Max Verstappen won the 2021 Formula 1 world championship, becoming the first Dutchman to win the title. PHOTO: F1.com

BRENDAN LINES December 13, 2021

MAX Verstappen was crowned 2021 Formula 1 World Champion after a nail-biting final lap winner-take-all shootout, beating Lewis Hamilton in the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Red Bull driver became the first Dutchman ever to win the championship, ending Lewis Hamilton’s four-year reign as champion.

Verstappen denied the Brit’s seemingly firm hold on the championship in the final stages of the race — and surpassing Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven titles — when Nicolas Latifi’s crashed Williams triggered a safety car on Lap 53, turning the race on its head.

Before the incident, Hamilton had amassed a comfortable lead but was left stranded on his 39-lap-old Hard tyres, Mercedes opting to keep track position than risk a pit stop.

Red Bull made a final roll of the dice and brought Verstappen in immediately changing to fresh Soft tyres, in the hope of getting the jump on the restart.

Confusion reigned with the field left guessing whether the race would resume or the title be decided under the safety car, until race control allowed five of the cars separating the combatants to unlap themselves, drawing Verstappen level with Hamilton for a final lap shootout.

An aggrieved Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff protested the restart as “not right” with three other cars not given the order to unlap themselves.

Verstappen made a courageous lunge into Turn 5 to pass Hamilton on the final lap, in a drag race through the next few corners, Hamilton remonstrated and attempted to go around the outside of Turn 9, but Verstappen’s superior grip and willingness to fight on pulled off the miracle win in the race to the line.

Earlier in the race, Red Bull’s garage was exuding with despondency, with a less than ideal start and struggling for rear grip from the the less favorable Soft tyres, Verstappen had slipped to a four-second deficit to Hamilton.

On Lap 14, Verstappen pitted re-joining in P5, while up ahead his teammate Sergio Perez played the team game brilliantly, holding up Hamilton with some classy wheel-to-wheel racing.  

After the race, Mercedes reportedly protested the race restart contradicted the sporting regulation 39.12, arguing the race should have restarted once the “last lapped car has past the leader and safety car”.

More to come.

Australian Oscar Piastri claimed the 2021 Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship after finishing third in the weekend’s opening race in the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. PHOTO: Alpine F1 Team

December 12, 2021

AUSTRALIAN Oscar Piastri has secured the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship, confirming his place among Formula 1’s latest crop of elite young talent. 

The 20-year-old has now claimed three consecutive drivers’ championships adding to his Formula Renault Eurocup title in 2019 and the FIA Formula 3 Championship last year.

Piastri joins an elite club of drivers – including George Russell and Charles Leclerc – to have won back-to-back Formula 3 (GP3) and Formula 2 titles.

The Melburnian said his drive to third place in the weekend’s opening sprint race was one of his” better races”, clinching the championship.

“I’m certainly pleased with that, but I’m sure this feeling of being champion will take a while to sink in.” Piastri said.

“There are two more races to go this weekend, which we need to focus on, but right now it feels incredibly special to be champion. 

“Thanks to all the team at Prema for their work throughout the season and to Alpine for their support, let’s finish the season in style.”

The champ has been a revelation in Formula 2 this year and has enjoyed a stellar campaign with five wins, five pole positions and 227.5 points in his rookie season so far. 

He clinched the championship in the opening Sprint Race of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after finishing a superb third from tenth on the reverse grid on Saturday.

Consistency has been key to Piastri’s success in 2021. He began the season brightly with a win at the opening round in Bahrain before back to back podiums on the streets of Monaco. 

He added a further podium with second place in Baku and then laid down the gauntlet to his competitors in the series with five consecutive pole positions – equalling Leclerc’s effort in 2017 – at the final five rounds.

Piastri remained in dominant form in the feature races with third place at Silverstone, and three consecutive victories at Monza, Sochi and Jeddah.

A member of Alpine’s Academy, last month Piastri was named Alpine’s Formula 1 reserve driver next season, while fellow Academy driver — and third place in the F2 championship — Guanyou Zhou was promoted into the last available seat on the 2022 Formula 1 grid with Alfa Romeo.

Piastri, will step into his new offical role at the young drivers test day scheduled after this weekend’s grand prix at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest in Friday’s opening session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. PHOTO: Red Bull content pool

BRENDAN LINES December 11, 2021

WORLD Championship combatants Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen traded fastest times across Friday’s practice sessions in the title-deciding season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 

Verstappen gained an early advantage topping FP1 in his Soft tyre-shod Red Bull, the Dutchman posted a 1:25.009s finishing two tenths clear of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in P2 and title rival Lewis Hamilton was P3.

