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.”

Jeddah’s waterfront Corniche skyline lining the Red Sea. The city will host the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend. PHOTO: supplied

BRENDAN LINES December 1, 2021

JEDDAH’S waterfront district — the Corniche — is the venue for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, but what do we know about F1’s newest street circuit in the desert metropolis?

The addition of the circuit, abutted by the Red Sea, on the 2021 calendar has thrown a raft of unknowns into what is one of the most hotly contested world championship battles in recent years.

However, the main championship combatants Red Bull and Mercedes might look to their previous visits to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit as a guide, with its similarities as a waterfront location presenting similar challenges, blowing sand onto the track and experiencing wind shifts from daytime to the evening.

The city’s unofficial motto ‘Jeddah ghair’ or ‘Jeddah’s different’ to the more westernised tourists, lives up to its catch cry with the Corniche circuit boasting the most corners of any track on the F1 calendar, with 27 (16 left-handers and 11 right-handers). 

At 6.174km long, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix venue is the second-longest circuit in F1, behind only Spa-Francorchamps (7.004km).

The number of corners could make it more challenging for both the team and the drivers to learn the track and get up to speed, and interruptions to the weekend’s practice sessions is likely.

Looking back at the first race weekend in Baku back in 2016, three red flags were deployed in practice and qualifying as drivers explored the limits of the then-new street track.

The track is one of only four on the current schedule – after Bahrain, Austria and Mexico – to feature three separate DRS zones. These are located on the main straight, from Turns 18 to 21 and Turns 25 to 27.

Jeddah has billed its track as the ‘fastest street circuit in the world’ with expected average speeds of around 250km/h. Baku isn’t too far off, but Jeddah’s average speed is helped by several of its corners being taken flat-out or in DRS zones.

Drivers will hit over 310km/h three times on the long straights and with the three DRS zones, its anticipated Jeddah to rival Spa and Monza for the highest percentage of time spent at full throttle —79 per cent of the lap distance is taken at full throttle, one of the highest percentages of the year.

Turn 13 is a banked corner, with a 12 per cent gradient, a rare feature on street circuits, after Zandvoort’s refurbished final turn allowed its banking to open up more potential lines through the corner, the effect of a banked corner on a street circuit could add a unique variable. 

Turn 2 is expected to be the slowest corner on the track, by far, being taken at just 90 km/h. The quickest will be Turn 26, located on the back straight in the final DRS zone, where drivers will reach around 310km/h.

This may offer an overtaking opportunity under brakes for the bravest of the late-brakers to ‘send it’ in a Daniel Ricciardo-esque move.

The newly laid track surface is expected to be very smooth and high grip, therefore tyre overheating will be less of an issue and tyre degradation should be less of a factor.

Drivers could be treading a fine line on the new and ‘green’ track surface, which hasn’t been properly rubbered in, the track evolution is going to be incredibly high over the weekend. It will also mean running offline will be punishing, due to the sand and lack of rubber.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is a night race, alongside lighting the buildings and bridges, there are expected to be over 600 light posts illuminating the track.

FP1 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix begins 4.30pm (ACDST) on December 3. 

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff conceded a win was never in the “grasp” of the team at last weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix. PHOTO: Mercedesamgf1.com

BRENDAN LINES November 11, 2021

PRESSURE has mounted on defending world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

A rollercoaster Mexico City Grand Prix the previous weekend fell apart in spectacular fashion, when pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas’ race was compromised by a first-corner collision, leaving Hamilton to single handedly fight with the Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reflected on the team’s weekend in Mexico and conceded “the win was never in our grasp”.

“But Lewis gave all he had to hang onto that second place, in a car that should probably have finished third. It was a strong defensive drive from him, securing valuable points for both Championships.”

After Verstappen extended his lead in the drivers championship in Mexico City last weekend, it is Mercedes who has “catching up to do” Wolff says.

“We’ll be throwing everything we’ve got at the Brazilian Grand Prix and the races beyond,” Wolff said.

“It’ll be an intense battle, but we’ll continue to push hard and keep our eyes firmly set on the end goal.”

