F1 LIVE | Hamilton devastated, Aston Martin elated, Verstappen happy with RB21

08:00, 18 May
0 Comments
Welcome to a brand new day of F1 racing, it's Sunday and that means it's time for the Imola Grand Prix to be underway! GPblog as usual, will bring the most relevant news in its daily F1 liveblog. Make sure to follow it so you don't miss a thing!

'Devastated' Hamilton reaches bitter conclusion for Ferrari

Ferrari's first home race weekend did not go at all as planned with both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failing to reach Q3 at Imola.
It was P12 for Hamilton in the end at Imola. When asked for his feelings after the race, the British driver revealed how he experienced the tough early elimination to GPblog and other media present at the track.
"[I'm] definitely a bit devastated, I felt gutted I guess. Because the car was generally fine, really. I felt the way the car was set up was just right, the brakes were working, everything was kind of in place."

Aston Martin elated as 'understood' upgrade delivers right away at Imola

For the first time this season Aston Martin has qualified in the top 10 for a Grand Prix, and team principal and CEO Andy Cowell, believes this success is down to the team's efforts to haul itself back to the front.
And it wasn't just a top ten result, but a top five with Fernando Alonso putting his Aston Martin ahead of the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon. For his teammate Lance Stroll it was P8 as the timer clocked down the session.
"The whole factory's work to create an update which gives us a small advantage, but then the team of engineers that have come up with the setup working with the drivers, and just putting a good plan together throughout this weekend to understand the update, understand this track and understand what are the best tyres to use," said Cowell to F1TV listing the reasons that he blieves explain Aston Martin's Imola success.

Verstappen relieved after P2 in Imola: Finally a good feeling in the RB21

Max Verstappen is in a good mood after qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The Dutchman clinched P2, but his glee came more from the better feeling he had in his Red Bull.
Previously, a message from the Red Bull RacingPR team came in: The chat with the Dutch press could only be brief, as the Austrians had a debrief. Without a doubt, it went better than a day before, because again after a difficult Friday, Red Bull had things nicely under control during qualifying. Max Verstappen's second place was the tangible result of that.

Verstappen uplifted: Best feeling in the RB21 so far

Verstappen mentioned the feeling in the RB21 was the best this year. “The car itself feels quite good, from this morning. Just, I think those tyre compounds, they were just a bit too aggressive for us. And I had just a bit too much overheating,” Verstappen said to, among others, GPblog.
The medium tire worked well in Imola and Verstappen also considered using that tire. But: “No, I didn't want to do that, because of course, I want the right tyre for tomorrow. I've been in the front a few times this year and haven't got much from it. We need to make sure we score points in the race.”