Abu Dhabi GP Race Report

The Decider in the Desert.  It's only live once.  Channel 4 stumped up a few million to broadcast the whole race live.  Sky spent the big bucks getting Rosberg, Button, Hill plus Brundle.  All the coverage was on Verstappen and Hamilton, not even much on Horner and Wolff or Red Bull and Mercedes.  It was more like a boxing match than a race.  Norris in third was briefly touched upon.  If the championship had been decided the week before, it would have been all about Raikkonen (and Giovinazzi) leaving Formula 1 and Bottas' and Russell's last race for their current teams.  Raikkonen was wearing a throw-back helmet from his McLaren years.  Giovinazzi was wearing a throw-back helmet from Raikkonen's Ferrari years.  Which speaks volumes about his F1 career.

Bottas gave Hamilton a hug after the anthem.  Norris said he was "going to go for it".  Not sure for what.  Lando, someone has to be third.  Disappearing into nowhere, we found that Mazepin wouldn't be taking part in the race, having tested positive for Covid.

Norris lost "it" at start and several places, running wide.  It was not to be his best race.  Everyone will be hoping that McLaren come back stronger next year.

The start was clean, with Hamilton taking the lead from second.  Then the gloves came off at Turn 9 with Verstappen pushing hard and Hamilton running off.  Initially it looked like Hamilton would have to give the place back.  However, Mercedes believed that Hamilton hadn't gained a lasting advantage.   They had touched briefly and it was unclear whether this would have a lasting impact.  The stewards made a quick decision: no investigation necessary.  Blood boiled around the world.

On to lap 14, Verstappens gambles and pits to put on hard tires, that they've never run before.  It was predicted to be his one and only stop.

Six laps later, Perez did what he could as the team mate with the most to offer.  There was a tremendous battle (all thoughts of Tsunoda or Alonso defence gone) with the lead going back and forth between himself and Hamilton.  When Verstappen caught them up, Perez was called a "legend" and an "absolute animal".  

Raikkonen went rallying with a slide, spin and tapping the wall.  He got it back to the pits but had to turn the engine off on his final race.  The footage from his pit was longest we've been off-track in a  very long time.  Whilst he was retiring, Russell lost power in his Williams and came back to the pits via the run offs and also retired.

The dice was rolled again when Giovinazzi retired his Alfa Romeo at the corner of turn 9 and a Virtual Safety Car was called.  Hamilton did not come in to pit and both Red Bulls did for fresh tires.  They had nothing to lose as they were not in the lead of the drivers or constructors championships.

We got to enjoy a lot of helmet cam - during the race, this time installed in LeClerc's hat, particularly during his battle with Bottas and in the pit exit, which looked very scary, tighter than a 70s concrete car park.

It looked like it was game over for the Red Bull camp.  Horner said, "we will need a miracle in these last 10 laps".  Then came a slow puncture and a pit stop for Norris, caused by the curbs.  His mum and dad, who were at the race, are clearly not a good luck charm for him.  Hamilton was then warned to keep off the curbs, just in case.  Would this be the miracle?  No.

With 5 laps to go, Latifi put his Williams into the barriers and across the track as the consequence of another championship decided by a Schumacher smash.  Just as the safety car was called, Verstappen came in for tires and Hamilton was told to stay out.  There was one long swear over the radio from Hamilton.  He would have lost track position if he came in.  Now the audience waited on tenterhooks to see if there would be any more racing, with Max starting on fresh tires right behind Lewis or would the race (and championship) conclude behind the safety car?

Perez came into the pits for a fourth time, giving Sainz a podium.  No reason given but it sounded pretty urgent.

Then the miracle came, the lapped cars were not going to be allowed to unlap themselves, which played right into Hamilton's hands.  Then Masi made a decision, the cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen would be allowed past and the safety car was to end straight away.  Hamilton backed the pack right up, almost trying to force Verstappen to overtake him, which would result in a penalty for Max.  The Dutchman pushed him all the way to the line and got past.  Yes, it was aggressive.  Yes, it was hard racing.  The last lap was exquisite racing, literally edge-of-the-seat But it was the race of a champion and a champion he is.

Hamilton looked very lonely heading to the podium.  Everyone was Max's pal, they're all more like his age.  Then Vettel and Schumacher came over to give him a hug.  Having had a bit of Angie-time, Lewis approached Max and congratulated him.  Max then praised Perez as such a supportive team mate, which is more than Lewis had this year.  Verstappen made a very eloquent speech after the podium about how you hope for points, podiums, wins but you hope when they play the anthem it's for you.

