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F1/Round 6: Results and Highlights of 2022 Spanish Grand Prix

The high temperatures caused much concern as race preparations started, the heat growing quickly and even the drivers needing to stay hydrated. Pirelli engineers were warning of tyre degradation and teams were figuring out how their drivers should manage the tyres and how many stops would work. All the drivers chose to start on softs, except Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton who had medium compound tyres on his car.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got off to a good clean start from his pole position, outrunning Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen to the first turn. However, Leclerc’s team mate, Carlos Sainz did not get a good start and the fumble allowed the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez to slip into third place.

Hamilton must have been counting on the tyres to help him get off the line fast and as he raced up to Sainz, the Spaniard suddenly pulled ahead and the Mercedes-AMG driver had to manoeuvre away. Problem was, Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen was nearby and brushed into Hamilton’s car before heading into the gravel. But he managed to get back onto the track although Hamilton had a puncture and had to quickly get back to the pits. And that excitement was in just the second lap.

Hamilton’s car was then fitted with soft tyres and when he rejoined he was way down the field. There would be a lot of work ahead, and uncertainty as to how the Stewards would judge the incident with Magnussen. But his team mate, George Russell was doing great, having taken second by lap 10. He had gotten past Sainz who spun into the gravel, and was followed by Verstappen too. So the young British driver had two angry bulls coming after him as he chased after Leclerc who was 10 seconds ahead.

Verstappen passed Perez to go after Russell but on lap 14, Russell and Verstappen came into the pits and took on medium tyres. Both teams have skilled pit crews and got quick stops, with Russell able to get off faster. However, Verstappen had a frustrating problem which was that the DRS flap on his car could not open properly.

Lap 19 saw Perez coming in for mediums and when he rejoined, he was in fourth. With fresher tyres though, he would have more confidence to push harder if necessary but Verstappen was 7 seconds ahead at that time.

16 seconds behind Perez was Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in fifth. He was not yet hassled by BWT Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was busy trying to stay ahead of Sainz. Hamilton was way back in 16th, struggling to get through traffic. Even to get past Alfa Romeo’s Zhou GuanYu proved difficult as the Chinese driver managed to stay out of reach.

Leclerc was about 8 seconds ahead of Russell when he came in on lap 22 for his first stop. It took just 2.2 seconds from top to go again and when he rejoined, he still had a 5-second gap from the Mercedes-AMG driver. Russell was doing his best to keep his second place with Verstappen trying everything to get past. On lap 26, seeing how his angry team mate was struggling to overtake the Mercedes-AMG, Perez radioed to the team to ask Verstappen to back off and let him go after Russell instead.

And on the next lap, disaster struck the leader who was 12 seconds ahead… Leclerc’s car visibly slowed down and seemed to have lost power. He managed to get back to the pits but did not come out again, and his leading position was taken over by Russell. It was Leclerc’s first retirement of the season.

Since Perez wanted a go at Russell, Verstappen decided to go into the pits, switching from the mediums to softs. The Mexican Red Bull was eager to do battle with the British driver who was less than a second away.

With temperatures hitting almost 40 degrees C., many cars were coming in for tyre changes. With half the race completed, the Stewards informed Pierre Gasly’s Scuderia Alphatauri team that he was given a time penalty for an earlier collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. On the same lap, Zhou had to retire again, the second time in a row.

Russell put up a good fight but on lap 33, Perez outsmarted him and took over the lead. Now the Mercedes-AMG driver had to watch for Verstappen who was closing in from 6 seconds away. By then, Hamilton had moved up to sixth but some 44 seconds behind Verstappen.

Russell came in on lap 37 for new tyres and rejoined in third. Right after, Perez also came in which let Verstappen take over the lead. Russell was comfortably ahead of Bottas so he could concentrate on regaining his position. For the Dutchman though, the lead was unlikely to last till the end as his soft tyres were already 13 laps old.

On lap 43, drivers who were comfortably in points-collecting positions were Oc0n, McLaren’s Lando Norris, and BWT Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was also in the top 10 but when he dropped out for tyres, he rejoined down in 14th and that allowed Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda to move into 10th and get at least 1 point (if he could stay there till the end).

On lap 45, Verstappen finally came in to get the mediums; after 2.4 seconds of standing still, he rejoined and got in just ahead of Russell so it was 1-2 for the Red Bulls. Russell was 10 seconds behind, reasonably safe from Bottas who was 14 seconds away. He would get on the podium but which step would depend on whether the Red Bulls would get their bad luck again. Verstappen certainly wanted to win as it would then move him into the championship lead.

The gap between the two Red Bulls was less than 2 seconds when team orders came over the radios and Perez was told to move aside and let Verstappen take the lead since has quicker. He mumbled something about it being ‘unfair’ but obeyed the orders nonetheless, as he is expected to.

Russell decided to come in again and get new rubber, which allowed Bottas to move into third position. When the Brit rejoined, he was in fourth and just 3 seconds behind the Alfa Romeo. He had to watch out for Sainz, though, who was not far behind. It took 1 lap for Russell to regain his third position and as he was doing it, Perez also shot into the pits to get new tyres as a precaution in case he had to work harder in the closing stages.

Sainz and Hamilton began duelling on lap 60 and the Mercedes-AMG driver closed in on the main straight, then swept around on the outside to get past into fourth position… quite an impressive recovery from the back. Unlike Red Bull, the Mercedes-AMG team was unlikely to ask Russell to move aside and would instead just be praying that their two cars would make it through the remaining laps and collect a nice set of points.