The task ahead for Mercedes this weekend in Brazil at Interlagos will be to fight a battle on two fronts, attacking Verstappen’s 19-point lead in the drivers championship and defend a one-point lead in the constructors.

With the season’s final sprint qualifying race scheduled for this weekend’s Interlagos race, a potential 29 points on offer for the driver to win both Saturday and Sunday’s races with the fastest lap, will add spice to the drivers championship.

But Interlagos has not been exclusively favourable to the Mercedes in the recent past, the winner of the last Grand Prix two years ago was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in 2019.

Before that, Nico Rosberg (2014, 2015) and Lewis Hamilton (2016, 2018) each chalked up two wins for the team.

FP1 for the Brazilian Grand Prix begins 2.00am ACDST.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen celebrates his third straight Mexico City Grand Prix win and extended his championship lead over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. PHOTO: Red Bull content pool

BRENDAN LINES November 8, 2021

RED Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame Mercedes’ front-row lockout and breezed to a third Mexico City Grand Prix win on Sunday.

Verstappen and teammate — hometown hero Sergio Perez — pulled off perfect pincer move applying pressure on championship rival Lewis Hamilton after a chaotic first lap.

Hamilton was left stranded between the Red Bull cars after teammate Valtteri Bottas’ shock pole position was short-lived when the Finn was spun around after a contact with Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren at Turn one.

The Dutchman flew out of the blocks on the race restart on Lap five after the safety-car period and pulled away in the clean air.

Hamilton conceded “these guys are obviously too fast for us “ over team radio in opening phase of the race and was losing time to Verstappen, while falling into the clutches of Perez.

Mercedes pitted the Brit on lap 30 for hard tyres, but Hamilton emerged from the pitlane and slotted behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. While Verstappen was happily pumping in fastest lap times and put a nine-second gap between himself and Hamilton.

Perez played the team game, closing down the gap on Hamilton’s P2 to just one-second, a final lunge on Hamilton in the closing laps had the home crowd on their feet in the hope Perez would complete a Red Bull 1-2 — but P3 was enough to put smiles on the faces of the Mexican’s adoring fans.

Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly drove a workman-like P4, comfortably gaining one place overall when Bottas spun.

In the battle for third in the constructors championship, Ferrari swung the momentum its way with a 13.5 point lead over McLaren when Charles Leclerc (P5) and Carlos SainZ (P6) swapped back and forth over who was fastest after conceding to Gasly’s P4.

McLaren’s day hardly went to plan after Ricciardo’s contact with Bottas put the Australian down the order to finish in P12, while teammate Lando Norris recovered to take the last championship point on offer after receiving a grid penalty.

Verstappen’s win makes it three wins in a row and extends his championship lead to 19 points over Hamilton.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton celebrate an unlikely 1-2  front row lockout after qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix. PHOTO: Mercedes Benz 

BRENDAN LINES November 7, 2021

VALTTERI Bottas has flipped the script on Mercedes’ FP2 form and snatched pole position  for the Mexico City Grand Prix, teammate Lewis Hamilton completed a front row lockout.

Bottas made up a near half-a-second deficit to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after FP2 and took his 19th career pole position, on his first run in Q3. 

The Finn threw down a challenge setting the fastest time on his first runs and opened a 0.145s-gap back to Hamilton.

Bottas was happy too hang his hat on his first run and conceded he was unable to match his sectors on his second run.

“I think honestly that first run in Q3 was one of my best laps. It’s a good feeling!” he said.

And the team’s performance was a turnaround from the morning’s FP3 run.

“We were lacking a bit of pace on lap one but I think with higher temperatures this afternoon than in the morning it came our way,” Bottas said.

“We also tried to optimise everything with tyres, temps and setup and it was a joy to drive.”

The Red Bull cars of Verstappen and Sergio Perez were on the jacks with no rear wings ahead of Q1, the favourites appeared to struggle with the rear tyres and was unable to reel in the runaway Mercedes.

Hometown hero Perez was positioned to give Verstappen a tow on the second runs, until Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda ran wide upsetting Red Bull’s charge and putting them out of pole contention.