Mercedes made two protests, both of which were rejected by the stewards.  Masi: "Toto, that's called motor racing."   Michael Masi has become the Alistair Campbell of F1, he shouldn't be the story but he is.  In the end, he did allow the drivers to race.

On to final thoughts...Vettel, Alonso and Raikkonen were the drivers who had made the most overtakes this season.  Experience over car performance.  Alex Albon was seen talking to Geri Horner in front of the podium; does he know about her previous career?  It's a sign of how popular he is amongst F1 fans world wide as Raikkonen was named Driver of the Day, decided by a phone-in.

Predictions for the future?  Many many Angry Toto memes.  Possible court action.  Mass Covid outbreak in the F1 community as a result of a lot of hugging post-race.  There will be a squad of children in a third world country all wearing Hamilton 2021 championship winner T-shirts.

Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Report

 Good news if you're a Kelly Piquet fan, see also Christan Horner or Toto Wolff.  All eyes are pretty much on 4 men this weekend with the occasional nod to Raikkonen, Russell or even, maybe, Giovinnazi.

On to Qualifying and there was bollards on the track.  Bit like the last race.  The Red Flag was put out.  Bit like the last race.  Mercedes were dominant in the first session.  With Tsunoda and Gasly doing very well.  At the bottom end, both Haas, both Williams (Mr Saturday no more) and Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo all predictably out.

The second session was a parade as well.  The only interest was when Verstappen flat-spotted his tire, which was his race tire.  A lot of cars went out at the end of the session, which may have caused an incident of note, but no.  The only surprise was Gasly out in 12th.

The third and final session was also fairly dull.  As Hamilton crossed the line, he was unable to do better than second and the crowd roared.  Bottas and Perez were unable to make the top 3, with Norris in third with an excellent performance.  Red Bull worked hard for that pole, with the perfect slip stream set up from Perez.

With the race and championship leaning in Hamilton's favour, this was the result that we all needed and wanted.  Obviously we were aware that the stewards could find anything overnight to ruin it.

Saudi Arabia GP Race Report

The question mark hanging over the race was whether Verstappen really did need a new gear box.  After his qualifying smash, he might have damaged his but he didn't want to take the 5 place penalty to change it.   Ultimately it was not discussed at all...

In new tech madness, we saw a drone light display in the sky.  It counted down to the race.  Brave new world.  (I'll stick with Shakespeare.)

There were no incidents off the start, everyone clean away.  We had to wait 10 laps for Mick Schumacher to hit the wall and bring out the safety car.  Most cars came in to pit for new tires, including Hamilton and Bottas from 1 and 2.  Verstappen didn't pit so was in the lead (right ahead of them).  Williams made yet another excellent stop for Russell to overtake Stroll.  THEN the red flag came out, which meant that Verstappen could change his tires without taking a pit stop.  Cue Hamilton questioning his team's every decision.  After just 14 of 50 laps, the drivers were already looking very sweaty and tired.  We also enjoyed Michael Masi cam.  It looked like everyone would go to the end of the race on the hard tires with no more pit stops necessary.  The race was truly on.

Returning to the grid for a standing start, Verstappen would be on pole, with Hamilton second and Bottas third.  The Dutchman started with brand new tires and Hamilton's having been worn in behind the safety car.  You could tell the pressure they were under from the radio and the games they were playing.  Hamilton held the pack right back; more than 10 cars?  Verstappen complaining the whole way round.

The second start brought lots of thrills and spills.  Hamilton got the better start, overtaking Verstappen into turn 1.  The red mist was clearly down as he locked up, cut a corner and aggressively retook the lead.  Bottas also made this move, allowing Ocon through though.  Was Max's mistake due to cold tires from Hamilton's game?  Behind them, Perez spun, having been the middle of a sandwich of other cars, with no space to go, he gets squeezed by LeClerc and spins.  Perez  loses his front wing and tries to limp back to the pits but didn't make it.  The drivers behind slowed to avoid, including Russell; Mazepin didn't see this and ran at near full force into the back of him.  A scary shunt which he did climb free of (although we haven't heard from him since???).  We also learnt the Haas team, call him "Maz".  Obviously the red flag came out again.  With all the attention back at the turn of the big smash, Perez was abandoned out on the track.  Hamilton got his scooter out.

