Pôle de Grosjean, Pourchaire in Monaco, Ocon in Hungary … The moments that made 2021 (2/3) AutoHebdo
Grosjean impresses in Indianapolis – May 14/15
Rookie at 35 for his IndyCar debut, Romain Grosjean quickly made an impression in Uncle Sam’s country. After a 10th place in Barber (Alabama) and a 13th in Saint Petersburg (Florida), the former F1 driver, absent from the 3rd and 4th rounds disputed on the oval of Forth Worth (Texas), signs a pole and a good 2nd position in his third race at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. There, he offers himself the luxury of finishing in front of specialists like Joseph Newgarden.
Leclerc, from smile to tears – May 20/23
In three Grands Prix contested at home in Monaco, Charles Leclerc has never finished a single one. This year it was even worse, because he didn’t even start it. Author of an incredible pole position that he ensured by orbiting his single-seater in the rail, the Monegasque signed Ferrari’s first pole since the one he had obtained in Mexico in 2019. But while he feared for the state of its gearbox is the transmission shaft of its single-seater which no longer responded in the grid-setting lap. His distress, on the radio, remains one of the great moments of the year.
Pourchaire, Prince of Monaco – May 21/23
Is there really a more beautiful arena than Monaco to reveal itself to the general public? It is in any case the place that Theo chose to burst the screen. A few months after winning the honorary title of F3 vice-champion when he came directly from F4, the Habs signed a dream weekend in the Principality. For his first in the streets of Monaco, he slammed a breathtaking pole position with half a second ahead of disgusted competition, before turning the test on Sunday into the main course. By becoming the poleman and the youngest winner in the history of F2, Théo Pourchaire signed his birth certificate.
Castroneves, roaring fourth at the Indy 500
Rejected by the benchmark team Penske in the offseason in IndyCar, 40-year-old Helio Castroneves was forced to turn his attention to the Indianapolis 500 with the modest Meyer Shank Racing team. Eleven years after his last success on the Brickyard, the Brazilian led a flawless score, taking the advantage over Alex Palou with one lap of the goal. With four wins at Indy, Helio Castroneves is corecordman with AJ Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser. Anecdote: with an average of 306,886 km / h, the 105th edition has become the fastest in history.
Zero points for Verstappen and Hamilton in Baku – June 6
The Azerbaijani GP has accustomed us to crazy races. The 2021 edition was no exception to the rule. In the aftermath of a qualification marked by four red flags (crashes by Stroll, Giovinazzi, Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Sainz), Red Bull leads the dance with Verstappen and Pérez firmly in the lead ahead of Hamilton. But 15 laps after Lance Stroll’s spectacular puncture, the left rear tire of the Dutch leader also exploded! At the restart, Hamilton missed his braking and left Sergio Pérez to sign his first victory with Red Bull. At the cost of a Homeric defense against Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly goes back to the podium (3rd)!
Kevin Estre’s comeback to the 24 Hours of Nürbrugring – June 5/6
The 2021 Nürburgring Foggy 24 Hours is being developed in appalling climatic conditions with a race interrupted for 14 hours and 30 minutes due to the. Reduced to 59 laps, the German classic ended with the victory of the Manthey Racing of Matteo Cairoli, Michael Christenen and Kévin Estre. The Frenchman was the great architect of success, climbing from 11th to first place in less than three laps in the rain. To relive in an on-board camera and to consume without moderation.
At Silverstone, Verstappen and Hamilton declare war on each other
It had to go crazy! After tickling each other on numerous occasions in the first half of the season, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton end up getting really messed up at Silverstone and the collision in the 1st round of the British GP has colossal consequences. Already because he intervenes in the super-fast Copse curve of the Silverstone circuit. Thrown into the wall at very high speed, the Red Bull driver suffered a 51G shock and had to be taken to hospital for further examinations. Then that his rival Mercedes, although penalized, manages to inflict a 25-0 on him while Verstappen came out of 3 victories in a row and 32 points in advance when arriving in the United Kingdom. The Red Bull clan is livid and accuses Hamilton of all evils, while Toto Wolff sends emails to course director Michael Masi in the middle of a break in class to try to defend the Mercedes driver. In short, an earthquake whose aftershocks are felt until the end of the season.
Lucas’ Di (s) Grassi in London – July 24
It’s one of the craziest scenes of the season. While the second London ePrix (25) was taking place, the safety car was deployed after the collision between António Félix da Costa and André Lotterer. Moment chosen by Lucas Di Grassi to try an improbable game of poker by passing through the pit lane to take the lead. The bet succeeded but banned by the race director, who sanctioned him with a drive-through, considering that he did not stop long enough. The Brazilian refuses to do it and wins the race. His penalty converted into time, he fell to 8th place before finally being sent off. Logic.
Ocon’s Glory Day in Hungary – August 1
It took a little less than a year (329 days to be precise) to see a Frenchman win a Formula 1 Grand Prix. After Pierre Gasly the last season in Italy, Esteban Ocon became the 14th French to achieve this feat. rappelling the Hungarian sleeve. Taking advantage of an impressive pile-up at the first corner, a daring bet on the restart and a very effective work by Fernando Alonso to contain Lewis Hamilton behind him, the Norman, who started in 8th place, resisted for several laps to Sebastian Vettel gives Alpine his first F1 success.
La Frayeur du Raidillon at the 24 Hours of Spa – July 31 / August 1
The Raidillon has been talked about again this year. In particular at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday July 31 with a spectacular accident at the top of the famous wall of the Belgian circuit. On the tenth lap of the race, thirty minutes after the start, Kévin Estre (Porsche), Franck Perera (Lamborghini), Jack Aitken (Lamborghini) and Davide Rigon (Ferrari) found themselves in a pile-up. The last two cities even stayed away from the circuits several weeks after this accident. The race was won by the trio of Ferrari Côme Ledogar, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
The coronation of the Toyota N ° 7 at Le Mans, WRT between joy and disappointment – August 21/22
The 24 Hours of Le Mans final was a funny emotional lift for Team WRT. The Belgian team saw its prototype LM P2 n ° 41 driven by Yifei Ye (with Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica) stop after the Dunlop chicane on the last lap of the classic Le Mans. In its misfortune, the team of Vincent V has nevertheless strengthened thanks to the car n ° 31 of Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Robin Frijns. In the general classification, the No. 7 Toyota finally managed the checkered flag in first place with José María López, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway to become the first hypercar to win in the Sarthe.
Belgian Grand Prix, the scam – August 29
” The most grotesque race in history »We qualified this non-GP of Belgium. While beautiful qualifying in the rain we had made our mouths water, with in particular a sparkling George Russell (Williams) in the front row, F1 is drowning in the ridiculousness and the expectation of a hypothetical meteorological clearing which would have allowed the test to take place. Whether the Spa-Francorchamps circuit is deemed impracticable, no problem there. But why make thousands of spectators hang around for hours in the downpour and in the cold to finally send the drivers to do 2 poor laps behind the Safety Car before interrupting the race? Why assign points to this masquerade, at the risk of distorting the championship, especially at the back of the grid? To declare that the test has taken place and thus pocket the fees provided for this purpose? Never ! the sport stakeholders swore. How can we dare such insinuations? Stuffing turkeys, the fans are still waiting for a refund.