The Bahrain GP in March to the Hungarian GP in August

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX. 28th March, Bahrain IC: SEASON OPENER

• 1. Lewis Hamilton
• 2. Max Verstappen
• 3. Valtteri Bottas

The season got off to an explosive start with a closely fought duel between Hamilton and Verstappen that went down to the final lap.

Verstappen had started in pole and took control of the race early on. Then Hamilton seized the upper hand after the first round of pit stops.

When both had pitted for a second time (Verstappen stopping 10 laps after Hamilton) Verstappen began to close the gap and challenge Hamilton’s lead. But an attempted pass by the Red Bull driver on Lap 53 ran wide and Hamilton held on for the win.

At the flag there were just 0.754 seconds between them.

Fastest Lap: Valtteri Bottas 1:32.090

Did Not Finish: Fernando Alonso, Nikita Mazepin

EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX. 18th April, Imola

• 1. Max Verstappen
• 2. Lewis Hamilton
• 3. Lando Norris

An outstanding victory from Max Verstappen.

The race was red-flagged half way through after a high-speed crash involving Bottas and Russell. Fortunately, both were unhurt.

Hamilton started in pole, in the rain – but Verstappen made an excellent start leaping ahead from 3rd to 1st place. At Tamburello the rivals touched wheels pushing Hamilton over the kerb, breaking off some parts of his floor and wing; with Verstappen winning the advantage and taking the lead.

Hamilton briefly took back the lead when Verstappen pitted on Lap 27, but a slow pit on Lap 28 and a spin 3 laps later at Tosa put the Brit down in 8th.

Hamilton made wonderful progress from 8th to finish 2nd, but Verstappen was generally left untroubled as he led by 20 seconds at the flag.

Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton 1:16.702

Did Not Finish: Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Nicholas Latifi

PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX. 2nd May, Algarve International Circuit

• 1. Lewis Hamilton
• 2. Max Verstappen
• 3. Valtteri Bottas

Another race with very little separating Hamilton and Verstappen.

Hamilton started in 2nd behind Mercedes teammate Bottas, but the early safety car - following a collision between teammates Raikkonen and Giovinazzi - dropped him to 3rd, putting him behind Verstappen at the restart.

An exceptional recovery saw Hamilton pass Verstappen 4 laps later and take the lead with a decisive pass overtaking Bottas on Lap 20.

Bottas suffered a power unit issue, but still managed to finish in 3rd. With Verstappen keeping as close as possible to Hamilton in the championship table finishing in 2nd.

Fastest Lap: Valtteri Bottas 1:19.865

Did Not Finish: Kimi Raikkonen

SPANISH GRAND PRIX. 9th May, Circuit de Catalunya

• 1. Lewis Hamilton
• 2. Max Verstappen
• 3. Valtteri Bottas

A familiar looking podium for the 2021 season, with Hamilton taking his 3rd win in 4 races after a long, tense battle with Verstappen.

Verstappen led for the majority of the race following another exceptional start – overtaking Hamilton at Turn 1. The Dutchman committed to a one-stop strategy, while Hamilton’s two-stop strategy paid off when - with 6 laps to go - he used the advantage of his fresh tyres to overtake Verstappen.

Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen 1:18.149

Did Not Finish: Yuki Tsunoda

MONACO GRAND PRIX. 23rd May, Monte Carlo

• 1. Max Verstappen
• 2. Carlos Sainz Jnr
• 3. Lando Norris

Charles Leclerc had been in pole. But after suffering a pre-race driveshaft issue – failed to start. Effectively putting Verstappen in pole.

From here the Dutchman held off Bottas at the start and lead for the rest of the race (with a brief exception in the pits) to finish 8.9 seconds ahead of second place Sainz.

Verstappen took his first Monaco Grand Prix win and also now leads the Drivers’ Championship for the first time in his career.

In an unusually poor day for Mercedes, Hamilton started and finished in 7th place, while Bottas was forced to retire when he suffered a stuck right-front tyre in the pit.

