Tag: lando norris

F1 pit stop: …and the winner is…

On By ChristofferIn F1, NewsLeave a comment

…Lando Norris! In the end by a margin of two points on Max Verstappen, and 13 on his team mate Oscar Piastri. In my before-last F1 update back in June that you’ll find here, yours truly wrote: “I would claim we’re well beyond it (referring to halfway into the season, my remark) in terms of seeing where the season is heading – and the color of that is a solid orange. That’s however not the orange of Max Verstappen and the Netherlands we’ve gotten used to, but rather the papaya orange of McLaren!

Given the double Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles McLaren took this year, I guess I could say I was right, but of course, what I meant at the time was that McLaren would dominate the rest of the season as they had the first part. In my defence, I think few would have contested my statement back then. Only a few weeks later however, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner was sacked, and the summer thereafter became somewhat of a turning point, making the fight for the F1 Drivers’ title 2025 the most exciting it’s been since 2010, when Sebastian Vettel clinched it as one of four contenders in the last race of the season, also in Abu Dhabi.

Until the end of August this year, McLaren had won 12 of the 15 races, split 7-5 in Oscar Piastri’s favour over Lando Norris. Of the remaining three, Max Verstappen had won two, and George Russell one. Piastri was at the time in a relatively comfortable Championship lead, with Lando Norris a solid second. Verstappen at most was all of 104 points behind Piastri. It all looked like a McLaren internal fight for both world titles, with not even Max Verstappen being close.

Up until and including the Dutch GP in August, it was all very papaya orange!

From September onwards we had another nine races, including the last race of the season today in Abu Dhabi. George Russell won his second race of the season in this period, but that’s the only similarity with the first 2/3 of the season. Because of the remaining eight, Oscar Piastri has won none, Lando Norris has won two, and Max Verstappen no less than six. Going into today’s race, the three of them thus all had the chance to win the Drivers’ title, something that hasn’t happened in years.

Digging into this a bit closer and starting with Max and Red Bull, it’s no doubt true that he’s done far better in the last part of the season, meaning more or less since the departure of Christian Horner. The conclusion has to be that letting go of Horner was the right move, as it’s pretty clear the team does quite well without him. However, all of it is neither on the back of Horner, nor of Max’s doing either. McLaren has combined mistakes with a bit of bad luck since the summer, helping Max unexpectedly get a renewed chance at the title. And with Max, that’s really all he needs.

It started in Austin, where none of the McLarens finished the sprint race, which Verstappen won. In Las Vegas, both papaya cars were disqualified for skid wear (referring to too much wear on the plank running below the car, meaning it could run lower than allowed by regulation). Again, Verstappen won the race. And as late as last week in Qatar, when Norris was supposed to tie it all up, for some inexplicable reason, McLaren was the only team not to pit in a safety car phase early in the race, leaving both Piastri and Norris in complete limbo with some hilarious radio conversations between the drivers and the team we all could listen to taking place. Who won the race? You guessed it.

Max didn’t need much to be back in the game when McLaren ran into problems.

This isn’t meant to take anything away from Max Verstappen though. Until the end of the season, everyone would agree that McLaren had the better car, but in spite of that, as soon as there was a glimmer of hope, Max stepped it up and grasped it, pulling what feels like 130% out of the McLaren car in a way only he knows the secret of. It didn’t take him all the way but boy was it close, and as many that agree that McLaren had the better car would probably also agree that Max Verstappen is still the best driver.

It’s worth looking at bit closer at Oscar Piastri as well, who after winning seven races in the first part of the season, and having been on the podium in 13 of the first 15 races, has only been so three times since the summer. F1 veteran Martin Brundle named five reasons for this turnaround for the worst, being head, luck, setup, tracks, and Norris. I won’t go through all of them and it’s no doubt a mix of everything, also including team orders and tactics, which Brundle didn’t name. Piastri is a very good soldier, never contesting team orders and playing it all by the book. It pains me to say so, but that’s not exactly the traits of a world champion (did anyone mention Max?).

Behind McLaren and Red Bull, Mercedes-AMG has emerged as a solid third, even beating Red Bull in the teams’ classification. Much of this is thanks to Kimi Antonelli’s fantastic driving in his first season, scoring no less than three podiums and 150 points (that’s three podiums and 117 points more than Red Bull’s second driver Yuki Tsunoda…). That’s not bad for a 19-year old, and although it’s only less than half the points his teammate George Russell scored, the pair is more complementary than many would have thought.

19 years old and doing a splendid job in his first season. A coming world champion?