With 2 laps remaining, Verstappen looked set to take the chequered flag, followed by his dutiful team mate across the line. Russell was also on the way to finish third but then Hamilton’s car had overheating problems and Sainz swept past on the second last lap.

And so it was a 1-2 for Red Bull but not 3-4 for Mercedes-AMG as Sainz took Hamilton’s place. Fortunately, the race ended as Bottas was coming up behind Hamilton.

F1/Round 6: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid of 2022 Spanish Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Spain/9 pm in Malaysia

After the inaugural Miami Grand Prix across the Atlantic Ocean, the Formula 1 teams are back at a more familiar battleground this weekend. It’s the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya where the Spanish Grand Prix, Round 6 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, will be held. This 4.7-km track has been on the F1 calendar since 1991 although there has been a Spanish GP since 1951.

Like all other tracks since the first 2022 round, there will be a new set of challenges as the racing cars are of an all-new generation. Although there is data from a 3-day pre-season test at this same track in February, it is limited in value. During those test sessions, the teams concentrated on testing compounds in the middle of the range, rather than the hard tyres. Secondly, weather conditions were much cooler and things are expected to be different this weekend. Finally, the new cars were in their most basic launch specification; since then, they have moved on considerably and have upgrades. So there are unknowns that will have to be quickly analysed during practices.

The track itself is unchanged compared to last year, when Turn 10 was modified, slightly increasing the overall length of the circuit. It has a broad mix of corner types, so it puts every aspect of the car to the test. Overtaking is a challenge at this track and the pit straight is the only long one and is entered via a high-speed corner. This will be tough for cars to follow due to the dirty air, while the end of the straight isn’t a particularly heavy braking zone either. The modifications to Turn 10 means the corner is now taken at a faster speed and requires less braking.

The drivers use their brakes on only half of the 16 turns so the brake system is called into action for a total of under 13.5 seconds per lap, according to Brembo. All 5 of the hardest braking episodes in the Spanish GP are on the first 10 turns where maximum deceleration has an average value of 4.2g.

*Cornering speeds and gears used by the Mercedes-AMG drivers at the Catalunya circuit this year.*

Turn 5 is one of the track’s more unique corners, because drivers approach the corner differently depending on the session. The camber of the road drops at the apex, which unloads the inside-front tyre and increases the risk of lockups. Drivers will take a riskier, tighter line in Qualifying as it shortens the distance, but on a race stint, lock-ups can cause vibrations and damage the tyre, which could prompt an additional pit stop. So, they take a wider line to keep the load off the inside-front and reduce the potential of a lock-up.

Every element must be optimized on the F1 cars to avoid behavior that reduces overall performance. Usually, the focus is on the wings and the bodyshell, but other components also have a negative effect. One of these anomalies has been resolved by Brembo by introducing anti-drag to the brake calipers. This is a system that uses a torsional spring that reduces residual torque, ie the unwanted friction between the disc and the pad, even under extreme conditions. When the brake is not used, the lever keeps the two parts apart.

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have had the most wins in the Spanish GP, with 6 to each driver. Among the present teams, Ferrari has had the most victories with 12 to its name, followed by McLaren (8), and Williams and Mercedes-AMG with 7 each.

F1/Round 5: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Miami Grand Prix

The 72nd Formula 1 race on American soil saw Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc getting off to a good start and reaching the first corner before his team mate, Carlos Sainz, who had been caught by surprise by a hard-charging Max Verstappen. Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton was also displaced from his eighth starting position briefly by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who got a good slingshot start.

Going into the first turn, Hamilton had contact with Alonso and later, the Mercedes-AMG driver reported that he felt damage at the rear. Hamilton’s team mate, George Russell, who had started in 12th position, also had a bad start and slipped down to 15th to drop behind Alfa Romeo’s GuanYu Zhou who would have to retire by the 8th lap due to a technical issue.

The two Aston Martins had started from the pitlane as the cars had ‘fuel issues’, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who did not take part in qualifying due to an earlier crash, started from the back of the grid.

On lap 10, as Verstappen got within DRS range on the start-finish straight, he got past Leclerc whose car seemed to have damaged tyres. Behind Leclerc was his team mate Sainz who was pursued by the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez. 8 seconds behind the four frontrunners were two former team mates – Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas – duelling for fifth place.

On lap 12, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was the first driver to return to the pits to change his medium tyres for hards, rejoining at the back. He was closely followed by Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen who also wanted to get onto hard tyres like Tsunoda. However, Verstappen seemed to be doing okay with his medium tyres. None of the top 10 cars were called in for tyre-changes.

On lap 20, Perez began to drop back noticeably and seemed to be losing power. However, his engineers could not see anything on the telemetry but he had slipped back by almost 3 seconds during the lap. Whatever it was, his gap from Sainz extended to 7 seconds. Later, the engineers would report that a sensor issue had been the cause.

Lewis Hamilton was the first of the top 10 to come in on lap 23, retaining his position as he shot back out. Two laps later, Leclerc came in, glad to finally be rid of the tyres that were making it a struggle to drive his car. When he rejoined, he was down in fourth, 27 seconds behind Verstappen in the lead and 2 seconds ahead of Bottas. After the Alfa Romeo driver was a wide gap to Russell who was some 16 seconds furtherback.

