Bagnaia smashed the Qatar lap record on Saturday with a 1m52.772s to score his first pole position in the premier class on his debut as a Ducati factory team rider. The Italian’s pace during testing made him one of the favourites for the race, but he doesn’t believe he will be able to copy the […]
Author: Ian Dobson
The F1 performance swing that highlights Mercedes’ low-rake problem
For in a year that had the risk of being a stale repeat of 2020, with teams carrying over their chassis, the performance swings shown at the Bahrain season opener have been quite dramatic. All teams have been slowed by the changes to the floor, brake ducts and diffuser regulations, but some have suffered much […]
Rins needed “more balls” for stronger Qatar MotoGP qualifying lap
Rins was the only Suzuki rider to make it into the second part of qualifying directly from practice having felt like he’d made an improvement on one-lap pace on Friday. But the three-time race winner admits he found it “harder” on Saturday to be as strong in time attack mode and could only manage ninth, […]
Perez “has to be patient” with himself after Bahrain Q3 miss
While team-mate Max Verstappen claimed pole at the Bahrain International Circuit, Perez will start Sunday’s season-opener from 11th on the grid. Running on the slower medium tyres, the Mexican missed the cut by 0.035s to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in a tightly-contested Q2 battle to reach the top 10. Perez admitted he was disappointed by… […]
Binder “sick” at thought of Qatar MotoGP top 10 being good result
The South African will start the opening round of the 2021 season from 19th on the grid as KTM’s struggles at the Losail circuit continue. KTM has been able to start the new year with a new engine, while the base of the bike is not too dissimilar to the RC16 which both Binder and […]
F1 Bahrain Grand Prix – how to watch, start time & more
Red Bull’s Verstappen held off both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to claim the fifth pole position of his career to demonstrate his impressive pace during pre-season testing and practice in Bahrain. Hamilton edged Mercedes team-mate Bottas to take second place, feeling he got the maximum out of his W12 F1 car, as the reigning […]
MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix – how to watch, start time, & more
In a stunning show of speed in qualifying, Bagnaia destroyed the lap record at the Losail International Circuit with a 1m52.772s to take his first premier class pole position, beating a trio of Yamaha riders in the process. Fabio Quartararo led the charge for Yamaha to take second place ahead of team-mate Maverick Vinales, with […]
Vettel summoned to F1 stewards over double yellow flags incident
The four-time F1 champion is making his Aston Martin debut this weekend following his switch from Ferrari over the winter, but endured a frustrating qualifying in Bahrain when he was knocked out in Q1 after having to back off on his final flying lap due to traffic and yellow flags. Vettel had to slow down […]
Bagnaia blitzes lap record for maiden pole
Honda’s Pol Espargaro set the benchmark at 1m54.775s at the start of the session, but Bagnaia demolished this with his opening gambit of 1m53.273s on his factory Ducati. Setting a new lap record, this immediately fell to team-mate Jack Miller just moments later, who fired in a 1m53.215s having set an unofficial lap record during […]
Red Bull explains time loss caused by Verstappen’s Q1 floor damage
Verstappen, who went on to claim the first pole position of the 2021 season ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, went hard over the kerbs on the exit of the Turn 2 left-hander on his first run of qualifying. The Dutchman radioed his Red Bull team to ask for his rear floor to be checked, […]