DESERT REGION – LAS VEGAS CHAPTER
4th Quarter 2019 Pt 2/3
FORMULA 1 NEWS
The Situation in Early October
With Ferrari suddenly resurgent, and then not quite so resurgent, and a bunch of exciting races recently highly contested, things are looking pretty good for a great finish to the season. But, let’s be realistic, both the drivers’ and the constructors’ championships are all but decided. With 16 (of 21) races are in the books, the points situation looks like this:
Drivers
Hamilton 309 … Bottas 239 …Verstappen 197 … Leclerc 197…Vettel 169
Manufacturers
Mercedes GP 548 … Ferrari 366 … Red Bull 286
While there is still hope, it is slimmer than slim. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be some great racing from now until the season ends.
October 13: GP of Japan at Suzuka (17)
This 3.6 mile track rewards high downforce (advantage Mercedes and Red Bull) but also demands high speed (advantage Ferrari). Thus, as might be expected, the times during Practice were quite close, with Mercedes generally at the top of the heap. But, an impending typhoon was the major subject of discussion. In response, the organizers cancelled Free Practice 3 and postponed Qualifying (both scheduled for Saturday). After the typhoon moved on, Qualifying was run on Sunday morning, four hours before the start of the race.
Sunday morning was cloudy, but clearing; Qualifying was conducted without major incident, or any more rain. However, it was still very windy and the track was ‘green’ (the rubber on the track had been washed away by the rain), meaning grip was low. Combined with the lack of practice, a few off road excursions that delayed the proceedings were no surprise. The results were a big surprise: Vettel, Leclerc, Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, and Albon, with everyone on soft tires. Where had Ferrari found its pace? Where had Vettel found his pace? Could Ferrari maintain its pace during the race?
By race time early Sunday afternoon, the weather was sunny and warm, and the wind had died down considerably. What typhoon? Vettel made a terrible start and was passed immediately by Bottas. Leclerc’s start wasn’t much better, putting him under severe pressure from Verstappen; the two fought for position in turn 1, and collided. Verstappen’s car suffered the greater long term damage; he eventually retired at lap 15. Leclerc suffered severe damage to his front wing, which slowly disintegrated piece by piece as he (incomprehensively) attempted to continue, which he managed to do for a few laps with his wing dragging and shedding shards of carbon fiber. He was forced to the pits on lap 4 and returned at the rear of the field. When you combine these significant occurrences with several other lesser comings together, the first lap could definitely be considered eventful.
After things settled down a bit, the running order at lap 10 was Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Sainz (McLaren), and Albon. Leclerc, making his way back towards the front, was 16th. At this point Hamilton began to edge up on Vettel, preparing to challenge the German for second place.
Albon was the first of the leaders to stop for new tires (lap 15), and the others followed soon thereafter. While most everyone opted to change to the medium rubber, thus fulfilling the requirement to use two of the three available compounds, Vettel chose to mount a second set of the soft rubber, meaning he would need to stop again. Leclerc, who had stopped on lap four (for a new wing and fresh tires), was the last of the leaders to stop (lap 26). Having already used both the mediums and the softs, he chose the soft rubber for his third set of tires. By this time, virtually all had stopped and the field was quite spread out; the running order was Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, and Albon, with Leclerc in 10th. A period of intense racing followed, especially between the cars occupying 7th through 14th place, with many battles and passes throughout the field. Leclerc’s progress through the field is worthy of special note; he was soon up to 6th place and closing fast on the leaders. Meanwhile, Vettel made a second stop (lap 32) for medium tires; soon thereafter he was joined in the two stop group by Albon and Bottas. Hamilton (now leading by a comfortable margin, but with aging tires and slowing lap times) was the last to concede that one stop would not be sufficient; he made his second stop on lap 42, choosing the soft tires. But, by then, he had lost time and only managed to rejoin the fray 5 seconds behind Vettel and 15 seconds behind Bottas.
