Fantastic pace in the upgraded McLaren, combined with a well-timed safety car, earned Lando Norris his long-deserved first win. He managed the race perfectly and whilst some may argue that he got lucky, Lando wouldn’t be the first F1 driver to take his first win with the help of luck and doubtless he will achieve many more wins.
2. Oscar Piastri-
Oscar showed great race craft and pace through the first half of the race, even without all of the upgrades that Lando received, to be running second for a long time. His pace comparable to Verstappen was solid and whilst an unlucky collision with Sainz lost Oscar his chance of points, he showed off his potential this weekend.
3. Yuki Tsunoda-
Whilst more headlines were focused on Ricciardo’s fantastic fourth place in the sprint, it was Yuki who delivered during the race itself. Managing to comprehensively outpace George Russell in a theoretically slower car in the final stint, Yuki took a well-deserved seventh place and continues to cement his place as one of F1’s most consistent performers.
4. Esteban Ocon-
Like in China, Ocon had a fantastic performance in Miami, this time earning him (and Alpine) their first points of the season. Alpine look to be slowly moving up the grid as this season progresses and this week they seemed clearly ahead of Sauber and Williams, hinting that their long-term plan is starting to pay off.
5. Kevin Magnussen-
I never defined what a ‘star-driver’ was. For most, Kevin Magnussen caused absolute chaos in Miami, fighting beyond the limit in the sprint and causing a collision in the race. From my perspective however, Kevin was responsible for all of the entertainment this weekend. Without him, we would have had a boring sprint and may not have received a new winner. So Kevin is quickly becoming my problematic fave, hence his inclusion.
IndyCar provided me with some needed entertainment to bolster my weekend. Whilst not an all-time classic, Saturday’s running at the Indy Road Course mixed fun battles with an interesting game of strategy being played for the win. Like so many races last year, Alex Palou proved that, when in front, he becomes unstoppable. Palou laid down a gauntlet, reminding fans that his consistency and resilience makes him one of the favourites for the title.
At the race start, things did not go Palou’s way. He had a bad start, allowing himself to be overtaken by the impeccably talented Christian Lundgaard. Palou’s car may have had better pace, but he was stuck behind Lundgaard during the first stint, with Will Power rounding out the top three a few seconds behind. Behind the leading pack, chaos ensued as every driver struggled relentlessly to gain early track position. As this track can be challenging to overtake on, the best time to be aggressive is immediately. Some drivers took it too far however, most notably Santino Ferrucci. His move on Romain Grosjean, purposefully pushing him off of the track, was disgraceful. So much so that Marcus Ericsson, himself not a fan of Grosjean, appeared to push Ferrucci himself in response. Romain Grosjean’s race was deliberately ruined by Ferrucci, in a move that race control embarrassingly failed to punish. However, the racing gods don’t look well on dirty drivers, so when fate hit Ferrucci and he retired from the race with a technical issue, I can’t say it didn’t feel like karma.
An early undercut from Will Power forced Lundgaard and Palou to go into pit lane. Lundgaard retained the lead, but as Palou was on harder, colder tyres, Power took an opportunistic dive to take second place. At this point, it appeared that the race may swing against Alex. Power slowly reeled Lundgaard in, only to do so very quickly when Christian reached lapped traffic. Power took another opportunistic undercut to try to gain the lead of the race, but finding himself trapped behind Ericsson, this failed, with Lundgaard retaining track position after pitting on the next lap. However, whilst both Power and Lundgaard thought they were fighting for the win in this moment, they failed to account for Alex Palou, who in chess terms, was about to play a checkmate.
During the second stint, Palou was on the slower, harder, black tyres. They last longer and are faster towards the end of the stint, but most drivers found themselves limited during their required stint on these tyres. Palou, in contrast, was faster than anyone else on them, for example lapping 0.8-1.2 seconds a lap faster than Josef Newgarden, who was on those tyres at the same time. Thus, when both Power and Lundgaard attempted to undercut, Palou used his superior pace at the end of the stint to overcut both of them and come out in the lead. Palou proceeded to pull away until the end of the race and managed the race restart perfectly, to ensure that he would not lose his astutely gained track position.