In comparison, what happens down in Maranello has us all scratching our heads, especially when it comes to Lewis Hamilton. How can it be that a seven-time world champion doesn’t manage it beyond Q1 in the last two qualifiers when his teammate Charles Leclerc does so with a margin? Plenty of theories are going around, essentially boiling down to Lewis at one end complaining and calling his first season at Ferrari a nightmare, and others pointing out that as a 40-year old driver with seven world titles, you should perhaps be able to make it beyond Q1, and if you don’t, that it’s perhaps time to say arrividerci.

I would tend to agree and also point out that it would be good for Lewis to change his tune before the team loses confidence in him as well. Ferrari is a Latin outfit which Seb Vettel and especially Schumi learnt to handle and exploit fully, but which Lewis seems to struggle with. That’s a bad direction to go in, especially when you’re 40 years old and cash a very big cheque. Before the season, I would definitely have put the Ferrari duo ahead of Russell and Antonelli at Mercedes, again showing that my predictive powers are about as reliable as worn-down Range Rover.

The other teams are all miles from the leading four, but it’s worth mentioning Williams who for many years were at the very back of the field but who now regularly score points with the well-functioning duo Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. They both scored a similar amount of points (Albon at 73, Sainz at 64), with Carlos notably finishing third in the before-last race this season in Qatar. That’s nice to see, although it’s difficult to see the team moving further up the ranks.

Things are going well at Williams, and Albon and Sainz have emerged as a great duo.

As we close the books on 2025, we do so with Lando Norris as brand new world champion and McLaren thus taking the double. Seen over the full season, I would say it’s well deserved, as he’s been more constant than Oscar Piastri over the full season, and McLaren has clearly been the best team. Max Verstappen finishing second, only two points behind, is no doubt a disappointment for him, but far more than he could have hoped for a few weeks ago. Oscar Piastri’s disappointment is no doubt bigger, having basically had it all in his own hands back in September.

Of course, Piastri will have a new chance next year, as there is little doubt McLaren will be among the top teams then as well. It’s difficult to say more though, since the 2026 season will see a total revamp of the cars, with major changes notably to the power unit, chassis and aerodynamic rules. More on that next year before we start off the season 2026, but even as we conclude 2025, we know that it will be a tall order for the new cars in the new year to beat the excitement of the 2025 season!

F1 pit stop – we’re off!

On By ChristofferIn F1, News1 Comment

The F1 season 2025 has finally started! We’ve been waiting for it and of course, now for the seventh year, Netflix has contributed to the build-up by launching the latest season of “Drive to Survive” a week ago (I’m not through it yet…). Anyway the new F1 season started today if you read this on the day of publication, and if so, you may just have seen Lando Norris win the first GP of the season in Melbourne, allowing a McLaren driver to lead the Drivers’ championship for the first time since 1992! If you look back on the practice sessions of the last weeks that was hardly a surprise, and Norris may well stay at the top far longer than just until next race.

Whatever happens, 2025 is the last season with F1 in its current form before some major changes in 2026. More on that later this year but it will affect fuels, engines and downforce, with signs that cars will not be as fast as in 2025. Therefore, we should enjoy the current season for as long as it lasts, especially since it promises to be even more exciting than last year, which itself was of course the most exciting season in many years!

Things have started well for Norris, who may well be the title favourite this season!

Starting with the driver line-up, the biggest news of the season is of course something that was announced already last season, namely Lewis Hamilton taking Carlos Sainz’ seat at Ferrari, with the latter joining Williams. Lewis is of course a true legend with seven world championship titles under his belt, but he will still have his work cut out for him, not only in comparison to Charles Leclerc but actually also to his predecessor who had a great season in 2024.

We know now that Sainz had the choice to join Alpine or Kick-Sauber in addition to Williams. Kick-Sauber is set to become Audi in 2026 and would perhaps have been most promising in that regard, seen from the outside. That Sainz still opted for Williams hopefully says a lot about the potential the team has this year. In the first, chaotic Melbourne GP he didn’t manage to capitalize on that, but his teammate Alex Albon finishing fourth may have been an early indication.

I think everyone wish that things go well for Sainz at Williams!

Lewis’ departure from Mercedes also meant Toto Wolf as team principal had a seat to fill, with quite some pressure to get it right. Toto, in my view wisely, chose not to go for Sainz or another more experienced driver, but rather for perhaps the most exciting of the five newcomers this season. The Italian Kimi Antonelli is only 18 years old and has been a part of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2019. Last year was his first in F2, he won several races and now gets the chance to drive for Mercedes in F1. That’s quite a development for a teenager who only got his driver’s license a few months ago… Together with George Russell who is now Mercedes’ first driver, that gives the team not only the youngest, but perhaps also the most exciting driver line-up.