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez rounded out the top four positions, it was the drivers’ first look at the new Yas Marina layout, in the late afternoon session.

It was a surprise result for Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who finished in P5 ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly in P7, while the Alpine of Fernando Also separated the pair. The Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished line astern in P8 and P9 respectively, while Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten.

Later, it was Hamilton who was quickest in the cooler conditions as the sun went down and the floodlights took over the track in FP2.

The Brit countered Verstappen’s previous fastest time setting a new benchmark time of 1:23.691s  on the Soft tyres.

Though Verstappen slipped back to P4 in the evening session, Hamilton said the relative pace between the rivals was still “unknown”.

“I’m sure it’s going to be super close, as it has been in the previous races,” he said.

After setting the fastest time, Hamilton went on his race simulation runs on the Mediums, the defending world champion expects overtaking might still be a challenge come Sunday’s race on the reclassified circuit.

“On my long run, I was trying to follow the car ahead and it still wasn’t easy here but it should be better than in the past,” he said.

Alpine continued it’s impressive Friday, this time it was Esteban Ocon, the Frenchman finished just three tenths behind Hamilton’s fastest time and ahead of Bottas in P3 by a similar margin — Alonso was again in the mix with P6.

Vertappen ended his session six tenths down on Hamilton, but was still the fastest of the Red Bull pair, teammate Sergio Perez finishing in P5.

Surprise packet Tsunoda was again the fastest Alpha Tauri, this time it was P7 for the rookie ahead of Gasly in P10.

It was a rinse and repeat result for Ferrari, Leclerc remained the lead of the prancing horses in P8 and Sainz P9.

FP3 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix begins 8.30pm (ACDST) tonight.

Full results

FP1

1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:25.009		23 Laps
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:25.205	+0.196s	27
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:25.355	+0.346s	25
4	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:25.363	+0.354s	24
5	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:25.378	+0.369s	23
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:25.625	+0.616s	26
7	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:25.822	+0.813s	28
8	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:25.846	+0.837s	20
9	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:25.886	+0.877s	26
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:26.007	+0.998s	26
11	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:26.025	+1.016s	25
12	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:26.123	+1.114s	26
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:26.189	+1.180s	25
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:26.409	+1.400s	25
15	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:26.608	+1.599s	26
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:26.676	+1.667s	29
17	89	Jack Aitken	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:27.481	+2.472s	27
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:27.487	+2.478s	27
19	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:27.698	+2.689s	24
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:28.305	+3.296s	22

FP2

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:23.691		26 Laps
2	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:24.034	+0.343s	29
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:24.083	+0.392s	29
4	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:24.332	+0.641s	25
5	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:24.400	+0.709s	26
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:24.495	+0.804s	27
7	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:24.532	+0.841s	26
8	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:24.557	+0.866s	29
9	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:24.844	+1.153s	29
10	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:24.940	+1.249s	27
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:24.959	+1.268s	26
12	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:25.108	+1.417s	27
13	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:25.153	+1.462s	27
14	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:25.195	+1.504s	27
15	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:25.385	+1.694s	26
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:25.440	+1.749s	23
17	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:25.549	+1.858s	29
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:25.687	+1.996s	22
19	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:25.784	+2.093s	27
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:26.336	+2.645s	26

Max Verstappen was summoned to the Stewards after a collision with Lewis Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian Grand prix. PHOTO: F1.com

BRENDAN LINES DECEMBER 6, 2021

THE post-race fireworks ignited heated words from championship combatants Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the wake of a controversial Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Hamilton took aim at driving standards in the post-race press conference after his wheel-to-wheel battle with the Red Bull driver.

“It was clear that others around us were willing to take it to all sorts of levels in order to overtake,” Hamilton said.

The Brit was open in his on-track criticism of Verstappen’s tactics on team radio saying “he brake tested me” after Hamilton’s Lap 37 collision into the Dutchman’s slowing car, while surrendering the lead after a Turn 1 incident earlier in the lap — attracting a five-second penalty.

“I didn’t quite understand why all of a sudden he hit the brakes quite heavily and then I ran into the back of him and then he moved on so I didn’t exactly understand what was going on,” Hamilton said, indicating he did not know Verstappen would let him pass.

“And then I got a message afterwards that he was going to let us past so it was a bit confusing.”

Verstappen dismissed the incident after the race over team radio that he disagreed with his five-second penalty.

“Luckily the fans have a clear mind about racing”.

