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Out of the points in Sakhir
. 2020 FIA Formula One Sakhir Grand Prix – Race – Sunday Weather: clear night, 21.1-20.2°C air, 23.8-22.6°C track Bahrain produced a second spectacular race in two weeks as tonight’s relatively sedate affair burst into action with a late safety car. Further surprises conspired to turn the order upside down and produce a new first-time winner in the shape of Sergio Perez, but unfortunately the shake-up didn’t reward our efforts, with Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen finishing 13th and 14th respectively. The race start saw Antonio gain one place from his P14 grid slot, while Kimi was the victim of a spin at turn three that compromised the remainder…
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Bittersweet Saturday night
Weather: FP3: clear night, 25.0-24.7°C air, 29.8-28.4°C track; Q: clear night, 23.8-24.0°C air, 26.9-26.5°C track In the end, qualifying was a relatively civilised affair: the feared handbags at dusk did not materialise and, provided everyone got out of the way in time, drivers managed to go through the session as they intended. Q1 was a tense segment, with 20 cars jostling for position on the limited asphalt available and tiny margins, courtesy of the short layout, dividing the drivers on the timesheets. It was a scrappy session for many, and unfortunately it ended up with Kimi missing the cut for the top 15. It wasn’t the result we expected and…
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2020 FIA Formula One Sakhir Grand Prix – Practice – Friday
They promised quick and quick was indeed delivered. The novel layout of the Bahrain International Circuit, the “Outer loop”, produced sub-minute laptimes and prompted drivers to jostle for position ahead of their flying laps – something we expect to play a major role in qualifying. Times, however, were not at the front of anyone’s mind tonight. As always, on whatever track, Friday was about finding data and fine-tuning the set-up of the car for these most unique circumstances. Kimi and Antonio were able to run two full sessions without technical issues and the engineers are already debriefing, working hard to extract those extra last bits of performance that can make…
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Hills to ride, no mountains to climb
The Circuito do Algarve is not Pico, Portugal’s highest peak: but, at least, you can enjoy the undulating landscape of this track in the relatively easy-to-reach southern coast of the country, saving yourself the trek to the (admittedly beautiful) Azores islands, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Once the novelty of the up-and-down layout wears off and the teams get down to the business of learning a new track, however, it’s Friday as usual. It’s lap after lap of discovering the hidden secrets of the circuit – every bump, every kerb, the evolution of the slippery tarmac – and fine-tuning the car’s setup with the long view to qualifying…
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No reward for our Sunday heroics
. Weather: overcast, occasional drizzle, 20.5-20.0°C air, 25.4-24.4°C track Even those Formula One seasoned veterans, who have endured many a campaign, can sometimes get hyped about something happening on track. No matter how much cynicism has crept in over the years, how inured to the ups and down of racing one has become, there are moments that still set hearts racing. Kimi Räikkönen surging from P16 on the grid to race in sixth at the beginning of lap two provided one of those moments. As the Finn overtook Leclerc and set upon harassing Verstappen, we were left contemplating one of this season’s great opening couple of laps – and dreaming…
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Saturday doesn’t live up to its promise
. Weather: FP3: sunny 18.6-19.9°C air, 24.0-30.4°C track; Q: sunny, 20.9-21.2°C air, 35.3-35.3°C track The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN cars of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi will line up on the eighth and ninth rows of the grid respectively in tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix. The promise of the morning session, in which the drivers felt at ease with their C39s, blew away in the gusts of wind battering the Portuguese coast in the afternoon. In the end, Kimi and Antonio fell short of Q2, bumped out in the dying moments of the first segment of qualifying. It’s a result that falls short of the team’s own expectations, of course, but…
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2020 Portuguese Grand Prix: Preview
The bizarre 2020 season, with its one-off calendar, has produced a few unusual sights this year. Old venues have returned, new ones made an appearance, we had two races in the same venue: before the season is over, we will also experience multiple layout and shortened weekends. And yet, going to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve will have a different flavour. For more than a decade the track, commonly known as Portimão due to the name of the nearby town in southern Portugal, has been touted as a possible venue for Formula One, hosting testing sessions and shakedowns and featuring on the calendar in GP2: nothing came of all the rumours…
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Opmeer and Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team leap into the lead after F1 Esports Series round one
. Two wins and four overall podiums in the first three races propelled Jarno Opmeer and Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team into the lead of the F1 Esports Series as the 2020 campaign began with a bang for the team. Pitched against the best drivers in the world in the most competitive field in the Series’ history, Opmeer and team-mate, Daniel Bereznay, established themselves as the pair to beat in the first week of the four-event championship, with races in Bahrain, Vietnam and China testing them in a variety of tracks. A new qualifying format, mirroring that used by Formula One, saw both drivers book a place in…
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Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team racing for the F1 Esports crown
The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team will begin their 2020 F1 Esports season tonight as the team look to improve upon their podium finish in 2019. During the off-season, the team signed one of the world’s leading esports talents in Jarno Opmeer, who finished fourth in his rookie F1 Esports season. Jarno joins Hungarian superstar, Daniel Bereznay, who extended his stay with the team for 2020. Bereznay ended last year in imperious form, signing off with three wins at Spa, Monza and Interlagos, and enters this year’s campaign as one of the favourites for the title. Dutchman Opmeer arrives into the 2020 season full of confidence after an…
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Antonio leads the charge in Qualifying
. 2020 FIA Formula One Eifel Grand Prix – Qualifying – Saturday Weather: FP3: sunny 8.1-8.3°C air, 14.2-16.0°C track; Q: sunny, 9.3-10.0°C air, 18.6-19.6°C track The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting, quipped Andy Warhol, and he may have not been wrong. After yesterday’s damp squib, with both sessions cancelled due to the inclement and foggy weather, the sight of cars heading out of their garages for FP3 – the sole practice sessions left in the weekend – was a welcome one, more than it normally would on a Saturday morning. To top the day with Antonio’s first appearance in Q2 this season, a fine result in…