With a furious Wolff storming about the paddock, Masi (race director) was on the radio with Red Bull.  It's so good that we are now privy to this.  Masi offered Red Bull second place on the grid instead of their recent incident going to the stewards.  After a minute, Red Bull accepted if Ocon was on pole.  He was second in the race.  Masi declined this as Hamilton would be pole, then Ocon, the Verstappen, so the offer wasn't second, it was third.  He had just forgotten Esteban  existed, like the rest of us.  Finally they accepted.  Having walked through the Williams garage, Hamilton got a nice head massage from Angie.

Helmets back on and back round to the grid for a third standing start.  With the astonishing stat that Ocon has led more race laps than any other driver than Hamilton and Verstappen this season, even Bottas!  Do you think Alonso gave him a wee pep talk in the pause?  Ricciardo had done well out of everything too, sitting in fourth.  Norris, Alonso and Raikkonen were towards the very back of the pack.  This time, Ocon went off and cut the corner, Verstappen took Hamilton and Ocon had to give the place to Verstappen, who went off in the lead.  Lewis and Esteban got away with a wing to tire touch.

Three laps later, the yellow flags were out for Tsunoda as he was tapped by Vettel.  With parts of his car all over the track and his brakes on fire, he set off for the pit lane.  DRS was turned off, much to Verstappen's advantage as Hamilton was getting near 1 second away.  Then a virtual safety car was announced.

Vettel was further damaged by Raikkonen, who also needed a new front wing.  During this, there was a quickie virtual safety car, to enable a brave marshal (not last race's rogue marshal) to run across the track to grab a bit of car.

We got racing again and almost immediately VSC was declared again, for debris to be cleared up.  Alonso got on the radio to ask for a real safety car as the track was covered in shards of carbon fibre.  This one took a while longer.

Back racing and Hamilton got up to 0.7 second behind Verstappen and the Virtual Safety Car came out again for another hazard, neutralising the battle for a minute (were Red Bull employees positioned around the track lobbing bits of car on?).  This was a brief one again and they were very soon wheel to wheel, with a heart-stopping move.  This was noted by the stewards...  

Next thing we know, Red Bull told Verstappen to give Hamilton the place back, he slows slightly to one side but Lewis is unaware and drives straight into the back of him.  This was also noted and then investigated by the stewards.  Wolff was again furious, throwing his headphones to the floor.  Meanwhile Ricciardo and Bottas had a little battle, with Danny Ric staying out in front at first before being defeated.  Hamilton was going round dropping debris, trying to bring out another safety car.  We heard that Verstappen was going to be told to give the place back, again.

He waited for the perfect spot, moved over and then immediately took the lead back.  We were then told Verstappen was to get a 5 second penalty for gaining an advantage cutting a corner.  Very much unnecessary intervention from the stewards, surely there was enough happening on the track to negate the need?  Hamilton did then get past Verstappen on merit.

At one point, it looked like Hamilton and Verstappen would end up on exactly the same points, going into the final race.  Vettel retired with 4 laps to go with too much damage done to his car.  Ocon was 24 seconds behind Verstappen with Bottas behind him, Mercedes needed Bottas closer to prevent Verstappen being able to take another stop.  No wonder Bottas's serviced are being declined for next season.  He did overtake Ocon on the line to come home third, such a shame.  Bottas said that he finally got it in the end, it was like after many laps he remembered what his job was.

Verstappen finished the race still in the lead of the championship, saying "it is what it is".  Late into the night the stewards were still deliberating over it all and everyone went to bed not knowing the full outcome of the race.  As the crowd booed, Max looked close to tears.  He is definitely from the Schumacher School of Driving.  The Dutch voted with telephones, getting him Driver of the Day.  Sainz now has the most points without a win in history.  A day of stats.  

It should be said, the track was amazing, so quick through the walls, with the spectacular banking.  Fifteen drivers made it to the end of the race.  A track that showed who has the skill and who doesn't.  The light display was also incredible.

Saudi Arabia GP Qualifying Report

As coverage went on air for Qualifying, Hamilton was doubly under investigation by the stewards for ignoring waved yellow flags and impeding Mazepin in FP3.  He was immediately let off on the first count as it was an error that the flags were shown for less than a second.   He was given a reprimand for the second.  Mercedes were more heavily penalised because they should have warned him to speed up earlier.