“Because what happened today is unbelievable,” he continued. “I’m just trying to race.

“This sport is more about penalties than racing. For me this is not Formula 1.”

Stewards will conduct a post-race investigation to decide if  Verstappen brake tested Hamilton — in accordance with Article 2 of the regulations.

Lewis Hamilton won a drama-filled Saudi Arabia Grand Prix and has levelled with Max Verstappen in the battle for the title. PHOTO: F1.com

BRENDAN LINES DECEMBER 6, 2021

Lewis Hamilton has levelled the drivers’ championship battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, winning a chaotic incident-filled Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Stewards will conduct a post-race investigation to decide if  Verstappen brake tested Hamilton — in accordance Article 2 of the regulations — causing the collision between the championship combatants on Lap 37.

A slowing Verstappen was instructed by Red Bull to hand back the race lead for a previous incident on the lap, Hamilton unwittingly then ran into the back of the Dutchman’s car.

Earlier in the lap, Hamilton had attempted to make a DRS-assisted pass into Turn 1 — an unyielding Vertsappen left the track gaining an advantage to retain the lead.

The incident was just one in a drama- filled race punctuated by a two red flags just a lap apart. 

The first stoppage came on Lap 11 when Mick Shumacher’s Haas collied with the wall on the exit of Turn 21, dislodging a Tech-pro barrier.

Mercedes had rolled the dice and double stacked Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas’ pitstops, just before Schumacher’s crash, and Mercedes worst fears were realised.

Much to Hamilton’s dismay over team radio, the Lap 11-red flag handed Verstappen a free pit stop to change to the Hard tyres.

A subsequent red flag came out after the restart, when backmarkers George Russell and Nikita Mazepin came together, while further up Hamilton made a blinding start, but was pushed wide by Verstappen into Turn 1, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was the benefactor taking the lead after restarting from P3.

The interruptions kept coming with three virtual safety car periods, allowing Hamilton to close the gap to Verstappen to just 1.8s. By then Vertsappen was handed a five-second time penalty for the initial lap 37 incident.

Hamilton eventually got past Verstappen and pulled a slight gap to take the win.

Meanwhile Bottas who had dropped back to P5, accounted for McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo on his way to pipping Ocon in a photo finish by a tenth of second, taking an important podium in the context of the constructors’ championship.

Both championships will go down to the wire in next weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.

While the drivers’ championship locked at 365.6 points each, Verstappen holds the advantage winning more race so far this season.

Full results

1	44	Hamilton	50 laps	2:06:15.118	26 points
2	33	Verstappen	50	+11.825s	18
3	77	Bottas	50	+27.531s	15
4	31	Ocon	50	+27.633s	12
5	3	Ricciardo	50	+40.121s	10
6	10	Gasly	50	+41.613s	8
7	16	Leclerc	50	+44.475s	6
8	55	Sainz	50	+46.606s	4
9	99	Giovinazzi	50	+58.505s	2
10	4	Norris	50	+61.358s	1
11	18	Stroll	50	+77.212s	0
12	6	Latifi	50	+83.249s	0
13	14	Alonso	49	+1 lap	0
14	22	Tsunoda	49	+1 lap	0
15	7	Räikkönen	49	+1 lap	0
NC	5	Vettel	44	DNF	0
NC	11	Perez	14	DNF	0
NC	9	Mazepin	14	DNF	0
NC	63	Russell	14	DNF	0
NC	47	Schumacher	8	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Hamilton scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision. Verstappen received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Lewis Hamilton topped both FP1 and FP2 in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on Friday. PHOTO: Mercedesamgf1.com

BRENDAN LINES DECEMBER 4, 2021

FERRARI’S Charles Leclerc ended Friday’s night session in drama, a shunt into the barriers at Turn 22 red flagged Friday’s final practice session.

By then Lewis Hamilton had carried on from his FP1 performance with another fastest time as the cooler conditions saw lap times tumble.

The Brit’s fastest time of 1:29.018s was over seven tenths better than his FP1 time and six hundreds faster than team mate Valterri Bottas in P2 for the session.

All up Hamilton was satisfied by his pace but expects the cars race pace to improve.

“We tried a couple of things with our setup, and although we aren’t rapid on single run pace compared to the others, our long run pace seemed pretty good,” Hamilton said.

It was another impressive session for Pierre Gasly finishing P3 for the session, the Frenchman said he was already a fan of the new Jeddah track.

“The corners are amazing and there’s a big rush of adrenalin when you’re out there,” Gasly said.

“The whole day has been really good for us and I’m pretty happy with the pace so far.”