This kid just got his driving license…

The other newcomers include 19-year old Englishman Oliver Bearman from the Ferrari academy driving for Haas, the 22-year old Australian Jack Dohan on Alpine, from the team’s own academy and the son of the MC legend Mick Dohan, and the 20-year old Brazilian Gabriele Bortoleto who won the F2 championship last year and now drives for Kick-Sauber. Last but not least is 20-year old Isack Hadjar who was the runner up in F2 last year and drives for Red Bull’s junior team Racing Bulls. Hadjar is French-Algerian, meaning he will be the first F1 driver ever from the African continent, outside of South Africa.

This means that only Aston Martin and McLaren have an unchanged driver line-up in 2025. Haas has replaced both their drivers, with Bearman coming in alongside Esteban Ocon, who lost his Alpine seat to Jack Dohan. None of the Kick-Sauber drivers, Bottas and Zhou, will drive in F1 this season, replaced by Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg from Haas. Most importantly however, Liam Lawson has graduated from Racing Bulls to Red Bull, being replaced by Hadjar, and now drives for Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.

All newcomers crashed out of today’s rainy Melbourne GP – except Antonelli

Lawson is a 23-year old New Zealander who during last season was Red Bull’s reserve driver and came in to replace Daniel Ricciardo at the junior team Racing Bulls (previously called Alpha Tauri) when he broke his hand mid-season. Lawson has driven a total of 11 GP’s, finishing ninth at best, but proving he’s got the speed on a couple of occasions last year. And that’s probably a good thing, since it’s still a bit of a mystery how fast the Red Bull car really is.

McLaren of course won the Constructors’ title last year and clearly had the fastest car in the latter part of the season. At least at the beginning of this season, that still looks to be the case. Behind McLaren, we’ll have to see if Red Bull still has any kind of edge on Ferrari and Mercedes. It’s no secret that the car has a narrow window where it performs at 100%, and the question will be whether that window has become wider or not. If not, it’s difficult to see how Verstappen will be able to hold on to his title, and how the team could win back the Constructor’s title. And looking at the other teams, if the first race and Carlos Sainz’s experience is anything to go by, Williams could be the positive surprise of this season!

Flavio is back – the other team bosses better take notice!

Before we close, it’s also great to see that F1’s leading playboy is back! Flavio Briatore doesn’t need much of an introduction, he was of course team head at Renault in the 90’s during Schumi’s time, when the team was still called Renault, and returned to the team in the middle of last season. Back in the day, he helped Renault win three Constructors’ titles and four Drivers’ titles with Schumi, but was then banned from F1 in 2008 following “Crashgate”, when he was accused of instructing Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash, such as to help his teammate Fernando Alonso to win the race.

Flavio was later acquitted, and none of this prevented him, on a personal level, from having affairs both with Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, with whom he has a child. Briatore now returns to Alpine as “executive advisor”, but few doubt he’s running the team. And that’s a good thing, because not only is Briatore widely respected, he also has more charisma than all the other team heads taken together!

F1 pit stop: buckle up!

On By ChristofferIn F1, NewsLeave a comment

The F1 circus is currently on a few weeks’ break before attacking the five last races of the season, starting in Mexico for round 20 on Oct 27, and then concluding in Abu Dhabi on Dec 8. In between are the races in Sao Paolo, Las Vegas and Qatar. As we all take a breather, let’s therefore check in on what’s happened over the last races since my latest update in early June. Because boy has there been some action!

As you may remember, I called the post back in June “Could it be?”, alluding to the fact that it looked like both Ferrari and McLaren had come closer to Red Bull and maybe, just maybe, could bring some excitement to the second half of the season. Well, for once it seems I was right, but little did I think things were about to change so drastically. And I should have added Mercedes to the list of possbiel contenders as well, although their improvement didn’t become apparent until slightly later. As I write this in the first week of October, Red Bull has lost the lead in the constructor standings to McLaren and have Ferrari breathing down their neck. What happened?

No other team has found more speed than McLaren in the second half of the season

There have been 10 races since Monaco at the end of May, and Verstappen, having finished 6th in Monaco, showed that he can still drive by subsequently winning both in Canada and Spain. But in the eight races since Spain, he hasn’t won a single one – yep, you read that right. I might add that Sergio “Checo” Perez hasn’t won any of those eight either, which is perhaps no big surprise, but to be fair, also makes clear that this has more to do with the car then the drivers. Or rather, it has more to do with the other cars in red, orange and silver.