The only other change amongst the leaders was when Lundgaard and Power took their final stops simultaneously. Whilst Power was behind Lundgaard, Team Penske has a perfectly oiled pit crew, whilst Rahal Letterman Lanigan has one that is comparatively unlubricated. Power was only ever going to retake second place. With the fight for the lead largely concluded, attention turned further down the field, namely, Coulton Herta’s fantastic recovery. After running out of fuel in qualifying, Coulton had to start the race in 24th. However, he showed his tenacity and pace throughout the race, picking off car after car and making no mistakes in the process. Channelling determination, Coulton finished the race in 7th. In a weekend that could have been a detriment to his championship chances, Coulton did the job of any championship contender, minimize your losses on the bad, unlucky weekends. His known pace can do the job on the other weekends.
Overall, I had a good time with this one. An interesting strategy, a reminder of Palou’s talent, determination from Herta and chaos behind. This season is setting itself up to be fantastically competitive. And from my own perspective, I’m happy that Scott Dixon had a clean uneventful race and finished 4th. It’s what we need to get championship number seven.
IndyCar provided spectators with another entertaining race at Barber Motorsports Park. Scott McLaughlin made it two wins in a row at this track. Whilst having to endure cautions, mannequins and his teammate, McLaughlin ensured that his superior pace was bolstered by solid race craft. After a week in which Team Penske faced controversy, having been disqualified for cheating during the opening race, McLaughlin delivered a much-needed result for the team, catapulting himself up the standings in the process.
Pato O’Ward had a less solid time. Whilst being one of IndyCar’s young talents, Pato seems to have a propensity to make mistakes under pressure. That was true at Long Beach and was repeated at Barber. Pato ruined his race on the second lap, through missing his braking point, locking up and going through a gravel trap. Shortly after this, he took Pietro Fittipaldi out of the race, receiving a drive-through penalty for his efforts. Due to the Penske disqualifications, Pato received a lifeline, with a belated victory in the opening race of the season. To see him throw this lifeline away with mistakes and collisions was incredibly disappointing.
Pato was not the only McLaren disasterclass of the day. The pit crew failed to attach Alexander Rossi’s tyre on properly, leading to it falling off. This led to a caution being called, which became the fulcrum of the event. At this point, McLaughlin and Power, who had been running 1st and 2nd, found themselves in the middle of the pack. Will Power briefly overtook Scott McLaughlin in the chaos, which could have provided him with the opportunity to win the race. However, McLaughlin showed his tenacity, overtaking Power with a fantastic move, before proceeding to cut through the pack. Another caution ensured that McLaughlin was in the hot seat to lead again, but before that caution, there was a unique occurrence.
Before Sting Ray Robb crashed, a slightly risqué mannequin fell from a bridge, onto the side of the track, before its hand was run over by an IndyCar. This was one of the most bizarre moments I’ve ever seen on live TV. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that anyone was convinced that they had run over an actual person, but I can imagine it was incredibly frightening for all involved. During the 3rd caution, Georgina (the mannequin) was removed from the side of the track, no doubt saving her from the fright of her life.
Overall, I had fun with this one. Whilst not being as memorable as the previous race, McLaughlin was a well-deserved winner and the race was complemented by a number of entertaining incidents, battling and mannequins.
I expected little from the Miami Grand Prix. The track is my least favourite on the calendar. The dusty, abrasive track surface that is difficult to overtake on is complemented by a terrible layout that no one enjoys. Miami feels less like a Grand Prix circuit and more like trying to hold a race in a Tesco car park. So, after some of the most boring qualifying sessions in years, I was prepared to be negative. This feeling only grew when one of the most divisive, controversial, and inflammatory politicians in the world decided to turn the event into a photo-op for his deranged political campaign. Yet, after I stored all this negative energy up and was really ready to write a rant, instead I watched one of the best races in the past couple of years. A long-deserved winner, an upgraded McLaren and a chaotic Kevin Magnussen saved the weekend, pleasantly surprising millions of fans in the process.
