Hamilton’s front wing had taken a double battering in the Jeddah race on Sunday, following a clash with Esteban Ocon at the restart and then having run into the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. The loss of performance was notable on the Mercedes pitwall, with its data suggesting that the downforce deficit from the […]
Month: December 2021
Pol Espargaro “wasn’t ready” for Honda MotoGP debut
The 2013 Moto2 world champion made a shock switch from KTM to the factory Honda squad for 2021, but found the transition immensely difficult. With COVID-19 forcing pre-season testing to be cut down to just five days in Qatar before the first two races of the year at Losail, Espargaro was left playing catch-up for […]
Verstappen grid swap offer completely ‘normal’
Masi caused some surprise at the Jeddah circuit on Sunday when, during the second red flag period, he offered Red Bull the choice of grid slot for Max Verstappen. With the Dutch driver having been deemed to have gained an unfair advantage when he overtook Hamilton off track at the first corner, Masi gave Red […]
F1 Saudi Arabian GP review
The F1 world championship tussle hit boiling point in a chaotic Jeddah race stalled by two red flags and numerous clashes. The crunch came down to Verstappen running off track in a battle for the lead with Hamilton, and subsequently given a five-second penalty, while in an attempt to give the lead back to Hamilton […]
Verstappen given 10-second penalty for causing Hamilton clash in Saudi Arabian GP
Verstappen and Hamilton were involved in a number of incidents through Sunday’s race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Verstappen was handed a five-second time penalty for going off-track and gaining a lasting advantage in his fight with Hamilton, but the two collided when Verstappen slowed to give Hamilton back the position. Hamilton… Continue Reading on […]
Full FIA stewards’ verdict on Verstappen’s Saudi GP F1 penalty
The Stewards, having received a report from the Race Director, summoned (documents 39 & 40) and heard from the drivers and team representatives, have considered the following matter and determine the following: No / Driver 33 – Max Verstappen Competitor Red Bull Racing Honda Time 22:19 Session Race Fact Car 33 braked in a manner […]
Red Bull “not treated the same” as Mercedes by FIA stewards
Lewis Hamilton took victory after a number of incidents with Verstappen that saw both drivers air complaints over team radio about their title rival. The most notable incidents came in wheel-to-wheel fights between the two drivers. Verstappen twice ran Hamilton deep at Turn 1, and was asked to give the position back on both occasions. […]
Saudi Arabian GP red-flagged twice after early crashes
With pole position man Lewis Hamilton having led away from the start, the race had passed without much incident before Schumacher’s smash. The Haas driver lost control of his car on the entry to Turn 22, and spun into the barriers on the outside of the circuit. The crash triggered an immediate safety car, with […]
Aston Martin “miles away” in Jeddah after surprise Q1 exit
Vettel finished a lowly 17th in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, only beating team-mate Lance Stroll and the Haas cars to leave Aston Martin as the second-slowest team. Vettel sounded disappointed over team radio when his engineer confirmed he had only finished 17th, lapping over two-tenths of a second shy of a Q2 […]
Red Bull still has “good shot” at Saudi Arabian GP win despite Q3 crash
Verstappen was on course to beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for Saudi Arabia’s first F1 race but locked up at the final corner on his last Q3 lap and hit the wall on the exit. That left him third at the end of Q3, as Valtteri Bottas had just bettered Verstappen’s existing personal best […]