The last eight races have split pretty evenly between McLaren (four victories) Mercedes and (three), with Ferrari and Leclerc picking up the win at home in Monza in front of more than 300.000 jubilant Tifosis, and guaranteeing Leclerc’s legend status in Italy for many years to come (and given the Monegasque Leclerc also won his home GP for the first time this year, he will certainly be happy with the 2024 season!). If you look beyond first place though, it becomes pretty clear that although all three teams have come much closer to Red Bull’s speed, improvements are most notable at McLaren and within the team, things are now much more even between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

It’s probably debatable if Monza or Monaco was Leclerc’s sweetest win…

This is Piastri’s second F1 season and he quickly showed he deserves his McLaren seat, managing to score two podiums and a sprint victory in his first season 2023. In the first part of this year however, Lando Norris had the lead internally at McLaren. But in the last races since Monaco, Piastri has been on seven podiums and won two races, in Hungary and Azerbaijan. Norris hasn’t done too badly either and is firmly in second place in the drivers’ standings, but to have a realistic chance at he title, he would have needed some of Piastri’s results in the last races.

McLaren is thus in great shape with a car that performs well on most type of tracks. And both Mercedes and Ferrari have found more speed than they had earlier in the season. But with that said, it’s not like Red Bull have broken down and Verstappen has taken a leave. Max is still there, he’s still fast and even though he doesn’t win, he’s still regularly on the podium. Right now however, he’s not really faster than the other six drivers in the top teams. But with a lead of over 50 points going into the last five races of the season, it’s most probable that he will clinch the title this year as well.

For the constructors’ title however, things look a bit different. With Checo Perez being nowhere in terms of speed or podiums, Red Bull have lost the lead to McLaren, and as things look right now, the team from Woking in the UK can be expected to hold on to that lead. And Max had better continue to perform, because otherwise Red Bull could end up behind Ferrari as well, which currently trails it by only 34 points. For a team as spoiled as Red Bull, that would be nothing short of catastrophic.

This is not where Max is used to parking…

I’ll dive into all the driver changes for next season in a future post, as there’s plenty to cover. For now however, we need to address the recent mid-season switch at RB, Red Bull’s junior team, where Daniel Ricciardo has been replaced by Liam Lawson. Lawson is already a familiar face, having stepped in for Ricciardo during several races. It’s no secret that Ricciardo’s performance has been declining over the past few years across different teams, so it’s not very surprising that this likely marks the end of his F1 career. Bringing in a younger talent like 22-year old Lawson aligns with Red Bull’s long-term strategy, though Red Bull still need to find a replacement for Checo Pérez, most probably already for next season.

There we are – five races to go, and at least a constructor championship title to fight for with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all in contention. And even though it seems clear that Verstappen will take the driver’s title, Lando Norris most probably hasn’t given up yet. Neither has Oscar Piastri, who would love to score more points than Norris this season. And wouldn’t it be a nice conclusion for Carlos Sainz to win a race for Ferrari before his time with the team ends? And for Lewis to do the same at Mercedes? It’s pretty certain there won’t be any lack of excitement in the last part of the 2024 season – buckle up!

F1 pit stop: could it be?

On By ChristofferIn F1, News3 Comments

We’re around a third into the 2024 F1 season and until a couple of races ago, it did look like it would again be a very one-sided affair, with Max in his Red Bull having claimed all pole positions so far, winning 5 races, and looking unstoppable on the way to his fourth consecutive world championship title. 

And then came Emilia Romagna in Italy, which Verstappen did win but not quite like before, where Max wasn’t even close to the podium. Ever so slowly a bit of excitement has returned – what has happened? To recap for those who may have gotten tired of following this every other week (you have my sympathy), it’s really two teams that have made notable progress and have gotten a bit too close to comfort for Red Bull. 

If they fired him to make him faster, it worked

The first one is Ferrari, currently second in the championship and the team that so far had been closest to Red Bull. And with two great drivers, it’s both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc who at least to some extent give Verstappen a run for the money. Sainz’s improving results showed a strong correlation with Ferrari’s decision to sack him, replacing him with Lewis Hamilton, in 2025 and could perhaps be seen as his pride having been hurt. Personally, I think it’s more a case of a great driver in an improved car. 

Leclerc’s results seem to validate that theory and at no time more so than last week in Monaco when he won his home race for the first time, having previously not even been on the podium in the Principality. Leclerc is one of a few thousand Monegasques so this was also the first time a native won the very special Monaco race, and did so in quite a dominant way. 

