Motor Sports World Championship

The 2017 Singapore Grand Prix
24th-26th January 2017

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Marina Bay Street Circuit
Nominated by: Team Colombia
Location: Marina Bay, Singapore, Singapore
Laps: 59
Length: 5065m
Turns: 23
Supported by: Japanese Formula 3000

Previous winners:
(Marina Bay Street Circuit)
2009: Alex Tagliani (Canada)
2010: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2011: Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Tier-2 winners:
(Marina Bay Street Circuit)
2009: Simon Pagenaud (France)
2010: James Hinchcliffe (Canada)
2011: Mark Webber (Australia)
 
Last edited:
Qualifying for the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix
25th March 2017

Tier-2


Session 1
1: Paul di Resta (Italy) – 1:47.349
2: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) – 1:47.429
3: Alexander Rossi (USA) – 1:47.602
4: Robert Kubica (Poland) – 1:47.820
5: Marco Andretti (USA) – 1:47.914
6: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – 1:47.932
7: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) – 1:48.029
8: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) – 1:48.084

9: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:48.365
10: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:48.381
11: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – 1:48.437
12: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) – 1:48.520
13: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:48.615
14: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:48.637
15: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:48.705
16: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:48.928
17: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:49.149
18: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:49.253
19: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:49.432
20: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:49.656
21: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:49.697
22: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:49.708
23: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:49.985
24: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:50.025
25: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:50.305
26: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:50.484

Session 2
9: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – 1:47.223
10: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:47.394
11: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:47.557
12: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:47.713
13: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) – 1:47.764
14: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:47.902
15: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:48.151
16: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:48.156
17: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:48.197

18: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:48.323
19: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:48.568
20: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:48.596
21: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:48.862
22: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:48.936
23: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:48.984
24: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:49.193
25: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:49.263
26: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:49.507

Session 3
18: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:48.189
19: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:48.478
20: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:48.715
21: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:48.850
22: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:49.046
23: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:49.288
24: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:49.371
25: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:49.457
26: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:49.607

Tier-1

Session 1
1: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) – 1:46.794
2: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) – 1:46.797
3: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – 1:46.985
4: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) – 1:47.218
5: Fernando Alonso (Spain) – 1:47.272
6: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) – 1:47.389
7: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) – 1:47.648
8: Lewis Hamilton (UK) – 1:47.935

9: James Calado (UK) – 1:48.177
10: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:48.189
11: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:48.307
12: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:48.398
13: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:48.422
14: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:48.671
15: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:48.941
16: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:48.974
17: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:49.261
18: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:49.461
19: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:49.486
20: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:49.566
21: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:49.722
22: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:49.939
23: Will Power (Australia) – 1:50.019
24: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) – 1:50.058
25: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:50.286
26: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:50.312

Session 2
9: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:46.011
10: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:46.098
11: James Calado (UK) – 1:46.167
12: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:46.432
13: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:46.549
14: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:46.576
15: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:46.669
16: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:46.905
17: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:47.152

18: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:47.403
19: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:47.540
20: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:47.715
21: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:47.803
22: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:48.080
23: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:48.182
24: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:48.204
25: Will Power (Australia) – 1:48.469
26: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) – 1:48.626

Session 3
18: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:46.241
19: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:46.297
20: Romain Grosejan (France) – 1:46.467
21: Will Power (Australia) – 1:46.722
22: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:46.960
23: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:47.153
24: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:47.378
25: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) – 1:47.648
26: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:47.891
 
2017 Singapore Grand Prix
26th March 2017

After a five-year absence, the Singapore Grand Prix returns after a deal with Team Colombia, who are notable for having made such deals in the past, though with ChampCar pushing for a race in the South American country, they may soon finally have a track of their own to nominate. The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix in 2009 was the first ever MSWC race held at night, with Alex Tagliani best adapting to the conditions to claim an unexpected victory in an otherwise poor year, with the other two victories in Tier-1 claimed by the German pairing of Michael Schumacher in 2010 and Sebastian Vettel in 2011. The revived Grand Prix retains the same timetable, with the sun setting near the middle of the Tier-2 race, before the Tier-1 race is run under floodlights. The circuit remains relatively unchanged, with only the section of track between Turns 10 and 13 changing, so the trickiness of the circuit is the same meaning incidents are to be expected.

In Tier-1, Nico Hülkenberg looks set to get his championship off the mark, having pipped teammate Sebastian Vettel for pole by three-thousandths of a second. However, the Germans have some strong company behind them, in the form of Australian Grand Prix winner Carlos Muñoz and reigning World Champion Valtteri Bottas, with Fernando Alonso not far behind. However in Tier-2, Paul di Resta has claimed his second pole in two races and will look to make amends for his defeat in Australia, while Robin Frijns starts alongside him and will want to show who’s top dog in Team Netherlands. Behind them, Alexander Rossi looks to defend his championship lead from third, while Robert Kubica qualified in a strong fourth.


Di Resta defended his lead off the line, while Frijns fell back and lost second place to Rossi at Turn 1. Rossi proceeded to lunge down di Resta’s inside at Turn 3, but couldn’t take the position. Max Verstappen had a good getaway from sixth to jump Marco Andretti, while Stefano Coletti pulled ahead of Simona de Silvestro at Turn 1, only to lose the position back at Turn 3. Kevin Mirocha challenged Marcus Ericsson into Turn 1, but the pair made contact, costing the Pole part of his front wing and forcing him to pit early. Marco Andretti attempted to reclaim his position at Turn 5, but was unable to pass as was Fabio Leimer, who attempted to pass Raffaele Marciello. Verstappen attempted an ambitious move on Kubica at Turn 7, but found the door closed on him and he had to back off. Mitch Evans had the better run out of Turn 9 to pass Stoffel Vandoorne, while ahead of them Verstappen completed his move on Kubica, however the latter would be back ahead following a move down the inside of Turn 14, while towards the back Charles Leclerc passed Richie Stanaway at the same corner. Rossi started off lap 2 by attempting to pass di Resta for the lead, but locked up his brakes and went straight on into the runoff, nearly losing a position to Frijns instead. Jimmy Eriksson passed teammate Marcus Ericsson at Turn 3, while Coletti completed his move on de Silvestro at Turn 7. Verstappen continued his assault on Kubica by diving down his inside at Turn 13, but couldn’t complete the move and the pair went side-by-side down the following straight, with Kubica edging ahead at Turn 14. Frijns pulled alongside Rossi through Turn 22 and edged ahead of him out of Turn 23 to take second place just before the start of lap 3. Leimer was finally able to pass Marciello at Turn 1 that lap, while Evans battled with Andretti unsuccessfully. Rossi was able to reclaim second place at Turn 9, but Frijns kept on his heels and attempted to repass at Turn 3 on the following lap, before succeeding at Turn 13. Rossi continued to fight, but lost a lot of time behind Frijns, which allowed di Resta to pull away. Simona de Silvestro found herself under threat from Lucas Auer on lap 5, with the Austrian attempting overtakes on the exit of Turn 5 and through Turn 14, but only made the move stick coming out of the final corner. The duel between Verstappen and Kubica restarted on lap 7, with Verstappen overtaking at the tight Turn 19, but Kubica responded with an overtake through Turn 7. Verstappen wasted no time getting back ahead at Turn 9 and started to build a small gap over Kubica, but the former champion remained in his mirrors. Both Team New Zealand cars made overtakes on lap 9, with Evans passing Andretti on the exit of Turn 5, while Stanaway got back past Leclerc on the exit of Turn 10. Stanaway made another pass two laps later, outbraking Marcus Ericsson into Turn 1 to take 15th place. De Silvestro retook 10th place from Auer on lap 12 by passing the Austrian at Turn 14 and subsequently fending off Auer’s move at Turn 16. Auer very briefly lost out to the other Swiss car on lap 15, with Leimer passing him at Turn 9, but this time the Austrian’s counterattack was successful and he passed him up the inside of Turn 13.

The first of the two-stoppers pitted on lap 17, but the floodgates opened on lap 19 when Alisha Abdullah hit the back of Ho-Pin Tung trying to pass him at Turn 14 and left him stranded in the middle of the track, while she went straight on into the runoff. With the safety car deployed all two-stoppers that were yet to pit all came in and Evans and Andretti entered together, with the American jumping the Kiwi. The eight drivers on one-stop strategies did not pit at all and found themselves out of position on the restart on lap 23. Vandoorne lost a place at Turn 1 to Verstappen, while Coletti jumped Marciello for 9th at Turn 7. Vandoorne lost another place the following lap to Kubica, while Stanaway jumped Mirocha and Gelael on consecutive laps. Fabio Leimer overtook Lucas Auer for 14th on lap 26 and followed it up by passing Marcus Ericsson on lap 27, while Marciello lost another place to de Silvestro on lap 28. As the race hit half distance, the one-stoppers began to pit, with the final stops occurring on lap 33, though Vandoorne had already recovered a position lost by his pitstop on lap 32, by passing Coletti at Turn 13. Max Verstappen ran wide onto the kerbs at Turn 7 on lap 34 and got rather sideways. Though he was able to keep going, Kubica pounced on him to take 4th place. Mitch Evans and Marco Andretti were at each other’s throats again on lap 35, with the pair trading places twice in one lap, but Evans reclaimed the position on lap 36 and held it. Ma Qinghua suffered a transmission problem on lap 37 and was forced to retire the car at Turn 18, making it a double DNF for Team China. Kubica had closed up to Rossi by lap 38 and passed the American at Turn 9 for 3rd place the following lap. The two-stoppers made their second pitstops shortly afterwards, with Andretti coming out right behind Evans. Andretti quickly harried Evans and passed him on lap 41 through Turn 1. Stanaway made light work passing Mirocha for 16th on lap 43, while Leimer repassed Eriksson for 12th on lap 44. On lap 45, Andretti attempted to pass Verstappen through Turn 14, but Verstappen closed the door on him at the last moment, sending the American car into the inside barrier and destroying its suspension, while Verstappen was spun around but was able to recover – albeit with a puncture. With the American car stranded in the middle of track, the safety car was deployed for a second time.

The race restarted on lap 50, and Max Verstappen wasted no time making up lost ground, passing Marciello for 7th at Turn 3, while De Silvestro passed Coletti on the run down to Turn 10. Kubica spent most of lap 51 pressing Frijns for 2nd place to no avail, while Paul di Resta once again opened up a lead. Marcus Ericsson became the fifth retirement of the race on lap 52, when he locked up his breaks going into Turn 1 and spun into the barriers. Coletti recovered his position from de Silvestro on lap 53, by passing her at Turn 7. Ahead of them, Verstappen was making further ground, passing Evans out of Turn 5 on lap 54 but losing the position after getting a poor run out of Turn 14. Verstappen attempted to overtake out of Turn 23, but lost the subsequent drag race and had to fall back at Turn 1 and focus on another overtake, which he made successfully out of Turn 9. Ahead of them, Frijns finally cracked under pressure on lap 56, taking a poor line out of Turn 5 and allowing Kubica to claim 2nd place. The final move in the points came courtesy of Stefano Coletti, who took 8th place from Raffaele Marciello at Turn 14 on lap 58. However at the front, Paul di Resta came home to claim a dominant victory he never looked like losing, having only lost the lead during the pitstops. Di Resta is joined on the podium by a delighted Kubica and a disappointed Frijns, while Rossi and Vandoorne had quite races to finish fourth and fifth.