Initially, the race looked processional. Whilst there was some good battling in the first couple of laps, mostly thanks to the Alpine drivers, Max Verstappen looked to be under control. Whilst not pulling away from the field like he usually does, Max maintained a healthy three second gap. But the first sign of trouble came when he hit a cone. Unlike the woman who hit a cone outside Bristol Zoo a couple years ago, Verstappen did continue driving. But this cone proved an ominous warning, that perhaps fate was not on Max’s side last Sunday.
Shortly after the close encounter of the coned kind, Max pitted for a new set of tyres. Initially, I expected Max to build a comfortable lead when the pit cycle had concluded. Yet, instead of closing the gap, it appeared that Lando Norris, on used tyres, in his upgraded McLaren, was actually pulling away from Verstappen. Realizing that the McLaren had a race pace advantage, it became clear that Verstappen was going to face a challenge to win the race. A possible Norris win was on the cards. And then, F1’s glorious chaos merchant decided to place the winning deck in Lando’s hands.
Throughout this season, Kevin Magnussen has been responsible for half of the entertainment. Whilst his driving standards are not always impeccable, he brings the drama that F1 sorely needs. This was evident in the Saturday sprint, where his fight with Lewis Hamilton featured wheel banging, corner cutting and three penalties, turning an otherwise boring event into a roulette of chaos. Then on Sunday, Kevin caused a safety car through a collision with Sargeant at the perfect time for Lando to pit and retain the lead.
After the safety car period, Lando was ahead of Max, in a faster car, with newer tyres. He proceeded to build up the gap and win the race by around seven seconds. It has taken so long, but this race provided fans with the hope that Red Bull are not invincible. Now, with an upgraded Ferrari due in Imola, it appears that F1 may be about to get competitive again. I, for one, am unbelievably excited.
I have collated the fastest laps by each driver in qualifying, to show the average gap to the fastest driver. Whilst this extends the gap between drivers who made it to the top ten and those below, I’ve ruled using the overall fastest times a better grounding point for the true limit of the top cars, as the cars most likely to compete for points are my primary focus in these analyses.
Additionally, I have collected the data for the gaps between teammates. I did this by using their lap times set in the same qualifying session. I generally compare the last session both drivers competed in, however if both set their fastest times in earlier, I count these instead.
Race Pace-
I have calculated the average pace of the drivers, removing the first laps, laps in the pit lane and laps under the safety car as these are all too slow to be representative. Additionally, I removed any laps with major errors I noticed, for example spinning in the lap. In previous races, I excluded the laps after a safety car restart, as these tended to resemble the first laps, yet I counted them for China, as the long straights on the track seem to have negated the loss from cars being bunched up in the lap’s corners. I have only included drivers that completed at least 75% of the laps to not skew the season averages against drivers that never got the chance to run their cars on low fuel. As different drivers have a varying number of race stints, this skews the overall pace. Generally, if a driver makes more stops, their pace will be faster on average. This will be considered in my final thoughts and analysis. Additionally, the average pace per stint and number of stints are recorded at the bottom of this article, for those interested in viewing more precise estimates of pace relative to other drivers on the same stint.
Analysis:
• This race offers the best direct comparison between teammates so far this season, as the opportune safety car caused most teammates to have the exact same strategy during the second half of the race. • The undercut was very powerful during this race, however the safety car negated the advantage those who had stopped early had. This proved an advantage for Norris and Leclerc, who did not pit before the safety car, however, if there was no safety car, it is likely both drivers would have lost out. • Verstappen was the only driver to complete lap twenty one of the race before the safety car was called. • As seen on Twitter, I can confirm that every lap Verstappen completed was faster than the respective laps from Perez, Leclerc, and Norris. These drivers were never faster than Verstappen, not for a lap, not for a stint and probably not even for a corner. • Piastri was significantly slower than Norris for the entire race, in every stint, even before he received damage. Whilst he has shown a lot of potential, he really needs to learn how to manage the tyres soon. This is an essential skill to be successful in the sport, if Oscar is the generational talent many have claimed, he can’t use inexperience as an excuse for bad race pace. • This was the first weekend that Alpine did not look like the slowest car. I would say, well done, but they are the Renault works team, they don’t really have too many excuses for their performance this year.
