2021 Formula 1 Season: Portuguese Grand Prix Preview

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	Portuguese Grand Prix
Race Date	May 2, 2021
Location	Portimao, Algarve, Portugal
Track Name	Algarve International Circuit
Course Length	4.653-kilometer (2.891-mile)
Laps	66
2020 Pole Winner	Lewis Hamilton
2020 Pole Time	1:16.652
Past Five Grand Prix Winners
2020	Lewis Hamilton
Held at Circuito do Estoril
1996	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
1995	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault
1994	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
1993	Michael Schumacher	Benneton-Ford

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Verstappen Scores Win While Mercedes Slips Up in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Photo Credit: Mark Sutton/LAT Image/Pirelli

The second race of the 2021 Formula 1 season was a wet and wild affair thanks to some April showers on the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari prior to the start of the 63-lap event. A soaked race track presented to the field of 20 drivers and cars at the beginning of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix provided an antagonist as they adjust to the young season. As the water and slickness of the Imola circuit would claim almost every driver off-guard at some point in the Sunday event with varying consequences, a charging Red Bull driven by Dutch driver Max Verstappen weathered the on-track storm best.

The #33 Honda-powered Red Bull Racing machine of Verstappen capitalized on a well-timed launch at the start of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to aggressively take the lead from polesitter Lewis Hamilton. The Red Bull race car had roared from third place on the grid to edge out the Mercedes AMG machine into the second corner. Hamilton battled Verstappen through the opening set of turns but would fall back to second after clipping the track curbing causing minor damage to his car.

Photo Credit: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

While rain subsided for the actual race, the conditions on the wet Imola track proved treacherous as many drivers started on intermediate compound Pirelli tires. On the formation lap, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc spun on cold tires through the driver from Monaco quickly returned to the track and hold on to his fourth place grid position. The first retirement of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix came on the opening lap when Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi crashed in the second sector of the track. The Canadian lost control of his vehicle entering a corner when he locked up his rear wheels under braking. When he rejoined the track, he made contact with the Haas F1 Team driver Nikita Mazepin. This incident would be one of two occasions a safety car period was called.

The second safety car of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix came after a roughly one-lap period in the middle part of the race where both Mercedes AMG cars appearing in the gravel traps in separate incidents with one retiring. On lap 31, second-place runner Lewis Hamilton slid off track at turn 7 as he was lapping the Williams Racing car of George Russell. Although Hamilton’s #44 car was stationary for several seconds he was able to rejoin the race in seventh place. The reason for the safety car occurred on lap 32 as the #63 car of Russell and the #77 Mercedes AMG entry in the hands of Valtteri Bottas crashed. Battling for ninth place ahead of the entry to turn two, the drivers collided on the narrow track causing both to retire.

Photo Credit: LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd

As Max Versteppen maintained a steady lead through the closing laps at Imola, Lewis Hamilton masterfully salvaged his race. On lap 55, the #44 Mercedes AMG car was able to overtake Leclerc’s Ferrari for third place and would stalk the McLaren-Mercedes race car driven by Lando Norris for the runner-up position. With the aid of DRS, Hamilton sailed by the McLaren just after the start of lap 60 to take the second place spot. Thanks to setting the fastest lap time of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on lap 60, Lewis Hamilton set maintains the drivers’ championship point lead arriving at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen’s 11^th career Formula 1 victory, the Dutch driver’s win at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix gives a lot of hope for a season-long rivalry with the seven-time and reigning Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Crossing the line in third place, Lando Norris’ second career series podium is redemption for the Brit after losing third place in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday due to exceeding track limits in the run.

Photo Credit: Steven Tee/LAT Images/Pirelli

In fourth and fifth place after 63 laps at Imola, Scuderia Ferrari had a quietly successful team effort. Charles Leclerc led his new-for-2021 teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. across the finish line. Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10 for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The next Formula 1 event will take place on May 2^nd as teams return to the Algarve International Circuit for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

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2021 Formula 1 Season
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Race Results
Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Honda
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
11	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing	Honda
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
13	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
15	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
16	47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
17	9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
19	63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz

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Vettel and Ferrari Outsmarts Mercedes for Malaysian Grand Prix Victory

Photo Credit: Ferrari

The domination of the Mercedes AMG team during the 2014 Formula 1 season derailed the momentum of two established names in the sport. After four-consecutive years of championship success with Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel's string of luck was trimmed. While his 2014 Red Bull Racing teammate Daniel Ricciardo found victory lane three times, Vettel's best effort was a second in Singapore. In another 2014 Formula 1 paddock, Scuderia Ferrari went winless through the entire 19-race schedule (the first time since 1993 that happened to the Italian team. Joining forces for the 2015 season, expectations were high as many observers believed the Ferrari/Vettel pairing could become a new Formula 1 dynasty. In only the second race of the season, the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix, this partnership obtained its first major objective.

