Blog Archives

Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up- Las Vegas Strip Circuit

17/11/2023

Welcome to the very first Las Vegas F1 Journal Round Up, I wish I cold sayy it went to plan but unfortunately there were issues on and off the track. Calling them teething problems might be minimizing them slightly but lets have a look at the events of today and you can decide for yourselves.......

Practice 1- Night time 16º Air Temp 14º Track Temp

Lance Stroll had the honor of being the first man to take his F1 car out onto the brand new beautifully lite Las Vegas Strip Circuit, followed quickly by the whole grid. In the first 5 minutes we saw Hamilton, Norris & Sainz complete the top 3 until their times were bested by Leclerc, Verstappen & Bottas.
52 minutes to go we saw Lando Norris take a huge amount of curb at turn 15, as Yellow Flags began to be waved for a stranded Carlos Sainz, very quickly that Yellow was upgraded to a Red flag after just 9 minutes of running when it was found that the cause of the motionless Ferrari was due to a Manhole cover/its surrounding metal seating, being sucked out of it placement by the aerodynamics of the car and had hit the bottom of the car causing what we would later find out to be a huge amount of damage.

This unknown to us at the time, had also happened to the Alpine of Esteban Ocon. The session did not resume because of the danger of the incident being repeated and the FIA set about fixing the issue before Practice 2.
After the session both Alpine and Ferrari reported that the Survival cell(Chassis) of their cars needed replacing with the Ferrari requiring much more extensive repairs, including an energy store, Electronics & a new ICE(internal combustion engine). The ICE unfortunately replacement unfortunately pushed Sainz over his allowance for 2023 and meant that he would incur a 10 place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix despite it being a track issue that caused the damage.
This incident outside of the damage and possible injury to the drivers also has a big effect on the cost cap with an F1 Chassis/safety cell costing millions it also will have an effect on the fortunes of Ferrari who have great successes at Street tracks and now have 1 car starting 10 places down on their qualifying position through no fault of the Driver or team.

Practice 1 Result

1 LEC 2 HUL
3 MAG 4 VER
5 OCO 6 RUS
7 SAI 8 TSU
9 PER 10 BOT
11 GAS 12 HAM
13 RIC 14 ZHO
15 NOR
No time set
16 STR 17 PIA
18 ALB 19 ALO
20 SAR

Practice 2- Delayed by 3 1/2 hours due to Safety concerns from FP1

Practice 2 started on a very sour note for multiple reasons, there was a 3 1/2 hour delay to the start of the session while the FIA & track staff had to fix the metal seats that the Vegas manholes are welded into, on the street/track because they were being pulled out of the ground as the cars drove over them, a 10 place grid penalty for Sainz after his Ferrari required a new ICE because of the manhole issue and now to add insult to injury because of a security personnel shortage due to the delay all the fans were kicked out of the Grand Stands and fan areas and no fans were allowed to watch Free Practice 2 when it finally got going. In formula 1 delays to the starts of sessions is par for the course and never has this writer ever seen anything like this be done to fans when this situation arises. Paying fans(who paid an insane amount of money for their tickets) were in some cases force ably removed from their seats just because there wasn't enough security. The mind boggles at the clear lack of forthought in regards to the track and logistics of such an ambitious event.

The FIA added 30 minutes to the session to recover some running for the teams after practice 1 only lasted 9 minutes before the Manhole cover issue meant the session was ended and on a positive note the Ferrari boys had done an absolutely mighty job to get Carlos Sainz' Ferrari built(literally almost from scratch) in time to start the session as Oscar Piastri made his way on to the track to start the session, followed closely by team mate Lando Norris who went deep into turn 7 the first time he went around it but that wasn't his only issue at the beginning of the session as soon after his Mclaren went into 'limp mode',for a short time. The team and Norris managed to fix the issue from the pit wall and allowed him to keep going before soon after being called into the garage and a flurry of work started on the car.
Mean while some drivers were exploring more of the track than they would have liked with Magnussen & Perez bringing out Yellow Flags as they found the run off at turn 12 and Alonso had a similar off at turn 5.

14 minutes in and Lance Stroll went deep at turn 14 and found himself in the runoff area and Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Hamilton & Perez made up the top 5 with both Mclarens finding themselves bottom of the times.
The cars and drivers started to feel comfortable at this new circuit and the times started to fall, there was a mix of Medium and Soft tyres, with the top times being set on the Soft untill Verstappen stole the top spot on his medium compound rubber a couple of minutes later just before the work on Norris'car was done and he was back out to continue his running.

Pierre Gasly received a Black and White Flag for crossing the line at the Pit entry as Alex Albon jumped up the times to split the Ferrari's in 3rd and Norris went 7th with his first flying lap after his 'limp mode' problem forced him to box. At the end of the first half an hour of running Leclerc and Max had a cheeky little battle around the chicane section while Sainz set the fastest time of the session so far on his Soft tyres. Logan Sargeant also got a black and white flag for crossing the line at the pit entry.