Results
1st: Paul di Resta (Italy) +15
2nd: Robert Kubica (Poland) +12
3rd: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) +10
4th: Alexander Rossi (USA) +8
5th: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) +7
6th: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) +6
7th: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) +5
8th: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) +4
9th: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) +2
10th: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) +1
11th: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland)
12th: Lucas Auer (Austria)
13th: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand)
14th: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden)
15th: Kevin Mirocha (Poland)
16th: Charles Leclerc (Monaco)
17th: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium)
18th: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia)
19th: Armaan Ebrahim (India)
20th: Sean Gelael (Indonesia)
21st: Andreas Zuber (Austria)
DNF: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden)
DNF: Marco Andretti (USA)
DNF: Ma Qinghua (China)
DNF: Ho-Pin Tung (China)
DNF: Alisha Abdullah (India)


In Tier-1, Vettel had a better launch than his teammate to lead into Turn 1, while another strong start from Muñoz put him in second place, while pole sitter Hülkenberg had fallen to third by the first corner. Fernando Alonso had to defend an early attack from Sergio Pérez, while Daniel Ricciardo surprised Lewis Hamilton with an overtake up the inside for 8th place. Kevin Magnussen passed James Calado through Turn 5 and Kamui Kobayashi followed him through at Turn 7. Muñoz threw his car up the inside of Turn 9 to take the lead from Vettel, while Bottas almost pulled the same move on Hülkenberg. Hamilton lost another place to Daniil Kvyat on the run down to Turn 10, but quickly recovered it on the exit of Turn 12, while Vettel recovered the lead at Turn 13. Alonso took 4th place from Bottas going into Turn 14 and successfully held the position on the exit as behind them, Kobayashi ran too deep trying to pass Magnussen and had to defend from Calado instead. Hülkenberg attempted to reclaim 2nd place at Turn 3 on lap 2, but Muñoz blocked the move and held the position, but Hülkenberg responded with another move coming out of Turn 5 to which Muñoz had no reply. Montoya briefly passed Pérez for 6th at Turn 7, but lost the position again at Turn 9. Kobayashi made another move on Magnussen up the inside of Turn 13 and was able to keep the position, with Calado making his own attempt at Turn 14 but was unable to get past. Hülkenberg started lap 3 by trying to pass Vettel up the inside of Turn 1, but his teammate defended well and kept the position, while Pérez also had a look up the inside of Bottas, but didn’t attempt a move. Further back, Carlos Sainz Jr. took 14th place from Nico Rosberg down the inside of Turn 7 and Jules Bianchi lost 17th place to Felipe Nasr at Turn 11. Vitaly Petrov had a strong start from plum last and was already up to 21st place by the end of lap 3. Hamilton attempted to retake 8th from Ricciardo up the inside of Turn 1, but Ricciardo kept with him and they ran side-by-side through Turn 2, but Hamilton had the inside for Turn 3 and took the position. At the front, Muñoz reclaimed second place from Hülkenberg round the outside of Turn 9 and held off the German’s attacks at Turn 13, but Hülkenberg recovered the position the following lap out of Turn 5. Later that lap, Pérez passed Bottas for 5th at Turn 14 only for Bottas to retake the position up the inside of Turn 3. Pérez attempted a move at Turn 7 before successfully passing at Turn 9, but Bottas waited and reclaimed the position coming out of the final corner and it took another move coming out of Turn 5 for Pérez to finally secure the position. By lap 8, Kobayashi was on the tail of Kvyat and took 10th place from the Russian up the inside of Turn 18. Ahead of them, Ricciardo was once again challenging Hamilton for 8th and on lap 9, the Australian passed him at Turn 8, but got a poor run out of the corner and lost the position again. He had to wait for the next lap for the next opportunity to arise, but he passed Hamilton down the inside of Turn 3 to take the position.

After ten laps, Hülkenberg turned the heat up on his teammate, attempting to pass him at Turn 14 and again at Turn 23, before outbraking him at Turn 1 to claim the lead. Vettel retaliated by passing Hülkenberg at Turn 7 and then blocking his counterattack into Turn 10, but Hülkenberg retook the lead down the inside of Turn 3 the following lap. Vettel attempted to come back at Turn 9 and again at Turn 13, but Hülkenberg wouldn’t budge and held the lead. Lap 13 saw James Calado take 12th place from Magnussen, while the following lap, Rosberg lost 15th place to James Hinchcliffe. The first pitstops came in on lap 17 with more drivers opting for the two-stop strategy than in Tier-2. A slow pitstop for Alonso was the only major incident, which left him defending against Pérez afterwards, though by lap 21, he had begun to build a gap again. James Calado’s fresh tyres allowed him to jump James Hinchcliffe on lap 23 to take 13th place, but Carlos Sainz Jr. found him more difficult to get past. Lewis Hamilton was performing well on his new set of tyres and passed Daniel Ricciardo once again on lap 25. Ricciardo stuck with him, but was unable to find a way through in the short term. Ahead of them, Montoya was chasing Magnussen, who was yet to pit. Montoya attempted to pass the Dane at Turn 1 on lap 26, but ran too deep at the corner and Magnussen took the position back. Undeterred, Montoya attempted to pass again on the run down to Turn 7, but Magnussen moved over more than Montoya was expecting and the two collided, ending both of their races and deploying the safety car, which also caused all the one-stoppers to dive into the pits. Racing resumed on lap 33 and Alonso pounced on Muñoz, passing him on the run down to Turn 1. Kvyat and Petrov both also benefitted from the restart, passing Ricciardo for 8th and Bianchi for 17th respectively. Sainz was briefly past Calado on lap 34, taking 11th place at Turn 7, but Calado reclaimed the position at Turn 14. At the front, Vettel had been maintaining his gap to Hülkenberg since the restart, but on lap 35, he started to close it and attempted to take the lead round the outside of Turn 23, but Hülkenberg had the inside line for Turn 1 and held the lead. Vettel waited until Turn 9 to make his next move and passed Hülkenberg for the lead and held it for almost a lap, but Hülkenberg threw his car down the inside of Turn 8 and forced Vettel to back off. Ricciardo recovered 8th place from Kvyat on lap 38, while Felipe Nasr cleared Nico Rosberg the following lap. Rosberg then became the first to make his second stop and was followed by all other two-stopping cars over the next few laps. The round of pitstops proved a nightmare for 6th-placed Valtteri Bottas, whose front-left tyre came loose through Turn 4 – luckily not hitting anyone as it rolled down the track and into the runoff at Turn 5 where Bottas promptly parked, allowing the race to continue without a safety car but providing a massive blow to the reigning champion.

Once again, fresher tyres on James Calado allowed him to sail past James Hinchcliffe on lap 43, while at the front Sergio Pérez was quickly able to switch on his tyres, allowing him to close up to Muñoz and pass the Colombian at Turn 5 on lap 45. Daniil Kvyat found himself out of position due to only stopping once, but was soon passed by Hamilton on lap 46 and then Ricciardo on lap 48. With ten laps to go, Vettel reignited his charge for the lead and was right on his teammate’s tail at the start of lap 50, passing him into Turn 1. Hülkenberg responded by passing his teammate out of Turn 5 and Vettel tried to pass at Turns 9 and 14, but found no way through. His next opportunity came at Turn 13 on lap 51, and he used it to reclaim the lead, after which Hülkenberg began licking his wounds and holding back to allow for a final push later on. In the meantime, Kvyat was overtaken by Kobayashi at Turn 8 on lap 52 and ahead of them, Pérez was gaining ground on Alonso, catching the Spaniard by the end of lap 53 and attempting to take the position at Turn 1, before succeeding at Turn 7. Lap 53 also saw Esteban Gutierrez’s engine cut out at the end of the lap, forcing the Mexican to retire. James Calado caught Kvyat on lap 55 and the Russian’s old tyres prevented him from defending properly, allowing Calado easily past. Will Power spun at Turn 22 on lap 55, costing him his front wing and demoting him to the back of the field, while at the front Hülkenberg’s renewed charge started on lap 56, taking the lead at Turn 3 and defending against Vettel’s moves at Turn 9 and Turn 13, but Vettel passed him up the inside of Turn 14. The final move in the Hamilton-Ricciardo battle was made on lap 57, with Ricciardo passing Hamilton at Turn 7 and blocking his counterattack at Turn 13. At the front, Hülkenberg spent most of lap 57 waiting behind Vettel, before pouncing on the exit of Turn 13 and solidifying the pass at Turn 14. Vettel held the lead as they started the penultimate lap, but Hülkenberg would make moves at Turn 7 and Turn 14 to try and pass to no avail. In a last gasp effort, Hülkenberg tried to divebomb Vettel into Turn 1 on the final lap, but locked up his brakes and went straight on. Though he was able to recover, it gave Vettel all the gap he needed to complete the final lap and win the race. Hülkenberg had to settle for second and the Germans were joined on the podium by Sergio Pérez, who put in a solid drive from sixth on the grid. Fernando Alonso and Australian Grand Prix winner Carlos Muñoz both had decent drives, but will likely be feeling that a better result than fourth and fifth was achievable, while Ricciardo and Hamilton finish sixth and seventh following an exciting duel that spanned most of the race.

Results:
1st: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) +15
2nd: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) +12
3rd: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) +10
4th: Fernando Alonso (Spain) +8
5th: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) +7
6th: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) +6
7th: Lewis Hamilton (UK) +5
8th: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) +4
9th: James Calado (UK) +2
10th: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) +1
11th: James Hinchcliffe (Canada)
12th: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain)
13th: Felipe Nasr (Brazil)
14th: Nico Rosberg (Finland)
15th: Vitaly Petrov (Russia)
16th: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan)
17th: Jules Bianchi (France)
18th: Marco Sørensen (Denmark)
19th: Robert Wickens (Canada)
20th: Bruno Senna (Brazil)
21st: Romain Grosjean (France)
22nd: Will Power (Australia)
DNF: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico)
DNF: Valtteri Bottas (Finland)
DNF: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark)
DNF: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)


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Massa: Brazil can "get points this weekend"
6th April 2017

Felipe Massa has confidence that Team Brazil can come back from its poor form at the start of the season and will be consistently scoring points at the end of the season.

Team Brazil currently lie at the bottom of the Tier-1 Nations’ Championship, being the only team to remain pointless after two races, with Felipe Nasr’s 13th place in Singapore remaining their best result.

The Brazilians have particularly struggled in qualifying, only managing to secure their grid position once before the final session and have found themselves struggling to make up positions in the race itself.

Despite this, Massa remains optimistic about the team’s prospects and in an interview ahead of their home race this weekend, predicted that they would bounce back and avoid relegation.

“I think the first races could have gone better” the former champion said, “but I also think they were a bit unlucky. The guys have had problems overtaking, which is really limiting when you start near the back, but if qualifying goes better they could easily make the points”

“I have raced with both drivers over my career and they are both faster than these results show. They can both do better and for sure they will by the end of the season. Most races you will see them score points. They should not be relegated”

Team Brazil are one of four teams to have raced in Tier-1 every year since the two tier system started in 1997, though have never failed to score in the first two races in that time period.

Massa also defended Bruno Senna, saying “He was racing in ChampCar last season, so he needs time to readjust – once he does he will be fine. If you look at his results last season, he struggled in the first few races, but did a lot better afterwards and even won a race.”

When asked about the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix, Massa said “Brazilians are the most passionate fans in the world, especially towards their home drivers. As a driver, this does help you a lot and makes you go faster. With Brazilian support, we should be able to get points this weekend.”

“And once the pressure of getting first points is lifted, more will certainly follow” he added.

Finally, Massa talked about his future and ruled out a return to the MSWC, saying “I enjoyed my time for sure, but I think now is the right time to stop. As I have said, the current drivers are fine. We also have Sergio [Sette Câmara], who is doing quite well in Formula Two. I don't think Team Brazil need me to return.”

“I can’t see myself racing full-time again, but I still love to race. I have considered the Indy 500 or Le Mans or something in Stock Cars and now seems like a good time to do it, so I might do that. We’ll see.”
 