Further Resources- Qualifying Pace:
Driver
Fastest Qualifying Time
Max Verstappen
93.66 (0%)
Sergio Perez
93.982 (+0.344%)
Fernando Alonso
94.148 (+0.521%)
Lando Norris
94.165 (+0.539%)
Oscar Piastri
94.273 (+0.654%)
Charles Leclerc
94.289 (+0.671%)
Carlos Sainz
94.297 (+0.680%)
George Russell
94.433 (+0.825%)
Nico Hulkenberg
94.604 (+1.008%)
Valtteri Bottas
94.665 (+1.073%)
Lance Stroll
94.838 (+1.257%)
Daniel Ricciardo
94.934 (+1.360%)
Esteban Ocon
95.223 (+1.669%)
Alexander Albon
95.241 (+1.688%)
Pierre Gasly
95.287 (+1.737%)
Zhou Guanyu
95.505 (+1.970%)
Kevin Magnussen
95.516 (+1.982%)
Lewis Hamilton
95.573 (+2.042%)
Yuki Tsunoda
95.746 (+2.227%)
Logan Sargeant
96.358 (+2.881%)
Average Race Pace:
Driver
Pace
Max Verstappen
99.779 (0%)
Sergio Perez
100.42 (+0.643%)
Lando Norris
100.664 (+0.887%)
Fernando Alonso
100.771 (+0.995%)
Charles Leclerc
100.979 (+1.203%)
George Russell
101.19 (+1.414%)
Carlos Sainz
101.204 (+1.428%)
Lance Stroll
101.365 (+1.590%)
Pierre Gasly
101.576 (+1.802%)
Oscar Piastri
101.64 (+1.865%)
Zhou Guanyu
101.777 (+2.002%)
Nico Hulkenberg
101.854 (+2.080%)
Lewis Hamilton
101.888 (+2.114%)
Esteban Ocon
101.946 (+2.172%)
Alexander Albon
102.154 (+2.380%)
Kevin Magnussen
102.567 (+2.794%)
Logan Sargeant
102.641 (+2.869%)
All Stints:
Best Stints
Pace
Verstappen 3rd (25L/NH)
99.194
Alonso 4th (12L/NM)
99.572
Norris 2nd (25L/NH)
99.743
Perez 3rd (25L/NH)
99.849
Verstappen 2nd (7L/NH)
99.982
Leclerc 2nd (25L/NH)
100.079
Alonso 3rd (11L/NS)
100.259
Zhou 4th (15L/NS)
100.287
Sainz 2nd (27L/NH)
100.408
Stroll 5th (20L/UH)
100.485
Gasly 4th (17L/NM)
100.519
Russell 3rd (25L/NH)
100.591
Perez 2nd (6L/NH)
100.622
Verstappen 1st (11L/NM)
100.978
Piastri 3rd (25L/NH)
101.274
Hamilton 3rd (25L/NH)
101.276
Alonso 2nd (8L/NH)
101.38
Hulkenberg 3rd (25L/NH)
101.394
Russell 2nd (8L/NM)
101.45
Ocon 3rd (25L/NH)
101.457
Ricciardo 2nd (5L/NM)
101.477
Gasly 3rd (6L/NH)
101.486
Albon 3rd (25L/NH)
101.535
Perez 1st (11L/NM)
101.607
Zhou 3rd (8L/NH)
101.739
Stroll 2nd (10L/NM)
101.846
Gasly 2nd (8L/NH)
101.86
Norris 1st (19L/NM)
101.875
Magnussen 3rd (25L/NM)
101.928
Hulkenberg 2nd (11L/NH)
102.126
Leclerc 1st (19L/NM)
102.163
Sargeant 2nd (7L/NM)
102.222
Bottas 2nd (9L/NH)
102.223
Ocon 2nd (10L/NH)
102.255
Hamilton 2nd (10L/NM)
102.256
Sargeant 3rd (25L/NH)
102.295
Alonso 1st (9L/NM)
102.455
Tsunoda 2nd (11L/NM)
102.582
Piastri 1st (14L/NM)
102.583
Zhou 2nd (11L/NH)
102.606
Russell 1st (9L/NM)
102.62
Sainz 1st (15L/NM)
102.636
Stroll 1st (7L/NS)
102.825
Albon 2nd (10L/NM)
102.884
Bottas 1st (7L/NM)
103.053
Ocon 1st (7L/NM)
103.249
Hulkenberg 1st (6L/NM)
103.272
Albon 1st (7L/NM)
103.32
Gasly 1st (9L/NM)
103.381
Ricciardo 1st (12L/NM)
103.396
Tsunoda 1st (6L/NS)
103.53
Hamilton 1st (7L/NS)
103.549
Sargeant 1st (11L/NS)
103.799
Magnussen 1st (15L/NH)
103.812
Zhou 1st (6L/NM)
104.029
Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UM= Used Mediums, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs
After a couple of duds, IndyCar returned to Long Beach to deliver a thriller. Strategy determined the day, but only one driver could make the winning strategy work. Six-time champion Scott Dixon reminded us that when fuel saving is required, there’s no other driver to back.