Verstappen will start from P3 alongside Perez in P4, Sunday’s race will be only the sixth time this season Verstappen has been unable to feature on the front row.

Carlos Sainz recovered from an engine issue in his Ferrari and took a classy P6 and will start behind Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly in P5.

Daniel Ricciardo was the fastest  McLaren in P7 and will fight for valuable points in the battle for third in the constructors championship alongside rival Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

While Tsunoda and McLaren’s Lando Norris round out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.

Full results

1	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:16.727	1:16.864	1:15.875	23
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:17.207	1:16.474	1:16.020	22
3	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:16.788	1:16.483	1:16.225	18
4	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.003	1:17.055	1:16.342	18
5	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:16.908	1:16.955	1:16.456	22
6	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:17.517	1:17.248	1:16.761	23
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:17.719	1:17.092	1:16.763	17
8	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:16.748	1:17.034	1:16.837	22
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:17.330	1:16.701	1:17.158	19
10	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:17.569	1:17.473	1:36.830	19
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:17.502	1:17.746		16
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:17.606	1:17.958		18
13	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:17.958	1:18.172		13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:17.897	1:18.290		15
15	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:18.126	1:18.405		13
16	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:18.452			7
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:18.756			8
18	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:18.858			9
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:19.303			9
20	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:20.873			3

Q1 107% time – 1:22.097

Note – Russell drops 5 grid places for taking on a new gearbox after exceeding his allocation. Ocon, Stroll, Tsunoda and Norris start from the back of the grid after taking on new PU components.

BRENDAN LINES November 6, 2021

RED Bull team principal Christian Horner was confident Max Verstappen’s fastest time in FP2 by almost half a second might had swung the momentum of the weekend back the team’s way.

Verstappen led Friday’s final practice session setting an early medium-tyred benchmark time of 1m17.920s. 

Halfway through the session, Verstappen went on his soft-tyre run and set the fastest lap of 1m17.301s.

Horner said it was an important step gaining the ascendancy in what has been a tight battle against Mercedes in previous Mexico City races.

“We’ve won as many races as Mercedes have here, so we’ve always performed reasonably well here,” Horner said.

“And we’ve had a couple of victories but, as I said, this year, the form book, you can throw out of the window because the difference between the two teams has been so tight at pretty much all of the venues that we’ve been to so far. 

“I see no reason for that to be different here. It’s going to be about getting everything right on the day, nailing qualifying, getting the start, the right strategy, the right reliability and doing all the basics well. 

“That’s going to be crucial at this phase of the championship.”

With five races to go in the championship and Verstappen holding a 12 point lead a win might be the start of Red Bull’s charge on both drivers and constructors championships.

With Verstappen laying a clear marker in FP2, the championship could likely be a tit-for-tat battle in every session.

And as the championship moves into unchartered waters between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, the closest it has ever been between them in recent years, Horner dismissed comments that the fight could end up in Senna-Prost-like bad blood.

“I was disappointed to read in the comments that that was being condoned,” Horner said.

“We want a really fair fight between now and the end of the championship and I think any driver would want to win the championship on track. 

“We’re a team of racers and that’s… if we can pull off this feat – and it’s a massive, massive task – then we wouldn’t want to win a championship through a collision between the drivers.”

FP3 for the Mexico City Grand Prix begins 3.30am ACDST.

Full results

1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.301		28
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:17.725	+0.424s	31
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:17.810	+0.509s	26
4	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.871	+0.570s	26
5	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:18.318	+1.017s	29
6	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:18.429	+1.128s	29
7	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:18.605	+1.304s	28
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:18.644	+1.343s	31
9	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:18.681	+1.380s	32
10	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:18.732	+1.431s	27
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:18.841	+1.540s	25
12	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:18.979	+1.678s	27
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:19.227	+1.926s	31
14	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:19.431	+2.130s	37
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:19.521	+2.220s	7
16	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:19.620	+2.319s	30
17	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:19.730	+2.429s	36
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:20.820	+3.519s	17
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:21.581	+4.280s	28
20	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES			2

BRENDAN LINES November 6, 2021

MERCEDES gained the early advantage with a 1-2 fastest finish in FP1 for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

A green and dusty Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez  ̶  the first time Formula 1 had raced on the track since 2019  ̶  made for tricky conditions and added spice to the session, tipped to be dominated by Red Bull.