The 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
7th-9th April 2016

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Autódromo José Carlos Pace

Nominated by: Team Brazil
Location: São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Laps: 70
Length: 4309m
Turns: 15
Supported by: United States Formula 3000, Stock Car Brasil, Brazilian Formula 4

Previous winners:
(Autódromo de Interlagos*)
1974: Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)
1975: Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)
1976: Patrick Depallier (France)
1977: Gilles Villeneuve (Canada)

(Autódromo Internacional Jarcepaguá**)
1978: James Hunt (UK)
1979: Jacques Laffite (France)
1980: Alan Jones (Australia)
1981: Carlos Reutemann (Argentina)
1982: Gilles Villeneuve (Canada)
1983: Alain Prost (France)
1984: Alain Prost (France)
1985: Alain Prost (France)
1986: Nelson Piquet (Brazil)
1987: Nelson Piquet (Brazil)
1988: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1989: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)

(Autódromo José Carlos Pace)
1990: Nelson Piquet (Brazil)
1991: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1992: Alain Prost (France)
1993: Stefan Bellof (Germany)
1994: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
1995: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1996: Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
1997: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
1998: Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
1999: Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
2000: Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
2001: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2002: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2003: Dario Franchitti (UK)
2004: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2005: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2006: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2007: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2008: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2009: Felipe Massa (Brazil)
2010: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2011: Lewis Hamilton (UK)
2012: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2013: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)
2014: Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
2015: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2016: Felipe Massa (Brazil)

Tier-2 winners:
(Autódromo José Carlos Pace)
1997: Ukyo Katayama (Japan)
1998: Olivier Panis (France)
1999: Toranoskue Takagi (Japan)
2000: Tony Stewart (USA)
2001: Mark Webber (Australia)
2002: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2003: Scott Dixon (New Zealand)
2004: Alex Tagliani (Canada)
2005: Sébastien Bourdais (France)
2006: Scott Dixon (New Zealand)
2007: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2008: Scott Dixon (New Zealand)
2009: A.J. Allmendinger (USA)
2010: Takuma Sato (Japan)
2011: Sébastien Bourdais (France)
2012: Scott Dixon (New Zealand)
2013: Romain Grosjean (France)
2014: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium)
2015: Marco Andretti (USA)
2016: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark)

* later renamed Autódromo José Carlos Pace
** later renamed Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet
 
Qualifying for the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
8th April 2017

Tier-2

Session 1
1: Marco Andretti (USA) – 1:15.751
2: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) – 1:15.878
3: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) – 1:16.013
4: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) – 1:16.066
5: Alexander Rossi (USA) – 1:16.204
6: Paul di Resta (Italy) – 1:16.297
7: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) – 1:16.427
8: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:16.617

9: Robert Kubica (Poland) – 1:16.715
10: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – 1:16.724
11: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:16.894
12: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:17.064
13: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:17.222
14: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:17.396
15: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:17.445
16: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:17.497
17: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:17.511
18: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:17.632
19: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:17.708
20: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:17.747
21: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:17.828
22: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:18.026
23: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:18.060
24: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:18.062
25: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:18.195
26: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – no time

Session 2
9: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – 1:15.569
10: Robert Kubica (Poland) – 1:15.650
11: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:15.717
12: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:15.826
13: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – 1:15.865
14: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:15.951
15: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:16.015
16: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:16.062
17: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:16.220

18: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:16.234
19: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:16.258
20: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:16.353
21: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:16.398
22: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:16.592
23: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:16.640
24: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:16.777
25: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:16.970
26: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:17.110

Session 3
18: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:15.844
19: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:15.905
20: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:16.056
21: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:16.221
22: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:16.269
23: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:16.384
24: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:16.586
25: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:16.771
26: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:16.892

Tier-1

Session 1
1: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) – 1:13.128
2: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) – 1:13.157
3: Lewis Hamilton (UK) – 1:13.327
4: James Calado (UK) – 1:13.461
5: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) – 1:13.545
6: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:13.712
7: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – 1:13.778
8: Fernando Alonso (Spain) – 1:13.793

9: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) – 1:13.903
10: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:13.973
11: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:14.063
12: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:14.253
13: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:14.329
14: Juan Pablo Montoya (Brazil) – 1:14.407
15: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:14.525
16: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:14.697
17: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:14.871
18: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:14.971
19: Will Power (Australia) – 1:14.998
20: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:15.093
21: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:15.153
22: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:15.258
23: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:15.260
24: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) – 1:15.366
25: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:15.370
26: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:15.374

Session 2
9: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:13.019
10: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:13.095
11: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:13.165
12: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) – 1:13.194
13: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) – 1:13.218
14: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:13.263
15: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:13.432
16: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:13.618
17: Will Power (Australia) – 1:13.716

18: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:13.910
19: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:13.970
20: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:14.137
21: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:14.211
22: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:14.348
23: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:14.544
24: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:14.650
25: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) – 1:14.690
26: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:14.733

Session 3
18: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:13.313
19: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:13.490
20: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:13.547
21: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:13.733
22: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:13.752
23: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:13.938
24: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:14.053
25: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) – 1:14.241
26: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:14.347
 
2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
9th April 2017

A long-standing favourite, the MSWC returns to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace for the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix. First raced in 1974, the 4.3 kilometre circuit is one of the shortest on the calendar and is known for its elevation chances and its mix of fast, open corners and tighter, trickier turns as well as being one of the few tracks to run anti-clockwise. The passionate Brazilian fans always turn up in their masses and give the circuit a fantastic atmosphere and last year’s crowd were treated to their first home victory in seven years as Felipe Massa took his first win since 2013, but with Massa gone Team Brazil seem worse for wear and are currently languishing at the bottom of the standings with no points. Still, qualifying went well for both drivers and with a bit of luck, both could be scoring today. Also in qualifying, reigning champion Valtteri Bottas took his first pole of the year, but championship leader Sebastian Vettel joins him on the front row. An all-British second row follows them, while Nico Hülkenberg had to settle for fifth. Carlos Muñoz and Fernando Alonso had disappointing qualifyings and start from seventh and eighth, while the other Colombian car of Juan Pablo Montoya had a torrid time and lines up thirteenth.
But first is the Tier-2 race, where Paul di Resta’s attempt at a hat-trick of pole positions was rather lacklustre and only landed him sixth place. Marco Andretti filled the void to take pole with Stoffel Vandoorne joining him on the front row. Mitch Evans and Robin Frijns put in solid efforts to make up row two, while the championship leaders are directly behind them. Fabio Leimer and Stefano Coletti can be pleased with their Saturdays, having locked in their grid positions in the first session for the first time this year and beating out Max Verstappen and Robert Kubica, whose technical problems and lack of pace respectively left them in the second session and occupying row five of the grid.


Vandoorne had the best launch, but Andretti had the inside line and was able to secure the lead and Evans almost squeezed past as well. Rossi had a good start to pass Frijns into the first corner with d’Ambrosio jumping Stanaway further back. Max Verstappen had a good exit of Turn 3 which allowed him to pass Stefano Coletti down the following straight while at the end of the straight, Evans took second place from Vandoorne down the inside of Turn 4, a move replicated by Charles Leclerc on Simona de Silvestro for thirteenth. Frijns was glued to the back of Rossi for most of the infield section, but had a poor run out of Turn 11 and had to defend against di Resta going into Turn 12. Kubica had a good exit out of Turn 12 and was able to pull alongside Coletti through Turn 13 to take ninth place, but Coletti dived down his inside at Turn 1 to reclaim the position. Vandoorne was also retaking positions at the start of lap 2, claiming second place from Evans coming into Turn 3 while behind them Frijns was still futilely chasing Rossi. Kubica reclaimed ninth place from Coletti at Turn 4 and was able to hold it this time despite Coletti making attempts at Turns 8 and 10. D’Ambrosio ran wide at Turn 12, which allowed Stanaway through and also gave a run to Leclerc, who was soon down his inside and through. Lap 3 started with Frijns passing Rossi down the inside of Turn 1, with his teammate also making overtakes – passing Leimer from a long way back down the inside of Turn 4. Leimer almost lost another place coming out of Turn 12, but he blocked Kubica and forced him to back down. D’Ambrosio made up one of his lost places on lap 4, passing Leclerc down the back straight, while ahead of them Coletti recovered ninth place from Kubica on the run down to Turn 12. Kubica was under pressure again the following lap from Richie Stanaway, but Stanaway was unable to pass despite making multiple attempts. At the front, Frijns was on the tail of Evans and on lap 6, attempted to pass him down the inside of Turn 1, but Evans had the better run through Turn 2 and kept the position. Frijns stayed with him, but was too far back to make a move into Turn 4. However, a better run in the infield put him right on his tail coming out of Turn 12, allowing him to easily make the pass down the main straight. Leclerc and de Silvestro started battling for thirteenth place again on lap 8, with de Silvestro passing at Turn 4, only to be outbraked at Turn 8 and lose the position again. She made a move at Turn 12, but lost traction on the exit, allowing him to pull away. De Silvestro had caught back up by Turn 4 though and passed him down the inside of Turn 5 and Leclerc’s attempts to recover the position at Turn 8 resulted in minor contact and he was forced to back off. By lap 11, Marco Andretti was beginning to show signs of tyre wear, with his lead being chipped away to Vandoorne who was keeping a steady gap behind him to Frijns. Vandoorne was on Andretti’s tail by lap 13, but the American’s defensive skills allowed him to keep the lead for a couple more laps before Vandoorne got the better run out of Turn 3 on lap 15 and sailed through. Andretti attempted to fight back, but with his tyres suffering and Frijns catching up fairly quickly, he was forced to pit instead on lap 17 and most other cars followed suit within the following few laps.
Max Verstappen was able to switch his tyres on quite quickly and on lap 20 passed Paul di Resta going into Turn 1 and pulled away before he could respond. Robert Kubica lost tenth position to Richie Stanaway on lap 22, when Stanaway outbraked him going into Turn 4. At the front, Frijns was pushing his new set of tyres and passed Andretti out of Turn 12 on lap 23. Andretti quickly pushed back though and after a failed attempt on lap 24, retook second place on lap 25 through Turn 3. Leclerc passed de Silvestro for thirteenth again at Turn 4 on lap 26 and she promptly ran wide at Turn 9 trying to pursue him, allowing him to pull away. Stefano Coletti became the first driver to retire on lap 28, when his gearbox failed, costing him a potential points finish. Lap 30 saw Leimer attempt to pass di Resta at Turn 1 for seventh place, but was unable to complete the move and had to fall back and make the pass down the inside of Turn 12 instead. Kubica had been reinstated to tenth place after Coletti’s retirement, but found the position under threat again from d’Ambrosio on lap 33, with the Belgian outbraking him into Turn 4, but then locking up at Turn 8, allowing Kubica back through. D’Ambrosio attempted to pass at Turn 12, but Kubica blocked him and forced him to try again at Turn 1 with similar success, but d’Ambrosio was able to use the slipstream down the back straight to pass Kubica just before Turn 4 and take the position. Mitch Evans, who had spent most of the middle stint slowly eroding the gap to Robin Frijns, finally caught up to the Dutchman on lap 36 and passed him the following lap at Turn 4, but Frijns reclaimed the position on the exit of Turn 12. The pair traded places twice on lap 37, but Evans passed Frijns again down Turn 1 on lap 38 and was finally able to build a small gap. Unable to recover, Evans opted to pit, triggering the second round of pitstops. During Vandoorne’s pitstop, his front-right wheelman fumbled replacing the tyre, costing him precious seconds and allowing Andretti to pressure him for the lead and the American was back ahead on lap 44, while di Resta also gained from his pitstop to repass Leimer on lap 46. Ma Qinghua was battling for 21st place with Alisha Abdullah on lap 49, passing her coming out of Turn 1, but she fought back and tried to pass at Turn 10, but he turned in on her and was spun around and promptly stalled. With Qinghua stranded in the middle of the track and Abdullah parked on the exit of Turn 11, the safety car was scrambled, bunching up the pack again.
With the debris clear, the safety car pulled in on lap 54 and racing restarted. Andretti and Vandoorne had roughly equal restarts, while Verstappen was caught off-guard, but lunged down the inside of Rossi at Turn 1 anyway to take fifth position. Behind them, Leimer had a similar look down the inside of di Resta, but decided against it and instead made his move at Turn 4 to take back seventh. The following lap, Leclerc was able to pass Kubica for eleventh on the back straight and immediately set his eyes on the battling pair of Stanaway and d’Ambrosio ahead of him. D’Ambrosio was able to pass Stanaway through Turn 13 on lap 57, but Stanaway reclaimed the position the following lap on the exit of Turn 10. D’Ambrosio reclaimed the position at Turn 1 on lap 59 and Stanaway tried to fight back, but was surprised by Leclerc making a move at Turn 4 and the pair almost making contact, with the position going to Leclerc. At the front, Vandoorne had initially let Andretti get away off the restart, but had reeled him back in again by lap 60. The Belgian briefly took the lead on the exit of Turn 2, but Andretti was able to use the slipstream on the back straight to pass him back going into Turn 4. Vandoorne had a look up the inside of Turn 12, but decided against a move and instead opted to pass at Turn 1, however he lost the lead again following another overtake at Turn 4. After attempting a daring move at Turn 8, Vandoorne passed Andretti up the inside of Turn 12, then successfully fended off overtake attempts at Turns 1 and 4 on the following lap to secure his lead. Behind them, Verstappen was duelling his teammate for fourth place and attempted to pass him through the final corners and then coming out of Turn 3 on lap 64, but to no avail. Verstappen sat behind him for the rest of the lap and initiated his assault again in the final few corners, but had to back down due to yellow flags, with Sean Gelael’s Team Indonesia car now parked on the runoff at Turn 1. Having passed the yellow flags, Verstappen got a run out of Turn 3 and was able to use the slipstream to pass his teammate on the straight and then outbrake him into Turn 4 to secure the position. The battle for tenth flared up again on lap 66, with Stanaway pulling alongside Leclerc through Turn 11, but being outbroken into Turn 12 and losing the position again. He was however able to pass him back through Turn 4 and keep the position this time, with Leclerc running slightly wide through Turn 6, preventing him from mounting a counterattack. In the dying laps of the race, Fabio Leimer was glued to the rear wing of Alexander Rossi and passed the American down the inside of Turn 1 on lap 69, only for Rossi to repass him on the back straight. It took another move from Leimer at Turn 12 for him to secure sixth place. At the front, Stoffel Vandoorne had remained unchallenged since his earlier skirmish and was able to come home to take his first victory of the season and sixth overall to propel himself into the championship battle and push Team Belgium into the promotion zone. Marco Andretti came home second, with Mitch Evans claiming third which are strong early results for both drivers. Max Verstappen had a strong Sunday to reach fourth, edging out teammate Robin Frijns who finished fifth, while Fabio Leimer had a good weekend all around and finished sixth. Paul di Resta and Alexander Rossi remain at the top of the championship despite finishing eighth and seventh respectively, while Jerome d’Ambrosio and Richie Stanaway take their first points of the season in ninth and tenth.