Sainz took his first podium for Ferrari – finishing in 2nd, with McLaren’s Norris in 3rd.

Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton 1:12.909

Did Not Finish: Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc

Check out our hospitality packages for Monaco Grand Prix 2022.

AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX. 6th June, Baku City Circuit

• 1. Sergio Perez
• 2. Sebastian Vettel
• 3. Pierre Gasly

A dramatic race in Baku provided a shake up of our usual suspects on the podium.

Verstappen had looked on course for the win – his first in Azerbaijan – before crashing out with 4 laps to go. Championship rival Hamilton also had a nightmare ‘locking up’ on the penultimate lap to finish a disappointing 15th.

Charles Leclerc got another crack at pole after failing to start from the front at the last race in Monaco. But he was passed by Hamilton on Lap 2 and Verstappen on Lap 7. A strategic sequence of pit stops then gave the Dutchman the lead.

Lap 30 saw a horrifying crash as Lance Stroll’s left-rear tyre suffered a blowout on the high-speed pit straight – propelling him into the wall. Miraculously, Stroll climbed from the severely damaged Aston Martin uninjured.

Verstappen managed the safety car period well, before a spin and a crash after his own apparent tyre issue put him into a wall on Lap 47 - forcing him to retire. Shaken, but unhurt – the Dutchman climbed out and kicked the car in frustration.

Out came the safety car, followed by the red flag on Lap 48. 35 minutes later the race restarted on Lap 50 with Perez leading off the line and Hamilton locking up and falling to 15th.

Vettel started in 11th position, but an impressive drive amid the chaos – pitting later than everyone else and emerging 6th - saw him finish in 2nd.

Gasly held off Leclerc to take 3rd.

Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen 1:44.481

Did Not Finish: Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon

No Place: Max Verstappen, George Russell

We are excited to announce that we are now offering VIP packages to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2022.

FRENCH GRAND PRIX. 20th June, Circuit Paul Ricard

• 1. Max Verstappen
• 2. Lewis Hamilton
• 3. Sergio Perez

Red Bull took their 3rd consecutive win in the turbo-hybrid era, as Max Verstappen increased his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the championship.

With similarities to Hamilton’s two-stop v Verstappen’s one-stop strategy in the former’s victory in the Spanish Grand Prix – this time Verstappen’s two-stop strategy allowed his newer tyres to challenge and pass one-stop Hamilton on the penultimate lap.

Bottas finished in 4th behind Perez – angry with Mercedes’ strategy “Why the **** did no one listen to me when I said it would be a two stop?”

A great day for Red Bull (1st and 3rd) and McLaren – with Lando Norris coming in 5th and Daniel Ricciardo finishing 6th. Arguably Ricciardo’s best race of the season so far.

Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen 1:36.404

DNF: 0

STYRIAN GRAND PRIX. 27th June, Red Bull Ring

• 1. Max Verstappen
• 2. Lewis Hamilton
• 3. Valtteri Bottas

“The balance of the car was the best so far this season” (Verstappen)

Max Verstappen dominated the Styrian Grand Prix from start to finish, leading every lap of the race and winning by 35 seconds.

Verstappen and Hamilton started together at the front for the 4th time this season, due to Bottas’ grid penalty in qualifying – but Hamilton couldn’t respond effectively to challenge the Dutchman’s lead.

The Brit did manage to limit the damage by taking 2nd place and the bonus point for fastest lap.

Bottas started in 5th to finish 3rd after holding off Perez in the final stages, his first podium since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton 1:07.058

Did Not Finish: George Russell, Pierre Gasly

AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX. 4th July, Red Bull Ring

• 1. Max Verstappen
• 2. Valtteri Bottas
• 3. Lando Norris

Max Verstappen is currently looking unstoppable - describing his car as being ‘on rails’ - as he claimed his 3rd consecutive win and the fastest lap today.

It was the second week in a row that he had dominated at Red Bull’s home circuit. He now leads Hamilton in the championship by 32 points.

