Daland F1 - A F1 2021 My Team Story

[jasontoddwhitt]

History at Imola
Jason Whitt becomes the first American to win a grand prix since 1978.

Imola, Italy - When Daland F1 started FP1 with Jason Whitt and Fernando Alonso both putting times in the top ten, it put the entire paddock on notice. When Whitt put his car P3 on the grid, the entire paddock knew that they could be potentially witnessing history.

And that's what happened.

It certainly didn't start the way, as a poor start saw Whitt drop back to P5 after getting jumped by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. With both Mercedes cars racing away, the race became for P3 as Norris and Verstappen battled over the position while Whitt settled in behind them.

The first key moment came on lap seven with Norris and Verstappen battling side by side heading into Tamburello. The encounter did not end well for Verstappen, who got spun off the track and Whitt had to dip his tires into the grass to keep from hitting Verstappen. Whitt was able to just hold off a hard-charging Carlos Sainz and held on to P4.


Disaster nearly strikes at Tamburello.

The next major event would be on lap 12, when Sebastian Vettel's engine went up in smoke, causing a virtual safety car to be deployed so that his car could be extracted. Lewis Hamilton had already pitted out of the lead when the VSC came out, dropping him back to P18.

It wouldn't be long for the next major race-altering event. The race had just gone green out of the VSC period when Nikita Mazepin lost it coming out of Rivazza, forcing track officials to put out the full course safety car. Bottas had already passed the pit lane when the flag was thrown, but everyone behind him from P2 through P6 (Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Whitt, Charles Leclerc, and Sainz) pitted while everyone from P7 on back took the track position.

The race would restart on lap 15, and in a daring couple of moves that would turn out to be the race-winning moves, Whitt passed Mick Schumacher coming out of Piratella and then caught Norris napping going into Acque Minerali.

"I knew if I didn't get Norris soon after the restart, I wasn't going to get him," said Whitt. "He went side by side with Mick heading into Piratella which messed with both of their exits and I was able to get them both. Then I overdrove the car coming out of Rivazza and I'm lucky that DRS hadn't been activated yet, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to hold on to the advantage going into Tamburello."


Jason Whitt keeps his foot in it despite being forced on the grass.

By the time the pit stops had cycled through, Whitt had found himself at the front of the pack, where he maintained a gap to Norris between one and a half and three seconds. Then a light shower passed over the circuit, forcing everyone to pit for intermediate tires.

"That shower was our saving grace today," said Whitt. "We were off-cycle from the majority of the field and I just knew it was going to cost us a high finish. That rain equalized the field and that's when I realized we might actually win this thing."

And that's exactly what Whitt and Daland F1 did. Whitt did a magnificent job of maintaining a gap on Norris and was able to extend it towards the end of the race. As Whitt crossed the finish line, the entire team was standing on the pit wall, cheering their driver as he screamed into the radio "WE FINALLY DONE IT, BOYS!"


Jubilation in the Daland F1 pits.

Daland F1 also got their first double points finish in the young team's history, as Alonso drove his car to a P10 finish. As a matter of fact, Renault Engines got all four of their cars into the points today, as Alpine would see George Russell finish on the podium in P3 while Esteban Ocon drove home to a P7 finish. Renault touted that they had the best engine on the grid in 2022. Today, they showed that.


Hope they have that trophy case built.

Other Notes

* Following contact with Norris on lap 7, Verstappen was able to recover for a P5 finish.

* After finishing 1-2 at Bahrain and locking out the front row at Imola, it looked like it was going to be another runaway for Mercedes. Unfortunately, Bottas retired on lap 26. As for Hamilton, following the safety car restart, Hamilton and Ricciardo made contact with each other heading into Tamburello. Both cars would have to pit for new front wings. Ricciardo recovered for P11. Hamilton, however, had a horrid day, as he had to replace his front wing again later in the race, struggling to a P17 finish.

Race Highlights

2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Race Results
POS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	START	LED	PTS	BONUS
1	Jason Whitt	Daland	63	3	88:02.360	25	1:17.907
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	63	5	+5.238	18	1:18.130
3	George Russell (DOTD)	Alpine	63	11	+8.822	16	1:17.581
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	63	7	+12.897	12	1:18.027
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	63	4	+15.162	10	1:17.728
6	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	63	8	+16.304	8	1:18.309
7	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	63	12	+38.411	6	1:17.903
8	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	63	13	+57.603	4	1:18.221
9	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	63	14	+58.171	2	1:18.392
10	Fernando Alonso	Daland	63	15	+58.832	1	1:18.514
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	63	6	+1:15.521		1:18.248
12	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	63	20	+1:15.989		1:17.880
13	Robert Shwartzman	Alfa Romeo	62	17	+1 Lap		1:18.719
14	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	62	19	+1 Lap		1:19.578
15	Nobuharu Matsush!ta	Alfa Romeo	62	16	+1 Lap		1:18.911
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	Williams	62	21	+1 Lap		1:19.273
17	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	62	2	+1 Lap		1:17.986
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	62	18	+1 Lap		1:19.680
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	61	22	+2 Laps		1:19.748
20	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	42	9	DNF		1:19.982
21	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	26	1	DNF		1:19.383
22	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	12	10	DNF		1:19.950

[ThatBritishGuy]

Congratulations on the epic first win for Darland F1, way to get everything out of the car. Sounds like a pretty great race with the crashes, safety car and rain during the race?