Results
1st: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) +15
2nd: Marco Andretti (USA) +12
3rd: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) +10
4th: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) +8
5th: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) +7
6th: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) +6
7th: Alexander Rossi (USA) +5
8th: Paul di Resta (Italy) +4
9th: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) +2
10th: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) +1
11th: Charles Leclerc (Monaco)
12th: Robert Kubica (Poland)
13th: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland)
14th: Andreas Zuber (Austria)
15th: Raffaele Marciello (Italy)
16th: Lucas Auer (Austria)
17th: Armaan Ebrahim (India)
18th: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden)
19th: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden)
20th: Ho-Pin Tung (China)
21st: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia)
22nd: Kevin Mirocha (Poland)
23rd: Sean Gelael (Indonesia)
DNF: Alisha Abdullah (India)
DNF: Ma Qinghua (China)
DNF: Stefano Coletti (Monaco)


In the Tier-1 race, Valtteri Bottas was fastest off the line and thus kept his lead, with Sebastian Vettel slotting in behind him. James Calado jumped Lewis Hamilton off the line, but Hamilton had the better run out of Turn 2 and reclaimed the position. Carlos Muñoz took sixth place from James Hinchcliffe down the inside of Turn 1 and Bruno Senna was also able to jump Nico Rosberg. Montoya passed Pérez going into Turn 3, but Pérez outbraked him into Turn 4 and regained the position, while ahead of them Alonso attempted the same move on Hinchcliffe unsuccessfully. Kamui Kobayashi surprised Jules Bianchi by passing him down the inside of Turn 8, with Bianchi’s attempt to recover the position at Turn 10 proving fruitless. Muñoz attempted to take fifth from Nico Hülkenberg at Turn 12, but had a poor run out of the corner and this allowed Hinchcliffe to come back and pass him through Turn 15. Hamilton made a move for second place at Turn 1, which forced Vettel out wide and forced him on the defensive against Calado instead of attacking Hamilton. Rosberg lost out to another Brazilian at Turn 4, being passed by Felipe Nasr and behind them Montoya and Pérez continued to squabble, but Montoya was unable to make a move until Turn 12, where he was able to get past. Vettel had caught back up to Hamilton by the start of lap 3 and sold him a carbon copy of the move used at Turn 1 the lap before, but Hamilton recovered better and was straight back on the German’s tail, attempting to pass him at Turn 4 before making the move stick at Turn 8. Muñoz made an ambitious move on Hinchcliffe through Turn 12 which ultimately failed and allowed Alonso to close right up and pass at Turn 1 on the following lap, while Hülkenberg was catching Calado and passed him down the inside of Turn 4. On lap 5, Vettel was able to slipstream Hamilton down the back straight and passed him, completing the move before Turn 4 and while Hamilton attempted to return the favour at Turn 12, he had to back off to avoid contact. Pérez and Montoya swapped places again on lap 6, courtesy of an overtaking coming out of Turn 3, while ahead of them Rosberg was back on Nasr’s tail and passed the home driver down the inside of Turn 1 the following lap. Lap 8 saw Calado start harrying Hülkenberg to take back fourth place, which he did in the final corners, only to lose it again coming out of Turn 2 the following lap. Not beaten, Calado got the better run out of Turn 4 to make the move down the inside of Turn 5. Ahead of them, Hamilton and Vettel were fighting again, with Hamilton passing Vettel at Turn 1 on lap 10, only for Vettel to recover the position at Turn 4 on the following lap, but Hamilton had the better run out of Turn 12 and was able to secure the position just before the start/finish line. On lap 13, Muñoz was fighting Alonso again and attempted a pass at Turn 4, only to run too deep into the corner and Alonso came straight back through. Muñoz tried again at Turn 12, but was too far back and it wasn’t until Turn 1 on the following lap that he was able to make the move work. Juan Pablo Montoya ran wide at Turn 10 on lap 15 and this allowed Romain Grosjean to catch up to him. Grosjean attempted to pass at Turn 1 on the following lap, but bailed out and instead passed him down the back straight, completing the move before Turn 4.
James Hinchcliffe became the first car to pit on lap 18 and was quickly followed by a stream of other cars. On his fresh tyres, Hamilton quickly set after Bottas and initially took several tenths per lap out of his lead, but Bottas quickly responded to try and maintain his lead. Felipe Nasr had a strong pitstop and this allowed him to continue his battle with Rosberg, passing him on lap 23, only to be repassed the following lap. Lap 26 saw Hinchcliffe close back up to Hülkenberg, but it wouldn’t be until the next lap that he could pass the German, making his move on the exit of Turn 10. Montoya recovered thirteenth position from Grosjean on lap 28 by passing him down the back straight and immediately started to pull away, while ahead of them Pérez was catching up to Nasr with the pair trading places at Turn 3 on lap 29 and again at Turn 1 on lap 30. At the front, the lead was falling at quite some speed and Hamilton was on the tail of Bottas by lap 31. His first move for the lead came at the end of the lap, coming out of Turn 12 but it would take a second move through Turn 3 for him to take the position. Bottas responded on lap 33 with a daring move up the inside of Turn 10, but Hamilton kept with him and outbraked him going into Turn 1 to claim the lead. Lap 35 saw Jules Bianchi attempt to pass Kobayashi going into Turn 4, but Kobayashi’s defending forced him to back off and instead make another move at Turn 12, which proved more successful. Behind them, Will Power and Carlos Sainz Jr. were battling for eighteenth position, with Sainz attempting to pass the Australian down the back straight, but was unable to get through and tried again through Turn 7 with similar results. Sainz made a third move on the exit of Turn 12 and pulled alongside him, running through Turn 13 together but Power tried to push him out and Sainz went onto the grass and spun and collected Power, who spun into the barriers and bounced back onto the track, collecting Hiroaki Ishiura. With three cars out of the race and debris scattered over the track, the safety car was deployed and most cars pitted.
The race restarted on lap 42 and Hamilton and Bottas both had good getaways, but Vettel immediately had to defend from Calado, while Senna had a good restart and was able to pass Alonso going into Turn 4. Hülkenberg passed Hinchcliffe down the inside of Turn 1 the following lap, but Hinchcliffe returned the favour by passing him on the exit of Turn 12, while Montoya passed Pérez again through Turn 3. Calado was finally able to get past Vettel on lap 44, passing the German at Turn 8, but Vettel was back ahead the following lap after passing him on the exit of Turn 3. Hamilton enjoyed a steady gap to Bottas after the restart, but his race came undone on lap 47 when his suspension broke going into Turn 10, throwing him onto the grass and out of the race, costing him his first win of the season. Bottas therefore inherited the lead with Vettel just clinging onto second. Alonso was briefly past Senna again on lap 48, having passed him down the inside of Turn 1, but Senna took the position back through Turn 4. Lap 50 saw Hülkenberg take fourth place back from Hinchcliffe, with the Canadian complaining of a lack of power, but the problem seemed to vanish within a few laps and he quickly got back on the German’s tail. Meanwhile, the other Canadian car was chasing Daniel Ricciardo for sixteenth position, passing the Aussie at Turn 4 on lap 52, but being repassed at Turn 12. However, a third move at Turn 1 proved sufficient. At the front, Calado was still chasing Vettel and made another overtake attempt through Turn 1 on lap 54, but had to bail out, before making another attempt at Turn 4 with similar results. The following lap however, he was able to slipstream Vettel down the back straight and make the move stick. Sergio Pérez continued his duel with Montoya by passing him through Turn 3 on lap 56, but was unable to defend when the Colombian came back at him through Turn 8. The following lap, Pérez passed again at Turn 1, but Montoya responded by passing him coming out of Turn 3 but Pérez ultimately came out on top by passing him down the inside of Turn 12. The other Colombian car was also under attack, with Senna passing Muñoz at Turn 4 on lap 60 and then defending against the counterattack at Turn 12 to take sixth place. Ahead of them, Hinchcliffe was still battling with Hülkenberg and on lap 62 passed him into Turn 1 only for Hülkenberg to slipstream him down the back straight to take the position back. Hinchcliffe waited until the next lap to try again, again making his move down the inside of Turn 1 and successfully defending against a move at Turn 4, but Hülkenberg took the position back at Turn 8. Hinchcliffe tried to throw a move up the inside of Turn 12 before making yet another overtake at Turn 1 – and this time the move stuck and Hinchcliffe claimed fourth position. The same lap, Robert Wickens also made up another position, passing Kobayashi on the exit of Turn 2 for fifteenth position. Montoya made a lunge at Pérez on lap 65 at Turn 10 and the pair made minor contact with Pérez retaining eleventh position, but Montoya continued his assault to pass Pérez down the back straight the following lap. By lap 68, Alonso’s tyres had become rather worn and this allowed Rosberg to gain a lot of time and ultimately pass the Spaniard going into Turn 4 for eighth place.
At the front, Valtteri Bottas too was struggling with tyre wear, but was still able to finish the race with his lead intact to take his first win of the season and properly start his title defence. James Calado was able to hold on for second to propel him up to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship while third place is enough for Sebastian Vettel to retain his championship lead, which is now down to eight points. An impressive result for James Hinchcliffe sees the Canadian finish fourth ahead of Nico Hülkenberg who came home in a respectable sixth. Home drivers Bruno Senna and Felipe Nasr can celebrate their sixth and tenth place results, which is both drivers’ first points of the season and are enough to pull Team Brazil out of the relegation zone at the expense of Team Japan.