Finally, Verstappen came in for hard tyres on lap 26, losing the lead which was taken over by Sainz. And just two laps later, both Sainz and Perez came in at the same time, with the Red Bull crew getting four tyres changed in less time than the Ferrari crew (apparently there was a wheel nut problem). Verstappen was back in the lead, with a 7-second gap from Leclerc.

Russell, who had started in 12th, had done well to be up to fifth by lap 30, managing to stay keep Bottas back as Hamilton tried to close the 4-second gap. He was still on his original tyres, one of the last few drivers who had not come in. But Hamilton was not happy as the tyres were running hot with the high track temperatures.

Further down the field, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was also having a hard time with his tyres, and the only glimmer of hope given to him as he struggled to stay close to McLaren’s Lando Norris was that rain ‘might come in 3 minutes’. Russell too was hoping for a change in weather – or a Safety Car making an appearance.

Lap 41 provided the huge crowd with some excitement as Scuderia Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly and Alonso made contact when the Alpine locked up going into Turn 1. Gasly was unable to avoid and fell to to 11th spot but worse, Norris was just behind and couldn’t avoid him and slid off to the side to end his race. Out came the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) – with Russell probably smiling under his helmet. The Stewards decided that Alonso was at fault and gave him a 5-seond penalty.

With the VSC activated, Russell came into the pits, along with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who decided to take on soft tyres. Perez also made a second stop, this time to go to medium tyres again. Gasly had come in just as the VSC ended and was heard to say that he thought something had broken.

The race got underway again with 10 laps remaining of the 57-lap race. Verstappen sped off with Leclerc just behind. Their team mates were under 3 seconds behind and both also close enough to duel for the third place.

Russell was playing the dutiful No. 2 to his team mate as he kept clear of Hamilton who was aiming to get past Bottas, which he did by lap 48. That was as far as the 7-time world champion would make it as it was then a 3-second gap to Perez. One lap later, however, Russell found himself in an advantageous position after having overtaken Bottas as well and slipped ahead of Hamilton into fifth place. However, he was later told to give the place back to Hamilton as the move had been done off the track.

As the race reached its final 5 laps, the excitement was building up. Verstappen was able to keep Leclerc from passing while Sainz was managing to hold third place for Ferrari. Verstappen made no mistakes and crossed the finish line to big cheers from the Red Bull fans. Another good day for the Dutchman who is now climbing back up the championship ladder.

F1: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid of 2022 Miami Grand Prix

Race starts at 3:30 pm in Miami on Sunday/3:30 am on Monday in Malaysia

In its quest to grow interest in America, Formula 1 has been actively looking for new venues to hold races. It has been helped by the Netflix series, Drive to Survive, which has been giving audiences worldwide a behind-the-scenes look at the sport so Americans are more familiar with the championship. There have been F1 races before and Miami will be the 11th location in the USA. The other circuits have been at Riverside, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix, Indianapolis and the Circuit of the Americas (Texas).

While the Indianapolis 500 was a part of the World Drivers’ Championship between 1950 and 1960, the first F1 race in America was in Florida in 1959 at Sebring. Miami has never had F1 races before, it has had Grand Prix (not F1) racing in 1983 and 1984. They were not really successful and promoters went back to putting their money into more locally-flavoured motorsports like the IMSA and NASCAR series which the American audience could identify with. But with Formula 1 now having American ownership, there is strong support to push F1 to higher levels.

This year, the city gets a F1 race and although the original idea was to have the track near the water (like Monaco), that has not been possible and a specially-constructed 5.4-km track has been constructed around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The new complex is known as the Miami International Autodrome and just a couple of months ago, residents were trying to stop the race as they felt the noise would be too great. However, they lost the court case and so the event can go ahead.

Miami will present a new challenge for all the drivers and teams as the circuit is brand new. There is no data from previous races to refer to, so that will be an equalizer. There are 19 corners, most of them low and high-speed corners but not very many in the mid-range. There are also several long straights and three DRS zones. The contrasting demands of the high and low speed ends, and the two long straights should pose a set-up dilemma.

“We are basically going blind into the race, and I think most people are in the same boat as us. For qualifying, we had more of an idea but things can change very quickly with the weather around here. There isn’t much grip off the racing line on this track and it feels very gravely out there too. It is a shame because I think racing will be hard due to that. Saying that, I think it is going to be an interesting race because all of us don’t know exactly where we are!” said Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez.

Because this is a brand new track, the surface is also fresh and to ensure that there is good grip for the tyres, the composition has a high amount of limestone (not normally found on other circuits). The drivers have noticed its unusual characteristic and it seems to be doing its job so far with no on complaining.

“The brand new surface is likely to lead to a high degree of track evolution, especially at the start of the weekend, with the Porsche Challenge and W Series as support events. The weather could be unpredictable, with ambient temperatures of around 20 degrees and quite a high risk of rain and wind on the Florida coast at this time of year,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director.

“The track has some similarities to Jeddah, although there are some parts that are slower and more technical than in Saudi Arabia (especially the section from Turns 11 to 16). The rest is a very quick layout, running anti-clockwise, which puts the emphasis on the tyres on the right-hand side of the car. We’re expecting the usual rapid track evolution and a smooth surface with the new asphalt, but the track has been jet-washed at high pressure, which means that it should offer quite good grip from the beginning,” Isola explained.

