Carlos Sainz leads from the front and wins in Mexico. Lando came in second and Charles made in to P3.

Chilly Carlos in Mexico

Mexico is know for its chillies and ‘Chilly’ Carlos certainly did spice it up. After a Ferrari 1-2 in US GP, it was almost a 1-2 finish here too. However Charles could not keep the lead under pressure from Lando and eventually had to settle for P3. He would be a bit disappointed as he could not get a good qualy start nor hold on to the P2 position. It was still a good haul of points for Ferrari and they are now second in the Contructors, pushing Red Bull to the third position.

Carlos did everything as expected. Mexico has a long straight and the person behind generally gets a good slip stream. As the race started Max actually went ahead of Carlos. However Carlos kept at it and lunged down at the first opportunity to get the lead. From then it was no looking backwards. Ferrari had a solid race pace and Carlos managed it well in the fresh air. This is a good way for him to sign off from Ferrari with still 4 more races to go.

Lando and Max tussle in Mexico

The two title contenders were at each other again in Mexico. However the FIA decided that they will not let Max get away this time and was given two 10 second penalties for pushing Lando off the track and then trying to gain an unfair advantage. While Max still has a comfortable lead in the Championship he is not comfortable with the car at all. He still looks better than his team Checo who despite his home race struggled to get points. Oscar had a race to forget but still would take the P8 finish. McLaren is now in a tight battle with Ferrari and Red Bull for the Constructors and all three teams would be working hard for the final four races.

Mercedes did a decent job with Lewis finishing P4 and George P5. It was a great day for HAAS and especially K-Mag who finished P7 and Hulkenburg P9. Stroll got the final point at P10.

Mexico Race Classification : Carlos at the top

The post Mexico GP : Carlos wins for Ferrari appeared first on Formula1 buzz....

It was not Charles but Carlos who managed to pull out a stunner and put Ferrari on Pole in their home race in Italy. Max was also in the mix for Pole and narrowly missed the P1 spot.

Ferrari Pole at Italy

Ferrari put all of their energies to ensure a good weekend at home. There is a new livery on the car, harking back to the fashion in the 70’s. The same Red, Black and Yellow was seen on the race-suit of Charles and Carlos too. But the revision was not limited to the external. Ferrari put new engines – from the same allocation – to ensure a good performance in Italy. Till now it has worked well. Carlos Sainz Jr. in particular looked in good touch right from the practice sessions. Charles was also right there but still missed that winning touch. It was to be seen whether it will convert into positive results. Carlos ensured that the Tifosi had enough reason to celebrate, at least on Saturday.

It was very tight between Carlos, Charles and Max in the Q3 session. Charles first lit up the screen and took the Pole position, to the delight of Tifosi. Then Max beat him to take P1. Finally Carlos pulled off a stunner and took the Pole. Monza erupted in joy. It will be seen whether he can covert his P1 to a race win but Tifosi was at least happy on a Saturday.

Max narrowly missed in Italy

It wasn’t that Red Bull had a bad car. However in the first run of Q3 Max went off the track and into the gravel, losing valuable time and track position. The second run was much better and he was in the mix for Pole but narrowly missed it to Carlos. He is still in the form of his life. The car is working wonderfully and Max would be hoping for a race win on Sunday to secure a record braking 10-consecutive F1 race wins.

Perez meanwhile had another day to forget. He is still not completely in grip with the car and managed a P5, behind his team-mate and the Ferraris and Russell. Once again he would be doing the catching-up work to at least ensure a podium finish.

Varying fortune for Merc in Italy

George Russell pulled off a great lap and exceeded beyond his expectation to get a P4. Will he be able to hold on to this or even get a podium needs to be seen. Lewis meanwhile couldn’t get in grips with the track and he will be starting P8.

McLaren had a quali with both the cars in Q3. Rookie Oscar Piastri pipped Lando to get P7 and P9 respectively. Albon did a respectable job to end up at P6 and it would be wonderful if he could hold on to it. Aston Martin knew that they would struggle on the high-speed track and Alonso managed a P10. Alpine in a tragic turn of events could not get out of Q3,both the cars. This has happened for the first time since the Renault team entered in 2016.