Another key focus of all the coverage of this weekend is whether F1 should be in Saudi Arabia to start off with.  Hamilton has made it very clear that he is "uncomfortable there", Vettel too.  Coverage of Sir Frank Williams' passing should have been slightly higher profile, I feel.

The first session was anyone's with Perez taking first position and Bottas' stopping in the pit lane with a broken engine (despite being through).  Latifi in the Williams, both Aston Martins and both Haas out of the game.

It's such a speedy circuit, heart in your mouth as the drivers carreer around with almost no run-off.  As we drive around with Verstappen on his final flying lap, I almost felt like this could be his weekend for a major, major accident.  Then he crashed, just a bump but deadly for the car.  Now we all had to wait to see whether the car would be damaged a la LeClerc, Monaco 2019 (?).  So he handed Hamilton pole and Bottas second, securing himself third.  Ferrari were looking stronger, with LeClerc in fourth (Sainz in 15th after being held up by Gasly).  A good showing from Norris ahead of Ricciardo in 11th, Ocon in 9th ahead of Alonso in 13th and Giovinazzi  in 10th ahead of Raikkonen in 12th.

Qatar GP Race Report

It was an absolutely shambolic start to the race with last minute penalties being handed out.  All grid place.  With very hard-to-see waved yellow flags here and there, Verstappen, Bottas and Sainz went before the stewards with Verstappen being given a five place demotion, Bottas three places and Sainz nothing.  Horner blamed a rogue marshal.  That Paw Patrol can't be trusted.

This all led to a higgledy-piggledy grid, with four top placed drivers starting on softs which would give them a starting advantage over Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen.  Gasly second, Alonso third and Norris fourth.  The grid was also shambolic, plenty of slebs, with the new Brundle Mandate that they must give interviews.  They didn't.

Alonso made a champion's start and it looked good.

On the first couple of laps, I realised Aston Martin really need to consider their paintwork next year as they look exactly like Mercedes at night races.  Or Mercedes could go silver again.  What if McLaren give up the papaya though...  Then I realised that it was Bottas' Mercedes I was looking at back in 10th place.

By Lap 4, Verstappen had made third place from seventh.  Really, you just had to consider the real race, the race for third place.  By contrast, it was a poor opener for Bottas, in eleventh and out of the points, Wolff had to call him and tell him to "take these cars".  By half way through both him and Perez had recovered themselves and made it to the sharp end of the action.

Then Bottas got a puncture.  He was a good boy and went into the gravel trap and then brought a lot of gravel back onto track to spice things up a bit.  The points haul for Mercedes disappeared.  He did manage to get back to the pit for both tires and a new nose and came out in 14th having lost all he'd made up.

With Perez moving up through the pack, Alpine called Ocon to hold off Perez.  Just as his team mate did for him to get his maiden win.  I think he lasted a couple of seconds.  If Alonso got on the podium, it would be all his own work.

With seven laps to go, everything heated up again.  Norris came in for new tires as he suspected a puncture.  He reported "a strange feeling" and his engineer replied that was just puberty. So the driver who started fourth became eleventh.  David Beckham gave the McLaren pit stop a "wow".   Gasly did two stops and ended up tenth, having started second.  Bottas retired.  Russell had to come in after losing his front wing and tires over the big curbs, was it worth the cost of a new front wing for the number of laps left.  Just as he came out, his team mate also had a hard tire failure.  Latifi radioed in to say that it gave no warning.  I held my breath whether Alonso, a one stopper, could hold onto his third place and stand on the podium, with three laps to go he was 9 seconds ahead of Perez.  Vestappen was holding fastest lap, for a point, and Bottas could no longer steal it from him.  

With two laps to go, a Virtual Safety Car was brought out to clear Latifi's car off the track.  This greatly helped Verstappen to hold onto fastest lap.  He also pitted for new tires.  Alonso didn't have to risk riding the curbs with his old, old tires.  The pressure on Ocon in fifth from Stroll and Sainz was eased.

Lots of positive messages to Hamilton on his winning in lap.  Toto telling him: "Let's go to Saudi Arabia".  Yes.  Most of the track will be doing that.  For Alonso it was: "Ole, ole ole ole."  Vestappen and Alonso clearly enjoyed racing in Qatar, perhaps they lose less sleep over human rights issues than Hamilton.