The second team that has come closer to Red Bull, perhaps even more so than Ferrari, is of course McLaren. Here Lando Norris has led the charge and nowhere more so than in Miami where he won his first race of the season, his fourth podium for the season. Oscar Piastri is also finding more speed in his car, with a first podium finish in Monaco where he was second. 

I’m willing to bet this wasn’t the lsat time we see Lando on P1

So what about Red Bull? Well, when Norris won in Miami in the first days of May, Max finished second and Perez fourth. And then in Monaco, Verstappen wasn’t on pole for the first time this year, starting six. Perez, also a first for this year, was however eliminated in Q1, starting impossibly far back. Of course Monaco is a very special race and not really indicative of things to come, but the team confessed to the car having a problem when driven on curbs which obviously penalized lap times, and Max also hit a wall in qualifying, ruining his chances of starting higher up. For a driver never making mistakes, that’s telling.

I may be grasping for straws here and of course Red Bull is still the leading team this season with a very healthy lead both in the team and driver rankings. The most likely scenario is no doubt still that Max and Red Bull win both titles. But Perez’ renewed performance dip is worrying, and there’s little doubt that Verstappen feels both McLaren and Ferrari breathing down his neck more than in the first part of the season. In that sense, the coming races will be very interesting, especially Barcelona on 23 June, since that is the next real driving course.

It’s all hugs and smiles for now – hopefully it’ll stay that way

Further down the field, not much has changed. Unfortunately Mercedes hasn’t found the same speed as Ferrari and McLaren, and now rank clearly behind the two. Further down, Alonso does what he can in the Aston Martin car, with the team is a solid fifth in the championship. Even Stroll manages to score a few points here and there, knowing that Aston Martin no doubt has the most unbalanced driver line-up of all…). As for the rest of the teams, there really isn’t much to mention.

We’ll see over the next races how this pans out. Can Max preserve his lead and for the team’s sake, can Perez find his speed again? Will Leclerc be able to build on Monaco and keep that competitiveness over the coming races? Or will Lando Norries be the hungrier one, extending his nice podium run? I guess the season does have some excitement in it, after all!

PS. Make sure you don’t miss the documentary “Senna” on Netflix, a nice portrait of the man who was perhaps the greatest of them all. It also serves as a reminder of how very different the F1 sport was 30 years ago. Not to take anything away from the drivers nowadays, but the level of courage of those guys… You’ll see what I mean if you watch it!

F1 pit stop: a record breaking 2023 season!

On By ChristofferIn F1, News1 Comment

The F1 season 2023 has come to an end, and in terms of the the title, it’s been a very unspectacular one from start to end, and at any point there in between. Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing are very much the uncontested champions of this year’s season, of which there was really never any doubt – except for yours truly, who at some point was at least hoping things would heat up a little…

The title was his already after the sprint race in Qatar on 7 October.

Looking a bit more in detail at the numbers around Max’s triumph makes it even more impressive. His 19 wins this season is more than anyone has ever achieved, as are his 21 podiums (which of course means that when he was on the podium, with only two exceptions he claimed P1. That most definitely says a bit about the character of the man!). 10 of those 19 wins were also consecutive, which, you guessed it, is yet another record.

Max of course excels not only in driving skills but also in consistency and mental strength. This is perhaps best illustrated in a comparison with Sergio “Checo” Perez, his teammate. There is really no doubt that Checo is one of the best drivers on the grid, but as we sum up the season, he is still lightyears away from Max, especially in consistency and mental strength, which I would claim contribute more than you may think to Verstappen’s success.

The season had ups and downs, but in the end Checo managed P2

There was thus never any question on who would become world champion, but it was far more unclear that Checo would manage to hold on to P2, especially in the latter part of the season when he faded quite considerably. In the end he did fight off Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes by a relatively healthy 51 points, making it a 1-2 for Red Bull. For team boss Christian Horner, it also means beating his arch rival Toto Wolf at Mercedes for the third year in a row, which is probably almost as important as the title itself…

All was not gloom and doom for the other teams though, especially in the second part of the season. Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren all became more competitive basically with every race. The biggest surprise was perhaps McLaren where Lando Norris made seven podiums this year, all in the second part of the season, and Oscar Piastri added another two. McLaren are clearly on a positive trend, and Piastri is still young, so next year could be really interesting for the team!

McLaren and Norris are now on par with Mercedes and Ferrari, and sometimes above!

Especially in the second part of the season, Ferrari also looked like a much better team than at any time in the last years, which is down both to improvements with the car, but also with Cédric Vasseur as new team boss, clearly bringing some well-needed strategy, and reminding the team of how to execute a pit stop properly. In the end Leclerc and Sainz finished fifth and seventh respectively, with only six points and one Lando Norris in between them.

