Verstappen replaces Kvyat at Red Bull

Max Verstappen is to replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull for the Spanish grand prix and for the rest of the season.

07/05/16

Max Verstappen is to replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull for the Spanish Grand Prix and for the rest of the season. This move comes after the Russian Grand Prix where Kvyat hit former Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari into turn 2. Kvyat then hit Vettel again going into turn 3 which sent the Ferrari out and into the barrier. When Kvyat hit Vettel, Kvyat’s teammate, Daniel Ricciardo was also hit by Vettel and destroyed his race. With both Kvyat and Ricciardo cars damaged at the start of the race meant that it would be near to impossible for any of them to score points. Ricciardo came home 11th with Kvyat 15th.

Kvyat had a slow start to the season in Australia and Bahrain but a podium in China should huge potential as he entered his home Grand Prix in Russia. Red Bull have come out and said that this is not the end of his career rejoining Torro Rosso. Kvyat joined Torro Rosso in 2014 with Red Bull promoting him in 2015 where he scored his first ever podium in Hungary and out scored Ricciardo in the drivers championship.

McLaren Honda’s Jenson Button has shared his opinion on Twitter and took Kvyat’s interest at heart.

Verstappen’s move up to Red Bull could show more skill and potential in the young Dutch as he is along with Pascal Wehrlein and others as F1’s new face of the sport. But will he get a reality kick?

Too harsh on Kvyat

My own opinion, I think Red Bull have been way too harsh on Kvyat and have all ready dumped him 4 races into the season. I agree strongly with Jenson Button and there is still 17 races to go this season. I think they could have kept him for the rest of the season then decide what to do with him when the season is over.  What Kvyat has to do now is to out-perform the Torro Rosso car and now team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.

Too good for Verstappen

Despite Red Bull being far too harsh on Kvyat, this is a really good opportunity for Verstappen to perform at a really competitive level alongside Ricciardo fighting against the Ferrari’s, Williams and maybe the Mercedes’s cars.

The next grand prix in Spain will show if Red Bull have made the right move or not?

After Round 4 Standings

After the Russian grand prix, Nico Rosberg leads the Drivers Championship and Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship.

02/05/16

Drivers Championship

1. Nico Rosberg 100 points
2. Lewis Hamilton 57 points
3. Kimi Raikkonen 43 points
4. Daniel Ricciardo 36 points
5. Sebastian Vettel 33 points
6. Felipe Massa 32 points
7. Romain Grosjean 22 points
8. Daniil Kvyat 21 points
9. Valterri Bottas 19 points
10. Max Verstappen 13 points
11. Fernando Alonso 8 points
12. Kevin Magnussen 6 points
13. Nico Hulkenberg 6 points
14. Carlos Sainz 4 points
15. Sergio Perez 2 points
16. Jenson Button 1 point
17. Stoffel Vandoorne 1 point
18. Jolyon Palmer 0 points
19. Marcus Ericsson 0 points
20. Pascal Wehrlein 0 points
21. Felipe Nasr 0 points
22. Esteban Gutierrez 0 points
23. Rio Haryanto 0 points

Constructors Championship

1. Mercedes 157 points
2. Ferrari 76 points
3. Red Bull 57 points
4. Williams 51 points
5. Haas 22 points
6. Torro Rosso 17 points
7. McLaren 10 points
8. Force India 8 points
9. Renault 8 points
10. Sauber 0 points
11. Manor 0 points

The Spanish grand prix weekend takes place in Barcelona for round 5 on the 13th – 15th of May.

Russian Race Round 4

Nico Rosberg eases to his 4th win of the season ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as Sebastian Vettel gets taken out by Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat on the 1st lap.

01/05/16

Hamilton’s problems fixed?

After missing out on a shot for pole position in Q3, Lewis Hamilton has had his MGU-H changed for the race overnight. Mercedes came on at the start of Q3 and said that Hamilton would not take part in this session. What can Hamilton achieve in the race with team-mate Nico Rosberg looking to continue his dominance at the top?

Tyre Choice

Most of the grid have opted for the super soft tyre while Nico Hulkenberg is on used Soft tyres, Esteban Gutierrez and Marcus Ericsson are on a new set of Soft tyres.

Race

The lights go green and Nico Rosberg gets away cleanly from pole position and is ahead of the field approaching turn 2. Kimi Raikkonen overtakes Valterri Bottas going into the corner and is up to 2nd. Daniil Kvyat misses his braking point into the corner and hits Sebastian Vettel. Daniel Ricciardo also gets hit from Vettel, forced into by Kvyat. Vettel is slow off of turn 2 as he struggles for traction and is again hit by Kvyat. Vettel is speared to the right with a puncture and is in the barrier and his race is over. Ricciardo and Kvyat have both sustained damage, a huge blow for Red Bull as they looked to score decent points. The replay show Esteban Gutierrez locking up and hitting the rear of Nico Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg spins and hits the innocent Rio Haryanto. So now we have lost Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg and Rio Haryanto in the space of one long straight and 3 corners.

Sebastian Vettel come on the radio to his Ferrari team is is furious with Kvyat for punting him out. Meanwhile, Red Bull pit Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat as both need new font wings. Both cars go onto the Medium tyre. Marcus Ericsson, Sergio Perez, who sustained a puncture and Esteban Gutierrez pit. The Safety car is deployed while Nico Rosberg leads ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Valterri Bottas, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton.

The Safety car is in on lap 4 and into turn 2, Valterri Bottas passes Kimi Raikkonen for 2nd and Lewis Hamilton passes Felipe Massa for 4th. Lap 7, Lewis Hamilton overtakes Kimi Raikkonen for 3rd place is starts to hunt down 2nd place, Valterri Bottas. Lap 9, Daniil Kvyat serves his 10 second stop and go penalty for the collision between him and Sebastian Vettel. Lap 10, Esteban Gutierrez serves his drive through penalty for the collision between him and Nico Hulkenberg.