On his new tires, Hamilton quickly (by lap 47) caught Vettel and then repeatedly tried to pass the Ferrari for second place. But Vettel fought for all of his worth, refusing to let the Mercedes by. This battle raged lap-after-lap, with neither of the multi-time world champions giving an inch…excellent racing! Six laps later (lap 53) the race ended with Hamilton still unable to do the deed. The finishing order was Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton Albon, Sainz (McLaren), Leclerc, and Ricciardo. Unfortunately for Leclerc, after the conclusion of the race he was assessed 15 seconds of penalties for the lap one encounter with Verstappen and for driving unsafely with his damaged front wing after the collision. The 15 seconds dropped him to seventh place, behind Ricciardo.
It just simply bears repeating: Mercedes seems able to find a way to win when it should lose, while Ferrari seems to find a way to lose when it should win…very frustrating.
October 27: GP of Mexico (18)
This short, 2.7 mile track is located in central Mexico, near the capital (population 21 million). As such, it is at very high elevation (more than 7,500 feet), meaning that the air is thin. With little oxygen to burn, horsepower is down, as is aerodynamic downforce, meaning the cars will be sliding, the brakes won’t be working, and the tires will be degrading fast. In contrast to all of that negativity, the track is very fast, with average lap speeds around 130 mph, and top speeds well over 220 mph. Oh, intermittent rain was forecast throughout the weekend. In other words, things might get very interesting.
After all of this anticipation, not much happened in any of the three Practice sessions. Overnight rains resulted in wet mornings and some serious slipping and sliding (and a few big spins and crashes), but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. The Ferraris looked like the class of the field.
Qualifying brought clearing skies and warmer temperatures. All of the top 6 ran the medium tires in Q2, meaning those were the tires they would use at the start of the race. Bottas spun and had a massive crash at the end of Q3 that terminated the session; as a result none of the fast guys’ fastest times were counted. The qualifying order was Verstappen, Leclerc, Vettel, Hamilton, Albon, and Bottas. Long after Qualifying was in the books, Verstappen was given a three spot grid penalty for not slowing quickly enough when a yellow flag was waved. To say he was livid would be an understatement. He started fourth.
By Sunday afternoon race time, skies were blue and temperatures were hot. It had again rained overnight, washing away the built-up rubber and reducing grip. How this would affect tire degradation was a mystery. The start was pretty much uneventful, with only a bump between Vettel and Hamilton of note. But, after the dicing of the first lap there were major changes in the running order: Leclerc, Vettel, Albon, Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Bottas, and Verstappen, who by this time must have been furious to see his pole position dissolve to 8th place so quickly. In response he attempted (lap 5) to force his way past Bottas, which led to a back-and-forth battle for seventh place that ultimately resulted in a punctured tire and a trip to pits for Mad Max. He rejoined in last place on hard compound tires. Meanwhile, Hamilton passed Sainz, and Bottas passed both Norris and Sainz. The race was on.
The drivers in the field who had started on the soft rubber began making pit stops at lap 10. They mostly chose the hard tires for their second stints. As the laps ticked by, it became obvious that closely following a car ahead would be problematic because of ensuing high temperatures, both engine and brakes, in the following car. Albon and Leclerc, who had started on medium tires, made their first stops at about lap 15. They opted for new medium tires, meaning they would need to stop again. Meanwhile, Hamilton, Bottas, and Vettel continued to lap on their original medium tires: Hamilton delayed his pit stop to lap 24, while Bottas and Vettel soldiered on until lap 37: all three chose to mount the hard tires, hoping they would make it to the end of the 71 lap race. Leclerc and Albon made their second stops around lap 44, also choosing to continue on hard tires. With the dust settled and everyone ready for a fight to the finish, the running order was Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Leclerc, and Albon. Verstappen was 7th after working his way up through the field.
At this point, the front runners were very close together, with about 5 seconds covering the top four. Hamilton was in the lead, but he was on older tires than both Vettel and Bottas, who were close on his tail. It looked like an exciting conclusion was in store. But it didn’t happen. As mentioned before, following another car closely in hopes of passing caused overheating. Unfortunately, as a consequence, a parade to the finish ensued with little to note transpiring. The finishing order was Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Leclerc, Albon, and Verstappen.
