Sergio Perez to Start from Pitlane After Power Unit Allocation Violation

Following Sergio Perez’s damage sustained in the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint in a three car scuffle that took Perez out of the race. During the rebuild the FIA stewards have noted that Red Bill replaced the chassis due to damage sustained in the crash. The issue was that the build progressed beyond the survival cell stage – containing the fuel tank and cockpit – without FIA supervision. Because the FIA stewards weren’t present during replacement the rebuild is being deemed as a separate car which is breach of the sporting regulations. Perez is now required to start the GP from pitlane after exceeding the prescribed number of power unit components by taking a fifth internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K plus a fourth control electronics package as part of the repairs.

Perez may also face an addition time penalty pending FIA steward review. The Red Bull team began working on the car almost immediately after the car was recovered and brought back to the pitlane. The issue is that the cars are to be made available for FIA inspection. The Specific language state, “[The Car] must be covered and ready for FIA seals to be applied in order to ensure that they remain secure until the following day.” Given the fact that Red Bull started working on the car immediately they were also in direct breach of this regulation.

The FIA stewards summoned Red Bull but the outcome is not yet known. We will report back with any additional sanctions.

Max Verstappen clinched the 2023 F1 Drivers Championship today at Lusail after finished second in the Qatar Sprint Race. Verstappen entered the weekend with very little work to clinch the title. Three points is all that separated him from a third consecutive title. While F1 rookie denied Max another win on the season but the result still awarded him the points he needed. With the drivers championship and constructors champion now wrapped up Red Bull can place their focus on developing next years car and possibly securing P2 in the drivers championship with Sergio Perez.

Perez Taken out in the Qatar Sprint

What seemed like a chance at redemption for Perez quickly turned into a nightmare. Perez was taken out of the race due to a three car incident initiated behind him. There was no where for Perez to go to avoid the crash and unfortunately for the Mexican driver he lost more of his points lead to Lewis Hamilton who finished P5. Perez will start from P13 in the Grand Prix tomorrow and will have a huge uphill battle already losing 4 points to Hamilton. Perez can’t lose his lead entirely to Hamilton this weekend. Even if Perez finishes outside of the Points and Hamilton wins the Qatar Grand Prix with fastest lap. Perez would still be 3 points ahead heading into the next round at Circuit of the Americas in the United States. It is a pivotal moment for Perez to perform and the pressure will be on.

Piastri Wins His First F1 Race

Denying the now Verstappen the win in the Qatar Sprint was a small consolation for F1 rookie Oscar Piastri. Piastri secured his first win in F1 from pole position today at Lusail. In a race plagued with 3 safety cars in just 19 laps Piastri kept his cool on all three restarts and put his head down to pull away at the front. George Russell made an early challenge for the lead but tire degradation saw his pace drop dramatically and Piastri was able to pass him with ease. It was an incredible feat for the McLaren driver. We will see if he can double the magic in the Grand Prix tomorrow.

Full Qatar Sprint Race Results are Below

In surprising fashion Oscar Piastri stunned the grid by topping the table in the sprint shootout. The sprint shootout will set the grid for the sprint race set to take place later today. Piastri claimed pole by setting a 1m24.454 lap beating out his teammate Lando Norris in second by 0.08s. Championship leader Max Verstappen finished in third. The Mercedes who seemingly had found some pace in Qualifying for the main grand prix weren’t able to convert that early success into a double top 5 finish again. However, Russell will start from fourth on the grid which puts him in good points scoring range.

Track Limit Changes Threw a Curve Ball for the Drivers

Track limits were revised at Turns 12 and 13, so the drivers were given a 10-minute “practice familiarization session” prior to the start of the shootout. This extra time proved to be beneficial for Pisatri. Piastri stated the following after the session, “I’m very, very happy. It was a pretty good lap. I saw Lando on the big screen, he made mistake at the last corner, so I don’t know what his lap was looking like, but no, I’m very, very happy. I struggled quite a bit in the first two parts of that qualifying and then got my act together a bit more for the last one.”