After Saturday's qualifying in deteriorating conditions, Lewis Hamilton maintained a long-standing stranglehold of the pole position for Mercedes-Benz dating back to the Australia Grand Prix in 2014. However, the feat was also spoiled by an emerging threat to Mercedes AMG. Ferrari and the SF15-T race car appears to be to most viable challenger the Silver Arrows in the early part of the 2015. Barely missing the pole, Sebastian Vettel would also be beaten on the standing start by Hamilton's Mercedes-AMG car. Just as Lewis Hamilton was preparing to orchestrate another potentially masterful victory with a superior race machine, the Malaysian Grand Prix was completely reshaped. In lap 4, safety car period was called when Marcus Ericsson spun-out in turn one and buried the rear wheels of his Sauber-Ferrari in a safety trap. Bringing the field together, a crucial strategy decided the outcome of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

As the safety car lapped the Sepang International Circuit, a majority of Formula 1 teams chose to pit including the race leader Lewis Hamilton, his teammate Nico Rosberg as well as the Red Bull Racing and Williams Martini Racing cars. While most of the front-running cars pitted, one contender remained on-track. Scuderia Ferrari kept their #5 car driven by Sebastian Vettel out on the race track. Joined by a handful of other drivers such as Lotus' Romain Grosjean and the pair of Force India vehicles, Vettel inherited the top spot in the race when the safety car pulled off the track on lap 7.

Compared to the Australian Grand Prix, the non-finisher list was considerably smaller. Among the most notable retirees were the McLaren Honda race cars. In their second showing with the all-new Honda powerplant, the McLaren machines struggled for speed through the entire Malaysia Formula 1 race weekend. Making a momentous return to competition, Fernando Alonso's first outing with McLaren Honda was cut short after 21 laps. 20 laps later, Jenson Button was forced to park his car in the team's garage. The retirement of Alonso's car was associated with a ERS cooling issue while Button's problem was associated with a turbocharger. The 2015 season may be a long period of work for the McLaren Honda organization.

Photo Credit: ©FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO/ Pirelli

While only five cars failed to cross the start/finish line at the Sepang International Circuit, there were several close calls that risked expanding the retirement list. One incident involved an on-track battle between the Red Bull Racing drivers of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat as well as a Force India-Mercedes piloted by Nico Hulkenberg. On lap 26, the dicing among the trio resulted in Kvyat spinning when he and Hulkenberg made contact in turn 2. Hulkenberg was assessed a 10-second penalty for the incident. Shortly after the Red Bull-Renault's spin involving a Force India, Hulkenberg's teammate Sergio Perez made contact with the Lotus-Mercedes of Romain Grosjean. Like Kvyat, Grosjean spun out but dramatically recollected his race car and continued racing. By lap 36, both Force India cars were given 10-second penalties. From the Force India team's official Twitter account, they remarked to the ruling with the following tweet: 

10 seconds penalty for Nico, 10 seconds penalty for Checo. Our commitment to symmetry knows no boundaries.
— Sahara Force India (@ForceIndiaF1) March 29, 2015

After the 56-lap distance of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel became the 38th different driver to win a Formula 1 race driving for Scuderia Ferrari. The win was the first grand prix victory for the team his the Spanish Grand Prix in 2013 and Vettel's first since the Brazilian Grand Prix of that same year. His first win with Scuderia Ferrari, this victory was Sebastian Vettel's second coming from Ferrari power. Vettel debut win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix came behind the wheel of a Toro Rosso powered by a Ferrari engine.

Adopting a two-stop strategy, the key to victory for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari was the ability to carefully manage their Pirelli slick tires. Mercedes AMG team cars, leaving the Sepang International Circuit with their eight-race winning streak broken, operated on a three-stop plan finished second and third. Finishing 8.569 seconds behind Vettel, Lewis Hamilton finished more than 3.7 seconds ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg.

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

Despite a cut tire early in the grand prix, Kimi Raikkonen persevered to finish strong in the second Ferrari. Using some short-pitting, Raikkonen maintained a steady advantage to hold on to fourth place. The effort ties the Finnish driver's best result since returning to the Ferrari team in 2014.

In fifth and sixth place, the Williams Martini Racing team had an admirable day. Kept out of the car due to back problems in Australia, Valtteri Bottas' first grand prix of the year was a fifth place result ahead of the second Williams-Mercedes of Felipe Massa. Similar to the Williams team, Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing had both team cars finish in order. Formula 1 rookie drivers Max Verstappen as well as Carlos Sainz Jr took the checkered flag in seventh and eighth. The mother team to Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing was led by Daniil Kvyat who recovered for a ninth place result. Daniel Ricciardo's race was disrupted early with a rear braking issue but still finished in the 10th place spot capturing the final point-paying position in Malaysia.

The last car to finish the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix was the Manor Marussia F1 Team's entry driven by Roberto Merhi. Following the embarrassment the organization brought to themselves in Australia, a 15th place finish for the Ferrari-powered race car was a noble effort.

Next race for the 2015 Formula 1 schedule is set for April 12th at the Shanghai International Circuit hosting the Chinese Grand Prix.

2015 Formula 1

Malaysian Grand Prix

Race Results

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
3	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz
7	33	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Renault
10	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
12	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari
13	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
15	98	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
16	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
17	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda
18	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda
19	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari
20	28	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	Ferrari