For a moment it seemed dubious whether the aged Alonso would remember the podium procedure.  Cue Brundle and Crofty discussing geriatric podiums of the past.  What could have been a very dull race was actually quite a hot one, the punctures and diverse tire strategy helping greatly.  Two races go and it's all to play for.  Apart from Ricciardo, who is now just playing for laughs.

Qatar GP Qualifying Report

As we head to the Middle East, all the talk is of Sportswashing.  Should we be visiting these countries?  Should we be viewing sports being held in these countries?  Should I be writing about sports taking place in these countries?

Still, the circus rocked up and put on a show.  It didn't take long in Qualifying for Mazepin to lose his front wing.  Despite this being a brand new circuit for every driver, there were no surprises in Q1.  Both Alfa Romeos out, both Haas and Latifi in his Williams.  So that was a pointless 15 minutes.

The Alpha Tauris and Alpines shook things up in Q2, running the soft tires and looking like they would easily get through to Q3.  LeClerc felt he couldn't find any more time in the lap, sitting in last place with Norris, Perez and Ricciardo also with him.   Ultimately, when the flag fell, Gasly finished second to Hamilton, Ocon was sixth, Tsunoda seventh and Alonso third!  Meaning Stroll, LeClerc, Ricciardo and Russell were out with, shock of the session, Perez in 11th place.

Hamilton looked set to take pole position and was secured in that with Gasly getting a puncture and bringing out the yellow flag, obliging drivers to go slower (he still got 4th though).  The puncture was caused by his front wing coming off on a curb, something to watch out for in the race.  Vestappen split the Mercedes.  I predict that they will end in that order too.  Possibly with Bottas falling back.

Going into the race, everyone with an even number was going to have a poor start with a very dirty side of the track.  Ricciardo suggested that he complain to the stewards about someone and have them penalised, so everyone move one place up the grid.

If you don't want to discuss sportswashing or dirty tracks or racing, the other main topic of conversation is rear wings and gaps and front loads.  Perhaps someone will fail scrutineering over night?

Brazil GP Race Report

A full crowd in Brazil as the world gets back to normal.  The lights went out very speedily, which caught out some of the drivers.  Norris immediately went into a space that wasn't there and had a big off, giving himself a puncture from a Ferrari.  The corners kept catching the drivers out, including the leader of the start, Bottas.  Having already let Verstappen past, this let Perez past too.  In one lap, Hamilton went from 10th to 6th.  Even Sainz was an easy pass for him on lap 3.  It wasn't long before he was past LeClerc and then Bottas let him through to third position.  Whilst this was happening Stroll crashed full on to Tsunoda, who had to pit for lots of new bits.

With a Safety Car out to clear up all of the Alpha Tauri's old, smashed bits, Hamilton cheered Bottas on by telling him over the radio to stick with him.  Although, I don't think he could hear him.

At the restart, Verstappen bunched the pack up dangerously close.  He had Perez as a buffer between himself and the Mercedes.  Suddenly Schumacher's front wing was under his car after tangling with Raikkonen.  Somehow he was able to keep going but there was a Virtual Safety Car.

Lap 17, Hamilton was on the tail of Perez, took him and immediately lost him to a DRS pass.  Both drivers were thinking quickly and cleverly.  Lap 19 saw Hamilton take him on a different corner and made it stick.  With Hamilton in second and heading after Verstappen, it was up to Bottas to now take Perez, although his engine was not as new and shiny.

A third into the race, the pitstop window opened.  Hamilton went aggressively for the undercut with Red Bull responding immediately.  It didn't get him past Verstappen but it did close the gap.  Perez then went for the undercut on Bottas, who didn't respond.

Before you could take a breath, out of nowhere shards of carbon fibre flew off Stroll's Aston Martin following it's earlier contact with Tsunoda.  A Virtual Safety Car was ordered and Bottas took his stop, earning him 3rd position.

Then the second pit stop window opened after no time at all.  I could see we were barely half way through the race with a long time to go but all the action seemed to have happened.  Hamilton was asked over the radio about which tires he would like.  Red Bull panicked about the undercut and brought Verstappen in.  Bottas was brought in to cover that.  Verstappen was now behind Hamilton and Perez, Bottas behind LeClerc.  The undercut worked.