Russell’s teammate, 7 time world champion Lewis Hamilton could only find the pace to finish P12 in the shootout. A far cry from his finish in qualifying for the grand prix. Sergio Perez the man feeling pressure in second place in the drivers champion finished P8. Perez’s goal this weekend is to finish in front of Hamilton no matter what. Currently Perez holds a 33 point lead over Hamilton for second place. If he stay ahead that is one less race that Hamilton has to catch up in the points standings. Hamilton struggled with the revised track limits after riding on the curbing multiple times and losing tenths ultimately ruining his lap times.

The sprint race begins later this morning.

Full Qatar Sprint Shootout Results are Below

After topping the table in FP1 Max Verstappen ran 5 tenths faster than George Russell in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix today at Lusail. In third was 7 time champion Lewis Hamilton who has a chance to salvage second place in the drivers championship this year. Verstappen only needs 3 points to clinch the 2023 Drivers Championship this weekend. However he will first have to contend with the sprint shootout and sprint race on Saturday to determine if the Grand Prix result will have any bearing. Verstappen had the following words after Qualifying, “Great start to the weekend. It’s quite tricky out there, but I’m very happy to be on pole, it’s been a good day for us. Let’s make sure tomorrow we have a good day as well.”

Sergio Perez Loses Out in Qualifying, Again

Unfortunately for Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez. The risk to his second place position in the drivers championship continues to be threatened. The track conditions were variable at Lusail with large amounts of dust and sand blowing on to the track creating inconsistent contact patches throughout the circuit. While most of the drivers seemed to contend with these conditions Sergio Perez didn’t do himself any favors in qualifying. Perez finished in a very underwhelming P13. Perez only holds a 33 point lead in the championship over Lewis Hamilton in the battle for second place. Starting from P13 will be a huge uphill battle for Perez to salvage anything this weekend. This may end up being a damage control weekend if he can’t pull a miracle on Sunday.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ran fifth fastest behind a hungry Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) who will be looking to return to podium finishing ways as he closes out the season. Alpine secure a double Q3 finish. A feat that hasn’t come often this season. McLaren also secured a double Q3 finish with Oscar Piastri P6 and Lando Norris P10 claiming the last spot.

Full Qatar Grand Prix Qualifying Results Below

After early week speculation that Daniel Ricciardo may be returning this weekend for the Qatar Grand Prix. It has been confirmed today by Alpha Tauri that Liam Lawson will continue to assume the fill in role for the injured Ricciardo. Ricciardo injured his wrist at the Dutch Grand Prix earlier this year. He under went surgery for the damage shortly after but has not yet reached 100% strength to return to racing. In his absence Liam Lawson is making a name for himself. Some may even go as far to say that he deserves a seat in F1 after out performing teammate Yuki Tsunoda multiple times since assuming the mantle 5 races ago.

Liam Lawson Comments on the Upcoming Race Weekend

“Now we move on to Qatar. I’m not sure how we’ll get on there or how the upgrades will work. I think it’s hard to say because where we struggled in Japan was mainly in the high speed, in Sector 1. We still have more to learn about our new package, and I’m not so sure that Qatar is the type of circuit that will suit our car. Learning takes time, and we’ve got more opportunities in Qatar to try and get the most out of it. However, it’s also a Sprint weekend, so at the same time, that makes it quite tricky, especially in my situation. I’ve never driven here, so going into the sprint weekend will be extra tough.

I drove the Qatar track in the simulator at the end of last week. It’s very fast, a very high-speed circuit and quite unique, and I’ve not seen many tracks like it, as there’s only one low-speed corner in the whole track. The rest is just fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh gear, so I think it’s going to be exciting to drive. With only one Free Practice session, we drivers will have to know where to improve because it’ll get faster at night when it’s much cooler, and we need to know exactly how to extract everything out of the car. I’m expecting it to be tougher than the races we’ve just done.”

After scoring points in the last round in Japan it seemed like a natural decision to allow Lawson to continue his good streak of form while Ricciardo recovers.

Reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen has dominated the grid this year in F1. With 13 wins in 16 Grand Prix, Verstappen can secure the F1 championship in this weekends Sprint Race at the Qatar Grand Prix by scoring a mere 3 points. To achieve this Verstappen would need to finish P6 or better to clinch the title. Given his form all year we’d expect the title to be decided this Saturday. Verstappen has been the key piece to Red Bull wrapping up the constructors championship at the last grand prix in Japan.

