Azerbaijan GP - "survived Baku for another year"

LeClerc won everybody's hearts with his post-calamity press conference: "I am stupid...For the next three or four hours, I will be mostly beating myself up."  He gave himself a grid penalty there and others also received some, most notably the Alpha Romeos, giving Kimi the chance to earn himself 15 fantasy points for moving up places from the grid.  Do you think Liberty will be stealing this idea from me soon too?  The teams and drivers are definitely taking the fastest lap point seriously with LeClerc pitting specially to earn it.

We were promised thrills from Ferrari and spills from Safety Cars (apparently there were lots in the F2 race).  There were none.  Some mistakes were made: Kubica was given a penalty for leaving the pit lane too early, Ricciardo reversed into Kvyat, Gasly lost power. 

Mercedes continue their domination despite everyone saying that they are not dominating and Ferrari have the best car and drivers.  Not if 6 1-2s and a 74 point lead have anything to say.

Finally, Di Resta dropped a "youse" into his podium interviews - reclaiming his Scottishness in case of independence post-Brexit and a Scottish passport will allow him to continue living in Monaco.

Azerbaijan GP - Results

1. BottHaas - 244*
2. Evel Marque - 226*
3. The Hope Fulls - 209
4. PickedInAHurry - 189
5. Je suis Charlie - 184
6. Ferrari Rocher - 137
7. Jack the Lad - 128
8= Hippy F1 - 124
8= The Pitstop Princess - 124
10. Francesco Bernoulli - 115*

* Home track played

China GP - "Super strong start. Super strong pace"

A funny old race.  Kubica and Verstappen spun on the warm-up lap.  Then back to normal, Kvyat caused a double McLaren collision.  Then Ferrari team orders swung in.  The Mercedes double pit stop was amazing and probably the highlight of the race.  Gasly got the fastest lap but despite lots of overtaking there wasn't that much excitement.  Roll on the next one.

China GP - Results

1= Evel Marque - 178*
1= BottHaas - 178
3. The Hope Fulls - 157
4. Je suis Charlie - 138
5. PickedInAHurry - 137
6. Jack the Lad - 101
7. The Pitstop Princess - 97
8. Hippy F1 - 96
9. Francesco Bernoulli - 89*
10. Ferrari Rocher - 85

* Home track played

Bahrain GP - "That was a hell of a race"

A great start to the weekend with Leclerc on pole; potential for an exciting race.  And boy did it deliver, one of the best races for a long, long time.  I was worried that Ferrari would put team orders in place (and I suspect there were behind the scenes, that never got played out with Vettel's spin).  Even at the end of Lap 1 when Leclerc lost his lead, it still seemed possible for a competitive race and Williams weren't running at the back!  Lap 6 confirmed a lack of team orders with Vettel and Leclerc going head to head and it seems that we do have a genuine fourth contender for the championship.

The old Raikkonen returned with a pithy radio reply to a question about his front wing: "I don't know, you tell me".  Compared to his team mate and looking at his determined overtaking, it seems he isn't just cashing the cheques at Sauber.

The race was full of action and whilst it would be easy to complain that DRS is enabling it all, it does make the event much more interesting.  It also helps when a front runner spins, that mistake on Lap 38 probably cost Vettel the win ultimately.  Can he pick himself up again?  Or are we going to see another season of frustrating errors?

Later in the race came the disappointments.  Russell clipped his wing off on Lap 39.  Then Lap 46: "There is something strange about the engine."  I asked him to take Hamilton out but he couldn't hear me and we were watching the race recorded.  Both Renaults suffered from the same electrics fault about the same time.  I don't think there is anyone who knows anything about F1 who thought that was a good move for Ricciardo.  Finally only 50% of the voters for Driver of the Day voted for Leclerc!  Really!?  Even if you have a strong loyalty to another driver or team, he clearly drove the best weekend.  Looking forward to his maiden victory.

Bahrain GP - Results

1. Evel Marque - 132*
2. BottHaas - 120
3. The Hope Fulls - 97
4. PickedInAHurry - 89
5. Je suis Charlie - 88
6. Hippy F1 - 67
7= Ferrari Rocher - 61
7= The Pitstop Princess - 61
9. Jack the Lad - 59
10. Francesco Bernoulli - 35

*Home track played