Could have been a whole different story after that Verstappen spin, cant have been more than a few inches away from probably losing part of the front wing?

[jasontoddwhitt]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThatBritishGuy

Congratulations on the epic first win for Darland F1, way to get everything out of the car. Sounds like a pretty great race with the crashes, safety car and rain during the race? Could have been a whole different story after that Verstappen spin, cant have been more than a few inches away from probably losing part of the front wing?

Yes, it was a very fun race to drive. I love Imola on this game. And yes, that race had everything. My heart lept up into my throat when Max spun right in front of me.

Thanks for reading!

[jasontoddwhitt]

Wild Beginning; Typical Finish
Hamilton runs away with Portuguese Grand Prix

Portimao, Portugal - The inaugural Portuguese Grand Prix saw plenty of exciting action early on but then delved into just another runaway for Lewis Hamilton.


Mazepin misses his braking point and damages his Haas.

Turn one would see Nikita Mazepin get it all wrong in the back of the field and slam his Haas into the back of Nicholas Latifi. Latifi escaped with no damage while Mazepin was forced to pit after completely breaking one of the endplates off his front wing.

The run into the hairpin would see more contact as Yuki Tsunoda got caught in the middle of diving to the inside or diving to the outside of Jason Whitt. In the end, he did neither and completely broke his front wing off his AlphaTauri machine. Whitt escaped damage to his diffuser and brought it home P11.


Not the day Bottas envisioned after starting on the pole.

After those events, it turned into a ho-hum race around the flowing Algarve Circuit. Mercedes locked out the front row and Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton raced away from the competition. Bottas would suffer a mechanical failure on lap 36, while Hamilton would race away to the victory.

Race Highlights

2022 Portuguese Grand Prix Race Results
POS	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPS	START	TIME	PTS	BEST
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	66	2	88:35.762	26	1:18.020
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	66	3	+3.899	18	1:18.360
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	66	4	+39.193	15	1:18.813
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	66	5	+40.617	12	1:18.779
5	Pierre Gasly (DOTD)	AlphaTauri	66	10	+49.204	10	1:18.916
6	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	66	6	+49.717	8	1:18.918
7	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	66	8	+57.212	6	1:18.924
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	66	7	+59.300	4	1:19.259
9	George Russell	Alpine	66	9	+59.570	2	1:19.228
10	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	66	11	+1:00.164	1	1:19.180
11	Jason Whitt	Daland	65	13	+1 Lap		1:19.569
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	65	15	+1 Lap		1:19.280
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	65	12	+1 Lap		1:19.624
14	Fernando Alonso	Daland	65	16	+1 Lap		1:19.874
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	65	14	+1 Lap		1:20.149
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	Williams	65	20	+1 Lap		1:20.170
17	Mick Schumacher	Haas	64	18	+2 Laps		1:21.016
18	Robert Shwartzman	Alfa Romeo	64	17	+2 Laps		1:20.999
19	Nobuharu Matsush!ta	Alfa Romeo	64	19	+2 Laps		1:21.011
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	64	21	+2 Laps		1:20.515
21	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	63	22	+3 Laps		1:21.634
22	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	36	1	DNF		1:19.694

[jasontoddwhitt]

Mercedes Lay Down the Gauntlet
Bottas wins Spanish GP; Hamilton recovers from grid penalty for P2.

The knock against the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has always been that the racing in modern Formula One cars is not the most exciting. Today absolutely did not provide a counterpoint to that narrative.

Valterri Bottas led the race from lights out to checkered flag while Lewis Hamilton used a one-stop strategy to overcome a grid penalty to finish P2. It is the second 1-2 finish that Mercedes has achieved this year.

Editor's Note: That's it. That's the article. This was a very boring race. No weather, no safety cars, and two mechanical failures.

Race Highlights

2022 Spanish Grand Prix Race Results
POS	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPS	TIME	GRID	PTS	BEST
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	66	88:59.295	1	25	1:18.396
2	Lewis Hamilton (DotD)	Mercedes	66	+25.717	12	18	1:18.336
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	66	+35.187	4	15	1:18.696
4	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	66	+35.769	6	13	1:18.305
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	66	+39.219	2	10	1:18.483
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	66	+40.037	5	8	1:18.334
7	George Russell	Alpine	66	+44.320	8	6	1:18.801
8	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	66	+1:00.628	10	4	1:19.348
9	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	66	+1:09.874	11	2	1:19.155
10	Jason Whitt	Daland	65	+1 Lap	13	1	1:20.175
11	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	65	+1 Lap	7		1:18.955
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	65	+1 Lap	9		1:19.535
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	65	+1 Lap	21		1:19.831
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Williams	65	+1 Lap	18		1:20.767
15	Nobuharu Matush*ta	Alfa Romeo	65	+1 Lap	16		1:20.592
16	Fernando Alonso	Daland	64	+2 Laps	22		1:21.245
17	Robert Shwartzman	Alfa Romeo	64	+2 Laps	15		1:21.305
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	64	+2 Laps	17		1:21.286
19	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	64	+2 Laps	19		1:21.552
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	64	+2 Laps	20		1:21.694
21	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	25	DNF	3		1:21.275
22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	4	DNF	14		1:22.914

Yuki Tsunoda has a terminal failure right in front of Jason Whitt.