50 minutes on the clock and Leclerc took back the top spot, Hamilton found his spped going 2nd fastest, followed by Albon who was testing the limits of his Williams around the Vegas track in 3rd before having a big lock up forcing him to pit after destroying that set of tyres. Russell after sitting in the bottom 5 for the session so far set a time good enough for 5th but with 40 minutes to go Alonso in his Mercedes powered Aston Martin went fastest with the top 3 of Alonso, Leclerc and Hamilton being separated by just 0.006 of a second.
With less than half the session to go Verstappen swapped his Medium tyres for the softs and went fastest straight away by 0.047 over Carlos Sainz who went 2nd fastest ahead of Alonso, only the 2 Mclaren's and both HAAS cars running the medium tyres still. But Max's fastest time was short lived as Charles Leclerc became the 1st man to break the 1.35 mark going 0.611 faster than the Redbull.

George Russull visited the runoff at turn 5 on a brand new set of Medium tyres as Norris shaped up for his first flying lap on the Softs, but didn't seem totally comfortable with the track, only managing 10th fastest.
27 minutes on the clock Alonso was the closest man to Leclerc after going purple in sector 1 and ending up just 0.097 off the Ferrari time. Bottas set a lap good enough to beat Verstappen's best effort so far, putting his Alfa Romeo into 5th and Alonso found himself in the turn 12 runoff area braking too late and having to bail or hit the wall.

20 minutes to go Verstappen just didn't have the pace down in 6th, but the Ferrari's just kept getting faster, Leclerc pumped in another brilliant lap of 1.35.265, 0.517 faster than his team mate Sainz.
As the session started to close the teams took advantage of having the addition tyres granted to them after missing the running in FP1 and we saw some really interesting data collection with some cars choosing to do their long runs on both the soft and medium tyres as well as a few Qualifying simulations. George Russell went off at turn 14 but escaped the run off unscathed but down in 12th with 9 minutes on the clock. Lance Stroll was having a good session in 8th. Sainz again beat Alonso's time to go 2nd fastest but was still half a second down on his team mate, Verstappen chose a used set of softs to do his final runs but didn't improve on his time and stayed 6th.

The session ended with a domiante display from the Ferrari with Leclerc and Sainz 1st & 2nd but Leclerc 0.517 ahead of his team mate. Alonso had a really solid session but did find himself in the run off a little to often for his teams liking. Perez had a positive day finishing 4th, ahead of team mate Verstappen in 6th, Bottas split the Redbulls in 5th with one of his best FP2's of the year. The Mclaren's had a less than perfect session and ended up 11th & 14th and with Alonso running well they will need to find some pace if they want to keep 4th in the championship.

Practice 2 Result

1 LEC. 1.35.265
2 SAI + 0.517s
3 ALO +0.528s
4 PER +0.820s
5 BOT +0.864s
6 VER +0.918s
7 HUL +1.224s
8 STR +1.231s
9 HAM +1.398s
10 ALB +1.423s
11 NOR +1.599s
12 RUS +1.625s
13 MAG +1.652s
14 PIA +1.722s
15 GAS +1.869s
16 OCO +1.976s
17 TSU +2.147s
18 ZHO +2.391s
19 RIC +2.415s
20 SAR +2.875s

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day for F1, Liberty, the Las Vegas track and most importantly for the track side fans, who got really let down today!! On to Practice 3 and our first Las Vegas Qualifying.

Joanna Blackmore
Write @f1journal.co.uk

0 Comments

Can Lando Finish 4th In The Drivers Standings?

12/11/2023

0 Comments

Lando Norris has finished the last five out of six races on the podium, with a second-place finish in Singapore, a second-place finish in Japan, a third-place finish in Qatar, a second-place finish in COTA (after Lewis was disqualified), a fifth-place finish in Mexico and a second-place finish in Brazil. If he continues this trend for the next two races, he could finish in fourth place in the Drivers Standings.

Norris is currently in fifth place in the standings list after jumping ahead of Carlos Sainz by three points and Charles Leclerc by 25 points after Brazil. With 195 points after Brazil, he is just 3 points away from Fernando Alonso, who is in fourth place.

With only Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi left until the end of the season, Norris could potentially finish in 4th place if he finishes ahead of Charles, Fernando and Carlos in the next few races.

Fernando Alonso finished third in Brazil, although this came on the back of significant issues with his car for the last few races, with a DNF in COTA and Mexico, a six-place finish in Qatar, an eight-place finish in Japan and a 15th-place finish in Singapore. He has only scored 29 points in the last six races. Similarly, in the previous six races, Charles scored 49 points, and Carlos scored 68 points after his win in Singapore. In comparison, Lando has scored 98 points since Singapore.

If Lando gets a race win, continues his podium dominance, and finishes ahead of Carlos and Alonso, he will be well on the way to moving up the Drivers Standings.

