Austria GP Race Report

All talk before the race started was how this Austrian GP was Norris's to lose.  At least he made it off on the formation lap; Sainz was stuck in first gear and something (the hand brake?) was stopping it from moving altogether.  The start was abhorted.  The Williams made it to the end of the pit lane and then his brakes caught fire.  And his race was over before it had even begun.

Everyone got a great start but the supeior pace of the McLaren meant that Piastri got past LeClerc for second and immediately started to go for Norris.  Further back, Verstappen was clipped by Antontelli who locked up in the middle of the pack.  The vet went to see if the rookie was okay with a smile.  The Safety Car was out, we were three drivers down and it was only the second lap,

On Lap 11, Piastri briefly held the lead but Norris came back through the following corners.  How long would they be allowed to race?  Had there been a protocol set before the race?  Whoever was ahead by the first pitstop? Etc.

The battle continued, with Norris positioning his car perfectly.   There was less luck down the track, as Albon pitted and retired his Williams for a double DNF for the team.  Even further back, Tsunoda hit Stroll.

Both McLarens made small mistakes as they pushed each other and then Norris pitted first.  Nearly halfway through, when pit stops were complete and everything was back to level-pegging, Piastri was given a not-very-subtle warning not to get as close to Norris again.

Tsunoda and Colapinto came together again.  He got a ten second penalty.   

And then Norris began to lose confidence in himself, he probably is his own worst enemy.   He held the lead through passing the back-markers.

Hamilton was made to pit against his will. He didn’t want a second stop believing position is king.  This driver versus team strategists is going to run and run.

For the McLarens it was all down to the last set of pit stops.  There were 16 laps to go.  Tsunoda and Colapinto came together for a third time with Piastri in the middle.  He was off and across the grass.  There were more time penalties.  

There were 6 laps at the end of the race for the McLarens to go head-to-head.  Instead we watched Alonso and Bortoleto battling.  The back-markers basically neutralised the McLaren race, much to the management's relief I imagine.

It finished Norris, Piastri (still ahead in the championship, by 15 points), LeClerc,  Hamilton,  Russell and Lawson.  The Ferraris managed an almost secret race to get excellent points and a real in-road towards beating Mercedes and Red Bull.  Piastri didn't look thrilled on the podium with his second place trophy.

Bortoleto was awarrded Driver of the Day as both Saubers were well within the points.  Was it the Wheatley-effect on Sauber?  The loss of both Williams' cars? Or some Austrian magic?

There is a quick turnover between Red Bull territory and Silverstone,  where almost everyone claims a home race.  It would be predictably disappointing for Norris to lose to Piastri there.

Austria GP Qualifying Report

For some reason, the talk of the pit lane was whether Russell would keep his Mercedes seat if Verstappen should want it next season.  Nobody let it affect their performance in Qualifying though. 

Piastri swept through some gravel in the first session. Sainz also struggled in his Williams to keep it on the tarmac.  The five slowest and out drivers were Stroll, Ocon, Tsunoda (another poor showing, just how bad is that Red Bull?), Sainz and Hulkenberg.  One driver each from five different teams...this says a lot about the current state of competition in the sport.  Sainz complained that the car was undrivable but his driving also looked pretty shoddy.

Verstappen also thought his car was undrivable in the second session.   The McLarens and Ferraris were looking strong.   Then Hamilton ran wide and set the grass on fire so the session was red flagged.  This led to a sprint to the end, with time for one fast lap only.  Bortoleto crossed the line first in his Sauber and was very quick, third for a moment.  He did get through to the final shoot out for the first time.  Out went Alonso, Albon, Hadjar, Colapinto and Bearman.  The McLarens were a dominant first and second with LeClerc behind them and Hamilton dropping back. 

After the first set of laps in Q3, Norris was on pole, then LeClerc then Piastri.  Russell was noted for an unsafe release in the pit lane.   But Russell couldn't improve his place in the end.  There was a half second gap between Norris on pole and LeClerc behind him.  Then it was Piastri,  Hamilton,  Russell,  Lawson (doing better in the junior team than the lead driver of the main outfit), Verstappen,  Bortoleto, Antontelli and Gasly.   The Alpine driver did two full rotations as he went off through the gravel at the end of the session.

I think Norris will be quick in the race and Ferrari likely to give a McLaren the win through choosing a poor strategy.  The question is whether McLaren will give a fair and equitable strategy call to both drivers and whether they will end up hot on each others' heels?  I don't put it passed Norris to make a hot-headed driver error again and LeClerc will be there to pick up the spills.

Canada GP Race Report

Even though Russell was on pole, it still felt like it might be Verstappen's race, possibly Piastri's, probably not Norris's.  The British press were trying to put the Red Bull driver off by continually referencing his 11 licence points, perilously close to a race ban.  Having apologised two weeks ago for his misdemeanour, he was getting more and more annoyed by the questions.

Following Qualifying, Lawson and Gasly fitted new engines (not themselves, personally), which meant that they would start from the pit lane.  Tsunoda was in 18th after his 10 place penalty.  Hadjar was 12th after a three place drop for impeding Sainz, as he started 16th this would be no consolation for the Williams driver.