Daland Highlights

"It was quite the boring race, wasn't it? There was the moment at the beginning of the race where Yuki blew up in front of me in turn nine. After we made our pit stop, we pretty much rode around the track all by our lonesome. We did have a moment of panic when the software in the ERS glitched out and dumped all the battery power. So I'm sure you noticed the mad lap times we had for a couple of laps. Luckily, that fixed itself. Considering we showed up here not at our best this weekend, we still salvaged a points finish, so that's a victory in my book." - Jason Whitt

"I feel like we could've gotten both cars into the points had we not had to take a grid penalty for Fernando. Jason and Nando had competitive lap times all weekend, so it was unfortunate that we had to switch out the gearbox. For Nando to finish P16 after starting dead last on the grid is a testament to his skill considering how hard it is to overtake here." - Brian Doyle

[bhurst99]

You're racing the full race? Impressive.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Quote: Originally Posted by bhurst99

You're racing the full race? Impressive.

I notice too many strange strategy decisions with scaled races. That's the main reason why I do it.

Thanks for reading.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Formula 1 has a Mercedes problem
Hamilton wins Monaco GP in dominating performance.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, it was commonplace for Ferrari to lap the entire field at multiple grand prix because they were so dominant. The last time a driver lapped the field was back in 1995 when Damon Hill lapped the field twice en route to his victory at the Australian Grand Prix. That did not happen today, but what did happen was Mercedes completely driving away from the competition as Lewis Hamilton beat Valtteri Bottas to Sainte Devote, and both drivers lapped the field.

How have Mercedes nailed the new regulations so well while the other teams seem to be spinning their tires?

There was not much else to talk about this race, other than Daland F1 driver Jason Whitt snagging the fastest lap from Lewis Hamilton after a late pit stop would see him slap a fresh set of soft tires at the end and run qualifying laps for the final 20 laps.


Jason Whitt dives past former teammate Nobuharu Matsush!ta.

Race Highlights

2022 Monaco Grand Prix Race Results
POS	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPS	GRID	TIME	PTS	BEST
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	78	2	96:25.963	25	1:13.111
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	78	1	+1.066	18	1:13.045
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	77	4	+1 Lap	15	1:14.001
4	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	77	6	+1 Lap	12	1:14.219
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	77	3	+1 Lap	10	1:13.814
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	77	5	+1 Lap	8	1:14.205
7	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	77	7	+1 Lap	6	1:14.318
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	77	11	+1 Lap	4	1:14.493
9	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	77	8	+1 Lap	2	1:14.109
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	77	10	+1 Lap	1	1:14.146
11	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	77	15	+1 Lap		1:14.430
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	77	12	+1 Lap		1:14.837
13	George Russell	Alpine	77	9	+1 Lap		1:14.430
14	Fernando Alonso	Daland	77	14	+1 Lap		1:14.005
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	77	13	+1 Lap		1:14.609
16	Jason Whitt	Daland	76	18	+2 Laps		1:12.908
17	Antonio Giovinazzi	Williams	76	16	+2 Laps		1:15.234
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	76	20	+2 Laps		1:15.660
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	76	17	+2 Laps		1:15.622
20	Robert Shwartzman	Alfa Romeo	76	21	+2 Laps		1:14.830
21	Nobuharu Matsush!ta	Alfa Romeo	76	19	+2 Laps		1:14.824
22	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	75	22	+3 Laps		1:16.300

Daland Debrief

"Was not a good day for us. Hard to race at Monaco, unless you have a significant pace and/or tire advantage. Neither I nor Fernando had race pace today. We had engine faults today. We lost fourth gear late in the race. At some point, I damaged the floor and as the tires wore, it was like driving with an elephant strapped to the back of the car. Now, when we pitted late, it seemed the grip from the soft tires was able to overcome the floor damage because the car just took off like a rocket. We were turning qualifying laps out there while everyone else was nursing their cars to the finish. We came out of the pits P21 and finished P16. That was the more enjoyable part of the race. Those last two laps after I had burned through the tires though, man, that car was a handful to drive. It just didn't want to turn....like at all. Ready to get out of Monaco. I hate this track. I utterly despise it." - Jason Whitt

"Definitely not pleased with our performance all weekend. We've got a lot of work ahead of us to get where we want to be. We do have an upgrade package in the works that should be ready in time for Baku, so that's exciting. Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have to take a gearbox penalty for Jason. I just don't think the gearbox is going to last another race. We lost fourth gear late in the race. It did come back after a couple of laps, but it's just not worth the risk. Probably also looking at changing some engine parts as well." - Bryan Doyle