Italy GP starting grid : Ferrari on pole

The post Italy Quali : Ferrari Pole at Home appeared first on Formula1 buzz....

Carlos Sainz Jr took his second Pole of the season here at US GP. Charles finished P2 but will be starting from behind due to penalty. Red Bulls were P3 and P4.

Carlos on Top in US

After ruing finding himself within 0.1 seconds of pole on four occasions in 2022 after being in that bracket last time out in Japan, Carlos pulled it off to top F1 qualifying for the second time in his career after overcoming Leclerc’s Q3 run one advantage by 0.065s.

Leclerc’s initial best time in the final segment was a 1m34.624s that gave him the top spot provisionally ahead of Sainz, with Lewis Hamilton third after a blistering middle sector and Verstappen only fourth.

The Dutchman tried a unique Q3 strategy of completing an additional slow preparation lap for his final Q3 flier, but he could not top the Ferrari pair after losing time in the slow corners in the final sector and finished 0.092s adrift.

Leclerc, who will drop 10 places on the grid for taking extra engine parts at Austin, led the way of the four initial Q3 leaders and he improved the first place benchmark to a 1m34.421s, but Sainz, following just behind his team-mate topped that with a 1m34.356s.

Max not enough at US

Verstappen’s effort was enough to dislodge Hamilton from third as the Mercedes driver could not better his first Q3 time and the Briton failing to improve opened the door for Sergio Perez to slot in ahead. The Mexican driver duly did so with a personal best, set while running a few seconds ahead of the Ferrari pair.

Behind Hamilton came his team-mate George Russell, with Lance Stroll seventh despite only completing one run in Q3 – offset from the rest after he had finished his lap at the start of the final segment and while Verstappen was beginning his extra preparation tour.

Lando Norris took eighth for McLaren, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) rounding out the top 10.

Alonso and Perez will drop five places from where they qualified for also taking additional power unit parts outside the permitted season-long allocation.

In Q2, which Leclerc topped after Sainz had led the way in Q1, Alex Albon led the pack through the final Q2 runs and set a personal best to leap into the top 10 before three of his rivals improving late-on shuffled him back to 11th and out.

Seb lap time deleted

Sebastian Vettel lost his best lap from early in Q2 to understeering off and beyond track limits exiting Turn 9 at the end of the Esses sequence, but he did enough with his final effort to climb to 12th, albeit without troubling Q3.

Then came Pierre Gasly, struggling with braking for the second weekend in a row – particularly at the big stops of Turn 1 and Turn 11 – and letting AlphaTauri know his fury.

Zhou Guanyu ended up ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 14th and 15th, but only because both lost their best Q2 laps and were relegated to the back of the runners knocked out in that segment – Zhou, who will lose drop five places on the grid, ahead because his banker effort was better.

Tsunoda slipped beyond track limits at Turn 9, while Zhou’s indiscretion came at Turn 12 and cost him a spot in the top 10 that gave Norris a late reprieve after he had initially ended up 11th in Q2.

In Q1, Kevin Magnussen was shuffled back to 15th and out by Albon’s late improvement, the Haas driver ending up ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, out in Q1 for the third time in the last five races.

Esteban Ocon was a shock scalp in 18th, finishing only ahead of Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi – who were the only two runners not to set personal bests on their final fliers.

Latifi just failed to match his best from the opening Q1 runs, while Schumacher’s last effort was over when it had barely begun as he spun at Turn 1.

The German looped his Haas around in a quick 360-degree spin, the rear coming around to the right as he applied the power down past the apex of the bumpy, up/down hairpin that starts the Austin lap.

US GP Starting Grid : Carlos on Pole

The post US GP : Carlos on Pole. Ferrari 1-2 appeared first on Formula1 buzz....

A British GP marred with red flags and yellow flags ended with Carlos as the winner. Charles had the pace but got a messed up strategy. An early puncture ensure Max Verstappen was out of the contention for race win.