Gasly’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who put in some early fast laps on the Soft tyre to finish in P8.

Max Verstappen wrestled for every bit of pace, a wide moment at Turn 8 on his Medium tyre run a sign his Red Bull was struggling, but held his nerve to recover to P4 a tenth back from Hamilton.

As the conditions changed Turn 1 was the hot spot of trouble causing a number of lock ups  as Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Carlos Sainz all had torrid time negotiating its high-speed.

entry.

Alonso eventually came to terms with the trick corner to go fifth fastest and inside half a second from Hamilton while ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon in P6.

Sainz was the fastest of the Ferrari’s in P7 two tenth quicker than Leclerc in P10, the prancing horses split by Tsunoda and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez slotted in P9.

Full results

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:29.018		22 Laps
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:29.079	+0.061s	23
3	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:29.099	+0.081s	22
4	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:29.213	+0.195s	20
5	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:29.441	+0.423s	21
6	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:29.555	+0.537s	22
7	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:29.589	+0.571s	24
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:29.597	+0.579s	20
9	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:29.768	+0.750s	22
10	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:29.772	+0.754s	23
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:29.968	+0.950s	22
12	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:30.004	+0.986s	19
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:30.110	+1.092s	23
14	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:30.276	+1.258s	24
15	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:30.442	+1.424s	22
16	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:30.502	+1.484s	22
17	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:30.506	+1.488s	24
18	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:30.652	+1.634s	20
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:31.039	+2.021s	23
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:31.629	+2.611s	20

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the first-ever practice session on the Jeddah Corniche circuit for this weekend’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. PHOTO: Mercedesamgf1.com

BRENDAN LINES DECEMBER 4, 2021

LEWIS Hamilton topped the time sheets ahead of title rival Max Verstappen in FP1, when F1 took to the Jeddah Corniche circuit for the very first time.

The flat out yet tight concrete wall lined street circuit made it tricky for cars on flying laps to negotiate the slower cars on their out laps.

As Hamilton found out, almost coming to a halt letting through faster cars on his out lap, but the Brit looked at home on the green track surface, eventually posting his fastest lap of 1:29.786s — five hundredths of a second faster than Verstappen.

Hamilton described the 27-turn street circuit as “rapid”.

“Unbelievably quick and with a lot of grip as well,” Hamilton said.

“Once you get in the rhythm, it’s beautiful to drive. 

“The grip was very high from the moment we went out and was similar in both sessions. 

“Traffic can be a problem here, it’s Monaco-esque and the closing distances to other cars was definitely getting dangerous.”

As the sun went down over the Red Sea, the conditions favoured the Medium and Hard Pirelli tyres. 

Hamilton citing the Soft tyre was unable to keep up with the load through the high-speed sections.

Max Verstappen posted early bench mark times, but his Red Bull struggled to warm its tyres correctly. 

Although the Dutchman would be satisfied being narrowly adrift of Hamilton, he said there would be work to do in FP2.

“We made a few changes from FP1 to FP2 which didn’t quite work but hopefully we can find the right balance come qualifying tomorrow,” Verstappen said.

Valtteri Bottas also fell foul to some traffic on his Soft tyre run, but the Finn said he was able to set a good foundation for the weekend finishing P3.

Pierre Gasly began his weekend impressively with his fastest time (1:30.263s) well inside half a second of Hamiltons’ time. 

FP1’s big surprise was a P5 for Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, the Italian making the most of his final two races with the team.

The Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished in P6 and P7 respectively ahead of the their constructors championship rival and the sole McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo in P8.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top ten in P9 and P10.

Full results

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:29.786		21 Laps
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:29.842	+0.056s	23
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:30.009	+0.223s	24
4	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:30.263	+0.477s	28
5	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:30.318	+0.532s	27
6	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:30.564	+0.778s	26
7	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:30.600	+0.814s	26
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:30.608	+0.822s	25
9	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:30.842	+1.056s	27
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:30.886	+1.100s	25
11	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:30.960	+1.174s	27
12	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:31.023	+1.237s	29
13	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:31.029	+1.243s	23
14	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:31.044	+1.258s	25
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:31.099	+1.313s	26
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:31.296	+1.510s	26
17	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:31.343	+1.557s	28
18	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:31.525	+1.739s	24
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:31.821	+2.035s	27
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:33.464	+3.678s	23

Williams Racing CEO and team principal Jost Capito has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss this weekend’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, PHOTO: F1.com

AN emotion-packed week for the Williams Racing team has been touched by Covid-19.