“Because it’s a fast track the cars are likely to run a low to medium downforce set-up, which could lead to a bit of sliding in the high-speed corners on the hard compounds in particular. For any new track our choice tends to be on the conservative side, so it will be interest to confront the simulations with real data,” he said.

Without past data, Pirelli has had to rely on simulation data to come up with the tyre nominations. It has chosen three tyres in the middle of the range: P Zero White hard is the C2, P Zero Yellow medium is the C3, and P Zero Red soft is the C4. This combination is the most commonly-used one all year, and also the most versatile.

The fact there are three long straights each with DRS zones and each leading into slow corners, means there are good overtaking opportunities. Turn 11 and Turn 17 will likely be the key places to watch out for. But the track is also quite narrow in some places, compared to permanent tracks. While this does make it harder to race side-by-side, it may prove important in terms of strategy and the opportunity to make places because cars and debris will be harder to clear. The likelihood of a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car is high.

“Expectations can be very different to reality and wheel-to-wheel racing isn’t something we can simulate in our pre-race preparations, so we’ll have to wait and see how things progress over the race weekend,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team was missing one driver – Esteban Ocon – during Qualifying as he had a bad crash in FP3 and the car was too damaged to be repaired in time. However, he will start the race from the pitlane.

*The cornering speed and gears that will be used by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team drivers.*

Like Pirelli, the Brembo people who supply brake systems also don’t have any data to work with. According to Brembo technicians, the Miami circuit will have a medium level of difficulty for brakes. Although there are 19 turns, the drivers only have to really use the brakes in 4 places around the track. However, 3 of those 4 braking moments are extremely demanding: in those sections, the drops in speed exceed 200 km/h, the braking distance 115 metres and the braking time is just 2.4 seconds.

will.i.am to reveal one-off Mercedes-AMG sportscar at Miami F1 Grand Prix this weekend

F1/Round 4: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Cloudy conditions with the 60% possibility of rain was the forecast as the race was about to start. The damp starting grid filled up with 19 cars as Zhou GuanYu’s crash in the Sprint Race meant that the Alfa Romeo ORLEN driver would have to start from the pit lane.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was ready this time, unlike yesterday when he lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc leaving the starting line. This time he got a great start and even his team mate Sergo Perez in third position slipped past Leclerc. However, it was not good for the other Ferrari driven by Carlos Sainz – a bump with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo had both cars in the gravel and Sainz could not get back out. To enable the marshals to recover the Ferrari, the Safety Car came out and took over the lead.

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell did well to cut through from starting at 11th to place himself in 6th in the convoy behind the Safety Car. Lewis Hamilton managed to improve his 14th starting position to 12th in the running order.

Racing resumed from the fifth lap as the Safety Car left the track. Verstappen amd Perez shot forward and opened up the gap with McLaren’s Lando Norris who had managed to grab third place before the Safety Car came out. But right behind the McLaren driver was championship leader Leclerc who did not want to be delayed from getting to the front.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel had also done well to move up 5 places and got past Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who was struggling after sustaining damage that took off his sidepod. When he finally got back to the pits, the engineer gave him the bad news that the damage was severe and he might have to retire.

On lap 8 of the 63-lap race, Leclerc finally got past Norris, much to the delight of the home crowd. But his third position was still some 6 seconds from Verstappen who was protected by his team mate.

As the track was drying out, the radar showed that rain could start to fall by lap 22, so decisions were being made to hang on to the intermediates for the time being. The three frontrunners – Verstappen, Perez and Leclerc were well ahead of Norris who was 10 seconds behind the Ferrari and, for the time being, safe from Russell who was occupied with keeping Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen from passing him.

By lap 15, Hamilton was in the mirrors of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and trying to get into 10th and start to think about points. Just ahead of the two was Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who started to become involved in the tussle as well.

The first drive to come in was Ricciardo on lap 18 and his McLaren got medium tyres. He was followed by Pierre Gasly (Scuderia Alphatauri) and Alex Albon (Williams) who changed to the dry-weather tyres. By lap 21, all the cars had made their tyre changes. During his pit stop, Hamilton had contact with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was departing after his tyre change and it was deemed an unsafe release, for which the Stewards gave him a 5-second penalty.

The forecast changed to less risk of rain which meant that the medium tyres would have to last for another 39 laps. Ricciardo decided to come in again on lap 27 for slicks but he still had a lot of work ahead as he was way down in 18th. He would come in again another 4 laps later and try another set of tyres.

Perez was doing a good job of keeping Leclerc in third but the Ferrari driver was pushing hard. When told of the increasing efforts, Verstappen widened the gap to 9 seconds but by about halfway through the race, he would start to encounter traffic.

It seemed that Ricciardo, being way back, was a ‘tyre tester’ and from his experiences with the hard tyres, it was better to stick to the mediums for the rest of the race, so Norris would have to think about tyre management for another 25 laps.

By lap 40, Verstappen appeared behind Hamilton, down in 14th, and it must have been hard for the 7-time world champion to let the man he lost to last year pass. Once the Red Bull got past, Hamilton got back to trying to displace Gasly from 13th place. It was obvious that the Mercedes-AMG just did not have the speed to overtake the Scuderia Alphatauri.

With 13 laps to go, Verstappen had built up a comfortable lead of almost 14 seconds. Leclerc was still battling with Perez, while Norris was also safe in 4th place and just had to make it to the end.

On lap 50, Leclerc came in and switched to soft tyres (which he was not 100% convinced was right) and on the very next lap, the two Red Bulls came in and did the same change. Verstappen had such a big gap that he easily returned to the lead as he rejoined the race.