Tough start for Carlos at British GP

It was not a great start for Carlos as Max Verstappen went ahead by the time they reached the first corner. However this was overshadowed by the massive crash that happened behind the grid. Zhou Guanyu touched Geroge Russell which sent him flipping across the gravel and went straight into the fence. Thanks to Halo he did not suffer any major injury and was soon released by the medical team, declared fit. Even Alex Albon had a major shunt and was taken to the hospital. He was released later after major checks. Red Flag was raised soon after and the race was delayed by an hour.

At the second restart Carlos took out his elbows and managed to stay ahead. However he did not have the race pace to keep up with Max. But luck was on his side. Max went over a bit of carbon fiber which caused an early puncture and severely damaged the floor. He had to make an extra pit stop and the performance was hampered because of the damaged floor. This pretty much ensured that he was out of winning the race.

Checo: Never give up

Checo had a front wing damage after the race restart due to touch Charles and had to pit to replace the wing. This put him at the back of the grid. However he never gave up and drove a mega stint on mediums for more than 35 laps, slowly climbing up the grid. Then luck favored him as a late yellow flag meant that he could get on the mediums cheaply and effectively finish the race in P2.

British GP win in Carlos destiny

Till 10 laps before the race finish Charles was smoothly leading the race with Carlos in P2 and Lewis in P3. But a mechanical issue for Ocon meant yellow flags and safety car. Ferrari did not want Charles to lose track position. So they kept him out whereas Carlos, Lewis and Checo all put on the softs. When the race re-started Charles was pretty much a sitting duck. Carlos quickly overtook him to lead the race. We saw some great battles between Charles, Lewis and Checo. Eventually Charles couldn’t hold them up much longer. He ended up in P4 with Lewis in P3 and Checo doing a mega job to finish P2.

Alonso did a good job to secure P5. So did Lando to get P6. Max finished P7. Mick Schumacher got first points of his career as he finished P8. Even the other HAAS of Kevin Magnussen got P10 with Sebastian Vettel getting P9.

British GP : Top 10 with first win for Carlos

The post British GP: First win for Carlos appeared first on Formula1 buzz....

Carlos Sainz Jr. takes his maiden Pole position at British GP 2022. Max and Charles were P2 and P3, thanks to the yellow flag in sector 2.

Rains favor Carlos in the British Quali

Finally it has happened. The fist Pole position for Carlos Sainz Jr. 2022 has been the season where for the first time he has good a race winning machinery from Ferrari. While team-mate Charles LeClerc has bagged in 6 poles this season, Carlos has been left wanting in the Quali sessions. This time however things worked out perfectly for him.

As with any rainy session, the conditions were changing rapidly. There was literally no reference point for any lap as the track conditions changed. In the final lap of Q3 session Carlos managed to string together a decent enough lap. More importantly Max and Charles had to slow down in sector 2 due to yellow flag, pretty much ensuring that Carlos gets the Pole. Would they have been able to beat Carlos? Possible but we will never know.

Strong Pace by Red Bull and Ferrari

Both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris have shown strong pace in the dry in practice sessions. With them occupying the first two rows of the grid it will be an exciting start to the race. Max would like to continue his lead and top form, whereas Ferrari would be desperate to close the yawning gap to Red Bull.

Mercedes have brought new upgrades at the British GP and they showed improvement in their race pace. However their timing of running hot laps was not that great. Lewis Hamilton despite the strong pace was P5. George Russell got stuck in traffic and will be starting P8 tomorrow.

Lando Norris doing a great job at his home race, coming in at P6 at a time when his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will be starting P14. Similarly Alonso was able to string a fantastic lap to get P7 whereas Ocon managed P15. Rookie Zhou Guanyu managed to beat his much experienced team-mate Valtteri Bottas, starting at P9.

Latifi becomes Goatifi

Latifi was without a doubt one of the stars of the show. Williams brought in upgrades but was only given to Albon due to lack of spares. But in a twist of fate Albon got out in Q1 itself whereas Latifi not only climbed to Q2 but also to Q3 for the first time. He would be very pleased starting from P10.

British GP starting grid: Carlos on Pole

The post British GP: Carlos rains in the Pole appeared first on Formula1 buzz....