On Thursday, the team confirmed CEO and team principal Jost Capito has tested positive for Covid-19, prior to travelling to Jeddah for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Today, the team said “There has been no wider impact on Williams Racing personnel and the team will continue to operate trackside as planned.”

“Jost is now following UK national health authority guidelines.”

Capito is expected to isolate for ten days under the UK guidelines.

Earlier this week, Capito paid tribute to team founder Sir Frank Williams, who passed away aged 79 on Sunday.

The team will mark Williams’ passing at this weekend’s race in Jeddah.

Team principal Toto Wolff was resolute Mercedes’ mission was “clear” with both titles wide open this weekend in Jeddah. PHOTO: Mercedesamgf1.com

BRENDAN LINES December 3, 2021

MERCEDES team principal Toto Wolff believes the defending world champions are “more motivated than ever” in stopping Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wrapping up the drivers’ championship in Jeddah this weekend.

Wolff was optimistic about Mercedes’ chances in the championship after a faultless drive by Lewis Hamilton at the previous Grand Prix in Qatar.

“The car has been performing well recently and is probably in the best place it has been all season, with the drivers confident to push it to the limit,” he said.

“That’s encouraging for the final races and gives us strong momentum to take forward.”

And Wolff probably has good reason to be confident with Bottas’ recovery in Qatar from a puncture, reeling in the gap to Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

With the championship battle seemingly swinging their way, Wolff said Mercedes was ready to stop Verstappen claiming the title this weekend.

“We are all excited to still be in the fight at this stage in the season,” he said.

“It’s a privilege and a testament to our resilience when we see where we stood in the early summer. Both titles are wide open, and our mission is clear.”

Wolff said Mercedes’ first point of order will be coming to grips with the unknown quantity of the Jeddah Corniche street circuit in FP1 later today (Jeddah time).

“It’s a fast street circuit with long flat-out sections and several high-speed corners, lined by barriers meaning it’ll be high risk and reward,” he said.

“We’re more motivated than ever and we expect to be in the hunt, so we are all looking forward to the debut grand prix in Saudi Arabia.”

FP1 for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix begins 12am (ACDST) tonight.

BRENDAN LINES December 2, 2021

ALPHA Tauri’s Pierre Gasly has nothing to lose in the drivers’ championship, but everything to gain in completing his transformation from Red Bull reject to Formula 1’s Mr Consistency.

Gasly, is on the verge of completing a career-best season and has almost single-handedly elevated the team to sixth in the constructors’ championship with the potential to finish fifth — which would be the team’s best result ever.

The 25-year old has been on an upward trajectory since his maiden win at Monza in 2020, he now sits as ‘the best of the rest’ in the drivers’ championship outside the drivers in the top four teams.

The Frenchman’s 14 top-six appearances from 20 qualifying appearances so far this season, has yielded deserving and sometimes surprising results.

Gasly himself might say he was flattered by grid penalties that promoted him to a front-row start at the previous race in Qatar.

But it was just an example of how well he has placed himself to capitalise on the championship battle ahead of him between Red Bull and Mercedes.

“It was great to be on the front row again, the first time since I raced in Super Formula in Japan in 2017, and being there alongside Lewis (Hamilton) was very cool,” he said.

“Even though I was there slightly by default, we have come close a few times this year and it was a good experience. I got a taste for it!”

His new-found consistency has seen the 25 year-old surpass his 2020 tally of ten top-ten finishes and sits on 13 after the previous race in Qatar —  a rare lowly 11th place.

After a pleasing run in the Americas triple header, Gasly admitted ahead of this week’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in Jeddah, a turnaround was needed.

“In overall terms, the last triple-header went very well for us, with strong qualifying performances; fifth in Mexico, fourth in Brazil and Qatar,” he said.

“Unfortunately, in the Championship the position is more complicated, as Alpine had a good weekend in Qatar.”

So just where can the Frenchman get the jump on his rivals and perhaps keep adding to his credentials as Mr Consistency.

Earlier this week, Gasly indicated the team should be quick to adapt to the new and relatively unknown Jeddah street circuit. 

“I think it’s going to be very complicated from a driving point of view and there will be the extra challenge of the track surface being completely new,” he said.

“So, we are looking at a street circuit with quite low grip, which is a new challenge as no one has any data from the track. 

“But for our part, we showed in Qatar that we can adapt fairly quickly to a new situation, running near the front immediately from the Friday. 

“However, we will have to work hard to be quick over a single lap and also a long distance, to find the right compromise for both Saturday and Sunday.”