Disaster struck for Leclerc on lap 54 and he spun and hit a barrier. He was fortunate to slide sideways into the barrier so the damage was less but still the front wing was damaged. He managed to get back to the pits but when he got back out, he was done in 8th. With 5 laps left, he had to try to improve his position but make sure he did finish as well.

As two laps remained, some teams started to alert their drivers of rain on some parts of the track, but for Verstappen, there were no worries of challenges before the end. Both Red Bulls were comfortably ahead as they crossed the finish line, with Norris joining them on the podium.

Behind Norris came Russell who had put in a strong effort in those closing laps to prevent Valtteri Bottas from taking fourth place. As for Leclerc, he could only reach up to 6th position, having managed to get past Yuki Tsunoda, by the time the race ended.

Miami, USA to have Formula 1 race in 2022

F1/Round 4: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid For 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Italy/9 pm in Malaysia

Round 4 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship returns to Europe to start in Italy at the Imola Circuit, also known as Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Initially named after Enzo Ferrari’s son Dino, when Enzo himself passed away in 1988, the decision was taken to add the father’s name to that of his son. The Ferrari founder was closely associated with the circuit and he recalled its birth in a book he wrote in 1980: “My first contact with Imola dates back to the spring of 1948. I assessed from the first moment that that hilly environment could one day become a small Nurburgring due to the natural difficulties that the construction of a road belt would summarize, thus offering a truly selective path for men and machines. From my opinion, the promoters of Imola felt comforted. In May 1950, construction began. I was present at the ceremony of the first stone, which was laid by the lawyer Onesti with the greeting of the CONI and a contribution of 40 million which I believe was the first gesture of the organization towards motor racing. A small Nurburgring – I repeated to myself that day as I looked around – a small Nurburgring, with the same technical resources, spectacular and an ideal route length.”

How the Mercedes-Benz team transported their Silver Arrows Formula 1 cars around Europe in the 1950s. The custom-built transporter was nicknamed the ‘Blue Miracle’ and ‘Blue Wonder’, and it had the same engine as the 300 SL Gullwing sportscar so it could travel at high speeds.

It’s one of the old circuits of F1 (opened in 1953) but is relatively new to the racers as this is the third year a F1 round is held there. Before the 2020 event, the last time the circuit had a F1 race was in 2006. In 2020, when F1 returned, there was no data available but now after two rounds, the teams and especially Pirelli have enough data to help in set-up and tyre selection.

The 4.9-metre long circuit is a highly technical one, with a wide range of corners. Its layout has changed over the years but it remains narrow and bumpy, as the older tracks tend to be. This makes overtaking more challenging and puts more emphasis on strategy to make up places.

*The cornering speeds and gears used by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS racing cars.*

“Imola is an old-school, challenging track, where overtaking can be tricky, also because the circuit is quite narrow in places. So the strategy is likely to centre around avoiding traffic, and effectively the teams start from scratch here in terms of tyre knowledge – as the compounds are completely different this year, and last year’s race also began on the wet-weather tyres, before being interrupted by a lengthy red flag period,” said Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, Mario Isola.

“Generally speaking, Imola is a medium severity track for the tyres, and it’s a venue that is used quite frequently. This means that we might see a little less track evolution than we’ve been accustomed to at other circuits as the track is well rubbered-in already. The first round of the Pirelli-equipped GT World Challenge took place at Imola last month, which gave us some useful data. These are just some of the factors that the teams will have to take into account when establishing the tyre strategy for the opening sprint session of the year: another first for the 2022 season,” he added.

The tyres are all-new but the track is just as it was at this time last year, and the asphalt dates from 2011, which makes the 11-year old surface reasonably abrasive. The more mature surface at Imola generates more grip and therefore more heat in the tyres, requiring a more robust softest compound.

Pirelli has therefore chosen C2, C3 and C4 tyres for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as P Zero White hard, P Zero Yellow medium and P Zero Red soft respectively. This is the same nomination as last year, although the compounds are different with the latest generation of 18-inch tyres.

With 19 turns and the reduced length of the final straight (358 metres), the circuit has fast direction changes and extremely difficult braking sections of every imaginable kind. It’s therefore a sort of mini Nurburgring, as Ferrari expected it to be.

Imola has one of the longest pit lanes of any F1 track on the 2022 calendar, measuring 549 metres. This means one of the longest pit lane times, too, with at least 24.7 seconds. This is an interesting strategic factor as you lose more time making a pit stop compared to other races.

At Imola today was the first of 3 planned Sprint events during the 2022 F1 season, the others being in Austria and Brazil. This moved Qualifying to Friday afternoon, after FP1, to determine the grid for the 100-km race today. The result of the Sprint race, when the drivers will go flat out, decides the grid for Sunday’s main race. There are also points for the top 8 finishers.

The Sprint Race
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen must have been delighted to get pole position for the Sprint race after the disappointments of the first 3 rounds which have resulted in him being 6th in the championship rankings. Rain had come down during the qualifying session which saw a number of incidents. Pushing hard even on the wet and slippery track, he beat championship leader Charles Leclerc, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was surprised to get third on the grid for today.

A slow start by the Red Bull driver allowed Leclerc to reach Turn 1 first but as the pack headed to Turn 9, GuanYu Zhou (Alfa Romeo ORLEN) collided with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and headed into the wall. The crash was a bad one, bringing out the Safety Car.