It was a clean start.  Albon was both under pressure and pressuring others but went across a chicane and through the grass, dropping back places.  Antonelli got past a risk-averse Piastri for third place.  Then there was a quiet ten laps until Norris overtook Hamilton and Alonso, and Antonelli started to really challenge Verstappen.  He avoided it by pitting very early.  The race leader, Russell, followed him in on the next lap, which put Antonelli out front.  Then he pitted.  There was confusion brought on my the Red Bull strategy, so many drivers having taken a stop, it was hard to see who would be where.

By lap 21 everyone had pitted apart from Norris and LeClerc, who were in front, a cluster of Ocon, Sainz, Albon (one team mate having gotten past the other, who was very irate with the team for not listening to him), Tsunoda, Bortoleto and Stroll, then Lawson and Gasly, who would be returned to the back of the pack when they did.

Albon refused to box and a numbers of cars overtook him in quick succession.  When he did pit he was last.

LeClerc pitted just before the halfway point and immediately questioned the choice of tyre Ferrari had given him.  LeClerc had asked for Plan C as he felt the tyres were okay.  Ferrari thought Plan B would be better but failed to communicate this with him.  Norris pitted from the lead and came out in 5th and could do a one stop race.

Aston Martin gave Alonso some gentle guidance and he told them he was racing not testing.  He really was.

By halfway through, not a lot had changed in the top 9.  Verstappen was still setting the pace, even from fourth.  Everyone responded when he pitted again.  When Russell stopped it went wrong and cost him valuable seconds.

Having done 49 laps, Albon pulled off the track and down an escape road.  It was a terrible day for him.  Then Stroll was awarded a ten second penalty for forcing another car off the track, we don't know who, we didn't see it, it wasn't replayed.  The Canadian driver was really bringing the show for his home fans.

The top five were covered by less than eight seconds with 16 laps to go.  Lawson was also retired due his Power Unit, they wanted to look after it.  It hadn't taken long to wear it down, given that they fitted it overnight.  Then, with eight laps to go, the McLarens were battling each other hard for fourth and fifth.  With Antonelli right ahead of them, they could have been making a play for a podium finish, it's seemed short-sighted by their leadership.  It proved to be true, Norris got down the inside and was ahead but Piastri fought back hard.  It looked like he clearly had the lead but he backed out heading onto the straight.  For some reason, Norris thought he could overtake then and took the slipstream, pulling out at the last minute.  He hadn't pulled out quite enough though, as he hit the go pedal to move ahead, he was not alongside but slightly behind.  He tagged his team mate, which sent him on to the narrow slip of grass next to the wall where his car was basically shredded between rock (teammate) and hard place (wall).  We rewound twice to watch despite knowing it would be replayed from different angles.  Here was the Safety Car that Norris had been counting on.  Piastri appeared to have been unharmed, lucky not to have a puncture.  He had been looking in his other mirror to see where Lando was.  There was basically not a car width's gap for him to put his car through.  It was such an error of judgement.  When asked on the radio if he was okay, Norris laid the blame calmly at his own feet: "It's all my bad.  All my fault.  Unlucky.  Sorry.  Stupid from me."  No one could disagree with that.  If it was Latifi or Sargeant who had made the move...  I had written that opening comment about it not being Norris's race two hours before this incident.  It speaks volumes. Stella would be getting it in the neck.  Piastri looked very pale when he got out of the car but was given an immediate briefing by the team about what he should say.

Russell and Verstappen were still playing silly games with each other under the Safety Car, Verstappen radioed that he had to overtake Russell because his driving was erratic and the other saying that he overtook him.  Each hoping the other would get a penalty because that was the only way to move their positions, as the race would end under the Safety Car.  They went on to have a very civilised conversation in the cool-down room.  The camera operator clearly knew to capture their faces as the McLaren incident was replayed.  "There just wasn't a space there," Russell declared.

The Top 10 was Russell, Verstappen, Antonelli (very well deserved), Piastri, LeClerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Sainz.  It was Alonso's first points of the season and he had told Brundle before the race that Canada was good to him.  There was a lot of celebratory hugging in the Mercedes huddle in front of the podium.

There was so much chat about tyre choice (until the drama at the end) and having to run two different compounds.  The whole thing is so contrived and should be stopped; there must be other ways to make races interesting.  Perhaps if the only people who could choose tyre strategy were the drivers, that would make it spicy.

Canada GP Qualifying Report

This event in Canada felt like it could be another Monaco.  The track is narrow and the walls are punishing.  Norris was fastest in practice and his team mate and main championship rival, Piastri, hit the wall.  LeClerc also had a pretty big crash in the first session, which meant he didn't get out for the second one.  Stroll was back for his home race having had an operation on his wrist and recovered in a fortnight.

There was drama as we went into the first session.  Tsunoda was given a ten place grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag during practice.  I wonder what his excuse will be, it seems like it might be a valid mistake.  With everyone having set a lap, Albon lost the engine cover on his Williams, leaving debris all over the track and the session had to be red flagged for some tidying up.