The biggest surprise in this year’s first races was no doubt Aston Martin Racing and Fernando Alonso, who managed to score six podiums in the first eight races of the year. Unfortunately he faded after that, only adding another two in the latter part of the year, but still ending the year in a very impressive fourth position, giving a good illustration of the potential of the car, in stark contrast to his team mate Lance Stroll, who was nowhere to be seen.

Alonso proved both him and the car (still) have a lot to give!

Looking further down the ranking, there really isn’t much to write home about. Renault Alpine is stuck somewhere in the middle, better than the teams behind but no longer comparable to McLaren, as they’ve been in previous years. Behind them, Alpha Tauri, Williams, Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas (roughly from best to worse) are as far from the top as Elon Musk’s ability to stick to deadlines.

Tsunoda produces more f-words than points in most races, Alex Albon manages to get more out of the Williams than should be possible from time to time, Bottas and the Alfa Romeo car he’s driving both look about as tired, and not even team boss Günther Steiner can make Haas feel like an attractive proposition for next season, unless something changes pretty dramatically.

Thus, as we close the books for 2023, it looks pretty much the same as when we did so in 2022. Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are all closer to Red Bull than they used to be, but right now it’s difficult to see how they would be able to challenge neither the team, nor Max Verstappen as a driver next season. I guess the risk that Max’s ego no longer fits into the Red Bull car needs to be taken into account, but assuming he manages to squeeze it in, at this stage the money is on a fourth Verstappen-Red Bull title a year from now!

F1 pit stop: racing until the end!

On By ChristofferIn F1, NewsLeave a comment

It’s high time to do a quick pitstop and check the status of the F1 season as we’re around 3/4 in. The short answer to that is that it’s tighter and more open than it’s been in many, many years, which is of course really exciting. Since my last update from July after the Austrian GP that you can read here if you missed, it, we’ve had another seven races counting the one today in Turkey, and on these we’ve had no less than five different winners. That’s right, even though the title will go to either Hamilton or Verstappen, we’ve reached a stage where more teams and drivers fight for individual wins, and that’s of course exactly the way it should be!

Esteban Ocon won the Hungarian GP

As mentioned this summer, this is partly driven by the fact that next season will see radical changes to the cars, something I will come back to in the coming weeks, but which means that development efforts on this season’s cars have stopped or at least been heavily reduced. Small tweaks are certainly still done, but somehow the mid-sized teams seem more successful doing so than the large ones. It does however have the positive consequence of more open racing, and that will most probably remain the case until the end of the season.

In my last post from July, Red Bull had won the last five races and Max Verstappen had won four of those. I therefore stated that if Mercedes didn’t wake up rather quickly the season risked being over and indeed, Mercedes did wake up however, and I guess no one really expected less. Starting in Silverstone, traditional a track favorable to Mercedes, it was a 1st and 3rd position for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, and Lewis than moved on to win in Russia as well, finishing on the podium of most other races. Bottas then also won today’s race in Turkey, but with the two Red Bulls on the podium as well. That allowed Max to move ahead of Lewis again in the standings so it’s pretty clear that this will go down to the wire and for the first time in a long time, Lewis is seriously challenged for the world title.

He’s got the smile and momentum back!

So what about those other teams? Well, McLaren has only become more competitive, partly that goes for Renault as well, Aston Martin is somehow also part of the mix, at least when conditions become a bit unpredictable, and what George Russell delivers in an improving but still inferior Williams car continues to impress. Lando Norris (Mc Laren) is currently fourth in the standings betwen Valtteri (third) and Perez (fifth), but should really have been third as there is really no excuse for him not winning one of the best races so far, that in Sotchi two weeks ago. He led the whole race and when the rain came with a few laps to go, he refused to follow team orders to come in and switch tyres and ended up in the sand with two laps to go. That’s a real rookie mistake but it’s one that shouldn’t have happened.

This is when you should have come in, Lando…

The other big news in the last weeks is of course that Valtteri Bottas is leaving Mercedes at the end of the season, and that George Russell is taking over his seat. This was widely expected but it was nice to see it being done in an amicable way, with Valtteri departing not directly but rather at the end of the season. He will then go to Alfa Romeo Racing, taking over retiring Kimi’s seat, and that Russell replaces him is of course no surprise. What George has managed to do with the under-performing Williams car this season is simply sensational, and of course we also remember when he replaced Lewis during a race at the height of Covid and was very close to winning it. For him, this is a terrific chance of showing how good he really is. For Valtteri it’s obviously quite a large step in the wrong direction, and thus probably one towards retirement.