Results:
1st: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) +15
2nd: James Calado (UK) +12
3rd: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) +10
4th: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) +8
5th: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) +7
6th: Bruno Senna (Brazil) +6
7th: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) +5
8th: Fernando Alonso (Spain) +4
9th: Nico Rosberg (Finland) +2
10th: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) +1
11th: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
12th: Sergio Pérez (Mexico)
13th: Romain Grosjean (France)
14th: Jules Bianchi (France)
15th: Robert Wickens (Canada)
16th: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)
17th: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)
18th: Vitaly Petrov (Russia)
19th: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark)
20th: Daniil Kvyat (Russia)
21st: Marco Sørensen (Denmark)
22nd: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico)
DNF: Lewis Hamilton (UK)
DNF: Will Power (Australia)
DNF: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain)
DNF: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan)

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The 2017 Spanish Grand Prix
21-23rd April 2017

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Circuit de Catalunya
Nominated by: Team Spain
Location: Montmeló, Cataluña, Spain
Laps: 64
Length: 4677m
Turns: 16
Supported by: European Formula 3000

Previous winners:
(Circuito de Pedrables)
1951: Giuseppe Farina (Italy)
1956: José Frolián González (Argentina)
1957: Mike Hawthorn (UK)

(Circuito Permanente del Jarama)
1968: Jackie Stewart (UK)

(Circuito de Montjuic)
1969: Graham Hill (UK)

(Circuito Permanente del Jarama)
1970: Jochen Rindt (Austria)

(Circuito de Montjuic)
1971: Helmut Marko (Austria)
1972: Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)
1973: Jackie Stewart (UK)

(Circuito Permanente del Jarama)
1974: James Hunt (UK)
1975: Ronnie Peterson (Sweden)
1976: Niki Lauda (Austria)
1977: Niki Lauda (Austria)
1978: Mario Andretti (USA)
1979: Jody Scheckter (South Africa)
1980: Carlos Reutemann (Argentina)
1981: Eddie Jordan (Ireland)

(Circuito de Jerez)
1986: Thierry Boutsen (Belgium)
1987: Nigel Mansell (UK)
1988: Alain Prost (France)
1989: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1990: Gerhard Berger (Austria)

(Circuit de Catalunya)
1997: Damon Hill (UK)
1998: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
1999: Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
2000: Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
2001: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2002: David Coulthard (UK)
2003: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2004: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2005: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2006: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2007: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2008: Felipe Massa (Brazil)
2009: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2010: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2011: Lewis Hamilton (UK)
2012: Lewis Hamilton (UK)
2013: Felipe Massa (Brazil)
2014: Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
2015: Lewis Hamilton (UK)
2016: Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Tier-2 winners:
(Circuit de Catalunya)
1997: Arie Luyendyk (Netherlands)
1998: Jean Alesi (France)
1999: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
2000: Tony Stewart (USA)
2001: Mark Webber (Australia)
2002: Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
2003: Olivier Panis (France)
2004: Alex Tagliani (Canada)
2005: Takuma Sato (Japan)
2006: A.J. Allmendinger (USA)
2007: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2008: Takuma Sato (Japan)
2009: Danica Patrick (USA)
2010: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
2011: Sébastien Bourdais (France)
2012: Danica Patrick (USA)
2013: Romain Grosjean (France)
2014: Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela)
2015: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark)
2016: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
 
Last edited:
Qualifying for the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix
22nd April 2017

Tier-2

Session 1
1: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) – 1:25.751
2: Alexander Rossi (USA) – 1:25.812
3: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – 1:25.830
4: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) – 1:25.856
5: Paul di Resta (Italy) – 1:25.895
6: Marco Andretti (USA) – 1:26.093
7: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) – 1:26.270
8: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – 1:26.402

9: Robert Kubica (Poland) – 1:26.562
10: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) – 1:26.697
11: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:26.901
12: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:27.020
13: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:27.197
14: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:27.286
15: Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:27.438
16: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:27.447
17: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:27.534
18: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:27.577
19: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:27.706
20: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:27.822
21: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:28.037
22: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:28.194
23: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:28.285
24: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:28.359
25: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:28.496
26: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:28.586

Session 2
9: Robert Kubica (Poland) – 1:25.569
10: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) – 1:25.748
11: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:25.819
12: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:26.036
13: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:26.119
14: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:26.198
15: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:26.245
16: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:26.349
17: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:26.488

18: Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:26.599
19: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:26.698
20: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:26.789
21: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:26.949
22: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:27.140
23: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:27.162
24: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:27.290
25: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:27.515
26: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:27.611

Session 3
18: Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:25.844
19: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:25.987
20: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:25.996
21: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:26.044
22: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:26.226
23: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:26.293
24: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:26.323
25: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:26.349
26: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:26.410

Tier-1

Session 1
1: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) – 1:25.128
2: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) – 1:25.340
3: Lewis Hamilton (UK) – 1:25.548
4: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) – 1:25.571
5: Fernando Alonso (Spain) – 1:25.595
6: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) – 1:25.693
7: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) – 1:25.810
8: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:25.959

9: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:26.044
10: James Calado (UK) – 1:26.071
11: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:26.300
12: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:26.438
13: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:26.468
14: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:26.553
15: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:26.665
16: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:26.751
17: Will Power (Australia) – 1:26.769
18: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:26.856
19: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:26.916
20: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:27.019
21: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:27.088
22: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:27.317
23: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:27.400
24: Esteban Gutiérrez (Mexico) – 1:27.467
25: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:27.608
26: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – no time

Session 2
9: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:25.019
10: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:25.113
11: James Calado (UK) – 1:25.330
12: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:25.556
13: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:25.752
14: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:25.966
15: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:25.995
16: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:25.995
17: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:26.222

18: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:26.289
19: Will Power (Australia) – 1:26.427
20: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:26.614
21: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:26.764
22: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:26.959
23: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:26.993
24: Esteban Gutiérrez (Mexico) – 1:27.001
25: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:27.105
26: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – no time

Session 3
18: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – 1:25.013
19: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:25.476
20: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:25.676
21: Will Power (Australia) – 1:25.716
22: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:25.888
23: Esteban Gutiérrez (Mexico) – 1:25.943
24: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:26.088
25: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:26.218
26: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:26.227
 
2017 Spanish Grand Prix
23rd April 2017

The European season starts at the Circuit de Catalunya for the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix, a circuit which has hosted Formula One every year since 1996 and contains a wide variety of straights and corners, but is sometimes criticised for a lack of overtaking. Motorsport hasn’t always been popular in Spain, with four different iterations of Team Spain existing without much success before the formation of the modern team in 1998, running with Marc Gené and Pedro de la Rosa. Gené was replaced by Fernando Alonso for the 2002 season, who became the first driver to win the Tier-2 championship in their first year (a feat repeated by Robert Kubica in 2007 and Daniel Ricciardo in 2014) and Alonso has proceeded to win 61 Grands Prix in the following fifteen years and counting, taking the World Championship in 2006, 2007 and 2013. Hopes for a home victory may be slim though, with Alonso starting from fifth, with the race looking set to be another battle between Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton is hoping to improve on his poor start to the season from third, with Nico Hülkenberg keeping him company on the second row. Carlos Muñoz suffered with electrical problems throughout qualifying which eliminated him from the first two sessions. The Colombian will have to treat this race as damage limitation and hope that the issue does not resurface.
In Tier-2, Stoffel Vandoorne looks set to continue his run of form, with the Brazilian Grand Prix winner taking pole, while Alexander Rossi – who lies second in the championship – lines up alongside him. An all-Dutch second row is behind them and championship leader Paul di Resta could only manage fifth in qualifying, beating out Marco Andretti while both Team Switzerland cars locked themselves in during the first session, with Robert Kubica and Mitch Evans having to run again during the second session to line up ninth and tenth.