Although Lando has openly suggested that the next few races aren't suited to the car as much as previous races, such as Qatar with its high-speed corners. In COTA, he said, "Do I think our best chances have gone? I would say yes," Norris said, although this was followed up by a second-place finish in Brazil.

He added: "I don't think they're any good ones for us coming up. I think our best have gone. I just want to be hopeful that we can do good results, and I think we can still fight for podiums, but these guys are too quick for me."

Speaking after the Brazil Grand Prix, he said: "I don't think we were expecting to be as competitive here as we have been, so we're still surprising ourselves", "everyone just guesses and presumes, but no one knows until we get on track."

Although Las Vegas is an unknown for everyone, with the cold temperatures, high-speed straights and slow corners, it could be anyone's game.

Lando's Race Results This Season So Far:
Bahrain: 17 | +2 laps
Saudi Arabia: 17 | +86.445s
Australia: 6 | +3.701s
Azerbaijan: 9 | +80.376s
United States: Miami: 17 | +87.717s
Monaco: 9 | +1 lap
Spain: 17 | +1 lap
Canada: 13 | +68.363s
Austria: 4 | +26.327s
Great Britain: 2 | +3.798s
Hungary: 2 | +33.731s
Belgium: 7 | +73.719s
Netherlands: 7 | +13.232s
Italy: 8 | +45.449s
Singapore: 2 | +0.81s
Japan: 2 | +19.387s
Qatar: 3 | +5.969s
United States: Austin: 2 | +10.73s
Mexico: 5 | +33.26s
Brazil: 2 | +8.77s

Mclaren's rise to fourth place in the Constructors Standings has been a comeback that people will talk about for years to come.

Anny Wooldridge
Writer @ F1 Journal

0 Comments

Official F1 Journal Sprint Saturday Round Up- Interlargos

5/11/2023

0 Comments

Welcome to the Sprint Saturday Round Up were we recap all the events of the Sprint Saturday action....... lets go!

Sprint Shootout

SQ1- All on Medium Tyre

The feild was lead out by the 2 Redbull cars with Verstappen setting the first time of 1.11.8, Perez couldn't match it but the Ferrari of Sainz could and beat both of them. Leclerc went 2nd on his first run, quickly being beaten by Hamilton whose tem mate Russell could only manage 4th. Piastri's first lap went 7th but was pushed down a spot as Alonso completed his first flying lap, Norris went 5th until the HAAS of Magnussen beat his time and pushed him down to 6th. After everyone had completed their first runs, Saniz was top, followed by Hamilton, Verstappen & Russell, with Stroll, Zhou, Albon, Tsunoda & Sargeant in the drop zone.

As the 2nd runs began Norris put his Mclaren fractionally behind Sainz in 1st but Leclerc couldnt improve on his time before we saw a big incident between Ocon and Alonso at the exit of turn 3/entry to turn 4. Alonso who was on a slow lap was turning into Turn 4 as the flying Alpine of Ocon destabilized the rear of his car over the curbs on the exit of turn 3 and although catching the car could not avoid the turning Alonso and clipped his front left tyre hard. Alonso continued to the pits to hopefully be repaired for SQ2 but Ocon hit the wall hard and had major damage on his Alpine. You could argue Alonso could have given him more room but Ocon had very little control of the car just milliseconds before impact and so the incident was rendered a racing incident upon review after the session but unfortunately even with the delay to fix tyre wall that Ocon hit, the Aston Martin boys couldnt fix the car fast enough and so Alonso could take no part in SQ2 despite getting through on time to the next session.

SQ1 Result

1 SAI 2 NOR
3 HAM 4 VER
5 RUS 6 MAG
7 LEC 8 HUL
9 RIC 10 PER
11 ALO 12 GAS
13 BOT 14 PIA
15 TSU 16 OCO
17 STR 18 ZHO
19 ALB 20 SAR

SQ2- All on Medium Tyre

Again the Redbull lead the grid out followed by the 2 Mercedes cars, Perez was a similar amount off his team mate after their first flying laps, Hamilton couldn't beat either and slotted into 3rd till Norris beat him and pushed him down to 4th, till Piastri beat both their times taking 3rd place from his team mate. Magnussen set a time good enough for 6th and was faster than the Mercedes of Hamilton, Sainz and Leclerc found some pace on their first flying laps of SQ2 and went 2nd and 3rd behind Max till Perez stole back 3rd from Leclerc and Hulkenberg put in a cracking lap to go 4th whie George Russell couldn't manage better than 10th. With 4 minutes on the clock the bottom 5(Ricciardo, Gasly, Bottas, Tsunoda and Alonso who wouldnt take part in the session) hadn't set a time in the hopes to save their Medium tyres for the race on Sunday.