My guess is that Russell will make life tougher for Lewis than Valtteri did.

A final thing to note in this more competitive field than we’ve had in many years is how close many teams’ drivers are. Sainz and Leclerc (Ferrari) are sixth and seventh in the standings with half a point between them. Alonso and Ocon (Alpine) and Vettel and Stroll (Aston Martin) follow, next to each other, and even though Lando is ahead of his team mate Ricciardo and Max is a head of Sergio Perez, the distance is getting smaller. I guess the way to read this is that we have a season of very good drivers, in most cases getting as much of their cars as is possible – and that’s exactly how it should be!

F1 pit stop – the future looks orange!

On By ChristofferIn F1, News1 Comment

We’re nine rounds into the F1 season 2021 and it’s time to check the temperature and see where things stand before we move into the mid-season with the British GP in two weeks, the Hungarian at the end of the month and then the Belgian at the end of August. I dare say that even those who find F1 predictable and boring have something to cheer about this year, because so far, predictable is certainly something this season is not. Before moving into the action, let me just note that at the start of the season I wrote that if we were lucky, we may see spectatcors return to some of the races this year. Gladly that is now the case, and it’s great to see!

The Dutch fans didn’t miss Max’s win in Austria!

Going back to where we left off, in my last update I put up the question whether Max (Verstappen, Red Bull) was going to catch up with Lewis (Hamilton, Mercedes) and I believe we have the answer. Not only has he caught up with Lewis but he has in fact clearly passed him, just as Red Bull has passed Mercedes to become the team to beat in the line-up. The most recent five races have all been won by Red Bull with Max winning four and Sergio (Perez) one. But it gets even worse from Mercedes’s perspective, since Lewis has only been on two podiums in those same five races, clinching second place in France and in the first of two Austrian GP’s. Perez has meanwhile also found his footing and is ahead of Bottas, so currently there is little doubt that Red Bull and Max are favourites for this year’s constructor and driver’s title. The die-hard Mercedes optimists will note that Silverstone in two weeks is a typical Mercedes track and they’re right about that, making it a pretty decisive one: if Red Bull beats Mercedes in Silverstone, that’s probably it. If they don’t, my bet is that that’s it anyway.

Lewis is only ahead of Max outside of the track these days

Behind the two top teams, McLaren and Lando Norris’s progress is no less suprising. Lando drives like there’s no tomorrow and he does so in a fast car that is now very close to the two top teams. Daniel (Ricciardo) was apparently right in his call to join McLaren rather than stay at Renault, but he needs to up his game considerably to keep up with Lando who’s clearly emerging as the team’s first driver. He’s finished P3 three times this year and it’s probably only a question of time before he wins his first race. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are doing what they can in their Ferraris which are faster than last year but still inferior not only to Red Bull and Mercedes, but currently also to McLaren. With only two points between them, the two Ferraristi are no doubt the most balanced driver pair on the grid!

The mid-field sees roughly the same teams as earlier, except for McLaren. Aston Martin where Seb Vettel has found his footing which is very nice to see, but the car, although improving, isn’t really there yet. AlphaTauri, where Pierre Gasly continues to deliver strongly but Yuki Tsunoda, although having the speed, seems to have great difficulty in avoiding crossing white lines and getting penalties. Alpine is there as well with notably Fernando Alonso showing his routine, but the car is less performing than last year. Pretty much the same in other words but with Gasly’s continued strong performance and Seb finding the speed again standing out as positives.

In reality, Lando’s car is mostly far ahead of Ricciardo’s

Finally there’s not much to report on from the back of the field. Kimi (Räikkönen) and Antonio (Giovinazzi) can hope to take a point here and there in their Alfa Romeos if some of the top cars have problems, and George Russell will certainly do so in the coming races as it’s truly amazing how he manages to get every last hp out of the Williams car. By the way, speculation as to whether he will replace Bottas at Mercedes before the end of the season doesn’t go away. Finally, whilst Haas remain very much last in the line-up, at least Mazepin seems to have found some stability and stopped endangering other drivers in every race. Mick Schumacher beats him in most races, but he can’t work wonders either in a car that is nowhere close to where it was a couple of years ago.

If you’re thinking that Mercedes will never let Red Bull win the title this season without a fight, that would certainly be true in a normal year, but in view of the very big changes that will hit the F1 circus next season and that we’ll come back to in a separate post in the coming months, Mercedes as well as other teams have officially stated that they will not develop their 2021 cars any further. It’s therefore difficult to imagine that something could happen that fundamentally changes the outcome this year, and that would mean that we’ll see a new world champion, one who for the first time ever is from the Netherlands and whose name is Max Verstappen!