Vandoorne defended his lead off the line with Rossi slotting in behind, while Frijns jumped Verstappen into the first corner. Andretti was able to run alongside di Resta through Turn 1, but lost out through the following corner as the Swiss cars filed through in grid order. Raffaele Marciello took eleventh place from Stefano Coletti down the inside of Turn 4 and Stanaway had a look down the inside of Zuber at Turn 5 but backed off. Paul di Resta threw his car down the inside of Verstappen at Turn 7 to take fourth place, but Verstappen reclaimed the position on the exit of Turn 9, while Charles Leclerc slipstreamed Richie Stanaway out of Turn 11 to pass him down the inside of Turn 12. Rossi attempted to take the lead from Vandoorne at Turn 15 and tagged the Belgian, forcing him wide though both cars seemed to come out unscathed and Vandoorne was also able to defend from Rossi’s next attempt into Turn 1. Robert Kubica took eighth place from Simona de Silvestro coming through Turn 4 and Mitch Evans almost followed him through at Turn 7, but de Silvestro got the better exit and kept the position. Lucas Auer had a poor run out of Turn 12, allowing teammate Andreas Zuber to pass down the following straight as ahead of them Fabio Leimer overtook Andretti down the inside of Turn 15. Rossi started lap 3 by making another move on Vandoorne for the lead and while he was initially unsuccessful, a second move at Turn 4 would put him into the lead. At the back of the field, Ho-Pin Tung gained a position up the inside of Turn 5, passing Richie Stanaway while Auer would regain thirteenth from Zuber at Turn 15. Max Verstappen surprised his teammate by passing him down the inside of Turn 1 with Andretti pulling a similar move on Leimer behind them, though he required a better run through Turn 2 to take sixth position. Marciello banged wheels with Evans at Turn 7 as the New Zealander defended from the Italian and ultimately kept his position. Frijns got back at Verstappen through Turn 9, but Verstappen responded at Turn 12 to reclaim third position. In the battle for thirteenth place, Lucas Auer ran wide through Turn 16, allowing Zuber to pass him before the end of the lap.
Lap 5 started with Coletti attempting to pass Marciello at Turn 1, but finding no way through while in front of them Evans was chasing de Silvestro and passed her on the exit of Turn 11 for ninth position. The following lap saw Frijns reclaim third from Verstappen coming out of Turn 3 while on lap 7, Andretti overtook di Resta at Turn 13. Vandoorne reclaimed the lead on lap 8 through Turn 7, but Rossi fought back, almost retaking it through Turn 15 before succeeding through Turn 1. Vandoorne then proceeded to try and recover the lead by making attempts through Turn 7 and Turn 12, before taking it back at Turn 4 the following lap. On lap 11, Ho-Pin Tung passed Charles Leclerc at Turn 9 and then resisted his attempts to recover the position at Turn 12 and Turn 16. Lap 12 saw Verstappen reclaim third place at Turn 5, though two laps later Frijns would be back ahead following a move at Turn 7. Verstappen then recovered the place at Turn 10 only for Frijns to take it back on the run down to Turn 1. Marciello moved into the points on lap 16 by passing de Silvestro down the inside of Turn 4, though de Silvestro recovered the position at Turn 7 and Marciello had to make another overtake at Turn 12 to keep the place. Evans was battling with Kubica for eighth place on lap 18 and took the position round the outside of Turn 9. Kubica attempted to recover it at Turn 13, but was blocked by Evans and instead made his move coming out of the final corner. Evans retaliated by passing him again at Turn 4, with Kubica attempting to regain the position at Turn 7 before succeeding at Turn 12. Marco Andretti became the first of the front runners to pit on lap 20 with most other cars following suit over the next four laps and this put his teammate Alexander Rossi back in pursuit of Vandoorne and the lead. Rossi attempted a move down the inside of Turn 1 on lap 25 but had a poor exit and lost the position again. After following him for most of the lap, Rossi tried again at Turn 12 and took the position, only for Vandoorne to reply at Turn 16. Keeping with him, Rossi had a good run out of Turn 9 on the following lap and pulled alongside Vandoorne going into Turn 10. Vandoorne overestimated the difference between them and the pair collided, breaking Vandoorne’s rear-right suspension and forcing him to retire, while Rossi had to pit for a new front wing, putting him behind Andretti and causing the safety car to be deployed.
The safety car pulled in at the end of lap 30 and Frijns led the field racing again. Kubica pounced early by passing Leimer into Turn 1 for sixth place and Coletti had a look up the inside of de Silvestro but decided against it. He then almost immediately had to defend against a charging Zuber, who passed him on the run down to Turn 12. Jerome d’Ambrosio gained sixteenth position on lap 32 at the expense of Richie Stanaway while Ho-Pin Tung passed Lucas Auer for thirteenth later that lap. Simona de Silvestro recovered ninth place on lap 33, passing Marciello through Turn 1 and Marciello lost another place at Turn 4 the following lap, to Andreas Zuber. Alexander Rossi had maintained a steady gap to his teammate in third since the end of the safety car period, but the gap came crumbling on lap 36 and Rossi started lap 37 by passing him at Turn 1. Andretti attempted to respond at Turn 7, but Rossi had the better run out of Turn 8 and was able to keep the position. Jimmy Eriksson joined Vandoorne on the sidelines on lap 39 after his car became stuck in neutral, ending his race early. Mitch Evans started battling with Fabio Leimer on lap 40, passing him from some way back at Turn 4 only to run slightly wide allowing Leimer to be ahead by Turn 5. Undeterred, Evans sold another move down the inside of Turn 12 but Leimer overtook him again at Turn 15. Evans however got the better run out of the final corner and was able to pass Leimer at Turn 1 without reply. Meanwhile at the front, Verstappen was eating into his teammate’s lead and by the start of lap 42, he was right on his rear wing. Having backed out of a move at Turn 1, Verstappen had a good run out of Turn 2 and tried to pass around the outside of Turn 3, but Frijns had the inside line for Turn 4 and kept the lead. Verstappen’s next attempt was through the inside of Turn 9 and was more successful, but Frijns had the better run out of Turn 11 and Verstappen had to defend from his overtake attempt at Turn 12. Frijns reclaimed the lead at Turn 1 the following lap, but Verstappen passed him up the inside of Turn 7 to take it back again and despite Frijns’ attempts to repass him at Turn 9 and Turn 15, Verstappen started to build a gap instead. In the lower midfield, Jerome d’Ambrosio was in pursuit of Charles Leclerc and passed him down the inside of Turn 1 on lap 45, with Leclerc attempting to retake the position at Turn 12, but locking up and almost smashing into the back of the Belgian.
The second round of pitstops started on lap 46 and Paul di Resta was quick to warm his new set of tyres up, allowing him to catch up to Marco Andretti and pass him at Turn 7 on lap 49. Lucas Auer was also able to make good use of his pitstop and was quickly on the tail of Ho-Pin Tung, passing him for thirteenth place on lap 51. The following lap, a duel between the Team Switzerland cars erupted over eighth place, with de Silvestro passing Leimer at Turn 1 and subsequently having to defend from his attacks at Turn 4, Turn 9 and Turn 12 before being able to pull away at the end of the lap. Charles Leclerc lost another place on lap 53 to Richie Stanaway after running wide on the exit of Turn 11, allowing Stanaway to pull alongside and through down the following straight. At the front, a resurgent Rossi was catching up to Frijns and made his first overtake attempt on lap 55 on the run out of Turn 8, but Frijns blocked him and Rossi instead made his move out of Turn 12 and stayed ahead over the next few corners, but Frijns reclaimed second down the main straight, forcing Rossi to make another pass at Turn 4 to cement the position. Mitch Evans was chasing Robert Kubica by lap 58 and passed him on the exit of Turn 5 and although Kubica passed him back on the exit of Turn 11, he had no reply when Evans sailed past him into Turn 1 for sixth on the following lap. A late battle for the final point was also raging, with Marciello passing Zuber through Turn 7 on lap 60 only for Zuber to reply by passing him through Turn 4 on the following lap. Marciello got back ahead by passing him down the inside of Turn 15, but Zuber had the better run out of Turn 16 and passed him down the inside of Turn 1. Marciello kept on his back though and claimed the final points position on the exit of Turn 11.
Meanwhile at the front, Max Verstappen was able to stay out of any late race drama to claim his maiden victory in only his fourth race, becoming the second teenager to win in either tier. Verstappen’s win also propels him to the top of the championship by one point over second place finisher Alexander Rossi, while Paul di Resta’s fourth place finish sees him slip to third in the standings. With the final podium place being taken by another Dutch driver, Team Netherlands increase their lead over Team USA in the Nations’ Championship. Team Italy remain a distant third, while Stoffel Vandoorne’s failure to finish mean that Team Belgium slip out of the promotion zone and behind Team New Zealand.


Results
1st: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) +15
2nd: Alexander Rossi (USA) +12
3rd: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) +10
4th: Paul di Resta (Italy) +8
5th: Marco Andretti (USA) +7
6th: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) +6
7th: Robert Kubica (Poland) +5
8th: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) +4
9th: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) +2
10th: Andreas Zuber (Austria) +1
11th: Raffaele Marciello (Italy)
12th: Stefano Coletti (Monaco)
13th: Lucas Auer (Austria)
14th: Ho-Pin Tung (China)
15th: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium)
16th: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand)
17th: Charles Leclerc (Monaco)
18th: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia)
19th: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden)
20th: Kevin Mirocha (Poland)
21st: Armaan Ebrahim (India)
22nd: Sean Gelael (Indonesia)
23rd: Alisha Abdullah (India)
24th: Ma Qinghua (China)
DNF: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden)
DNF: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium)


In Tier-1, Valtteri Bottas had the better launch, but Sebastian Vettel had the inside line and led the Finn into Turn 1 with Lewis Hamilton fending off an early attack from Nico Hülkenberg. James Hinchcliffe had a very good start to leapfrog both Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Pérez on the run down to Turn 1, while behind him James Calado was jumped by Jules Bianchi for eleventh place. Carlos Muñoz started strongly from eighteenth, passing Romain Grosjean into Turn 1 and then Bruno Senna through Turn 3 while at the front of the field, Daniel Ricciardo was also able to go round the inside of Pérez at Turn 3 and Fernando Alonso passed Nico Hülkenberg at Turn 4. Kevin Magnussen made a dive up the inside of Nico Rosberg at Turn 7, almost colliding with the Finn while further back Will Power made a similar move on Felipe Nasr, but more cleanly. Pérez lost another place at Turn 9 to Carlos Sainz Jr. but was able to recover it through Turn 12 as ahead Bottas unsuccessfully challenged for the lead. Alonso had a good run out of the final corner, allowing him to slipstream Hamilton down the back straight and pass the Brit into Turn 1, a move copied by Calado to get back past Bianchi. Pérez made a dive at Ricciardo through Turn 4 but the Australian fended off the attack which allowed Hinchcliffe to start to pull away from the pair. Pérez then got through Turn 7 only to run slightly wide at Turn 9 and lose the position through Turn 10. Hülkenberg tried to sneak up the inside of Hamilton at Turn 12, but ran too deep and ended up losing fifth place to Montoya instead. Calado claimed tenth place from Sainz coming out of Turn 16, but the Spaniard was able to slipstream him down the main straight and pass at Turn 1, only to run slightly wide at Turn 3 and allow Calado back through again. Their teammates were also fighting for position, with Hamilton passing Alonso at Turn 7 only for the local hero to return the favour coming out of Turn 9. Alonso remained ahead for the rest of the lap, while Pérez made another lunge at Ricciardo through Turn 12 followed by a successful overtake at Turn 15. Hamilton reignited his charge for third on lap 4, attempting a move down Alonso’s inside at Turn 1 but backed out of it to instead pass him at Turn 4. Magnussen had a good run out of Turn 11 which he used to pass Bianchi before Turn 12 and was able to hold twelfth position despite Bianchi making further attempts at the final two corners.
Carlos Muñoz had found his attempts to fight his way through the field over the first four laps frustrated by the defensive skills of Kamui Kobayashi, with the Japanese driver making several good moves to keep Muñoz behind him until he was finally passed at Turn 7 on lap 5, though Muñoz now found himself a fair way behind Rosberg in fourteenth. Later that lap, Hülkenberg reclaimed fifth place from Montoya at Turn 15 though Montoya tried to come back down the main straight and the pair ran side-by-side, but it was the German who was last on the brakes and keeping the position. Sainz recovered tenth from Calado on lap 6, passing him on the exit of Turn 3 without reply from the Brit and the following lap, Bianchi passed Magnussen through Turn 1 for twelfth. Magnussen fought back however, taking the position back on the run down to Turn 9 and holding it when Bianchi tried to pass him at Turn 12. Lap 8 saw Montoya and Hinchcliffe swap places at Turn 7, but Montoya would get back ahead through Turn 1 on the following lap. Daniil Kvyat passed Romain Grosjean for eighteenth place on lap 10 at Turn 4, but Grosjean repassed him at Turn 12 and Kvyat had to make attempts at Turn 15 and Turn 1 to secure the position. Sainz and Calado traded places again on lap 13, with Calado getting in front at Turn 5, but Sainz threw his car down the inside of Turn 12 to take the place back. Calado tried to pass at Turn 16, but took too much speed into the corner and ran wide, allowing Sainz to increase the gap and putting Magnussen close behind him instead. Hülkenberg passed Alonso at Turn 4 on lap 15, but the home favourite almost immediately repassed him at Turn 7. Hülkenberg tried again at Turn 9, but Alonso was back on his tail and passed him at Turn 12 and it would take a third move at Turn 1 on the following lap for the position to finally be his. Rosberg had caught up to Bianchi by lap 17 and passed the Frenchman a lap later at Turn 1, but Bianchi surprised him by diving up his inside at Turn 12 to regain the position.
Sergio Pérez became the first of the front runners to pit on lap 19 and the following laps saw everyone else follow his lead. By this point, Sebastian Vettel was still in first place with a constant but strong lead over Bottas in second place, with Hamilton even further back. Hülkenberg was in fourth when the pit window opened, but found himself quickly under attack from Alonso, who took the position from him on lap 23. The following lap saw Magnussen overtake Calado for eleventh, with Pérez being overtaken by Ricciardo on lap 26. Calado lost out again to Bianchi on lap 27, with the Frenchman passing him at Turn 4 and the blocking his counterattack at Turn 15, while Hülkenberg lost a further position to Montoya on lap 28. The battle for eighth reignited the following lap, with Ricciardo passing Pérez through Turn 10 and Pérez responding by passing him on the exit of Turn 16. Ricciardo got back ahead the following lap at Turn 7, but Pérez had the better run through Turn 11 and got the position back. Ricciardo attempted to recover it at Turn 15 but ran wide and spun out into the gravel trap to become the first retirement of the race. He would soon be joined by Esteban Gutierrez, whose gearbox had become stuck in neutral. Carlos Muñoz finally passed Nico Rosberg on lap 32 going into Turn 4, only for Rosberg to pass him back at Turn 9 and Muñoz had to make another move at Turn 1 on the following lap for the position. Bianchi and Calado were duelling again on lap 35, with Bianchi taking eleventh through Turn 3, but losing it in the braking zone of Turn 4 and gaining it again at Turn 12 before Calado slipstreamed him down the main straight and took the position back before Turn 1. Bianchi tried again at Turn 7 and took the position, but was unable to build much of a gap. Sainz continued his climb on lap 38 by passing Pérez coming out of Turn 16 with the Mexican unable to put in any reply. At the lower end of the field, Kobayashi and Senna were fighting for fifteenth with the Brazilian unable to make any progress despite making several attempts, however on lap 40 Kobayashi left his defensive manoeuvre rather late at Turn 12 and ended up shearing Senna’s front wing off while sending himself spinning into the runoff and out of the race. Senna had to pit for a new front wing and new tyres, though most drivers made their second pitstops a few laps later anyway.
Hamilton found himself flying on his new tyres and the gap to Bottas started falling slowly but surely. Meanwhile teammate Calado had jumped Bianchi in the pitstops, but Bianchi was proving quicker and retook the position on lap 44 through Turn 3 to little resistance from Calado. Hamilton was on Bottas’ tail by the end of lap 45 and made a dive for second up the inside of Turn 1 but Bottas had the better run out of the corner. Hamilton’s next attack came into Turn 12, with Bottas able to cut up his inside and regain the position, but he was unable to stop Hamilton from coming up his inside at Turn 15 and taking the position. Bottas regained the position the following lap at Turn 4, but Hamilton made another overtake at Turn 9 and held the position. Tragedy struck in the German camp on lap 49 when Nico Hülkenberg’s engine suddenly cut out coming out of Turn 11, costing the German a solid fifth place finish. Carlos Sainz – already on for his best ever finish – continued his charge up the standings on lap 51, passing Hinchcliffe at Turn 9 and defending against the Canadian’s counterattacks through Turn 15 and Turn 16. Carlos Muñoz passed James Calado for eleventh three laps later at the same corner, but Calado was able to come back at the Colombian and pass him on the exit of Turn 16. Muñoz made another move at Turn 7, which seemed to be more effective. Juan Pablo Montoya was on a late charge and was slowly creeping up to Fernando Alonso, catching the local hero on lap 56 and passing him the following lap at Turn 1, but Alonso replied with a better exit at Turn 12 to regain the position up the inside of Turn 13. Montoya remained with him for the rest of the lap and after trying to pass at Turn 1, was able to get him round the outside of Turn 3 and pull across to take fourth position and the inside line for Turn 4. James Hinchcliffe lost another place on lap 60, being passed on the exit of Turn 9 by Sergio Pérez and being unable to properly fight back, while Muñoz ran wide at Turn 14 on lap 62, losing eleventh place to James Calado. However at the front, Sebastian Vettel completed a flawless race to comfortably win the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, with Montoya in fourth and local stars Alonso and Sainz in fifth and sixth.
Vettel’s victory extends his championship lead to thirteen points over Valtteri Bottas, with Carlos Muñoz falling back after failing to score in a difficult weekend and is now only a few points ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, who jump Nico Hülkenberg in the standings after the German’s failure to finish. James Calado gets bumped to the end of the top ten after missing out on the points, with an impressive fourth place from Juan Pablo Montoya and further points finishes for Sergio Pérez and James Hinchcliffe seeing all of them jump the Brit. Despite failing to score, Team Brazil have kept their heads above the relegation zone but more points finishes could drastically shake up the bottom four and with reigning Tier-2 champion Kevin Magnussen getting his first taste of points the relegation battle looks wide open.