2nd and final runs commenced and Verstappen came straight out and beat his fastest time with a 1.11.262, Bottas manged 7th pulling himself out of the drop zone breifly, Tsunoda did the same jumping to 6th. Magnussen went 7th soon after, Gasly could only manage 10th leaving him at risk of dropping out. Perez was the next man to cross the line and he went faster than team mate Verstappen by just 0.032 seconds. Hamilton and Russell who seemed to be struggling for pace could only set times good enough for 4th & 5th while Norris topped the times in his Mclaren pushing Max down to 3rd and Daniel Ricciardo pulled out a brilliant lap to end the session in 4th.

SQ2 Result

1 NOR 2 PER
3 VER 4 RIC
5 LEC 6 HAM
7 SAI 8 RUS
9 PIA 10 TSU
11 MAG 12 HUL
13 GAS 14 BOT
15 ALO

SQ3- All on Soft Tyre

The final round of the Sprint Shootout was a slow start with all the cars opting to stay in the garage till there was just 5 minutes on the clock when Piastri left the pits followed by the rest of the cars. Sainz & Piastri were the only drivers with no new soft compound tyres so it would be a difficult lap for them against the newer rubber of the other 8 cars. Verstappen wasn't happy about waiting for other cars to file out onto the track and took to the grass at the pit exit to get going faster.

Piastri set his lap 1st but was quickly beaten by his team mate Norris by just over half a second, Verstappen was next across the line but couldn't beat the rapid Mclaren and went 2nd, Leclerc managed 4th and was soon beaten by a very fast Yuki Tsunoda who stole 3rd, Ricciardo also in an Alpha Tauri could not beat his team mates time gong 5th fastest. Perez took the 3rd from Yuki, Sainz on his used Soft tyres could only manage 7th and dropped further when the 2 Mercedes set their laps, with Russell just pipping Hamilton to take 4th for the Sprint race later in the day.
Norris had done enough and despite asking himself 'Why am I so s!$@ at Qualifying' he was the king of the Shootout on that day much to his surprise. The whole top 10 was covered by just 0.567 seconds on what is the 2nd shortest lap time of the year.

SQ3 Result

1 NOR
2 VER +0.061
3 PER +0.134
4 RUS +0.235
5 HAM +0.318
6 TSU +0.397
7 LEC +0.455
8 RIC +0.500
9 SAI +0.504
10 PIA +0.567

Sprint 'Race'

As the cars lined up on the grid everyone chose the soft tyres with the exception of the 2 HAAS cars and Logan Sargeant in the Williams. Lights out and despite a good 1st phase start from Lando Norris, Verstappen was along side in the 2nd phase and as they went into the 1st corner Verstappen took the lead with actually very little fight from Norris, Russell got Perez off the line with Hamilton following close behind, managing to overtake him into turn 1. Turn 6 and Russell who was great on the brakes also got past Pole man Norris dropping the lead Mclaren down to 3rd. Piastri went to deep on the breaks into turn 5 and went off the track but came back keeping Pierre Gasly behind him but let Ricciardo ahead in the process. Lap 2 Alonso was already on the back of Hulkenberg but couldn't get the HAAS into turn 1.
Lap 3 and after a bad start Perez started to come back at the Mercedes of Hamilton, overtaking him down the start finish straight using the very effective DRS, Hamilton tried to come back around the outside of turn 1 but only managed to draw Leclerc closer to the battle for 4th.

Lap 5 and Norris had caught Russell, the Mclaren was finding its pace finally, quickly overtaking the Mercedes and headed off in the hunt for 1st place Max Verstappen. A lap later Alonso still couldn't pass the HAAS of Hulkenberg into turn 1 but did get the move made 4 corners later, this was the beginning of a backwards trend for Hulk as Ocon & Stroll also made their way past him in the next lap. While Alonso set off to catch the sister HAAS of Magnussen.
Lap 7 Piastri had caught but could not pass Ricciardo who was on brilliant form in the Alpha Tauri & Alex Albon reported oil coming out of the back of Bottas' Alfa Romeo before overtaking him.

On lap 8 a fantstic back and forth battle began between Perez and Russell began, both using the almost back to back DRS zones between turn 15 & turn 5, Perez got Russell into turn 1 but Russell came back and got the place back by the entry of turn 5 at the same time Albon passed a struggling Nico Hulkenberg( its such a shame the HAAS doesn't have the same pace in race as it has in qualifying). Lap 9 and Perez again over took Russell into turn 1 this time making the move stick and pulling away from the Mercedes as Alex Albon over took the 2nd HAAS in as many laps for 16th place.
As lap 12 started Ricciardo has caught Sainz and was within DRS of the the Ferrari ahead pulling Piastri along with him. Ricciardo tried to go around the outside into turn 1 but Sainz came back around turn 2 and held off the Alpha Tauri man to keep his 8th place and the last point avaliable.

