Formula One

[Jimbuna]

Max Verstappen's serene march to a second title continued with a comfortable victory in an eventful Dutch Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver had to pass Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes after a late safety-car period to take his 10th win in 15 races this year to extend his lead to 109 points.

Hamilton was left fuming after Mercedes failed to change his tyres during the caution period.

That left him vulnerable and allowed team-mate George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to pass him after the restart to take the other podium places.

Hamilton, who briefly had slim hopes of a victory with about 20 laps to go, saw them evaporate in a situation remarkably similar to the way in which he lost his eighth world title in Abu Dhabi last year.

He managed to hang on to fourth ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso's Alpine and Lando Norris' McLaren. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished fifth on the road but was demoted to eighth after a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit stop release.

[Jimbuna]

[Buddahaid]

I expect there will be death threats for track officials. Why did it take so many laps to get a crane out to Ricardo's car when the fence gap was 100 meters away? Possible last lap, or two, duel between the leader Verstappen and P2 LeClerc bungled.

[Jimbuna]

This Formula 1 season has distilled into a sort of 'Challenge Max Verstappen' show - pick a grid position for the Red Bull driver and see if he can win. The answer has become, invariably, yes.

In Hungary, at the beginning of August, Verstappen started 10th, and won. In Belgium, after the summer break, he was 15th on the grid, and won. At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday, he started seventh.

It is a measure of Verstappen and Red Bull's superiority that pretty much everyone thought he was going to win from there, even with Charles Leclerc on pole for Ferrari at their home race. Mercedes driver George Russell, starting second behind Leclerc, said: "You'd have to be pretty stupid to bet against it."

Verstappen was up to third a matter of metres after crossing the line to start lap three, and second two laps later. As he sat there over the next few laps, edging ever closer to Leclerc, it was simply a matter of time before the Dutchman was in front.

Ferrari gambled on strategy, but the reality was it made no difference.

"I don't think strategically they made a bad call," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "We just had a quicker package and we would have won the race irrelevant of that."

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto agreed.

"It's not difficult to beat a faster car," Binotto said. "It is impossible. He was faster. Whatever was the strategy, he would have won."

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Red Bull's Sergio Perez held off Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to win an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix run in treacherous wet-dry conditions.

Title leader Max Verstappen finished seventh after a frustrating race that included a major error from the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen can win the title in Japan next Sunday, but would need the results of Perez and Leclerc to go his way.

However, Perez is under investigation for a safety car infringement.

Race stewards are due to rule on any penalty after the race. If given a time penalty, he could forfeit the win.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Formula 1's governing body has delayed the publication of its inquiries into whether any team breached the sport's budget cap last year.

The FIA told F1 teams last week that it planned to issue certificates of compliance or otherwise on 5 October.

But the FIA said in a statement on Wednesday that it was "a long and complex process that is ongoing".

It would be "concluded to enable the release of the certificates on Monday, 10 October," the statement said.

The delay is likely to infuriate the teams, who are all in Japan ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix at Suzuka.

[Buddahaid]

Yes, and all in the drive to add controversy for higher ratings. Someone will always be upset and that's how modern sports, and just about evrything, rolls today.

Looking forward to Susuka and more conroversy. Who will be bent out of shape? Will Max get cheated again? Will Lewis make a comeback almost again? Will Ferrari screw up and lose another race? Stay tuned.....

I did enjoy the Singapore race and was happy to see it back. I do like the venue.

EDIT: I forgot, will Alonso play the joker in the pack again?

[LCDR Phoebus]

I'm an amateur


I wait for silent hunter comeback, i wait for mclaren comeback.
this is my hard life

[Jimbuna]

The FIA will reveal on Monday which teams exceeded it last season, after delaying the publication and it is widely expected within the sport that Red Bull and Aston Martin will be found not to have been in compliance in 2021 when the results are published.

[Jimbuna]

Max Verstappen clinched a second title in extraordinary circumstances after dominating a Japanese Grand Prix truncated by heavy rain.

Verstappen headed Sergio Perez in a Red Bull one-two after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who crossed the line second, was penalised for cutting the track and gaining an advantage on the last lap.

There was confusion after the race as to whether Verstappen had done enough to tie up the championship, because it was not immediately clear whether full points would be awarded for a race that ran just over half distance.

But governing body the FIA said that reduced points only applied if a suspended race could not be resumed.

Awarding full points or three-quarter points - as all the teams expected would be the case - was the difference between Verstappen leaving Japan as a double world champion, or having to go to the next race in the USA needing to gain one point on Leclerc and Perez to seal it.

Even Verstappen asked: "Are you sure?" when he was told he was champion, reflecting the historical precedent that reduced points are awarded in such circumstances.

But it seems that this protocol was inadvertently left out of the rules when they were rewritten over last winter following the controversial Belgian Grand Prix, when a result was declared despite no racing taking place.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said this was "a mistake" and he was "certain" the rules would be revised over the winter.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

What to focus on after a United States Grand Prix that produced probably the best race of the season, with three outstanding story lines?

Max Verstappen fought back from an 11-second pit stop to pass his two biggest rivals and clinch a first constructors' title in nine years for a team that had lost its leader and creator less than 24 hours before.

Lewis Hamilton came as close as he has so far this year to a win, only to succumb to the inevitable and lose out to the Verstappen steamroller in the end.

And Fernando Alonso produced one of the drives of the season - one of the races of his long and illustrious career - to finish seventh in a car damaged in a 180mph crash in which it did a wheelie, smashed back into the ground and then a wall, and he dropped to the back of the field.

The Dutchman clinched his second world title at the last race in Japan, but since then Red Bull's world has been engulfed by the controversy of being found guilty of breaching the budget cap last season.

That subject dominated the weekend in Austin until an hour before qualifying, when the news broke of the death of Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz at the age of 78 after a long illness.

After qualifying third, Verstappen spoke movingly in tribute to Mateschitz, and he woke up on race morning determined to honour his memory with a win.

It looked like being easy until a pit-stop problem dropped him to third, behind Hamilton and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. But such is the pace of the Red Bull that he fought back past both with relative ease to achieve the result he so wanted.

[Jimbuna]