Mercedes’ Valterri Bottas headed teammate Lewis Hamilton with an impressive fastest lap of 1m 18.341s and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (+0.123s) in third.

Hamilton caught the eye of the stewards for failing to re-join the track correctly after running wide at Turn one, the reigning world champion was reprimanded by the stewards, but remains second fastest of the session.

The dusty conditions made it a less than ideal start to home-town hero Sergio Perez’s weekend, the Mexican spun off and went backward into the wall at the final turn, mimicking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s spin just moments before in the first 10 minutes of practice.

Perez’s emerged from the garage 26 minutes later, recovering with a rousing lap 1:18.610 to slot into P4, much to the delight of the local fans.

Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in an impressive P5 ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with Alpine’s Fernanado Alonso (P6) nosing ahead of Charles Leclerc’s late attempt to take P7.

Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10 in the sister Alpine ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in P10.   

Full results

1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:18.341 28 (laps)
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.417 +0.076s 24
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:18.464 +0.123s 28
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:18.610 +0.269s 20
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:18.985 +0.644s 23
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.463 +1.122s 26
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:19.656 +1.315s 26
8 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:19.667 +1.326s 20
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:19.759 +1.418s 20
10 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:19.858 +1.517s 27
11 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:20.011 +1.670s 30
12 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:20.026 +1.685s 26
13 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:20.030 +1.689s 27
14 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:20.273 +1.932s 25
15 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:20.301 +1.960s 26
16 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:20.344 +2.003s 27
17 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:20.517 +2.176s 23
18 6 Nicholas Latifi WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:21.580 +3.239s 23
19 47 Mick Schumacher HAAS FERRARI 1:22.144 +3.803s 27
20 9 Nikita Mazepin HAAS FERRARI 1:22.819 +4.478s 24

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez for the first time is a legitimate chance to win his home grand prix at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix. PHOTO: Red Bull content pool

SERGIO Perez’s hopes of a dream home grand prix win might play second fiddle to Red Bull’s world championship aspirations at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s tail-gunner to World Championship contender Max Verstappen, Perez has played his role to the letter with a two-race streak of podium finishes in Turkey and the US.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner acknowledged the timeliness of Perez’s US Grand Prix podium finish.

“He’s finding his form, which is crucial at this time of the year.” Horner said.

Perez was circumspect about his chances and he might need to put the team first in this Sunday’s race.

“I think it will be a great problem to have from my side, you know?” Perez said.

“It always depends on the situation, because most of the decisions are normally taken during the race, during the heat of the event, so I think that depending on the circumstances, we’ll see. But I’m pretty sure the whole team, Red Bull, everyone, wants me to win this weekend.

“We’ll see through the race, but I’m pretty sure that everyone in this team… if there’s a race they want me to win, it’s this one. So, I’m sure I’ll have full support from everyone in my team.”

For the first time in his Formula 1 career Perez has a legitimate chance to win and be the first native in the history of the history of the Mexican Grand Prix to step on the podium.

Perez’s best result so far has been P7 in 2017 and 2019 with Force India and Racing Point.

An anomaly in the world championship, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit’s altitude could see significant power and performance losses across the grid.

And the conditions could suit Perez’s renowned easy-on-the-tyres driving could meaning the Mexican could have plenty in reserve in terms of strategy to make his move in the race.

Perez’ was confident his weekend would rely on a strong qualifying performance.

“I really want to carry on my form,” Perez said.

“I’m feeling more at home now, with the team, with the car, and I really hope I can put a great Saturday [together].

“Here, overtaking is generally very hard. We put a lot of demand on the brakes, on the engine, so it’s always a very tricky race if you’re not at the front.

“So, I look forward to putting a good qualifying [together].”

But with teammate Verstappen just 12 points ahead in the drivers’ title fight against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the stakes are high for Red Bull to maximise its haul of points from the weekend.

FP1 for the Mexico City Grand Prix begins 4am (ACDST) on November 6.