Lap 13 started and both Aston Martin's were looking to over take the Alpine cars ahead of them, Alonso had caught Gasly and despite going into turn 5 side by side at the end of the DRS zone Gasly retained his position while Stroll had a good go at overtaking Ocon into the 1st turn but got the move finished into turn 5 were his team mate had failed.
Ricciardo had another look around the outside of turn 1 on Sainz but couldn't make the move stick and let an aggressive Oscar PIastri get to close and lost his 9th place to the rookie Australian. Alonso & Gasly continued their battle out of the final corner with Alonso getting past the Alpine on the start finish straight but Gasly pulled ahead into turn 1 and kept 11th from the Aston Martin until Alonso got the move done into turn 5 and pulled away from the Frenchman finally and just 2 laps(lap 18) later Stroll did the same overtaking Gasly for 12th.

Lap 19 began and Norris had dropped back to 2.5 seconds behind the leader Max Verstappen, but was at no risk from 3rd place man Perez who was almost 8 seconds behind the Mclaren in 3rd.
By lap 20 and inspite of his dying soft tyres Ricciardo has closed on Piastri, determined to retake 9th place from his fellow Aussie. It would be 2 more laps before he got the move done into turn 1 despite a hard defense from the rookie Mclaren driver who had never raced at Interlargos before.
Hamilton was really starting to struggle on his Soft tyres and was over taken by Charles Leclerc on lap 21 and then Yuki Tsunoda on lap 22 to add insult to injury for the Mercedes man.
The last lap started with Norris a long way behind Verstappen but Perez much further behind him with the gap to his team mate Verstappen now 13 seconds!
Alonso saw a chance to overtake Piastri on his struggling tyres but in a battle between the youngest and oldest drivers on the grid it would be the rookie that came out on top after a hard but fair defense into turn 1 that meant Alonso couldn't make a move down the straight between turns 4 & 5 with his team mate Lance Stroll very close behind him after the failed move. This writer would have loved to see that kind of defense from Piastri's team mate on lap 1 turn 1 with Verstappen but hey ho you can't have everything.

The race ended with Verstappen dominantly taking the win and all the cars finishing with no major crashes or flag interventions and on the whole it was a great Sprint race with lots of overtaking and battles that lasted not just the whole lap but 2 or 3 laps creating a great spectacle for all the fans. The sprint also ended the whole grid on same racing lap which is impressive even with the Sprint being so much shorter than the Grand Prix, as the Interlargos track has the 2nd shortest lap of the year!

Sprint Result

1 VER
2 NOR +4.287
3 PER +13.617
4 RUS +25.879
5 LEC +28.560
6 TSU +29.210
7 HAM +34.726
8 SAI +35.106
9 RIC +35.303
10 PIA +38.219
11 ALO +39.061
12 STR +39.061
13 GAS +40.621
14 OCO +42.848
15 ALB +43.394
16 MAG +56.507
17 ZHO +58.723
18 HUL +60.330
19 BOT +60.749
20 SAR +60.945

Hope you enjoyed guys onto the Grand Prix later today.

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

0 Comments

Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up- Interlargos

3/11/2023

0 Comments

Welcome to the Friday Round up for the Brazilian Sprint Weekend. Its always an exciting weekend at Interlargos and for the 3rd consecutive year its hosts the last Sprint Weekend of the year. Lets have a look at today's action.

Practice- Rain possibly incoming!

The session started and all the car were straight out on track on the Hard tyre compound, with the threat of the infamous Brazilian rain coming.
Verstappen was the first man to set a time with a 1.14.9, 3 seconds down on Kevin Magnussen's 2022 pole lap so there was lots of time to find for all.
53 to go Verstappen was over 1.041 second up on all other cars but his team mate who was within 0.3 of the 3 time World Champion. After there first timed laps the 2 Aston Martin's returned to the pits for front suspension changes on both while all other cars stayed out on track, with Alonso back out with 45 minutes left of the session.

Perez continued to get closer to Verstappen, setting a time just 0.025 off his team mate and the other cars started to creep towards the 2 Redbull's. Russell & Hamilton the 2 closest to Verstappen & Perez with George just 0.066 behind the fastest man & Hulkenberg managing the 5th fastest time so far 0.561 off 1st.
40 minutes left on the clock and after his suspension change Alonso only managed 1 flying lap before picking up a puncture and being told to return to the pits.
The Mclaren's who came into the weekend optimistic for a great result were running 9th & 10th with Alex Albon setting the 10th fastest time.
37 minutes to go & Yuki Tsunoda is the first man to put on the Medium tyres and immediately tops the times going 0.336 faster than Verstappen on the Hards while his team mate Ricciardo was stuck in the pits with a broken floor.