The race opened with some frantic, exciting laps, as the drivers jostled, given the importance of gaining early track position in a race where tyre saving could prove key. Felix Rosenqvist, who took a sensational pole on Saturday, once again did not have the race pace, losing several places to put himself out of the contention for the win. Will Power built a healthy lead over the field in the first stint, at this point looking like a shoo-in for victory lane. Yet fate had other plans, instigated by Christian Rasmussen’s crash causing an early caution period.
In response to the caution, amongst other drivers, Will Power and Scott Dixon jumped into pit lane, whilst Power’s teammate, Josef Newgarden stayed out. Those who pitted had to enter extreme fuel saving mode, making winning the race far harder for Will Power. A few laps later Dixon opportunistically overtook Power, ending Power’s chances and placing himself in the hot seat of leading the alternate strategy. And whilst Power lost out through this strategy, Dixon somehow won. Dixon’s team Chip Ganassi, Power’s Team Penske and even Scott Dixon himself were convinced that it would be impossible to save enough fuel at winning pace, yet not even physics could prevent this sensation.
Yet before winning the race, Scott Dixon still had to handle a fast-charging and determined Josef Newgarden, who caught Dixon easily. Nothing but perfection would be able to prevent Penske from taking victory at this point, yet Scott took every line correctly, keeping Josef in his dirty air, preventing what should have been an easy pass from even looking possible. Dixon was about to take one of the most unlikely wins in recent IndyCar history. As for his rival at Team Penske, he still had a little more to lose.
A few laps before the end the Dixon-Newgarden battle evolved into a four car battle for the win. Newgarden’s closing speed combined with a slight misjudgment from Colton Herta behind meant that Josef was hit from behind. Unfortunately for Penske, what looked like slight contact put Newgarden’s car into anti-stall, causing them to not only lose the win, but the podium. No penalty was given to Herta, in what on balance seemed a fair decision. In comparison to Pato O’Ward completely out breaking himself and slamming into his teammate at the race’s start, or Lance Stroll’s antics behind the safety car in F1, Herta’s mistake was slight and did not result in major contact. The IndyCar stewards recognized that this resembled the contact that can occur in wheel-to-wheel combat, to Penske’s disappointment. Though whilst disappointing rival teams, for motorsports to remain fun I believe there should be leniency given for some slight contact to encourage aggressive and competitive racing. Herta displayed maturity after the race though, immediately taking responsibility for his slight mistake. In comparison to Lance Stroll’s inability to take any responsibility for his actions, I’m glad that one driver this weekend was able to demonstrate how to maturely respond to one’s errors.
So, we had a bold fuel strategy leading to an unexpected winner and four-car battle for the race lead. These are the races IndyCar is known for, a chess-like strategy that leaves the audience guessing who will take victory until the final laps. It’s taken six weeks longer than it should have to say this, but IndyCar is back.
