

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 27 points

    2. Charles Leclerc, 18 points

    3. Valtteri Bottas, 16 points

    4. Lando Norris, 12 points

    5. Daniel Ricciardo, 10 points

    6. Carlos Sainz, eight points

    7. Fernando Alonso, six points

    8. Lance Stroll, four points

    9. Esteban Ocon, two points

    10. Yuki Tsunoda, one point

    11. Pierre Gasly

    12. George Russell, +1 lap

    13. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1 lap

    14. Nicholas Latifi, +1 lap

    15. Kimi Räikkönen, +1 lap

    16. Sergio Perez, +1 lap, one point

    17. Nikita Mazepin, +1 lap

    18. Mick Schumacher, +1 lap

    19. Sebastian Vettel, Retired

    20. Max Verstappen, Retired, three points

    Despite his early incident and exit from the event, Verstappen continues to lead the drivers’ standings by eight points over Hamilton. In addition, Red Bull Racing continues to lead the constructors’ standings by four points over the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

    Next on the 2021 Formula One schedule is Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, August 1.

  • Hamilton prevails over Verstappen to win the Bahrain Grand Prix

    Hamilton prevails over Verstappen to win the Bahrain Grand Prix

    Sir Lewis Hamilton commenced the 2021 Formula One World Championship season in epic fashion by holding off a late challenge from Max Verstappen to win the 17th running of the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit.

    The reigning seven-time Formula One champion started on the front row alongside Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen, who won his fourth career pole position in F1 a day prior to the main event. Through the pit stops and the on-track battling, Hamilton and Verstappen took turns dominating the event over one another and the field. By Lap 40 of 56, though, Hamilton was out in front by more than eight seconds over Verstappen.

    On Lap 53, Verstappen, who was able to methodically decrease his deficit to Hamilton, drew himself alongside Hamilton’s Mercedes on the outside lane through Turn 3 and entering Turn 4. Though Verstappen was able to reassume the lead from Hamilton, he went wide and off the track during the process. In doing so, he had to relinquish the lead back to Hamilton to avoid a penalty.

    Despite keeping the pressure on Hamilton, the Dutchman was unable to gain another run to close back towards Hamilton, who had enough power to claim the checkered flag in first place by 0.745 seconds over Verstappen.

    The victory was Hamilton’s fifth at Bahrain and the 96th of his Formula One career as Hamilton begins his quest for a record-setting eighth F1 World championship. Hamilton also recorded his 75th victory with Mercedes and the 300th Grand Prix victory for a competitor from the United Kingdom. Prior to his victory at Bahrain, Hamilton established another record in the history books by surpassing Michael Schumacher’s record for the most laps led in F1 history with 5,126.

    “I’m so happy,” Hamilton said. “I really, really am absolutely over the moon just to see the response from the team, knowing how difficult today really was. It was so tough. For the first race, I was not expecting to be in that position, being able to keep up with [Verstappen] in the first stint. I was really grateful for that…We knew this weekend and through testing that we were gonna be on the back foot and there’s been a lot of worrying in the team, but we pulled it through…I knew [Verstappen] was catching me massively. I couldn’t do the laps he was doing and I guess in my mind, I was thinking, ‘OK, if I can just hold on to these tyres, make no mistakes, maybe just keep him at harm’s length out of my DRS, which wasn’t necessary in this case,’…it was so hard.”

    The runner-up result was one that left Verstappen with mixed emotions, disappointment in not winning the season-opening event but pleased and confident in challenging Hamilton and Mercedes for this year’s championship.

    “It is what it is,” Verstappen said. “I gave the position back and then, I tried again, but I didn’t have the tyres anymore. Of course, I had newer tyres, but as soon as you get within one and a half seconds, it also degrades very quickly and it’s super hard to follow with these cars, especially with how the wind was today. It was really not helping out of Turn 1, Turn 2 and all critical corners where you want to stay close. It was hurting even more. Of course, I’m disappointed about today, but last year, we would be super happy with a race like this. It also shows how much we have grown. It’s still a positive start to the season and it’s still a long season ahead. I see it as only seven points dropped, and we’ll try to do better next time.”

    Rounding out the podium in third place was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who trailed teammate and race winner Hamilton by more than 37 seconds to claim his 57th career podium result in F1 despite encountering a slow pit stop past the midway point of the event. Bottas also recorded the fastest lap of the event.

    McLaren’s Lando Norris finished in fourth place while Sergio “Checo” Perez, who started the race on pit lane after losing engine power during the formation lap, recovered to record a strong fifth-place result in his first start with Red Bull Racing. With his recovery and stellar drive back to the front, Perez was voted Driver of the Day.

    Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crossed the finish line in a decent sixth place followed by Daniel Ricciardo, who completed his first event with McLaren, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who completed his first event with Ferrari.

    Yuki Tsunoda, one of three newcomers in this year’s Formula One season, finished in ninth place driving for AlphaTauri while Lance Stroll completed the points-awarded results on the track in the top 10 by finishing 10th, thus recording a single point for the newly formed Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team.

    The first competitor to finish outside of the points in 11th place was Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen followed by teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, who finished a lap behind the leaders.

    Esteban Ocon settled in 13th place following an on-track incident with Sebastian Vettel on Lap 46, where Vettel, who had been overtaken by Ocon entering Turn 1, locked up his tires and ran into the rear of Ocon’s Alpine machine in Turn 1, sending both competitors around. Vettel finished in a disappointing 15th place in his first race with Aston Martin Racing and right behind Williams driver George Russell.

    Mick Schumacher, another newcomer in F1 this season driving for the Haas F1 Team, finished 16th after spinning early followed by Pierre Gasly, who damaged his front wing early in the race following contact with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and never recovered.

    Nicholas Latifi, the second Williams Racing competitor, settled in 18th place after retiring just shy of the finish due to a boosting system issue.

    In his return to F1 competition since retiring in 2018, Fernando Alonso, who had a decent run in the making with Alpine, retired in 19th place due to brake issues.

    Nikita Mazepin, the second Haas F1 competitor and the third F1 newcomer of this season, ended his race in 20th place and as the first retiree of the event after being involved in an opening lap wreck in Turn 3, where he slid sideways entering the turn while running at the rear of the field and made hard contact against the barriers, thus sustaining heavy damage to his Haas machine.

    Results:

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 27 laps led, 25 points

    2. Max Verstappen, 29 laps led, 18 points

    3. Valtteri Bottas, 16 points

    4. Lando Norris, 12 points

    5. Sergio Perez, 10 points

    6. Charles Leclerc, eight points

    7. Daniel Ricciardo, six points

    8. Carlos Sainz Jr., four points

    9. Yuki Tsunoda, two points

    10. Lance Stroll, one point

    11. Kimi Räikkönen

    12. Antonio Givinazzi, +1 lap

    13. Esteban Ocon, +1 lap

    14. George Russell, Williams Mercedes, +1 lap

    15. Sebastian Vettel, +1 lap

    16. Mick Schumacher, +1 lap

    17. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri Honda, DNF

    18. Nicholas Latifi, Williams Mercedes, DNF

    19. Fernando Alonso, Alpine Renault, DNF

    20. Nikita Mazepin, Haas Ferrari, DNF

    Following the first Grand Prix event of the 2021 season, Hamilton leads the drivers’ standings by seven points over Verstappen, nine over Bottas, 13 over Norris and 15 over Perez. In addition, Mercedes leads the constructors’ standings by 13 points over Red Bull Racing, 23 over McLaren and 29 over Ferrari.

    With the 2021 Formula One season underway, the next event on the schedule is Imola Circuit for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, April 18.