Russell was the next man to set a time on the Medium tyres and went over a second faster than 2nd place man Verstappen(still on the hard tyres) and a recovered Alonso went 2nd with 31 minutes on the clock beating Max on the Hard tyre by 0.200 on the same tyre.
As the 2nd half of the session began last years Pole man Kevin Magnussen put the Soft tyres on and jumped from last in the times to 3rd only slower than Russell & Alonso, as his team mate Nico Hulkenberg(also on the Soft tyre) made contact with the flying Mclaren of Norris, appearing oblivious to Lando coming and turning in on him, making contact with his right sidepod.
Gasly & Ocon found some pace going upto 8th & 9th as the wind started to really pick up and the Ferrari's of Leclerc and Sainz found themselves down in 12th & 13th as Nico Hulkenberg put his HAAS ahead of his team mate and up to 2nd in the timings on his soft tyres.

20 minutes to go and the whole grid with the exception of the 2 HAAS on the Softs and Zhou & Tsunoda on the Medium, are running the Hard tyres, saving the faster compounds for the rest of the weekend.
16 minutes left & Logan Sargeant had a moment at Turn 1 and went straight on and took to the run off area, confused at why his Williams had lost grip on turn in.on his fresh Soft tyres, also running the soft was his team mate Alex Albon as Stroll and Bottas started their Medium tyre runs. Albon went 3rd after his 1st flying lap on his softs as Logan Sargeant has a rear suspension issue causing his front tyres to lift off the ground making it very difficult to drive.

Mclaren split their cars running by having Norris on the Medium and Piastri run the Soft on his first weekend racing at this track and although going purple in sector 1 & 2 he bailed into the pits as the rest of the grid began their Medium tyre running except the 2 Redbull's, Alonso and Leclerc who continued their Hard tyre running. Stroll jumped up to 4th on his mediums, followed by Gasly on the same tyre.

5 to go and the Mclaren's found themselves down in 16th & 20th as Sainz gooes top on the Soft tyre only beating Russell by 0.169 on his Mediums. Leclerc was the next man to set a time on the Softs tyres but didnt manage to beat his team mate going 0.108 slower than his team mate.
The session ended with the Mclaren's bottom of the times and the Redbulls's not much better down in 16th & 18th after only running the Hard tyres. So going into Qualifying later on in the day with the threat of rain on the horizon it really was wide open for Qualifying later in the day.

Practice Result

1 SAI (S)
2 LEC (S)
3 RUS (M)
4 HUL (S)
5 ALB (H)
6 STR (H)
7 GAS (M)
8 ZHO (S)
9 SAR (S)
10 MAG (S)
11 ALO (H)
12 HAM (H)
13 TSU (M)
14 RIC (H)
15 OCO (M)
16 VER (H)
17 BOT (M)
18 PER (H)
19 NOR (H)
20 PIA (H)

Qualifying

Q1- All on Soft Tyres

Q1 Oscar Piastri lead the pack out on used Soft tyres to the thunderous applause of the brilliant Brazilian crowd, Norris beat his team mates 1st lap time, Vertsappen could manage 2nd behind the Mclaren finding himself +0.310 slower. Hamilton followed going purple in sector 1 and managing 2nd again behind Norris, Magnussen started the session well going 3rd fastest, beating Max Vertsappen, Russell's first run was only good enough for 4th but while he was doing his best on track he was under investigation for impeding at the pit exit and not following the race directors notes(you can build a gap at pit exit but you must stay left to allow cars to pass if you choose to do so). After the first runs both Ferrari's found themselves in the drop zone until their 2nd runs when Leclerc was the first man to beat the time of Norris and Sainz went 4th.

10 minutes to go and Piastri was on a blistering lap going purple in sectors 1 & 2 but had a slow sector 3 and could only manage 2nd, Stroll finding form in his Aston Martin put himself 3rd, Perez could only go 8th, Hamilton jumped to 6th, Gasly 7th and the top 14 was covered by just 0.679 of a second meaning nobody was safe when the final runs began. With 3 minutes to go the top 7 were in the pits until a rapid Alex Albon went 4th in his Williams forcing the everyone except Leclerc and Piastri out for another lap.

As they crossed the line Sainz could only go 6th, Sargeant 15th with cars behind him going faster meant his Qualifying was over, Hamilton jumped to 2nd after setting a new purple sector 1, Russell went fastest, Hulkenberg set a brilliant lap to go 4th, Magnussen got out of Q1 safely setting a time good enough for 6th, Alonso narrowly beat him taking 6th place from the HAAS driver, Ricciardo couldn't improve and ended the session in 17th, Tsunoda could only mange 16th, Verstappen who didn't feel safe went 2nd fastest right at the end of the session and Perez narrowly got through in 13th.

Q1 Result

1 RUS
2 VER
3 LEC
4 HUL
5 PIA
6 STR
7 ALO
8 MAG
9 HAM
10 ALB
11 NOR
12 SAI
13 PER
14 OCO
15 GAS
16 TSU
17 RIC
18 BOT
19 SAR
20 ZHO

Q2- All on Soft Tyre

As Q2 started we got reports of rain falling in the pitlane. Verstappen was the first man to cross the line to start the lap on his new soft tyres, Perez couldn't beat his time and went 2nd, Stroll went 3rd,Hamilton 4th behind the Aston Martin, Norris went 2nd just 0.161 behind Verstappen, Piastri stole 3rd, Gasly took 8th & Albon 9thbefore being beaten by the HAAS cars of Hulkenberg and Magnussen who went 8th & 9th pushing Gasly and Albon in to the drop out zone.

