Abu Dhabi GP Race Report

A lot of the talk this weekend and after Qualifying was about Hamilton; all the sympathy is now going to the pit lane reporters at the press pit who are having to try and interview him.  The three way run in this race for the driver's championship was a welcome distraction.

It seemed to be the general consensus that Verstappen would win this race but Norris would win the championship.  No one really thought Piastri was in contention.  As they left the grid for the formation lap, it was seen that drivers were on a variety of strategies with Piastri on hard tyres and Verstappen and Norris on medium.  Some drivers further back had gone for soft too.

Verstappen made a quick start and it almost looked as though Piastri was going to try and get past Norris but he moved across and blocked him off.  Alonso and LeClerc battled behind them furiously.  Piastri held his place for a short while and then he got a slip stream behind Norris and was easily past him.  Russell dropped back.

After four laps, Russell got past Alonso and then Norris had LeClerc right on his tail.  On lap 17, Norris and LeClerc pitted on the same lap.  They were both ahead of Russell though.  Norris was stuck in a DRS train; he got past Antonelli then Sainz (who pitted afterwards), next up was Stroll and I held my breath.  He got past Stroll and Lawson in the same corner, giving everyone a good reason why he should be world champion.  LeClerc repeated the feat though behind him.  Tsunoda was the next driver up and Red Bull were quick to instruct him to hold Norris up, he tersely told them to leave him alone.  Brundle was not happy with this all, considering it to be "verging on unsporting behaviour".  Norris risked everything and went for the overtake.  This was investigated by the stewards: Tsunoda as weaving but Norris left the track.  It was the Red Bull who would be penalised.

By the middle of the race, I felt I was being held hostage to the tyre strategy of the race.  Piastri was due to come in to pit on Lap 41 but LeClerc pitted and Ferrari were directing the McLaren strategy now.  Norris was brought in instead and Verstappen overtook Piastri.  He boxed on the next lap.

With ten laps to go, Verstappen started to panic that LeClerc may not overtake Norris for third place and he would not be getting the championship despite his late efforts.  He got his first warning for exceeding track limits as well.

Norris held on to the end though to clinch his championship.  Verstappen took the win and Piastri was the biggest loser really having thrown it all away at the end of the season.  Norris celebrated with a cry and doughnuts.

Verstappen was being very sweet to Piastri in the cool down room as they awaited Norris, who was interviewed by Coulthard below.  Norris was interviewed twice and got to stay on the podium as long as he liked.  Piastri was let off doing a long interview.  I think everyone was happy with the outcome.  I wonder how different it would have felt if Piastri had won.

Meanwhile it was the last race for Tsunoda, Renault, Sauber, DRS and ground effect cars.  None of them were going to get much attention but perhaps that was the Plan B for the broadcasters if one of the others won.  We will see what next year brings.  The rise of Verstappen?  A surprise team that excels with the new regulations?  Some jazzy new graphics for TV coverage?

Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Report

The last ten races at this circuit had been won from pole position.  This was the most important Saturday of the season.

The weekend had got off to a better start for some than others.  Norris, Piastri and Verstappen had fielded many, many questions about their championship hopes.  Also under scrutiny was Hamilton, who then spun out of nowhere in Free Practice 3 and smashed his Ferrari nose-first into the tyre wall.

It was a fairly boring first Qualifying session until after the Chequered Flag was waved and Albon was knocked out followed by Hamilton (who was knocked out by Bortoleto).   The five drivers out were Hamilton, Albon (not how either of them would want to end the year, with their team mate in the top ten), Hulkenberg, Gasly and Colapinto.  The Alpine drivers will be praying the team gets the regulation changes right next year.

The second session was even more boring.  Fastest was Russell, then Verstappen and Norris.  Out went Bearman, Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli and Stroll.  Apart from Sainz, all the others were bested by their teammates who went through, Ocon putting in a very good lap in his Haas to be ninth.

