Cars were under parc fermé conditions following the end of free practice three instead of qualifying, further restricting teams and drivers from making major changes to setups ahead of the race. The length of the two Friday practice sessions were cut from 90 minutes to 60 minutes. The 2021 W Series for female drivers was added to the list of support racing series alongside Formula 2, Formula 3, and Porsche Supercup. The 2021 W Series season started at the Red Bull Ring, where it was a support event for the Styrian Grand Prix in late June.
Formula 2 and Formula 3 supported Formula One on alternate weekends, rather than the same ones as a cost saving measure. Verstappen took the pole position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Hamilton and Norris. During the race, Hamilton had a better start and took the lead into the first turn. At turn six Verstappen attempted to pass, forcing Hamilton to evade by going off the track. Emerging from the corner still in the lead, Hamilton was instructed to give up the advantage he had gained.
The pair settled in their positions until the first round of pit stops, with Hamilton gradually extending his lead. He later lost much of his advantage when Pérez, Verstappen's teammate with Red Bull, and who had yet to make a pit stop, made it difficult for Hamilton to pass him, though Verstappen was unable to capitalise. Later, a virtual safety car period allowed Verstappen to change his tyres without losing track position, which was an attempt to catch Hamilton with fresher tyres. With seven laps remaining, the safety car was brought out for a crash involving Latifi, and Red Bull used the opportunity to give Verstappen a fresh set of soft tyres, while Hamilton, still on his now-quite-old hard compound tyres, was not pitted.
Race director Michael Masi took the decision to allow the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves before restarting the race with only one lap remaining. Upon the restart, Verstappen quickly passed Hamilton and held him off for the remainder of the lap to win the race and the championship. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying in Turkey, but was dropped down the grid because of a penalty due to a power unit component change. Valtteri Bottas was promoted to pole position and won the race, his first of 2021.
He was followed by Max Verstappen, who re-took the championship lead, and Sergio Pérez, who took his first podium since France. Verstappen continued his momentum in the United States Grand Prix, taking pole position. Despite Hamilton taking the lead in turn 1, Verstappen was able to win the race with Hamilton in second place, in front of Pérez. The result increased Verstappen's lead to 12 points as Hamilton collected an extra Championship point by setting the fastest lap.
Bottas took pole in Mexico City, but was spun around at the first corner by Daniel Ricciardo. Another incident behind involving Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher took both drivers out of the race, calling out the safety car. Verstappen took his second win in a row, increasing his lead from Hamilton in second, and Pérez took the final spot on the podium in his home race. The last time F1 raced at the Interlagos circuit, Max Verstappen secured a pole position in the qualifying and went on to win the race on Sunday in 2019. Among the current drivers in the F1 grid, Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel has won the most amount of races, i.e. three while racing at Interlagos in 2010, 2013, and 2017. The reigning world champion Hamilton has won here twice in 2016 and 2018 as Verstappen won once in 2019.
This time, the Brazilian GP is set to feature F1's sprint qualifying ahead of the main race, which will be the third sprint qualifying of the season. Verstappen would again take pole at the first Dutch Grand Prix to take place since 1985 at Zandvoort. He held his lead from Hamilton to take the win at his home race, taking over the lead of the championship by three points. Bottas came third, overtaking Norris, who finished tenth, in the standings for third place. Bottas won sprint qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, but was forced to start from the back of the grid after exceeding the quota of one on his power units' components. A slow stop for Verstappen meant that he ended up alongside Hamilton after the latter made his pitstop.
Ricciardo led to the end to take his first victory since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and McLaren's first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. His teammate Norris finished behind him to secure the team's first 1–2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and the first 1–2 finish of the season. After a penalty applied to Pérez, Bottas came third from the back of the grid. After the race, Verstappen was judged by the stewards to have been predominantly at fault for the collision with Hamilton. As a result, he was given a 3-place grid-penalty for the next race and two penalty points on his super licence.
Formula One will hold six sprint race meetings next season, the sporting director, Ross Brawn, has confirmed. F1's first-ever sprint race, which took place at Silverstone, was won by Verstappen ahead of Hamilton. Hamilton picked up two points for finishing runner-up in the sprint, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas gaining one point for finishing in third place.