Verstappen Comments on Championship Finish

In a commentary with Racing News 365 Verstappen was asked about winning the title in Qatar. He responded, “No emotion. If it happens on Saturday, Sunday, or the week after, I know that it’s coming. But it’s not something that I’m thinking about too much. Maybe it’s a good thing? A good night out. Might be a bit slower on the reaction time for the lights [on Sunday]. But for me, I don’t really think about it. We’re just experiencing a really amazing year as a team. Also I don’t care where I win it. It’s not about ‘You need to win it five races in advance’ or the last one. I don’t know. It’s just not something that I’m really thinking about.”

One negative aspect of winning the drivers championship in the Sprint race is that there is no podium celebration. The winners celebrate on the track. Such a case would seem underwhelming given the gravity of the accomplishment. Maybe Verstappen doesn’t care about that thought as it appears his focus is on winning the championship no matter how or when it occurs. It would be difficult to envision a situation where Verstappen doesn’t secure 3 points in 5 race weekends. We will stand by until Saturday to see if a champion will be crowned.

Andretti Global has emerged as the only bid left in contention to join the F1 grid as the organization heads into phase 3 of the process. The FIA has outline the process as follows:

• Phase 1: Call for Expressions of Interest
• Phase 2: Application, evaluation and approval process
• Phase 3: Successful applicant referred to FOM for commercial discussions

The FIA received seven applicants at the beginning phase of the approval process. Five moved to phase two. Of the five, four completed the necessary filing and paid the $300,000 administrative fee. After phase three Andretti is now the last organization standing. There had been speculation as to who the front running bid for F1 entry would be but after two other contenders outed themselves as being denied progression forward it was clear that Andretti Global would be the sole front runner. Andretti must now convince the F1 Commercial Rights Holders with Liberty Media that the move makes sense business wise.

FIA President Comments on the Decision to Move Andretti to Phase 3

FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem expressed support for Andretti in the FIA press release identifying Andretti as the front runner.

Michael Andretti had the following statement after the news, “We appreciate the FIA’s rigorous, transparent and complete evaluation process and are incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to compete in such a historic and prestigious championship,” the statement said. “The formation of this distinctly American team is an important moment of pride for all our employees and fans. We feel strongly that Andretti Cadillac’s deep racing competencies and the technological advancements that come from racing will benefit our customers while heightening enthusiasm for F1, globally.”

Competitor Thoughts

To date support for expansion has not been positive amongst the 10 teams already in Formula 1. The biggest reason for this resistance is the split of championship payouts. However, the teams have no say in the remaining proceedings. If Andretti and the FIA can come to a deal we will see them in Formula in either 2025 or 2026. It is rumored that a 2026 entry would be more favorable considering the expiration of the current Concorde agreement set to expire in 2025. For now we sit back and wait to see how negotiation talks go.

All in all Andretti is one step closer to fielding a truly American F1 team. Haas is currently coined as an American based team. However they do no field American drivers and their power unit supplier is Ferrari. America has been a hot bed for new fans over the past three years. It’s clear Andretti Global feels more can be done here.

Despite currently holding second place in the F1 drivers championship. Sergio Perez is seemingly not himself on the track anymore. Perez came into the 2023 season ferocious and ready to bring the fight to Max Verstappen. The pair shared the podium multiple times in the first half of the season however Perez started to fall out of form. The issues began in Monaco where Perez placed outside of the top 10 for the first time of the season.

Perez has had a string of positive results but the fire doesn’t seem to be there anymore. In the last outing at Suzuka in equal machinery Perez was not able to come anywhere near the pace of Max Verstappen. In addition Perez retired from the race in Suzuka. Despite the woes Perez has face recently he still holds second place in the drivers championship. However, with Mercedes knocking on the door Perez only leads by 33 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. With 5 races left this season Perez is in the hot seat. Mor pressure has come from the fact that Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner stated, “I think Liam, it’s only a matter of time before he gets his opportunity and full-time chance. I think to have the three of them there is very strong for the group.”