There really isn’t much to say about this race. The pace of the leading cars was very close which, along with the over-heating issues, made it difficult to pass. Even in hindsight, there was no clear cut strategy advantage. In the end, Mr. Lucky prevailed again. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
November 3: GP of the United States (19)
With the season coming to a close and most of the big questions either answered or essentially answered, the F1 circus finally ventured to Austin for the US Grand Prix. And, something unexpected, for Texas, was encountered – cold. And something else unexpected was encountered – a very bumpy track due to recent differential settlement. But, our brave lads soldiered on and the race proceeded.
Given the conditions, the cars were driven with a bit of circumspect in Practice 1 and 2, no one wanted to damage their steeds over the wavy surface. But, as the Practice laps droned by, everyone became more confident and lap times dropped. By Practice 3 on Saturday morning, when temperatures were significantly higher than Friday, the competition was on. And, the competition was close; there was little to choose between Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull.
Qualifying was even warmer, but windy, which seemed to affect some cars more than others. Most of the fast guys (Albon – on softs – excepted) ran Q2 on the medium tires so they could use them for the start of the race. The rest of the field was split, some on softs, some on mediums, and some on hards! This indicates that opinions as to tire wear versus lap times, and the number of stops that would be necessary, were varied, which would make the race more interesting. In any case, everyone was on softs for Q3 and the big battle for pole. In the end, the top spots were of no real surprise, but they did show how close the top teams were: Bottas, Vettel, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Albon. Just over 1/10 of a second covered the top four!
Normal Texas weather, hot and very windy, finally arrived just in time for race day. How these different conditions would affect the cars and their tires was yet to be determined. It was a pretty clean start, but not a good one for the Ferraris who failed to maintain their grid positions. Moreover, virtually immediately, Vettel began to complain that his car was driving poorly and had no grip. Moreover, there seemed to be no apparent cause for his woes. It was no surprise then that he fell further down the order than anyone else at the front. At the end of lap 1 the running order was Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris (McLaren), and Vettel. Albon was in the pits after a small shunt with Sainz in the second McLaren. As the early laps rolled on, Vettel continued to complain, and on lap 8 the cause of his woes became quite apparent: the rear suspension of the Ferrari failed in spectacular fashion and Vettel was out of the fray. The question arises: was the failure due to the many laps run over the bumpy track? Was it due to fatigue in the suspension part that failed? Was it due to a combination of the two (most likely answer)?
Verstappen (lap 14) was the first of the front runners to stop for tires, switching from mediums to hards, hoping they could make it to the end of the 56 lap race. Bottas (lap 15), Leclerc (lap 21), and Hamilton (lap 24) followed his lead. So, by lap 25 all of the remaining contenders had stopped and the running order was Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton, and Leclerc. Albon, after his pit stop and some aggressive driving, was back to 11th.
But, the plans of the leaders were soon dashed. By lap 35, with still 20 laps remaining, their hard tires were dying, forcing them to make a second stop. Verstappen and Bottas stopped at this point (switching to mediums), while Leclerc soldiered on to lap 43 before stopping, so that he could make his last stint on the soft rubber. Given that he was 20 seconds or so behind the leaders, a different strategy was his only hope. And so, the race was on. The question: could Bottas, Verstappen or Leclerc (all on far newer, and softer, tires) catch the leader (Hamilton) on his aging hard rubber. Bottas was sniffing his teammate’s tailpipe by lap 45, but he was having problems trying to follow closely. On lap 51, with nothing to lose, Bottas made a serious attempt to pass. It failed and the two Mercedes almost crashed. Bottas persisted and (on lap 52) forced his way to the front with a very aggressive move. The final finishing order was Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, and Leclerc, all in close proximity.
With this result, Hamilton wins his 6th world championship. Only Michael Schumacher (with 7) has more…aahh, the grand old days.
Also with this result it has become obvious that whatever advantage Ferrari gained during the summer break has dissipated to nothing. Mercedes is once again fastest.