Laps 11 to 14, drivers start making their first pit stops including Carlos Sainz, Felipe Nasr, Pascal Wehrlein and Jolyon Palmer. They all go onto the Soft compound tyre. At the end of lap 16, Valterri Bottas pits, goes onto the Soft compound tyre and releases Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. End of lap 17, Lewis Hamilton reacts to Bottas’s stop and pits, goes onto the Soft tyre and releases Kimi Raikkonen. Its close but Valterri Bottas is still ahead of Hamilton. Lap 19, Hamilton passes Bottas into turn 2 with the help of DRS. Lap 20, Kimi Raikkonen finally pits, goes onto the Soft tyre and rejoins in behind Hamilton but ahead of Bottas. At the end of lap 20, race leader, Nico Rosberg pits, goes onto the Soft tyre and rejoins in 1st.

Lap 29, after a long stint on the Medium tyre, Daniel Ricciardo pits for the Soft tyre. Lap 33, Nico Rosberg encounters traffic and Lewis Hamilton now has closed the gap to 8.4 seconds. Lap 34, Max Verstappen pulls over and stops his car in sector 1, looks like his engine has failed on him. Lap 37, Lewis Hamilton has been told by his Mercedes team that he has a “water pressure issue” and Hamilton immediately backs off his charge for the win. Lap 42, Mercedes come on the radio to Lewis Hamilton and assure him that the “water pressure issue” has been stabilized. Lap 47, Felipe Massa pits and goes onto the Soft tyres for the final few laps. Nico Rosberg wins ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.

Race Result

1.Rosberg  2.Hamilton  3.Raikkonen  4.Bottas  5.Massa  6.Alonso  7.Magnussen  8.Grosjean  9.Perez  10.Button  11.Ricciardo  12.Sainz  13.Palmer  14.Ericsson  15.Kvyat  16.Nasr  17.Gutierrez  18.Wehrlein  DNF Verstappen, Vettel, Haryanto and Hulkenberg

Race Facts

• Nico Rosberg won his fourth win of the season and his seventh victory in succession at Sochi. Rosberg is also  the fourth driver in history – after Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel – to win seven races in a row. Will this continue into Spain?
• Kimi Raikkonen scored the team’s 700th Grand Prix podium with 3rd place behind Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
• Fernando Alonso’s 6th place secured his first points of the season and with Jenson Button in 10th, it was a double points finish for McLaren.
• Kevin Magnussen’s 7th place secured his and Renault’s first points of the season.

 

 

Russian Qualifying Round 4

Nico Rosberg takes pole position ahead of Williams Valterri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as Lewis Hamilton suffers the same engine problem in China at the start as in of Q3 and misses the final session.

30/04/16

Q1

Pascal Wehrlein is the first car out on track and is first to set a lap time of a 1:40:162. Both Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg take two laps each to warm their tyres up and Hamilton beats Rosberg for the fastest time of the session so far. Lewis Hamilton is under investigation by the stewards by wide at turn 2 and missing the bollard where the drivers are supposed to got if they go wide at turn 2. Lewis Hamilton ends the first session quickest ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

Out: Ericsson – 22nd, Haryanto – 21st, Wehrlein – 20th, Nasr – 19th, Palmer – 18th and Magnussen – 17th.

Q2

Nico Rosberg is the first car out but it is Carlos Sainz Jr who sets the first lap time in of a 1:37:652. Nico Rosberg beats Lewis Hamilton on lap times with only 9 minutes and 30 seconds to go in the session. Lewis Hamilton has been sent to go see the Stewards after Qualifying for not rejoining the track at the required point in Q1. McLaren do think they can get into Q3 for the first time since the partnership with Honda reunited in 2015. But it is not good enough as Carlos Sainz and others push Jenson Button out.

Out: Gutierrez – 16th, Grosjean – 15th, Alonso – 14th, Hulkenberg – 13th, Button – 12th and Sainz 11th.

Q3

Daniel Ricciardo is the first car out on track. We are told by Mercedes that Lewis Hamilton will not take part in this session due to a power unit issue. This will put him 10th and last and also a shot at pole position. Kimi Raikkonen is the first to set a lap time of a 1:42:514. Nico Rosberg is on a good lap and is set to take provisional pole position but locks up and runs wide into turn 13 and pits.  Nico Rosberg comes out for another lap and takes pole position ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Valterri Bottas.

Top 10: Hamilton – 10th, Verstappen – 9th, Kvyat – 8th, Perez – 7th, Ricciardo – 6th, Massa – 5th and Raikkonen – 4th.

Top 3: Bottas – 3rd, Vettel – 2nd and Rosberg – 1st.

Qualifying Results

1.Rosberg  2.Bottas  3.Raikkonen  4.Massa  5.Ricciardo  6.Perez  7.Vettel*  8.Kvyat  9.Verstappen  10.Hamilton*  11.Sainz  12.Button  13.Hulkenberg  14.Alonso  15.Grosjean  16.Gutierrez  17.Magnussen  18.Palmer  19.Nasr  20.Wehrlein  21.Haryanto  22.Ericsson.

Vettel* received a 5 place grid penalty for suspected electrical problem on his engine he had in FP2.

Hamilton* did not set a lap time in Q3 and will start 10th for tomorrows race.

Rosberg aiming for first win in Russia

Pole sitter Nico Rosberg will be looking to take his first ever win in Russia tomorrow. Rosberg’s two main rivals, Sebastian Vettel will start in 7th place and Lewis Hamilton in 10th place. Will Nico Rosberg take his first ever win in Russia and extend his championship lead as well?