This means that a maximum of 29 points will be up for grabs for drivers across the weekend, including 25 for the win, three for pole position in the sprint race and the bonus point for the fastest lap in the grand prix. Hamilton took pole position in Qatar, while a penalty for failing to respect double waived yellow flags during qualifying forced Verstappen to start from seventh. Verstappen quickly recovered to second place but was unable to threaten Hamilton's race lead despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race.
Fernando Alonso used a one-stop strategy to finish third, less than three seconds ahead Peréz in fourth, it was Alonso's first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. Bottas and Nicholas Latifi retired from the race after they and multiple others suffered punctures on track. The result reduced Verstappen's lead in the Driver's Championship to eight points while Mercedes's lead in the Constructors' Championship was reduced to five points. Hamilton was fastest in qualifying in Brazil, but was disqualified the following day for a technical infringement. Bottas won the qualifying sprint, giving him pole position for the Grand Prix.
By finishing second in the sprint, Verstappen increased his championship lead over Hamilton by two points, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished third, increased Ferrari's championship lead over McLaren. Hamilton finished fifth in the sprint from last on the grid, but a five-place grid drop due to taking a new engine relegated him to tenth on the grid for the Grand Prix. On race day, both Verstappen was able to overtake Bottas on the first lap. Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Sainz were involved in a separate incident, with Norris getting a puncture. On lap 48, Hamilton caught up to Verstappen and attempted an overtake, but failed and resulted in both of them going off track.
He won the race from Verstappen, decreasing Verstappen's championship lead from 21 points to 14 points, while Bottas completed the podium. In France, Verstappen got his second pole of the season, only to go wide at the first turn and lose the lead to Hamilton in the first lap. After regaining first with an undercut in his first pit stop, Verstappen found himself under heavy pressure from both Mercedes drivers. Verstappen relinquished his lead to pit a second time, one of two drivers to do so, returning to the track 18 seconds behind Hamilton. The speed advantage allowed him to make up the lost time, overtaking Bottas on lap 44 and Hamilton on the penultimate lap, for his third win of the year and his thirteenth win overall.
Hamilton, now 12 points behind in the Drivers' Championship, did secure second, and with an overtake on lap 49, Pérez managed to take third place, pushing Bottas to fourth. It was the first race of the season where the race winner also took pole position and the fastest lap, and the first race of the season with no retirements. Red Bull extended their lead over Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship to 37 points after the race.
The two title rivals for the drivers' crown entered the last race of the season with equal points. Verstappen sealed the title after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a last-lap restart pass on Hamilton. Mercedes initially protested the results, and decided not to appeal after their protest was denied. This was the first season since 2008 where the champion driver was not from the team that took the constructors' title.
The major issue has been one of consistency, and how the top two contending teams were too easily allowed to converse with race director Michael Masi to advance their own positions. Some have expressed regret, saying that Masi has tried to do his best in difficult circumstances, that his job is demanding and not easy, and was not helped enough by those around him. F1 has held two sprint race weekends this season, at Silverstone and Monza, with a third scheduled for Brazil in two weeks. The format features qualifying for the sprint on a Friday with the results of that race deciding the grid for the GP, with three, two and one drivers' championship points awarded to the top three. The second F1 Sprint is scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 11. The race will be held at the iconic Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit.
As a part of the race, all participants will have to complete 18 laps of the circuit. This means that the racers will be covering approximately 100 kilometres. The results will establish the starting order for the main race scheduled for Sunday, September 12. The top spot for the race has been taken by Valtteri Bottas in the Sprint Race. He is also scheduled to start the main race irrespective of the position at which he finishes the upcoming race.
This is because of the power unit change which got confirmed during the qualifying stages. Under the previous rules, drivers could be disqualified as soon as such error had occurred. The race time limit for red-flagged races was also be reduced from four hours to three hours. From the 2021 United States Grand Prix, lap times set under double waved yellow flags were automatically deleted. F1 could have F2-style sprint racesBy removing the grid-setting aspect of the sprint format, some other incentive will be needed for drivers to race rather than sit back and preserve their cars.