The session continued.  Alonso had been in the lead when the flags were waved but Norris led his team mate when it ended.  Albon, with a fresh engine cover, made it through but his team mate, Sainz went off and through the dust as he had a moment with Hadjar, who impeded him.  Hadjar was through (but possibly heading for a three place grid penalty) and Sainz was out.  It was Bortoleto in 16th, Sainz in 17th, Stroll in 18th, Lawson in 19th and Gasly in 20th.  I don't know why Gasly was so low, other than Alpine are having an awful year and are last in the constructors championship.

The second session passed calmly.  Russell was fastest, followed by Norris.  Out went Tsunoda, Colapinto (8 places ahead of his team mate), Hulkenberg, Bearman and Ocon.  We should have paid more attention to the performance of the Mercedes.

It was all down to the last laps in the final session.  Norris could not put a lap together and will be incredibly disappointed with all the promise he'd shown earlier in the week when it didn't count.  Verstappen looked like he would take pole, then Piastri put in the quickest lap, then Verstappen took it back.  Behind him,

 Russell had put in a purple, fastest sector and took pole.  All he has been asked about this year is what he thinks of Verstappen's behaviour, surely now it is time for him to be questioned on his amazing season.  Villeneuve, who did the interviews, went down this avenue.  Initially, George deflected them and then joked that he had "more points on his licence to play with".  The starting top ten was provisionally Russell, Verstappen, Piastri, Antonelli, Hamilton, Alonso, Norris, LeClerc (who couldn't seem to find a good place to be on track all afternoon), Hadjar and Albon.

It feels like it will be a strongly contested race tomorrow.  Russell and Verstappen must be in contention with at least one McLaren.  We can't rule out Antonelli or Hamilton.  LeClerc always seems to be in the right place if there are any lucky breaks.

Spain GP Race Report

Following Qualifying, Norris must have taken a knock on his confidence gained at Monaco last weekend.  His team mate Piastri secured pole with the largest margain of the season.  Would he be aggressive in this race?  He needed to be.

Stroll decided that the recurring pain in his wrist (from a pre-season training accident quite a while ago) required him to travel somewhere else to have a "procedure".  Strange that he couldn't have waited twenty-four hours.  And let Drugovich have a drive, a long-waited for F1 start.

Colapinto was penalised for his break-down in the pit lane during Qualifying and would start last on the grid, with Tsunoda starting from the pit lane, having qualified there anyway and changing his suspension.

Much had been made of the race down to turn one but Piastri made an amazing start and held his position.  Other drivers were three abreast and there was some argy-bargy at the back.  Somehow Albon lost three places and sustained damage to his front wing, Alonso lost his points-finishing place and Sainz remained in 17th.  Verstappen got past Norris and both Ferraris got past Russell.

Lots of drivers tried an early stop strategy (by lap 10) including Albon (forced to get a new front wing), Sainz, Tsunoda, Bearman and Hulkenberg.  Norris got past Verstappen and he didn't do much to defend it, coming in immediately after for his new tyres.  Alonso had a big old trip over the gravel, perhaps getting some practice in for the next series he will drive.

A third of the way through the race, Piastri had pulled out five seconds ahead of his team mate and it was looking critical between Norris, who had not taken a pit stop, and Verstappen, who had.  The Red Bull undercut both McLarens for the lead.

Albon was the first retirement, shunted, bumped, damaged and demoralised.

Having so many stops in the race, some were bound to be duds.  Ferrari did a slow one for Hamilton.

With eleven laps to go, Antonelli ended up in the gravel, which he needed to stop the car as the engine failed and there was a Safety Car.   Taking a pit stop seemed a good idea.  The McLarens were double stacked and both came out in front of Verstappen's Red Bull.  Behind them LeClerc, Russell and Hamilton also came in.  Verstappen put on the hard tyre because it was the only option and it wasn't ideal.  This didn't put him in a positive mindset.

There were only six laps to go when the Safety Car was due to end and Piastri slammed his brakes on to control the pack.  It looked like Verstappen might take Norris but LeClerc overtook him instead, even Russell looked like he might have a chance to pass him.  Max would be a grumpy goose after the race.  In fact, he lost his rear end and had a little tap, each blaming the other.  Verstappen was asked to let Russell through and thought he had permission but Versappen cut him off with a bump.  Rosberg thought he should get a black flag.  

With one lap to go, Hulkenberg overtook Hamilton for 6th place, the Sauber driver having a great race and we heard the cheer from the fans as Alonso overtook Lawson for a one point finish.  It finished with a McLaren one-two with the Ferrari of LeClerc behind.

In the end, Verstappen was given a ten second penalty, which dropped him down to 10th place.  He said it was a "misjudgement" but was very critical of Russell's response and said he would bring him tissues for the next time.

I'm sure Piastri celebrated with a small sangria (hold the red wine and brandy).  LeClerc was surprised and somewhat bewildered to find himself being interviewed.

Will Stroll return for his home race in Canada?  Can Piastri extend his championship lead there?  Let's hope Williams find their pace again as we cross the Atlantic.