F1: same same but (not very) different

On By ChristofferIn F1, News1 Comment

Four races into the new F1 season and it’s time to make a first pit stop and see what’s happened so far. Any unexpected positive surprises, any upsets, or for that matter any disappointments? So far the four races have taken place in Bahrain, Italy, Portugal and today in Barcelona, Spain, and we now have a two-week break before race number five, the most traditional of them all in Monaco on 23 May. The executive summary so far would go something like same same (as last season) and so far not very different, but if you read on I’ve done my best to add a bit more colour to that.

What is very similar to last season is the two top teams. No changes neither here, nor in the respective top drivers – Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. After Lewis’s win today in Barcelona, Mercedes have an 29-point lead in the constructors’ championship, with Lewis leading the drivers’ by 14 points ahead of Max. The difference is smaller than last year however, with Max pretty much breathing down Lewis’s neck, as shown by the podiums so far where he’s been on all, and winning in Italy. Behind the two, Bottas isn’t surprising on the upside any more than last year, continuing to play the role of the good soldier, but also to show that he’s slower than both Lewis and Max. Red Bull newcomer Sergio Perez on the other hand is off to a promising start (already far better than his predecessor Albon was at any point during his time), and it will be interesting to see if with a few more races under his belt, he can challenge the top duo, or become the natural number three on the podium.

Lews and Max fighting it out at a rainy Imola GP

So to use some hockey terminology (but with no respect for the fact that a hockey line always has three players…), if the first line is made up of Mercedes and Red Bull, the second is also relativeliy clear, at least so far in points, consisting of McLaren and Ferrari. For McLaren this is a continuation of the positive trend from last year, with Lando Norris so far ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, even clinching third place in Italy. Then again, Ricciardo was ahead of Norris today in Barcelona, so things may be turning more even. Over at Ferrari it’s a bit disappointing as the car doesn’t seem to have become more competitive than last year. So far newcomer Carlos Sainz Jr. is also well behind Charles Leclerc. Before the season I wrote that I saw Leclerc-Sainz as perhaps the best driver-duo of any team this year. I guess it’s too early to say, but Carlos Jr. needs to step up his game for that to come through. As for Ricciardo, it still remains to be seen whether his move away from an uncontested first seat at Renault to McLaren was the right one, but there is no doubt that McLaren is faster than Alpine (ex Renault).

Norris continues to deliver at McLaren!

The third line is quite crowded this season, regrouping Alpine, AlphaTauri, Aston Martin (ex Racing Point) and Alfa Romeo (and no, it’s not because they all start with an A…). Except for Aston Martin, the remaining three can be said to be roughly where they were last year, and again, with the established drivers so far ahead of the newcomers. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) shows that he hasn’t forgotten how to drive a car although he’s still behind Esteban Ocon who this year is faster than at any point previously. Yuki Tsunoda still needs to prove himself at AlphaTauri, and especially vs Pierre Gasly. The big disappointment so far is Aston Martin and within the team, unfortunately again Sebastian Vettel. The car seems far less competitive than last year (I’ll leave it open as to whether that’s because it’s no longer a copy of the Mercedes…), and Vettel is so far far well behind Lance Stroll and yet to score a point. Finally Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi are quite even at Alfa Romeo, which is pretty much where it was last year, meaning at the end of that third line.

That leaves Williams and Haas in the fourth line, which is a bit unfair to Williams who are so far clearly better and well on their way up if they keep progressing. Pretty much all of this is thanks to George Russell who continues to deliver as much as the car allows for, so far scoring 8 points. Haas on the other hand is even more disappointing than last year, something not even the talent Mick Schumacher clearly displays can change. The Haas is simply not competitive, but arguably the even bigger issue is the team’s second driver Nikita Mazepin who came as a condition for the Russian sponsor money from his billionaire father, and who is outright dangerous on track. The list of incidents so far has resulted in an equally long list of Instagram jokes on him and the new nickname Maze-spin, and his private behaviour isn’t making him any new friends either. Haas is in dire straits and in desperate need of sponsorship money, but this is of course the worst side of F1, when a team is forced to, and accepts taking on an unfit driver as part of the package. I really do hope things improve before something really bad happens, as Mazepin is a danger both to himself and others.

One of the funnier Mazepin jokes making the rounds on Insta…

There we go – we still have 19 races left this season so things can, and hopefully will still change around a bit. Will Verstappen be able to challenge Lewis for real this year? Will Perez become as fast as Max, and will Ricciardo prove that his move was the right one? Time will tell as we get further into the season, stay tuned!