Gloves were off for the final session.  Red Bull sacrificed Tsunoda to give Verstappen a tow down the straight which helped him set a quick lap to be in first position at the end of the first set of laps.  Norris could not get his groove back around the track and left himself in a poor position for the final push.  Piastri's lap kept him second until Norris took it from him.  Verstappen was putting in an even quicker time behind them.  Russell tried his hardest to take it but was fourth.  Behind them was LeClerc, Alonso, Bortoleto, Ocon, Hadjar and Tsunoda (who didn't set a time).

Verstappen had given himself the best possible chance of winning the championship.    There are lots of different permutations and calculations to figure out who will take the crown and number one on their car next season.  I'm sure the commentators will keep us up to speed.

Qatar GP Race Report

After the Sprint, Russell said that the twenty people in the cars enjoy the Qatar race and the track but it's boring for everyone on the sofa at home.  Verstappen said it would be "a long race and anything could happen."  This was a possibility but also a long procession of drivers with no ability to overtake was possible: whoever has been in the lead at the end of lap 1 has gone on to win the race.  Even so, I was looking out for awkward double-stacks for a Safety Car, the Safety Car coming out for gravel on track, punctures from gravel on track, Verstappen doing something dangerous to try and get the win, drivers exceeding track limits and how teams would work with the mandated twenty-five lap maximum run on the tyres.

All the English footballers were out in Qatar for the race; it's amazing what money can buy.  There was so many sportspeople, it's like they can do laundry well.

And straight off the line, Norris lost second place to Verstappen, whilst Piastri made a golden start.  Russell was another big loser, falling to seventh; Hamilton was up to 13th.  By Lap 5, Verstappen was complaining about his tyres.  Then, on the critical Lap 7 (important for the tyre mandate), Hulkenberg had a coming together with Gasly and was beached in the gravel without one of his tyres (it was deemed a racing incident and looked pretty 50/50).  The McLarens stayed out with Ocon but all other drivers came in for new tyres; there were slow stacks for Mercedes and Ferrari.  It seemed like a crazy move for McLaren.  The releases worked in Williams' favour with Sainz ending up in fourth.  Ocon did come in for a pit stop and had to serve a five second penalty, that was announced at the perfect time, for a jump start.

Piastri backed them right up, going very slowly at the restart but it worked out for him.  It didn't take long for the sixth place driver, Alonso, to have a train of cars behind him, all following nose to tail.  Albon was the first driver to be shown the black and white flag for exceeding track limits.

McLaren pitted when they had to, with Piastri coming in first for a three second stop.  He came out ahead of Alonso.  Norris came in the next lap and had a better stop, two seconds and was also out in front of Alonso.  The relief for the team must have been huge.

On L32 there was chaos in pit lane as most drivers needed new tyres as they were up to the 25 lap limit.  Russell almost went into Lawson and Bearman ran over something in his pit and was then given an extra unsafe release penalty as well as losing all the time.  He slammed his steering wheel in frustration.

Piastri was casually discussing what his best strategy would be over the radio but Norris was having a wobble.  He couldn't get the pace back that he had and went off, believing the car sustained damage as he did so.  Verstappen looked like he was going to get a comfortable win because the McLarens were not quick enough and a Safety Car hadn't been needed.  What we needed was Stroll to Latifi things up.  Piastri came in for a stop that nearly surprised his mechanics.  It was a 1.8 second stop by McLaren, which was what was needed.  Norris didn't stay out and push but came in soon after and got a 2.7 second stop.  He came out after Sainz and Antonelli.  Whilst I wanted Norris to do well, I would take a Williams podium over that.  

Alonso had a big spin but didn't manage to bring out the Safety Car, it was too late anyway for him to help out his old team.  With two laps to go, Hadjar tried to help everyone by getting a puncture, it wasn't Safety Car worthy though.  On the last lap, Antonelli went wide and Norris got past him for fourth place. Sainz held Norris off to get the podium; where's Carlando now?