Of course this statement doesn’t confirm that Lawson would replace Perez at Red Bull but it could have some merit. Lawson has hit the ground running outperforming Alpha Tauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda on multiple occasions. The feat is not entirely surprising considering Lawson has spend a large amount of time in the RB19 as a test driver. However, as Lawson succeeds the injured Daniel Ricciardo or Tsunoda can’t be happy about Lawson’s early success. Of course the pair aren’t concerned about their seats both having contract through 2024. However with Max Verstappen in his prime form and Perez waning. There may be a seat at Red Bull and Lawson may be in the running. Time will tell and we will keep you update as this story develops.

After a poor outing in Singapore, Max Verstappen wasted no time getting back to business by winning the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The win marked Verstappen 13th win of the 2023 season. Verstappen also secured the fastest lap of the race securing 26 points on the weekend. Red Bull’s win streak was broken in Singapore but that didn’t matter as the team raised the constructors trophy with 6 more rounds still to be raced. Given that the championship is sorted Red Bull will be putting their efforts into the development of next years car with no further reason to fit upgrades for the RB19. Red Bull have won 15 of the 16 races this season.

Verstappen stated the Following After the Race

“It’s an unbelievable weekend. To win here was great. I think the car was working really well on every [tire] compound. But of course, the most important was also to win the constructors’. So, I’m very proud of everyone working at the track but also back at the factory. We’re having an incredible year.” Verstappen leads the standings with 400 points to teammate Perez’s 223 points. He can clinch the title in Qatar needing only 3 more points in the next 6 race weekend to reach an unpassable number of points by an opponent.

Verstappen got away from the turn 1 drama at the start of the race and was able to navigate a few on track incidents to steer clear of the pack. Behind Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fought it out with Lando Norris getting the best of his rookie teammate Oscar Piastri. Despite this the double podium for McLaren is part of the stark turn around the team has produced since the mid season break. Early season reliability issues and early retirements plagued the McLaren drivers leaving fans wondering if they’d even be in podium contention in 2023.

Charles Leclerc Keeps Ferrari in the Discussion

Ferrari have had a difficult season struggling to keep up with the Red Bulls. While there have been glimpses of promise nothing ever seems to stick long term. However, Leclerc was able to to play damage control today with teammate Carlos Sainz as the pair finished P4 and P6 on the grid. The finish places Ferrari 20 points behind Mercedes in the Constructors standings. The pressure is on for Mercedes to perform if they want to hold that second spot. The Mercedes finished P5 and P7 scoring 16 points on the weekend. With 6 rounds to go anything can happen. Now that the top spot has been claim our focus will be on following the number 2 and 3 spots in the championship. Both Ferrari and Mercedes are far off from clinching their final positions.

Elsewhere on the grid there were 5 DNFs at Suzuka with Williams suffering from yet another double DNF.

Race Finishing Order

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
7. George Russell (Mercedes)
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
9. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
11. Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri)
12. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
13. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
14. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas)
15. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
    DNF — Alex Albon (Williams)
    DNF — Logan Sargeant (Williams)
    DNF — Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
    DNF — Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
    DNF — Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

After a disappointing outing in Singapore last weekend. Verstappen bounced back in true championship leading form when he secured Pole Position at Suzuka. The McLarens and Verstappen have traded fastest laps all weekend through qualifying. However it was the Dutchman Verstappen who set the time to beat 6 tenths fastest than P2 finisher Oscar Piastri. Verstappen had the following words after the qualifying sessions.

“It’s been an incredible weekend so far, especially in qualifying, where you can really push it to the limit, it felt really, really nice. We had a bad weekend in Singapore. I already felt from the preparation we had that this was going to be a good track, but you never really know how good it’s going to be. From lap one it’s been really, really nice. Of course, you try to find little improvements here and there, and I think we did that. To be on pole here is fantastic.”

Charles Leclerc prevented a McLaren/Red Bull cluster at the front finishing P4 in the session ahead of Sergio Perez. Elsewhere on the grid was mostly uneventful. In Q1 Logan Sargeant crashed out again and leave his mechanics a major overhaul to get the car ready for racing day. Liam Lawson almost made it into Q3 but fell just short having to settle for 11th.

Full Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying Results