Two thirds through the race and the battle was finally underway.  Hamilton had caught Verstappen on the track with no more pitstops to go.  As Lewis went for the overtake they both went wide and through a run off area.  Did Max push him off the road?  We waited to see if he would get a penalty.  After being "noted" by the stewards, "no further investigation necessary."  #LetThemRace

The crowd went wild as Hamilton finally made it, finishing the race 10 seconds ahead with Perez taking new tires to steal Fastest Lap.  He was clearly overjoyed, stopping to collect a Brazilian flag.  Red Bull put it down to "damage limitations".

Brazil GP Qualifying and Sprint Report

So it seems that when you lack any kind of personality outside of your job you grow a moustache...Verstappen, Ricciardo...

It was a poor first qualifying session for Williams with both drivers out alongside Stroll and the Haas.  With Latifi outqualifying his team mate (who is shortly heading for the Mercedes seat).  Then there were no shocks in Q2 with the remaining Aston Martin out, Ocon, Tsunoda and both Alfa Romeos.

Thank heaven it is a sprint weekend as the final Qualifying session was equally as dull.  Hamilton easily came in first with his championship rival, Verstappen behind him.  Followed by the other Mercedes and then the other Red Bull.  Gasly got 5th again, he is showing strong as best of the rest.  Two Ferraris, then two McLarens and then Alonso.  Very predictable.

Into the Sprint and there were two shock announcements.  Verstappen had been seen poking at the Mercedes rear wing in Parc Ferme and was handed €50,000 fine.  Which Red Bull will pay anyway because he now gets a bonus for being on pole because...Mercedes rear wing was a little to big and a ball on a stick went through it.  So he was disqualified from Qualifying and starts the Sprint at the back of the grid.

Bottas got the better start over Verstappen with the softer tires.  Sainz also got up to second quickly, tripping the Dutchman into going wide and over the curbs.  Raikkonen had a lovely big spin too, being tipped by his team mate and giving Alonso, who had a front row seat a leg up.

Hamilton carved his way through the pack, at half way through he was half way through, ending up in 5th place.  Sainz qualified his Ferrari in 3rd, which is good for them and with LeClerc in in 7th, they are dominant over McLaren again (6th and 11th).

To finish the day Felipe Massa gave the top three a laurel wreath.  Sainz promptly gave his way and no one dallied on the "podium".

Mexico GP Race Report

Yet another first lap full of action, bringing out the safety car.   Ricciardo made contact with pole-sitter Bottas, Tsunoda went out, as did Mick Schumacher.  Ricciardo and Bottas had to go to the pits.  Vestappen was the winner, going into this pause in the lead.  Bottas, losing out going from the front to the back, had a scary moment as he sat facing the oncoming traffic.  Ocon also had a hairy time with an Alpha Tauri and Haas simultaneously going over top of him.

During the first stint, there was lots of overtaking through the field.  Particularly past the Williams who did not have a good package this weekend.

Having not pitted, Perez led his home track race briefly.  The crowd was quite excited.  There was further bad luck for Bottas with a 12 second pitstop.  Mercedes will be hoping that Russell generally has a better time of things.

With a confident lead, Verstappen did what he always does and started to hunt for potential problems, radioing in to inquire about tires and vibrations and other little niggles.

At the tail end of the race, certain drivers were frantically chasing others.  Perez was hot on the heels of Hamilton, who was beginning to sound very nervous on the radio.  LeClerc was told to move over and give Sainz a go at getting past Gasly, who had a very quiet yet successful race in 4th.  At the bottom of the points was a trio of champions, Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso.  In a move that some might consider petty, Mercedes pulled Bottas into the pits for fresh tires to attempt a fastest lap.  In P14, he wouldn't get to keep the point but Verstappen wouldn't either and in the end, he didn't even manage it.  So the team  brought him in again for new tires, kept him in longer to position him better relative to others.  Sainz also didn't manage to get past Gasly so gave the place back to LeClerc.   Everyone was still confident that Perez would still be able to get past Hamilton on the final lap.  He couldn't manage it.  Bottas did scrape Fastest Lap in the end.

As the flag was waved by an "internaional DJ", the Williams pair were plum last.  Verstappen parked his car on the tongue of some Mexican Heineken dragon.  Perez' dad was allowed out to the stadium section were the podium was held and went bananas running around with the Mexican flag.