Hamilton and Russell were the 1st to go out for a 2nd run with Hamilton juping to 4th only to be beaten Russell to went 2nd fastest.
6 minutes to go and the 2 Ferraris's started their laps, Leclerc's lap put him 5th while Sainz finally found his speed and beating Russell's 2nd run to go 2nd fastest. 4 to go nobody felt safe and everyone came out to do a final run.

Alonso went 2nd fastest briefly before Norris set a brilliant 1.10.021( what would later become the fastest lap of qualifying. Perez went up to 3rd, and Verstappen could only mange 2nd fastest. Norris went in to the pits while Max and Redbull thought they needed 1 more lap to get through. Ocon could go fatest enough to get through to the final round of qualifying, Hamilton went 6th and was safe, Gasly could only manage 13th, Leclerc went 7th fastest and Piastri who was very close to the cut off was 9th as the session ended. Q2 ended with Norris top, Verstappen 2nd, Perez 3rd, Albon had set time good enough for Q3 but sadly it was deleted for track limits and he was dropped to 15th.

Q2 Result

1 NOR
2 VER
3 PER
4 ALO
5 SAI
6 HAM
7 LEC
8 RUS
9 PIA
10 STR
11 HUL
12 OCO
13 GAS
14 MAG
15 ALB

Q3- All on Soft Tyres

Q3 The rain had arrived and every second the clock counted down the clouds and sky got darker and the wind picked up rapidly. Verstappen and Leclerc were the first out and it was a great call to go early because the weather was worsening. Verstappen went top with a 1.10.727, Leclerc who ran 2nd on the road took 2nd place, Stroll set a great lap to take 3rd, his team mate Alonso went 4th as Piastri went off due to the wind, Sainz also had a moment on the curbs in the same place and after the first runs the rain came with a vengeance. It was so bad there was no chance of improving so there was no chance of any cars going out and with 4 minutes 19 on the clock the session was Red flagged and Max Verstappen took pole in Brazil, followed by Leclerc in 2nd and a very a.happy Lance Stroll in 3rd. Norris who had shown great pace and was tipped for pole could only mange 7th with his teammate down in 10th.

Q3- Result

1 VER
2 LEC
3 STR
4 ALO
5 HAM
6 RUS
7 NOR
8 PER
9 SAI
10 PIA

Post Qualifying Penalties

Nico Hulkenberg got No further action for his incident with Lando Norris in Practice earlier in the day
Russell, Ocon & Gasly got 2 place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix for impeding at the pit exit and not following the race directors instructions to stay to the left to allow other drivers past if you choose to create a gap in the pit exit. Russell now starts 8th, Ocon and Gasly will start the race 14th & 15th

0 Comments

Official F1 Journal Track Guide- Interlargos Sprint Weekend

3/11/2023

0 Comments

Welcome 1 and all to arguably the best Grand Prix Weekend of the year. This Track, the races we have seen since it joined the calendar and the on and off track drama we have seen at Interlargos can only be rivaled by the likes of Silverstone, Montreal and Monza. This weekend is the last Sprint of the year and the 3rd in a row at this circuit. Its track that we see unlikely pole sitters such as both HAAS drivers Hulkenberg in the Williams in 2010 and just last year Magnussen.
We at F1 Journal couldn't be more excited for this weekend!!!!

Race Stats

Laps- Sprint- 24
Race- 71
Circuit Length- 4.309 km
Race Distance- Sprint- 103.416 km
Race- 305.879 km
Corners- 15 10 Left 5 Right
DRS Zones- 2
Activation 1- Exit Turn 2
Deployment 1- Exit Turn 3
Activation 2- Exit Turn 13
Deployment 2- Start/Finish Straight
Downforce Level- Medium/High
Tyre Degradation- Medium/High
Time @ Full Throttle- 64%
Time Lost in Pitlane- 21 seconds
Gear Changers- 36 per lap/2556 per race
Pole Side- Right
Tyre Compounds-
Hard Medium Soft
C2 C3 C4
Minimum Starting Tyre Pressures-
Front Rear
23.0psi 21.0psi
Maximum Starting Tyre Camber-
Front Rear
-3.25º -2.00º