Results
1st: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) +15
2nd: Lewis Hamilton (UK) +12
3rd: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) +10
4th: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) +8
5th: Fernando Alonso (Spain) +7
6th: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) +6
7th: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) +5
8th: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) +4
9th: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) +2
10th: Jules Bianchi (France) +1
11th: James Calado (UK)
12th: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia)
13th: Nico Rosberg (Finland)
14th: Daniil Kvyat (Russia)
15th: Bruno Senna (Brazil)
16th: Romain Grosjean (France)
17th: Will Power (Australia)
18th: Felipe Nasr (Brazil)
19th: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan)
20th: Marco Sørensen (Denmark)
21st: Vitaly Petrov (Russia)
22nd: Robert Wickens (Canada)
DNF: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany)
DNF: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)
DNF: Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico)
DNF: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)

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The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix
4-7th May 2017
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Circuit de Monaco
Location: Monte Carlo/Spélugues, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Laps: 78
Length: 3337m
Turns: 19
Supported by: Formula Two, European Formula 3000, European Formula 4

Previous winners:
(Circuit de Monaco)
1950: Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina)
1951: Alberto Ascari (Italy)
1952: Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina)
1953: Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina)
1954: Giuseppe Farina (Italy)
1955: Giuseppe Farina (Italy)
1956: Louis Chiron (Monaco)
1957: Maurice Trintignant (France)
1958: Mike Hawthorn (UK)
1959: José Frolián González (Argentina)
1960: Jack Brabham (Australia)
1961: Stirling Moss (UK)
1962: Graham Hill (UK)
1963: Graham Hill (UK)
1964: Jack Brabham (Australia)
1965: Lorenzo Bandini (Italy)
1966: John Surtees (UK)
1967: John Surtees (UK)
1968: Jo Siffert (Switzerland)
1969: Graham Hill (UK)
1970: Jacky Ickx (Belgium)
1971: François Cervert (France)
1972: Ronnie Peterson (Sweden)
1973: Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)
1974: Niki Lauda (Austria)
1975: Ronnie Peterson (Sweden)
1976: Patrick Depailler (France)
1977: José Carlos Pace (Brazil)
1978: James Hunt (UK)
1979: Alan Jones (Australia)
1980: Alan Jones (Australia)
1981: Nelson Piquet (Brazil)
1982: Gilles Villeneuve (Canada)
1983: Alain Prost (France)
1984: Niki Lauda (Austria)
1985: Alain Prost (France)
1986: Alain Prost (France)
1987: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1988: Alain Prost (France)
1989: Alain Prost (France)
1990: Alain Prost (France)
1991: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1992: John Andretti (USA)
1993: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1994: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
1995: Ayrton Senna (Brazil)
1996: Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
1997: Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
1998: Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
1999: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2000: Tony Kanaan (Brazil)
2001: Tony Stewart (USA)
2002: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2003: Dario Franchitti (UK)
2004: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2005: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2006: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2007: Felipe Massa (Brazil)
2008: Felipe Massa (Brazil)
2009: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
2010: Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
2011: Michael Schumacher (Germany)
2012: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2013: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2014: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2015: Fernando Alonso (Spain)
2016: Fernando Alonso (Spain)

Tier-2 winners:
(Circuit de Monaco)
1997: Shinji Nakano (Japan)
1998: Olivier Panis (France)
1999: Pedro de la Rosa (Spain)
2000: Gaston Mazzacane (Argentina)
2001: Mark Webber (Australia)
2002: Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
2003: Jos Verstappen (Netherlands)
2004: Mark Webber (Australia)
2005: Tomas Scheckter (South Africa)
2006: A.J. Allmendinger (USA)
2007: Robert Kubica (Poland)
2008: Takuma Sato (Japan)
2009: Simon Pagenaud (France)
2010: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)
2011: Mark Webber (Australia)
2012: Marco Andretti (USA)
2013: Sergio Perez (Mexico)
2014: Will Power (Australia)
2015: Marco Andretti (USA)
2016: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium)
 
Tier-2 Qualifying for the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix
4th May 2017

Session 1
1: Paul di Resta (Italy) – 1:25.751
2: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – 1:25.948
3: Marco Andretti (USA) – 1:26.144
4: Alexander Rossi (USA) – 1:26.156
5: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) – 1:26.298
6: Robin Frijns (Netherlands) – 1:26.318
7: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – 1:26.442
8: Robert Kubica (Poland) – 1:26.455

9: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) – 1:26.565
10: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) – 1:26.626
11: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:26.808
12: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:26.862
13: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:26.954
14: Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:27.165
15: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:27.326
16: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:27.393
17: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:27.416
18: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:27.507
19: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:27.591
20: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:27.616
21: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:27.764
22: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:27.868
23: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:28.073
24: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:28.102
25: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:28.258
26: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:28.268

Session 2
9: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) – 1:25.569
10: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) – 1:25.769
11: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) – 1:25.962
12: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland) – 1:26.106
13: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) – 1:26.192
14: Lucas Auer (Austria) – 1:26.368
15: Andreas Zuber (Austria) – 1:26.417
16: Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Belgium) – 1:26.566
17: Ho-Pin Tung (China) – 1:26.611

18: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:26.801
19: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:26.975
20: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:27.139
21: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:27.272
22: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:27.343
23: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:27.505
24: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:27.555
25: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:27.616
26: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:27.745

Session 3
18: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – 1:25.844
19: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand) – 1:26.044
20: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) – 1:26.132
21: Kevin Mirocha (Poland) – 1:26.341
22: Alisha Abdullah (India) – 1:26.546
23: Armaan Ebrahim (India) – 1:26.714
24: Sean Gelael (Indonesia) – 1:26.809
25: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) – 1:27.034
26: Ma Qinghua (China) – 1:27.079
 
Tier-1 Qualifying for the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix
6th May 2017

Session 1
1: Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) – 1:25.128
2: Lewis Hamilton (UK) – 1:25.213
3: Fernando Alonso (Spain) – 1:25.301
4: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) – 1:25.452
5: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) – 1:25.512
6: Nico Rosberg (Finland) – 1:25.515
7: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) – 1:25.647
8: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) – 1:25.861

9: James Calado (UK) – 1:26.082
10: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – 1:26.249
11: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:26.306
12: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:26.428
13: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:26.567
14: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:26.791
15: Will Power (Australia) – 1:26.805
16: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:26.924
17: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) – 1:27.062
18: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:27.291
19: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:27.480
20: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:27.627
21: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:27.855
22: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:28.011
23: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:28.104
24: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:28.137
25: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:28.156
26: Esteban Gutiérrez (Mexico) – 1:28.373

Session 2
9: Romain Grosjean (France) – 1:25.019
10: James Calado (UK) – 1:25.063
11: Carlos Muñoz (Colombia) – 1:25.151
12: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – 1:25.171
13: Will Power (Australia) – 1:25.281
14: Jules Bianchi (France) – 1:25.321
15: James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – 1:25.520
16: Sergio Pérez (Mexico) – 1:25.548
17: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) – 1:25.581

18: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:25.609
19: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:25.832
20: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:25.864
21: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:25.874
22: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:25.961
23: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:26.028
24: Esteban Gutiérrez (Mexico) – 1:26.093
25: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:26.288
26: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:26.464

Session 3
18: Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) – 1:25.413
19: Hiroaki Ishiura (Japan) – 1:25.640
20: Bruno Senna (Brazil) – 1:25.655
21: Robert Wickens (Canada) – 1:25.837
22: Esteban Gutiérrez (Mexico) – 1:25.961
23: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – 1:26.003
24: Marco Sørensen (Denmark) – 1:26.031
25: Daniil Kvyat (Russia) – 1:26.164
26: Vitaly Petrov (Russia) – 1:26.342
 
2017 Tier-2 Monaco Grand Prix
6th May 2017

Owing to the restricted space of the paddock, Monaco is the only Grand Prix to run the Tier-1 and Tier-2 races on separate days, with the Tier-2 race instead occurring on Saturday evening, several hours after Tier-1 qualifying concludes. Coming into the historic night race, teenager Max Verstappen leads the championship by a whisker over Alexander Rossi, but third-placed Paul di Resta took pole on Thursday by nearly two tenths of a second over Verstappen. Rossi was pipped to third by teammate Marco Andretti, a two-time winner at the circuit with 2016’s Tier-2 winner Stoffel Vandoorne lining up in fifth. With overtaking proving difficult around the narrow streets of the principality, starting position is very important as is pitstop strategy, but the track is also unforgiving to mistakes which can still allow drivers to come from behind.