Offering more points is one obvious route, as Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff suggested when RaceFans asked him about the change last week. Ello and welcome to our live blog for the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint qualifying race, which will take place this Saturday to determine the order of the grid for Sunday's main event. The new format, consisting of a traditional qualifying session on a Friday that determines the grid for a Saturday sprint 'race' which then sets the starting order for the main event on the Sunday, was introduced this season. Saturday will start with a practice session before a sprint race in the afternoon - the results of this 100km race will determine the grid for the main grand prix. The Parc Fermé rules stop teams from altering their car setup in between qualifying and the race.
This is why cars start from the pit lane if they make changes after qualifying. These rules have been extended to Friday because of the earlier qualifying session, which means they have to basically decide on one setup after FP1 and stick with it. For the grand prix race, all drivers have a free choice of starting tyre. I don't know, I stopped watching a few championships because of strange race formats (reverse grid races etc.).
I'm not looking forward to these sprints, I wished I could fast forward to the real race. Qualy one day, whatever-it-is sprint the second and then race the third day, that's so watered down and boring. More doesn't mean better in this case, sprint can't compare to a real race. As a matter of fact it spoils it for me, we get to see what to expect in the actual race performance wise.
If they continue with decisions like this I may eventually give up, especially if we lose another team. Losing more cars on the grid, while at the same time those rare seats get taken by spoiled rich kids more and more. Not to mention that every second race will be held in middle east, places like Saudi Arabia that would give me nightmares if I wasn't at a safe distance.
Yesterday afternoon's qualifying session set the starting lineup for the sprint qualifying race ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 19th of 22 races on the schedule. F1's sprint event on Saturday afternoon will be a straightforward 100km race, which tallies up to 24 laps at Interlagos, with the finishing order setting the final grid for the grand prix on Sunday after grid penalties are applied. The race is expected to last around 30 minutes, 'timed out' after 60 minutes in total and if the session is red-flagged the maximum total time of the session will be 90 minutes.
The tyre rules change for this session, with only soft tyres permitted throughout. As a result, teams and drivers will be free to start Sunday's race on any compound, rather than having to run the tyre they qualify on in Q2. The tyre rules will change for this session, with only soft tyres permitted throughout. Formula One 2021 heads into its final four races of the season, with the Brazilian Grand Prix all set to take place at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo this weekend. Alongside the championship rivalry, the Brazilian GP is set to be one of the most exciting races of the year as 1,70,000 tickets have been already sold for the three-day event.
The finishing order of sprint qualifying will also determine the starting grid for Sunday's Grand Prix, with pole position awarded to the driver who finishes first. It has also been confirmed that for statistical purposes the accolade of pole position will be awarded to the drive who sets the pace in the qualifying session. On two out of three occasions last year, this was a different driver to the one who won the sprint and therefore started the grand prix at the front. The venues for the sprint meeting are still under discussion but they will not feature in the opening or final rounds of the 23-race season.
However, certain aspects of parc ferme will be lifted to allow alterations for the second practice session on Saturday morning before car configurations are returned to parc ferme specification for sprint qualifying. If sprint qualifying is wet, the teams may return one set of used full-wet or intermediate tyres after the session, to be replaced with a new set ahead of Sunday's grand prix. The starting order for the sprint event was decided by qualifying, run in the traditional Q1, Q2 and Q3 format, held on Friday evening. The only major change will be the drivers will only use soft tyres for the session. In other news it has been confirmed that F1's commission will be debating the idea of trialling sprint races at some rounds in 2021.
The short races would give championship points but would also set the grid for the 'main' race on Sunday. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in qualifying, but did not start the race. Max Verstappen, in the second slot, was the first driver on the grid.
Verstappen was required to start from the back at the Russian Grand Prix for exceeding his quota of a number of his power unit components. Norris took his first career pole position, from Sainz , and Russell. The running order changed substantially as heavy rain began to fall in the closing laps.
Hamilton took his 100th Formula One victory as well as the championship lead, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Verstappen took pole from Russell and Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix in a wet qualifying session. The race was heavily affected by rain, which initially saw the start delayed by 25 minutes.
After two formation laps behind the safety car, the race start was suspended and red-flagged due to poor conditions and lack of visibility. It was not restarted, becoming the shortest race in Formula 1 history and the sixth to award half-points as less than 75% of the race was completed. Verstappen won by default, with Russell in second and Hamilton in third place.