The Safety Car left the track on lap 4 and although Verstappen was waiting to move, the new ruling did not allow him to be alongside Leclerc who was ready to rocket off the moment it was allowed. While Zhou would not get to complete his first Sprint race, Gasly was able to return to the pits and get a new wing and continue racing.

Both team mates of the leaders – Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz – had made good progress to move up a few positions. Norris meanwhile was slipping back as the two leaders pulled further ahead. As for the two Mercedes drivers, their positions were still out of the Top 10, George Russell doing better at 12^th and Lewis Hamilton at 15^th.

By the halfway point of the short 21-lap race, Perez was starting to challenge Norris. Within one lap, he was past into fourth with 9 laps to go. Just behind, Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen was steadily dropping back as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz got past him and closed in on the McLaren to try to take fourth before the race ended. He did it by lap 15 and would keep the position till the end, collecting 5 extra points this weekend.

Verstappen was waiting as the plan was to wait for the Ferrari’s tyres to degrade and then he would make his push but the number of laps was running out. Leclerc remained in control even though the Red Bull was less than a second away.

Finally, on lap 20, Verstappen powered through the final corner and although he had to take a wide line, he got past the Ferrari into the lead. Once past, he went flat out for the finish line with Leclerc and Perez following.

Brembo develops new brake systems for new 2022 F1 cars (w/VIDEO)

F1/Round 3: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Australian Grand Prix

Pole man Charles Leclerc got his Ferrari off to a clean start for the 2022 Australian GP as Max Verstappen pursued him into the first corner. However, things were not good for Carlos Sainz, who had started in P9 and then fell to 13th right away. Trying hard to make up, he lost it in Turn 9 and slid into the gravel. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car to enable marshals to clear the Ferrari.

Shortly after, the F1 Safety Car entered the track to manage the racing cars. During that time, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was the first to come back to the pits to move to hard tyres. The early appearance of the Safety Car meant that tyre temperatures did not get up to optimum fast enough as the cars slowed down.

The Safety Car departed on lap 7 and racing resumed with Leclerc still in the lead. The regulations for race restarts after the Safety Car departs have been made clearer and the tactics which Verstappen used in the previous 3 races (running alongside the leader) are no longer permitted.

On restart, Leclerc shot forward to try to widen the gap with the Red Bull and in doing so, set the first fastest lap of the day, putting himself almost a second ahead of Verstappen. Behind them, Hamilton was busy keeping Sergio Perez from getting past to take his third place.

Though the track is familiar to most of the drivers, the resurfacing had made it a bit slippery too and this was something they had to contend with. Sebastian Vettel slid off momentarily and Verstappen was complaining of tyre graining.

On lap 10, Perez flew past Hamilton on DRS to take over third and the Mercedes-AMG driver clearly could not do anything. With two Red Bulls behind him, albeit with a 3-second gap from Verstappen, the pressure on Leclerc increased.

Verstappen’s struggles saw him dropping back further to 9 seconds from Leclerc by lap 17, amd he came in 2 laps later for a tyre change, rejoining at 7th ahead of Fernando Alonso. This moved Perez up to second but he too came in on lap 21 to get onto hard tyres. The Red Bull pit stops moved Hamilton and George Russell up to second and third places behind Leclerc, albeit some 17 seconds away.

Finally on lap 22, Leclerc came in and so did Hamilton, and the Ferrari did not lose its lead while Hamilton was able to get ahead of Perez. Verstappen had moved back to second and was 4 seconds behind the Ferrari and then Vettel lost it and crashed into a barrier near Turn 4. Out came the Safety Car, negating the Dutchman’s advantageous position. Russell took the opportunity to come in for his tyre change and managed to get back in third place.

Racing resumed on lap 27 and Leclerc took off but just barely stayed ahead of Verstappen as they both entered Turn 3. Russell was also close but had to watch out for Alonso who was making a bid for the third place. But before long, Perez was the one to hassle the new Mercedes-AMG driver as Alonso dropped back and became the target for Hamilton.

With more than half the race completed, only three drivers had not changed from their hard tyres – Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon, The others would be managing their tyres to make it to the 58th lap.

Magnussen’s battle with Daniel Riccardo ended on lap 34 when he could not prevent the McLaren from getting past and joining team mate Lando Norris.

On lap 38, disaster struck again for Verstappen as smoke and then fire appeared from his car and his engineer ordered him to stop immediately near Turn 2. The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was activated to allow marshals to take action to remove the car. It was lap 40 when the VSC was deactivated and just prior to its activation, Russell was advised to not fight Perez so as not to damage his tyres, and he reluctantly let the Red Bull pass. So it was a Red Bull still second, though 12 seconds behind Leclerc. Verstappen’s fire was of concern to Perez who recalled how his own car had also died just after Verstappen’s in the first round. However, his engineer told him not to worry.

For Hamilton and Russell, running in third and fourth, the gap was not enough to make an effort to go for Perez so they focussed on tyre management to make sure that they finished the race. If bad luck hit the Mexican Red Bull driver, then it would be a bonus for them but for Leclerc, things were very much in control with a 14-second gap.

With 5 laps remaining, it appeared that the frontrunners had settled into maintaining positions to complete the race. Further back, Pierre Gasly was fighting hard to keep at least 10th place and stay in points as Lance Stroll and Guanyu Zhou kept duelling with him.