The top ten were Verstappen (who didn't put a foot wrong), Piastri, Sainz (starting from seventh), Norris, Antonelli (making that rookie error in the dying seconds of the race but still ahead of his team mate), Russell, Alonso, LeClerc, Lawson and Tsunoda (in the points at least).  McLaren's strategy let them down.  Piastri was "speechless" and not in a good way.

We head to next weekend and the final race with Norris still leading the championship by twelve points over Verstappen.  Piastri has dropped back to third place, four points behind the Red Bull.  Will McLaren ask Piastri to help if it looks like Verstappen will take the Driver's Championship? Having a baby mid-season has done nothing but spur Max on.

It seems amazing that Hamilton has over twice as many points as Sainz, who he pushed out to take the place in Ferrari.  Maybe that is the Brit's whinging that muddies the water?  Williams have secured fifth place in the Constructor's Championship and it feels unfair that they haven't beaten Ferrari.

 After a swift turnaround it was time for Qualifying proper.  Albon managed a little drama in the first session, getting lap times deleted and going on parts of the track he shouldn't.  In the end he knocked Hamilton out of running.  Gasly took his Alpine from the back of the grid in Sprint Qualifying to fifth.  Russell, Norris, Piastri and Verstappen.  Out went Tsunoda (another one who did well the day before), Ocon, Hamilton (bored of this now), Stroll and Colapinto.  The best Crofty fact of the year was also enthusiastically delivered: Stroll has the most Q1 exits of the season.

In Q2, the championship leader Norris put himself under pressure by not setting any early times as he went off the track.  He was out first for his final hot laps but the track was getting better all the time and Piastri had broken the Q2 lap record.  Piastri was strongest in this round, ahead of Norris and Verstappen.  The big shock of the session was Albon's exit in 15th, ahead of him but not going through was Hulkenberg, Lawson, Bearman and Bortoleto, all drivers he should have beat.

We went into the final session and LeClerc had a big but safe spin, completing a few turns and missing any obstacles.  Albon was released by Williams with a plastic sticker wrapped around his tyre.  He would be investigated for an unsafe release and the session had to be Red Flagged for it to be cleared up.

It wasn't long after the cars went out again that the end of the session came about.  Norris had held pole but this attempt was messy and nothing came of it.  Piastri took pole from him.  They lined up behind his thus: Norris (who was already ready to be interviewed as Piastri came in), Verstappen, Russell, Antonelli, Hadjar, Sainz, Alonso, Gasly and LeClerc.

If Piastri makes a good start in the Race then the win should be his.  Verstappen will be very punchy and Norris will have to watch out for him.  Verstappen could be Piastri's biggest ally.  

Qatar GP Sprint Report

It was yet another bright, sunny day in Doha.  Four drivers would be starting from the pit lane: Stroll, Hamilton (Ferrari admitted that the way they went with the rear wing was wrong) and both Alpines.

On the track, the McLarens got away quickly but Russell stayed between them.  Tsunoda let Verstappen past before the first lap was even completed, as his team mate made it past Alonso.  Further back, LeClerc fell back to 13th.

Verstappen was speaking a lot about how much his car was not only bouncing but jumping.  Brundle fleetingly mentioned that the teams were very worried about tyres getting punctured, why wasn't this brought up before?  By lap ten, the issue of track limits came into play, with Tsunoda getting the first black and white flag to let him know that he only had one chance left to stay on the black stuff.  Other drivers would soon see one too.  Tsunoda didn't manage it and got a five second penalty which was no good in a DRS train of a race.  In the end he only lost one place to Antonelli, who in got 5 seconds, so it made no difference to anyone  In the race though, with more laps to run, this could be real problem for some drivers if they are not careful.

The four pit lane starters could do nothing with the changes they made.  Stroll and the Alpines made a pit stop for soft tyres to have a little practice for Qualifying.  Overall, it was nineteen laps of not much happening, apart for LeClerc who was driving an off-road race.

There were several factors to note for the longer race: Qualifying places would be important, tyres would need to be managed, pit stops need to be sharp, gravel will need to avoided and track limits will need to be adhered to.