At the start Verstappen moved ahead as Hamilton challenged Norris for 2nd, it took the World Champion 20 laps to pass Norris at Turn 4 – with Verstappen now 10 seconds ahead.

Hamilton’s race challenge started to falter as he suffered floor damage, a struggle for pace and heavy tyre wear. Bottas was initially told by Mercedes to hold his place behind Hamilton, until being allowed to race his teammate and finally - with 20 laps to go – they were ordered to swap places.

Two laps later Norris passed Hamilton and then the Brit pitted – resigning himself to 4th place.

Norris drove incredibly well, keeping close to Bottas and finishing just 2 seconds behind the Finn in 3rd, despite incurring a 5 second penalty for pushing Perez wide.

Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen 1:06.200

Did Not Finish: Esteban Ocon

BRITISH GRAND PRIX. 18th July, Silverstone

• 1. Lewis Hamilton
• 2. Charles Leclerc
• 3. Valtteri Bottas

Hamilton and Verstappen had fought closely for the first half lap of the race – but at the Copse they made contact, causing Verstappen to spin into the barriers and handing Hamilton a 10 second penalty.

After a red flag period and with Verstappen out of the race, Hamilton started to close the gap between himself and Leclerc – eventually passing him with 3 laps to go.

For Leclerc, who had led for the majority of the race, second place was bittersweet: “its difficult to enjoy 100 percent.”

Hamilton took an emotional home win, reducing the gap in the title race to just 8 points. But it was not without controversy.

Fastest Lap: Sergio Perez 1:28.617

Did Not Finish: Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel

We offer a variety of home grown hospitality trips to the Grand Prix at Silverstone for next year.

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX. 1st August, Hungaroring

• 1. Esteban Ocon
• 2. Lewis Hamilton
• 3. Carlos Sainz Jnr

“I don’t have words to describe it.” (Ocon)

Esteban Ocon won his first Formula One race today at the Hungarian Grand Prix and without wishing to take anything away from our surprise victor – this was partly due to a multi-car pile up on the first lap and then partly helped by his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso. It was also the first win for the Renault Group since they returned to Formula One.

Ocon had started the race in 8th, but after the first lap drama he was running in 2nd, before taking the lead when Hamilton stayed out after the red flag restart.

After eventually pitting for fresh medium tyres, it took Hamilton 10 laps to pass a successfully defensive Alonso – leaving it too late to pass Vettel (though the German was later disqualified) running in second and Ocon in first.

So, what happened at the start? The track was wet and as drivers rushed past Bottas in 2nd, the Finn misjudged his braking at the first corner – smashing into the back of Norris, which in turn collided with Verstappen. Bottas, still out of control then took out Perez.

Behind this chaos, Stroll - trying to avoid Ocon - nipped inside onto the grass and took out Leclerc.

But throughout all this mayhem Ocon drove an assured race and according to Vettel deserved the credit “Esteban made the difference….he drove fantastic and didn’t make a mistake.”

Fastest Lap: Pierre Gasly 1:18.394

Did Not Finish: Sebastian Vettel, Nikita Mazepin, Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Lance Stroll

The next race (after the summer break) is the Belgian Grand Prix on 29th August.

Current Top 3 in the Drivers’ Championship:

• 1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): 195 points
• 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull): 187 points
• 3. Lando Norris (McLaren): 113 points

LANDO NORRIS:

Although much of the coverage has (quite rightly) concentrated on the close rivalry between seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looking for his first World Championship win – we would like to point out that McLaren’s Lando Norris has had an exceptional season so far.

From his first Formula One race at the Australian Grand Prix in 2019 he has become more and more consistent:

2019 season: 11 points finishes out of a possible 21.

2020 season: 13 points finishes out of a possible 17.

2021 season: 10 points finishes out of a possible 11 so far. If he hadn’t been forced to retire in Hungary, he would have been the only driver with a 100% scoring record.

SUMMARY:

The first half of this Formula One season has been one of the most exciting in recent years. And we cannot wait for it to start again this weekend!