And so it was Ferrari’s day again as Leclerc crossed the line, a comfortable 20 seconds ahead of Perez, with the two Mercedes-AMGs in third and fourth.

F1/Round 3: Preview and Starting Grid for 2022 Australian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Australia/1 pm in Malaysia

The Australian Grand Prix of 2020 was the first Formula 1 event to be cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was a sudden cancellation, literally at the ‘eleventh hour’. The state government has forced its cancellation as the pandemic worsened and it started the ball rolling for other organizers to also cancel.

The Australian round has traditionally been the opening round of the season for many years so for the 2021 calendar, it was again placed at the start. However, the strict entry conditions at the start of 2021 made it difficult and uncertain for teams, so the organizers asked for their round to be postponed towards the end of the year when, hopefully, conditions would ease. But they did not (and would not till this year) and so the event had to be cancelled altogether.

This year, the Australian Grand Prix can finally be run although it could not regain its season-opening position and was scheduled as Round 3 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship. The circuit at Albert Park in Melbourne has changed and the entire track has been resurfaced. Some of the turns have been widened and a chicane has also been removed. The latter change is intended to provide a good overtaking spot, something which gives spectators the excitement to watch.

According to Brembo, the brake suppliers for all teams, it is one of those tracks with a medium level of difficulty for brakes. Since it is usually used for daily traffic, the track is slippery on Friday but, session by session, the asphalt is increasingly rubberized, also improving braking performance. This also translates into greater pad and disc wear, as they reach extremely high temperatures due to the increase in grip.

With the long experience Brembo has accumulated in Formula 1 since 1975 when they supplied to Ferrari, they have a range of solutions for the calipers that contribute to the heat dissipation of the entire braking system. One of these solutions is the Brembo pads with ventilation holes, something that is anything but simple to achieve because of their small dimensions and the materials the pads are made of, starting with carbon. Thanks to these holes, air circulation is greater and this staves off the overheating of the pads and the calipers themselves.

In 2022, the technical regulations ban having these holes in the pads in order to limit the cost of the component, but the teams are already on the hunt for cooling features that will improve this aspect without breaking any rules, such as fins or other processes to at least increase the exchange surface.

*The minimum cornering speeds and gears used by the Mercedes-AMG drivers at Albert Park.*

For Pirelli, the tyre people, there are a few unknowns because of the new track surface and changes, so past data cannot be entirely referred to. “There is a completely new generation of cars and tyres that the drivers are still trying to learn about. All these factors mean that there will be a lot of work to do for teams and drivers in the free practice sessions. We decided to opt for the step in the compound nominations because we noticed that there was a relatively small performance gap between the C3 and C4 compounds during development testing, and we believe that Albert Park – with its new asphalt and layout – is a good place to try out this option,” said Mario Isola, Pirellis’ Motorsport Director.

“We had to deal with a lot of new things compared to the last time that we raced here. The track is completely different from what it used to be: it’s definitely faster and the new tarmac feels totally different in terms of grip as far as I can remember,” said Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

The first two rounds of the championship have seen Ferrari and Red Bull Racing outpacing the Mercedes-AMG team. It’s still early days and the reigning champions are trying hard to address issues with set-up but still some way to go to match the pace of the frontrunners.

The Albert Park circuit is one of those where Lewis Hamilton has not had a notable record of wins (only two) even though he started from pole position a record 8 times. It is Michael Schumacher who has had the most wins with 4 wins, followed by Sebastian Vettel who has won 3 times. The McLaren team has had the most victories in Australia with eleven to date, with Ferrari having two less.

Formula 1 to return to Las Vegas in 2023

Ever since Liberty Media acquired the Formula One Group in 2016 (paying US$4.6 billion for it), the American media company has been changing the character of the sport. There has been a bigger push in commercialization and expanding the sport’s global footprint. It has also increased the number of rounds for the championship and has not ruled out going to as many as 30 rounds in future. That’s something many teams and drivers are not in favour of because having to be on the move all the time, not only putting the pressure on logistics but also affecting personal life.

Not surprisingly, Liberty Media has been keen to have more rounds in America and has announced that Las Vegas will be a venue in the 2023 calendar. The city, well known for its casinos, has hosted Formula 1 before in 1981 and 1982 when a racetrack was created in the carpark of the Caesar’s Palace hotel and casino (yes, the carpark was big enough for a track within it). It was considered one of the worst circuits in F1 history.

*The circuit in the Caesar’s Palace carpark used for the F1 rounds in 1981 and 1982. Drivers had to go round for 75 laps and it was considered among the worst circuits in F1 history.*

F1 races in America
Other American cities which have had Formula 1 rounds in the past have been Detroit/Michigan (1982 – 1988), Los Angeles/California (1976 – 1983), Dallas/Texas (1984), Riverside/California (1960), Sebring/Florida (1959), Watkins Glen/New York (1961 – 1980), Indianapolis/Indiana (2000 – 2007), and Austin/Texas (2012 – 2019, 2021). In total, there have been at least 50 rounds of F1 held in America though it is not so apparent. In 1982, it became the first country to host 3 rounds in one season. This year will see Miami being added to the list when it is run for the first time on May 8.

While the last circuit was laid out in a carpark and the drivers had to go round the 3.6-km course for 75 laps, the 2023 one will have a very different layout (31 layouts were considered). While there will be 14 corners like the 1982 circuit, the new track will have 3 long main straights and a total lap length of 6.12 kms.