Verstappen had a good launch and led the pack through Turn 1 as teammate Robin Frijns also had a good start to take fifth from Vandoorne. Marciello had a nose ahead of Evans through the corner, but had to yield the position only to take it out of Turn 4. Multiple overtakes occurred through the tunnel, with Robin Frijns gaining another position through the tunnel at Rossi’s expense, while Kevin Mirocha pulled alongside Marcus Ericsson and passed the Swede under braking into Turn 10. Simona de Silvestro’s race almost ended early when she made contact with Robert Kubica at Turn 13, causing her to kiss the barrier at Turn 14, but not with enough force to cause damage.
At the end of lap 1, Verstappen was beginning to open a gap to di Resta who had Andretti close behind him, while Rossi was preventing Frijns from getting too comfortable in fourth. Lucas Auer passed Rio Haryanto down the inside of Turn 1 for thirteenth place, with Andreas Zuber instantly tailing the Indonesian to try and make a pass of his own, but was unable to pass through Monaco’s tight corners. Raffaele Marciello had a good run out of Turn 8, which allowed him to run alongside Kubica through the tunnel, but Kubica had the inside line for the chicane and held the position.
Towards the tail of the pack, Kevin Mirocha was looking to make up further positions and having already passed Ericsson on the first lap, was quickly chasing Richie Stanaway for nineteenth position. On lap 3, Stanaway faltered through Turn 12, allowing Mirocha to close right up to him, but he was unable to get through in the following corners. Another mistake at Turn 17 let Mirocha have another look up his inside, and he ultimately made the move down the main straight and took the position.
By lap 5, most of the cars were quite spread out, with Verstappen’s lead already up to multiple seconds and most cars were separated by about a second. Simona de Silvestro was slowly chipping away at the gap to Vandoorne while also losing fractions to Kubica and the three were together on track by lap 9, though de Silvestro’s defending against Kubica allowed Vandoorne to pull away again. Kubica made his first attempt at an overtake through Turn 9, but backed off going into Turn 10, instead making a second move going into Turn 1 which proved more successful.
Charles Leclerc had been stuck behind Ho-Pin Tung for several laps by lap 11, despite making several attempts in this period but he remained glued to the back of the Team China car and harried him to try and force a mistake. After more failed attempts through Turns 4 and 10 on lap 12, Leclerc made a spectacular overtake down the inside of the hairpin at Turn 17 to finally take seventeenth position.
There would soon be more good news for the home team, as at the same time, Stefano Coletti was closing up to Mitch Evans by a few tenths per lap and was on the New Zealander’s rear wing by lap 15, however Evans defended well, keeping Coletti behind despite several overtake attempts and it wouldn’t be until lap 18 when Coletti was able to make the pass up the inside of Turn 1.
De Silvestro was catching back up to Kubica at a fair rate by lap 20 and was close enough to look up his inside by lap 22, though Kubica dragged the battle out further two laps with his defending and it wasn’t until he locked up at Turn 5 that de Silvestro was able to pass. Kubica came back on the offensive and almost passed her through Turn 9, but she forced him wide and he had to back off.
The drivers that started on the soft tyre made their first and only pitstops between laps 25 and 29, which promoted the drivers on the hard compounds further up the field. A slow stop for Verstappen and a fast stop for di Resta allowed the latter to close in on him slightly, while his teammate was the first of the hard tyre starters and was running in fourth. Rossi had a fast pitstop, which allowed him to start closing in on Frijns. Andreas Zuber’s engine cut out part way down the pitline and the Austrian coasted back to his box where they were able to get the engine refired. However, it cut out again on lap 31 and he pulled into the runoff at Turn 1, becoming the first retirement of the race.
Coletti spent several laps stuck behind Jerome d’Ambrosio, who was yet to pit which allowed Evans to catch up to both of them. Coletti made several attempts to pass the Belgian, but it wouldn’t be until lap 33 when he got through round the outside of Turn 9 while Evans was able to pass the following lap coming out of Turn 4.
Robin Frijns was similarly having trouble passing Marciello for fourth place, especially with Rossi now within half a second of him. The Italian was able to keep both of them behind him until lap 36, when he locked up at Turn 10, cut the chicane and was ordered to yield his position to Frijns, with Rossi opportunistically passing at the same time. Rossi then continued his battle with Frijns, eventually passing the Dutchman through Turn 8 on lap 38.
At the front, Verstappen’s lead had been coming down since the pitstops and by lap 40, di Resta was within one second of him. Verstappen responded by setting the fastest lap on lap 41, but after that was only able to hold the gap steady and not increase it. However, he locked at Turn 1 on lap 43, which flatspotted his front-right tyre and allowed di Resta to close right up. Verstappen held his ground for the next few corners, but di Resta attempted to pull alongside him at Turn 9. Verstappen blocked him, but pulling back over to his normal line, hit a bump which spun him into the barriers at high speed. The safety car was deployed while Verstappen climbed out of the car and hobbled away, clearly angry at another non-finish at Monaco.
The safety car pulled in on lap 47 and de Silvestro was quick off the mark to make up ground, passing Vandoorne for sixth place up the inside of Turn 1. Coletti also cleared non-stopper Haryanto who proceeded to hold up Evans for the rest of the lap while fellow non-stopper d’Ambrosio also lost out to Leimer off the restart.
Robert Kubica suffered a clutch failure on lap 51, ending his race prematurely and costing him a potential seventh place finish and the five points that go with them, which could prove crucial in both championship battles.
The drivers that started on the hard compound pitted between laps 53 and 55 with some of them having lost out due to the safety car. Jimmy Eriksson – already having a bad race in net 22nd – suffered again when his pitcrew struggled to engage the fuel hose, costing precious seconds and ultimately another position to Ma Qinghua.
Frijns had initially pulled away from Rossi after the safety car, but started to close back in on him on lap 54, catching him up by lap 57 but was unable to make a pass. He was too far back again to make a move through Turn 1 on lap 58, but had a good run out of the corner and pulled alongside Frijns through Turn 2, but did not leave him enough room and the pair made contact and slammed into the barriers, leaving their stricken cars blocking the track. With no easy way of recovery, the race was red-flagged just before the 75% cutoff and the cars lined back up on the grid.
The race restarted after ten minutes, with di Resta once again on pole, but with Andretti second and de Silvestro third. During the red flag period, Leimer’s mechanics discovered he had picked up a puncture from running through the debris from the incident and he was forced to start from the pitlane to change tyres. Unlike his first start, di Resta was able to hold the lead on the opening lap. Evans passed Coletti through Turn 1 only to lose the position through Turn 5, while Haryanto used his fresher tyres to take ninth place from Leclerc through Turn 9.
Vandoorne was very close to de Silvestro following the red flag and harried her for several laps before he was able to pass her up the inside of Turn 8 on lap 61 but she didn’t give up the position and prevented him from building up a gap and the following lap, he locked up at Turn 15 and skilfully avoided colliding with the barriers, but was still unable to stop de Silvestro from taking back the position.
Marciello initially struggled to get his tyres up to temperature off the restart, but once he was able to, he quickly caught back up to Evans due to his tyre advantage and was back in overtakin grace by lap 64. His first move came the following lap, trying to pass him down the inside of Turn 9 but Evans shut the door and the pair made minor contact, but both survived. Marciello was not put off by this and two laps later outbraked Evans into Turn 1 and sailed through into sixth place. He was also able to close the gap to Coletti, but the home driver defended even harder and Marciello was unable to pass.
With ten laps to go, di Resta had a lead of just over three seconds, but Andretti started pushing hard and had brought it down to less than half a second by lap 72. He first attempted to take the lead the following lap down the inside of Turn 1, but was cut off by di Resta and had to fall back. He tried again on the exit of Turn 9 the following and took the lead through Turn 10. Di Resta remained with him for the rest of the race, but was unable to find his way through, allowing Andretti to claim his first victory of the season, while di Resta returned to the podium for the third time and they were joined on the podium by de Silvestro, who scored an important third place for Team Switzerland, beating out last year’s winner Stoffel Vandoorne.
Despite being beaten to the victory, di Resta takes the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, with seven points over Andretti, while non-finishes for Verstappen and Andretti leave them languishing a point behind. A double DNF for Team Netherlands allows Team USA to take over at the top of the Nations’ Championship, while Team Italy remain a distant third. Team New Zealand cling on to their promotion slot, but Team Belgium are now only two points behind and de Silvestro’s podium puts Team Switzerland only six points off promotion.

1st: Marco Andretti (USA) +15
2nd: Paul di Resta (Italy) +12
3rd: Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) +10
4th: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) +8
5th: Stefano Coletti (Monaco) +7
6th: Raffaele Marciello (Italy) +6
7th: Mitch Evans (New Zealand) +5
8th: Lucas Auer (Austria) +4
9th: Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) +2
10th: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) +1
11th: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium)
12th: Ho-Pin Tung (China)
13th: Richie Stanaway (New Zealand)
14th: Kevin Mirocha (Poland)
15th: Marcus Ericsson (Sweden)
16th: Fabio Leimer (Switzerland)
17th: Alisha Abdullah (India)
18th: Sean Gelael (Indonesia)
19th: Armaan Ebrahim (India)
20th: Ma Qinghua (China)
21st: Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden)
DNF: Robin Frijns (Netherlands)
DNF: Alexander Rossi (USA)
DNF: Robert Kubica (Poland)
DNF: Max Verstappen (Netherlands)
DNF: Andreas Zuber (Austria)

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First of all, I run a similar TL based on the American world of stock-car racing, so I'm glad to see this.

However, Spam, your introductory thread - while great in explaining the historic background - is not clear. Is this a new version of Formula 1? And does the national affiliations replace the constructors' championship?

Also, I would suggest adding the old Kaylami (sp?) track in South Africa so that all six inhabited continents have at least one race on the schedule.
 
First of all, I run a similar TL based on the American world of stock-car racing, so I'm glad to see this.

However, Spam, your introductory thread - while great in explaining the historic background - is not clear. Is this a new version of Formula 1? And does the national affiliations replace the constructors' championship?

Also, I would suggest adding the old Kaylami (sp?) track in South Africa so that all six inhabited continents have at least one race on the schedule.

Hi BWBarefoot, I've seen your thread and it looks quite interesting though I must admit I'm not really a NASCAR fan.

This is an alternate version of Formula 1, so there isn't another Formula One series in this timeline. The cars are officially called Formula One cars, but that's a more obscure term TTL. And yes, the Nations' Championship does replace the Constuctors' Championship.

As for Kyalami, the way the schedule works is that each team in Tier-1 can nominate one track and the remaining races (seven at the moment) are selected by the FIA. At the moment, these seven races include historic ones like Monaco, Italy and Belgium making it even harder for other races to get on the schedule and a lack of talented young South African drivers at the moment means Team South Africa won't return for the foreseeable future. Kyalami did however host races from 1965-80 and 2006-09.

Oh, and one more thing: How did you create and/or upload the chart? I had never seen one before on AH and would love to add my own charts to the NASCAR TL that I'm doing.

The charts are Wikipedia style, screenshotted and then uploaded. If you edit a Wikipedia page, you can get the source for one which you can use as a template. They're pretty logical to edit as long as you don't accidentally delete something, so you'll get the hang of it quite quickly.
 
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