© Vladimir RysSeason So Far: Part 3We’ve reached half-time in the 2021 season – or as good as – and the traditional time to take stock of where we’re at.
AsFormulaOnegoesintoitssummershutdown,thingsreallycouldn’tbemuchtighteratthetop.Thehalf-termreportsayswe’retrailingMercedesby12pointsintheConstructors’Championship,whileMaxiseightpointsbehindLewisHamiltonintheracefortheDrivers’title.
In the first 11 races it’s gone back and forth between the two teams and we’ve taken a few hits in recent weeks – but the second half of the season is shaping up for an epic title fight.
So, before everything winds-down for the summer shutdown. Let’s take a look our last two rounds at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.
Hanging Out At The Hungaroring© Vladimir Rys
It seems fitting that F1 chose its oldest race to try something new – though for many of the crew in the garage it was the capacity 140,0000-and-change crowd that created more of an impact than the arrival of the much-discussed Sprint Qualifying format – though that format also caused everyone to reassess the working environment they’d become accustomed to.
After three pole positions on the bounce, Max either did or didn’t keep that run going, depending on your point of view. If your vantage point is that of the official F1 records then he did: finishing Sprint Qualifying P1 and starting the grand prix from pole. If you’re in the other faction, then he didn’t: qualifying from the standard format in P2, but taking the lead from Lewis Hamilton off the line on Saturday afternoon.
Picking Up His First Placed Wreath© Getty Images
Last year, at Imola, we had a taster of the truncated one-practice-and-then-flat-out arrangement, but Silverstone’s programme reduced that to just an hour of practice, before Friday evening’s qualifying, then a Saturday afternoon practice session with the cars already in parc fermé, before sprint qualifying. After that the schedule for Sunday’s race felt comparatively normal – even if it was later than usual.
Things got worse on Sunday. Max went out on lap one, after a collision at Copse with Lewis, who duly received a 10s penalty for the infraction. Max, with the car destroyed, was taken to hospital but thankfully escaped with nothing worse than a vicious set of bruises. Checo’s race was longer but just as fruitless. From the pit lane he rose to the fringes of the points but couldn’t make much of an impression, and thus he pitted a few laps from home, fitted a set of soft tyres and set the fastest lap.
Outside the top-ten, he wasn’t eligible for the point but successfully prevented it going elsewhere. These are the tiny margins on which 2021 may hinge.
A Strong Start At Silverstone© Vladimir Rys
Round11-HungarianGrandPrix
After a wild time at Silverstone, the business-as-usual Hungaroring had an air of unreality about it, back to a normal practice and qualifying routine. The temperatures were high, even by Hungaroring standards, with the track up beyond 60°C – but everyone was looking up rather than down, with rain lurking and the forecast getting progressively worse as the weekend went on.
Max and Checo weren’t on their best in qualifying, locking out the second row – but the normal rules of the Hungaroring being a track on which it is near-impossible to pass didn’t really apply this year: everyone was expecting the race to be wet.
Heating Up In Hungary© Vladimir Rys
The rain left it late. The cars were able to go to the grid on slicks but the rain started to fall about three minutes after the pit lane closed. The easy-ups went up easily at that point and everyone looked a little pensive. This was the worst sort of rain for the Team but the best for spectators – though possibly not those in the uncovered sections of grandstand: light enough that it kept everyone guessing until showtime, at which point everyone took the middle option and went for the Inters.
The start was… chaos. Max and Checo both got good getaways and were running P2 and P3 going into the first corner. Behind them Valtteri Bottas braked too hard, too late and hammered into the back of Lando Norris, sending the McLaren across the track into Max. Bottas’ momentum carried him forward, smashing into the side of Checo. Checo was out, Max managed to limp around and pitted from P9 before the red flag was thrown.
All Out Action In Hungary© Getty Images
Both crews set about patching up the damage to Max’s floor, sidepod and bargeboard area as best they could – but there was only so much they could do – but Max raced hard from P12 and managed to fight the car up from P12 to P10 at the flag, the last car on the lead lap. That turned into P9 after the fact. Scant consolation – but this season every point may well count.
Onwards to Spa!