Night race
The racing cars will certainly be going much faster than those in the 1980s and should reach 340 km/h as they speed along the Strip past the buildings. The race will also be held at night, a feature of the sport since the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when the first night race was held.

Miami, USA to have Formula 1 race in 2022

F1/Round 2: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The second round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship has not been smooth running since the weekend began. First there was the missile attack on an oil depot just 11 kms away from the Corniche Circuit and although many drivers were reluctant to continue through the weekend, they were convinced to do so after assurances from the Saudi Arabian authorities that they would be safe. The Houthis were also said to have assured that they would suspend attacks for 3 days, perhaps understanding a bit about global perception if anything were to happen to F1 participants, even accidentally.

Then there was the nasty accident when Haas F1’s Mick Schumacher hit a wall and had to be hospitalized. Fortunately, he’s okay but he can’t race. And then for Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (already placed last on the grid as he did not qualify), his race ended before it even started as his car lost power while he was driving it to the start.

[Click here for revised starting grid positions]

When the race got underway, Sergio Perez got off the a good start as his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen raced past Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz leaving the grid. Many were watching Lewis Hamilton who had been in 16th place after qualifying, and then repositioned two places up after McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was given grid penalities. Hamilton had also made a good start and moved 2 places up in the early stages of the opening lap. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou, however, seemed to slip backwards a place or two at the start, bumping into Ricciardo as well.

On lap 5, the two BWT Alpine drivers began fighting each other to move into sixth place. Fernando Alonso had attempted to get past his team mate who was unwilling to let him through. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was closing in and watching the tussle and looking to take advantage of it to get past but Ocon held him back too. That little battle between Ocon and Alonso can’t have pleased the team boss.

The Alpine battle was helpful for Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell who had moved one position up from starting sixth. He was about 12 seconds back from the next car (Sainz) and could concentrate on steadily moving closer with a 10-second gap behind him on lap 12. By then, his team mate Hamilton had moved into 11th place.

Zhou had managed to get up to 13th but on lap 13, he had overtaken Williams’ Alexander Albon whose rear tyres were gone. The pass was done off the track and the Stewards spotted it and gave him a 5-second penalty for that.

Lap 16 saw the first accident as Williams’ Nicholas Latifi went into the barriers near the final corner. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and many drivers took the chance to head to the pits for a tyre-change. Perez too came in, which let Leclerc take over the lead as the VSC was replaced by a real Safety Car to manage the flow while the damaged racing car was removed. At least 3 cars (Hamilton among them) did not come in and they had all started on Hard tyres.

The Safety Car left the track on lap 20 and racing resumed with Leclerc in the lead and Verstappen almost in his slipstream. A frustrated Perez was third, also not far from the front and although he tried, he was unable to stop Sainz from getting past as well and instead watch out for Russell coming up. Incidentally, both Ferraris had switched to Hard tyres when they came in.

Magnussen didn’t give up trying even after Hamilton had passed him and interestingly, both cars were still on their starting Hard tyres after more than 30 laps as they had not gone in during the Safety Car period for a change. Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, running in 14th, was the only other driver who was still running on starting tyres.

As lap 37 started, Alonso’s car seem to drop back with a noticeable reduction in speed. After having made it past Magnussen, he very quickly slipped back down the field and then radioed that the Alpine had no power. He tried to roll back to the pits but could not and parked so the VSC came out.

Then Ricciardo also reported that his McLaren had lost power and he had to stop right at the pit entrance, blocking it to Hamilton who was planning to come in. Bottas had come in earlier and not departed so he too retired. The VSC was kept active for another few laps as efforts were made to clear the Alpine.

9 laps remained when the VSC went off and Hamilton rushed into the pits to get Medium tyres. When he rejoined, he was just behind Magnussen who was in 11th.

On lap 43, Verstappen went into attack mode and swept past Leclerc, but the Ferrari driver did not give up easily and fought back to regain the lead. Behind, the other Red Bull with the Mexican in it was also duelling with Sainz. Much drama as the race was in its final laps.

There was last-minute drama as Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came into contact and the yellow flags came out. But it was a close fight as the leaders exchanged positions and Verstappen seemed to hold the lead better. And then it was over – Verstappen got across the finish line half a second ahead to win the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Piston.my

F1

F1/Round 6: Results and Highlights of 2022 Spanish Grand Prix

F1/Round 6: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid of 2022 Spanish Grand Prix

F1/Round 5: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Miami Grand Prix

F1: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid of 2022 Miami Grand Prix

F1/Round 4: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

F1/Round 4: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid For 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

F1/Round 3: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Australian Grand Prix

F1/Round 3: Preview and Starting Grid for 2022 Australian Grand Prix

Formula 1 to return to Las Vegas in 2023

F1/Round 2: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

F1 / Round 15: 2022 Dutch Grand Prix Highlights and Provisional Results

F1 / Round 15: 2022 Dutch Grand Prix Preview & Starting Positions

F1 / Round 14: 2022 Belgian Grand Prix Highlights And Results

F1 / Round 14: 2022 Belgian Grand Prix Preview & Starting Positions

Audi To Race In Formula 1 From 2026

F1 / Round 13: Highlights & Results of 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix

F1 / Round 13: 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Preview

F1/Round 12: Provisional results and highlights of the 2022 French Grand Prix

F1/Round 12: Preview & Starting Positions of 2022 French Grand Prix

F1/Round 11: Provisional results and highlights of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

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