Max was dominant this weekend, easily having the pace over all the other cars. Surviving two safety car restarts with no trouble, Verstappen drove one of his classic, relaxing Sunday afternoon drives. The dominance of Red Bull this weekend was scary, these Ferrari upgrades cannot come soon enough.
2. Lando Norris-
Whilst bottling the chance to win the Saturday Sprint, Lando was the MVP this weekend. His pace in the wet qualifying was scarily good and ensured that Perez was out paced, out strategized, and out raced. The driver of the day award was well deserved.
3. Fernando Alonso-
Fernando had an amazing couple of qualifying sessions, ending up third. He then ran second throughout the early portion of the race. Whilst dropping down due to a car lacking race pace and bad strategy, Fernando recovered through the field with a series of varied and decisive overtakes, finishing seventh and taking the fastest lap to boot.
4. Nico Hulkenberg-
Hulkenberg continued his strong start to the season to secure yet another point for Haas. Nico qualified in the top ten and made no major errors to finish in the best possible position for his car. Haas have been the big surprise of the season and are beginning to look like rockstars.
5. Esteban Ocon-
Ocon has performed well during the season, dragging that tractor into positions it has no right being in. This week, that position was eleventh, just outside of the points. Whilst seldom on screen, I noticed Ocon making moves on the timing screen. How he did so in that car is anyone’s guess, but it deserves a shout out.
A decent race in Shanghai this weekend was buoyed by the stellar commentary of Nico Rosberg. He has the perspective of someone who deeply understands the sport, able to analyse moment-to-moment actions quickly and reasonably, alongside possessing a balanced perspective on the long-term picture of the race. He is not afraid to call out Crofty when he makes flawed observations, which afforded me the usual activity of shouting at my TV whenever I disagree with him. To accredit David Croft, he can be great at delivering hype during exciting battles, but it helps to have a more analytical voice to balance the coverage out.
Regardless of Nico Rosberg’s commentary, I enjoy this track. There are a variety of corners, all wide enough to allow for possible overtakes. This allows for drivers to attempt different lines and find unique opportunities to make those vital moves fans enjoy. The crowd also delivered, the hype for Zhou Guanyu, F1’s first Chinese driver, rivalling the support from Japanese or Dutch fans. Seeing Zhou crying at the end after finally racing at home was an incredibly wholesome moment. Whilst Zhou has not been an outstanding driver, a country that possesses over a billion people and one of the most important markets in the world needs a star to cheer.
Two weeks ago, McLaren were ruing their disappointment in Japan. But this week, their disappointment dissipated, as they unexpectedly proved the second fastest team. Whilst not having the pace to challenge Verstappen, Lando Norris maximized his pace to finish in second, a fantastic result for the team. Post-race, Lando was hopeful of achieving his long-awaited win this year and if McLaren can develop their car well, his first win seems inevitable and deserving for a driver of evident talent.
Two other topics that warrant mentioning are the arbiters of entertainment, Ferrari and Fernando. Whilst both suffered a regretful weekend, Ferrari lacking pace and Aston Martin strategy, the best overtakes all seemed to be those committed by Fernando and Charles. Fernando instantly ended Sergio Perez’s chance of winning the race by overtaking him at the start and the Ferrari’s picked their way through the slower cars. Charles humbled his on-form teammate, whilst in the meantime Alonso’s teammate humbled himself. The second half of the race proved weak for both drivers, Leclerc slowly realizing that he hadn’t been given the pace to fight Norris and Aston foolishly pitting Alonso onto soft tyres, then requiring another pit stop to finish the race. But both drivers used their talent to maximize the situations, Leclerc finishing just off of the podium and Alonso making decisive moves in his final stint to wrap up a healthy haul of points.
In conclusion, we had a decent weekend of F1 with good commentary, a solid track and a surprising second place. It’s good to have Shanghai back on the Formula One calendar, though hopefully next year we have a fight for the win.
Ryan's Lil' F1 Blog 