Verstappen has wings again: first pole of the year against Hamilton; Alonso and Sainz nail it
He is the best driver on the grid. The fastest. The best hands. He just needed a car to match. And with the evolution presented by Red Bull in the race of BakuVerstappen already has the wings to fly. And flew. In Azerbaijanonly some engine problems slowed him down and despite this, he ended up fighting for the win. A week later, Max Verstappen took pole in the F1 Bahrain GP taking place in Malaysiain Sepang.
The data is very relevant, since Max Verstappen achieved his first pole of the year this Saturday, something that is news. And it says even more that the other Red Bull, led by a great Isack Hadjar, finished third (but a penalty relegated him to 8th place on the grid). The Milton Keynes team’s progress is real. It was seen in Baku and confirmed in Sepang.
And now, the question is whether Max will be able to win this Sunday and fight for poles and wins in the remainder of the season, waiting for the evolutions of Mercedes presented in Sepang Its effect will emerge in the next appointments after a disastrous premiere of these new pieces. A huge unexpected step backwards.
For now, those improvements were worse, a complete disappointment. Those of the star went from dominating, to being unexpectedly overwhelmed. They should have improved a few tenths with these evolutions and they got worse in many aspects. This was stated by Wolff on ‘DAZN’ after qualifying.
“We have taken a step back. The car is not good enough, we lose on the straights and in the corners and with an improvement that should have been a step forward,” said the Austrian.
We have taken a step back. The car is not good enough, we lose on the straights and in the curves and with an improvement that should have been a step forward
“Do we suffer at the rear? Absolutely, we have seen a car behavior that we have not seen throughout the season. We cannot turn the car at low speed and on the straight it seems that we have a lot of resistance (to the air, to the movement on the straight). And we are slower than our rivals, something we haven’t seen all season either,” Wolff added. He was right. According to data from ‘Formula-Timer’, the Mercedes was the second slowest car at the top, only surpassing Aston Martin.
We cannot turn the car at low speed and on the straight it seems that we have a lot of resistance (air)
And without the dominating team, Max Verstappen He gave no option and had no rival. Since Friday, we saw the potential of the energy drink car. But much more equality was expected. And there wasn’t. Verstappen took pole position by 0.298 seconds against Hamiltonwho will share the front line again with his old enemy, Lewis Hamilton remembering the controversial year 2021. And Hadjarcompanion of Maxwas third at 0″428, but had a 5-place penalty that will lead him to start 8th.
Meanwhile, the World Cup leader, Kimi Antonelliwho got into trouble by exceeding the track limits in Q2 (he had to use one more tire and keep a new set for Q3) achieved 4th place after being half a second away, but will come out third due to the penalty to Hadjar, so he saved the furniture. But it was half a second away! The dominating car was far away this time, much more than expected in the face of a Leclerc which was 5th ahead of the two McLaren6th and 7th with Norris and Piastrirespectively. AND Russel2nd in the World Cup, could only be 8th.
Unpredictable career: all that glitters is not gold
But be careful, because all that glitters is not gold. In this Grand Prizeclassification and pole matter much less than in others. The key in this event is the great degradation of the tires. Whoever manages to manage them better will win the day this Sunday, with the usual threat of rain Sepangsomething unpredictable, and at any moment, in a clear sky, a cloud can be generated that changes everything and hits hard.
In that sense, a race is expected that could be two stops, with strategic diversity. And here, there is another crucial point to keep in mind: the Sepang pit lane is very long and taking advantage of a safety car to make a stop can give you a lot, between 12 and 13 seconds.
And the rain, due to its force, could cause red flags in which to change tires for free. With all these elements at play, the fight seems unpredictable. What does seem clear is that this time, Max Verstappen He does have a machine at his level to show off his talented hands, but he did so in a classification in which he had no opposition, in which he dominated from start to finish, as happened in Q3.
On the first attempt at Q3, Verstappen He surpassed his teammate by three tenths Hadjarand at 0″495 a hamilton. He gained half a second on Piastri and six tenths on Leclerc. And the Mercedes? Russel It was seventh to seven tenths and Antonelliwithout time due to having made a mistake in Q2 that forced him to use another set of tires that he did not expect. The World Championship leader got into trouble and had to play with just one final bullet in Q3.
Verstappen attacked again and improved his final turn by more than a tenth. But no one could overcome it anymore.
Alonso’s high
Fernando Alonso confirmed the good feelings of this weekend with an Aston Martin with a chassis that allowed it to have good cornering performance that counteracted the lack of power of the Honda engine on the straights of Sepang.
The Spaniard had already been 12th in Free Practice 3 and was able to keep up with his rivals in the middle zone, again driving at his best and without errors, to place the green car in 12th place on the starting grid. He put his car into Q2 but couldn’t move into Q3 by four tenths.
He could even hope to start 11th on the grid in his fight with Lawsonbut the New Zealander had very good help from Lindblad (Arvid was going to start from the back of the grid anyway), which gave him a big slip on the backstretch. Lawson finished 0″197 ahead of a Fernando who excelled with an Aston Martin that took a step forward in Sepangas demonstrated by the fact that Stroll will finish 14ththree tenths behind Alonso, achieving his first Q2 of the course.
From that 12th position, Fernando Alonso will qualify for the points. He doesn’t have the power in his engine to attack on straights and could struggle to defend himself at those points, but he will have to squeeze his car into corners.
And above all, its greatest weapon will be the great degradation of the tires due to very broken and poor asphalt. On circuits where there is a lot of degradation, Adrian Newey’s chassis can make a difference when the tires are wornpulling more aerodynamic grip instead of wheels. That good tire degradation exhibited in Zandvoort could be the key for Fernando to climb positions, as happened in the Netherlands, where he was able to go to a pit and climb from the back of the grid to 9th.
Sainz’s great classification
Carlos Sainz shone with his Williams. The Spanish driver once again nailed his laps with a great personal performance and was able to finish 13th, 0.3 behind Alonso’s 12th, while his teammate Albon could only be 20th.
The difference with the Thai was enormous. Carlos got into Q2 with a time 7 tenths better than his teammate Alexsomething that speaks for itself about what the Spaniard achieved with a Williams that performed worse than in Baku.