Weekend Schedule

Track Stats

Times Held- 39
First Time Held- 1973
Finishing Percentage-64%
Pole Record- 1.07.281 HAM 2018
Lap Record- 1.10.450 BOT 2018
Winners-25
Pole Sitters-24
Podium Finishers-48
Most Driver Poles- 3 SEN,HAK, BAR, MAS & HAM
Most Team Poles- 9 Mclaren
Most Driver Wins- 4 SCH
Most Team Wins- 9 Ferrari
Most Driver Podiums- 10 SCH
Most Team Podiums- 28 Ferrari
Most Fastest Laps(Driver)- 5 SCH
Most Fastest Laps(Team)- 8 Mclaren
Most Consecutive Wins(Driver)- 2 HAK, SCH, FIT, MON & ROS
Most Consecutive Wins (Team)- 3 Ferrari, Benetton
Mclaren, Redbull & Mercedes
Times Won From Pole- 17/39
Times Won from Front Row-30/39
Lowest Starting Position to Win- 10th HAM 2021
Smallest Win Margin- 0.588secs SCH 2002
Largest Win Margin- + 1 lap SCH 1994
Most Cars to Finish- 23 2010
Least Cars to Finish- 7 1977
Safety Cars- 13 of the last 21 races
Red Flags- 1974, 1997, 2003 & 2016

Random Facts

This weekend Interlargos becomes only the 7th track to host 40 Gran Prix
Brazil becomes the 11th nation to host 50 Grand Prix the weekend
2530 racing laps have been completed at Interlargos
898 Cars Entered
867 Cars Qualified
862 Cars Started
555 Cars finished
= 64% Finish Rate
Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton & Vettel have all won title here
Both HAAS drivers have taken Pole here, Hulk in 2010 in the Williams & K-Mag here in 2022
2018 was the first time in the races history that there wasn't a Brazilian driver racing at the Brazillian Grand Prix
2 Drivers have finished on the Podium here without finishing the race- Heinz-Harold Frentzen ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 1999 GP but was still classified 3rd & Alonso in 2003 when he had a huge crash at the end of the race and because the stewards took the result from 2 lap prior to the Red Flag, he still finished 3rd.
Senna took 5 poles at his home Grand Prix before finally winning it in 1991

Previous Results

2019

Qualifying-
1 VER 1.07.508
2 VET 1.07.631
3 HAM 1.07.699
Race-
1 VER(3 stop)
2 GAS (2 stop)
3 SAI (1 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1.10.698 BOT L43

2021

Qualifying-
DQ HAM 1.07.934
1 VER 1.08.372
2 BOT 1.08.469
3 PER 1.08.483
Sprint-
1 BOT
2 VER
3 SAI
Race-
1 HAM (4 stop)
2 VER (4 stop)
3 BOT (4 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1.11.010 PER L71

2022

Qualifying-
1 MAG 1.11.674
2 VER 1.11.887
3 RUS 1.12.059
Sprint-
1 RUS
2 SAI
3 HAM
Race-
1 RUS (2 stop)
2 HAM (2 stop)
3 SAI (3 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1.13.785 RUS L61

Things to Look Out For!

Mclaren!!! The team and the drivers despite having a monster resurgence of form in the 2nd half of the season have still not put together a perfect weekend, either being caught out by incidents in Qualifying, Driver mistakes or bad tyre calls in the race. But this weekend could be different. If they can get every session right we could see one of the Mclaren on both Pole and the top step of the Podium on Sunday.
Mercedes- Finally they seem to have a handle on the car and improving its performance. Lewis Hamilton seems very happy with the car and if George Russell can not get a penalty or make a mistake in the race it really could be a 6 car 3 team fight for the whole of the Sprint Weekend
Logan Sargeant- Logan is under pressure, with his closest rival rumored to be taking his seat he needs a great result in both the Sprint & the Grand Prix to concrete his seat for 2024
Aston Martin- Can they make the car work, our opinion is unlikely but we can only hope to see them back to the form we saw at the start of the season
HAAS Drivers- Both Drivers have taken Pole here before by being the last man on track at the right moment and we could see both go well this weekend at Interlargos

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

0 Comments

FORMULA 1

Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up- Las Vegas Strip Circuit

Practice 1- Night time 16º Air Temp 14º Track Temp

Practice 1 Result

Practice 2- Delayed by 3 1/2 hours due to Safety concerns from FP1

Practice 2 Result

Can Lando Finish 4th In The Drivers Standings?

Official F1 Journal Sprint Saturday Round Up- Interlargos

Sprint Shootout

SQ1- All on Medium Tyre

SQ1 Result

SQ2- All on Medium Tyre

SQ2 Result

SQ3- All on Soft Tyre

SQ3 Result

Sprint 'Race'

Sprint Result

Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up- Interlargos

Practice- Rain possibly incoming!

Practice Result

Qualifying

Q1- All on Soft Tyres

Q1 Result

Q2- All on Soft Tyre

Q2 Result

Q3- All on Soft Tyres

Q3- Result

Post Qualifying Penalties

Official F1 Journal Track Guide- Interlargos Sprint Weekend

Race Stats

Weekend Schedule

Track Stats

Random Facts

Previous Results

2019

2021

2022

Things to Look Out For!

Archives

Categories