Mexico GP Qualifying Report

There were only two talking points going into the weekend: would Perez be asked to move over to let Verstappen through at his home race and which engine will the altitude effect the most?  It seemed that the Honda would be slightly superior.  And would Perez be ahead of Verstappen at any point anyway?

Stroll, who was destined for tor the back of the grid anyway, brought out the red flag half way through the first Qualifying session.  Times have changed for the broadcasters, who didn't show a replay of the accident until Stroll was out of the car and clearly well.

For some reason Kimi Raikkonen nearly went into the pit lane and then came back out again when the flag came out was investigated.  As the drivers went out again, Sainz lost power to his engine.  This looked good for the Williams drivers getting a clean sheet through to Q2 but the engine came back to life.

The stewards were going to be busy after the session as they decided to investigated both Williams drivers on the pit lane entry as well.

So out went Latifi, double world champion Alonso, Schumacher and Mazepin with Stroll.

At the end of the second qualifying session, Giovinnazi spun himself out of contention, Ocon joined his team mate for an early bath, Raikkonen qualified well, Russell too and Vettel participated.

In the final session, the first set of runs saw Bottas put in a stellar lap to finish quickest followed by his team mate.  Norris took a dusty detour and gave the advantage to Ricciardo and Gasly was best of the rest behind the Red Bulls and Mercedes.  In the end, Tsunoda left the track, distracted Perez and brought out a Yellow Flag to compromise Verstappen's lap.  So, despite all the misgivings about the engine, the Mercedes locked out the front row.  With Bottas stamping his mark on the race by qualifying on pole, we all know he will have to give up that place (Hamilton was "very proud" of him).  Both Red Bulls on the second row.  Then Ricciardo outqualified Norris and seems to have finally found his mojo at McLaren.  Gasly's performance continues to dominate over Tsunoda.  Sainz also seems to have found his place at Ferrari and outqualified LeClerc.

Tsunoda, Stroll, Ocon and Norris are all headed to the back of the grid for taking an engine change penalty and Russell is moving 5 places back for a gear box change.  Really we could do away with qualifying and just ask the teams what they want to change on the cars.

US GP Race Report

It was all drama on the grid and I'm not referring to Martin Brundle being blanked by every celebrity, lavishly paid to attend, on the grid, his first grid walk with interviews allowed since the last race of 2018.  Gasly had serious engine issues with all the mechanics working hard with minutes to go.  They got it going, however the bumps broke his suspension not long after.

The first lap was thrilling.  Hamilton (and nearly Perez) took Verstappen at the start.  The track is so wide Sainz, Norris and Ricciardo had a huge battle, with Ricciardo finally coming out on top in 5th.  Three abreast battles are rare.  Unseen by us, Russell made up 6 places just on that lap including overtaking Vettel and Alonso.

It was predicted to be a two stop race.  Early doors, Alonso went for the undercut on Vettel (for 14th) and Verstappen went too.  When Hamilton did pit on Lap 14, he was quite far behind his rival.  The Red Bull strategists played a blinder this weekend.

Alonso and Raikkonen had an epic wheel to wheel battle, with parts flying off of the Alfa Romeo as he went over the curbs, pushed by the Spaniard.  It was noted by the stewards.  Nothing came of it.  Which was the right call.

A sudden Virtual Safety Car call came mid-race and we all waited to see what had happened...a marshal picked up some litter.  The drivers clearly weren't listening to Vettel asking the crowd not to leave litter on the Driver's Truck Lap pre-race.

LeClerc had a very quiet race and finished 4th, an excellent job.  Another fantastic performance was put in by Kimi Raikknan, who nearly finished 10th but had a big spin 3 laps from the end - a senior moment if you will.

When I was young, I bought the commentators notion that the second place driver could possibly overtake for the win.  Now I'm older, I know that, unless there's a serious cock-up, it won't happen.  Vestappen took the win, which gives me a successful race prediction at last.  I also thought that Perez and Ricciardo would do well, 3rd and 5th.

There were fireworks at the end, but we're used to that sort of thing.  Where were the showy extras?  No drivers introduced through music...nothing.  Then Shaquille O'Neill brought the trophy along in a car with horns (not the beep beep sort, the on-a-ranch sort).

As a final note, COTA is a sanitary product surely.

US GP - Qualifying Report

Unusually, this was watched live.  Unfortunately that means you can't fast forward through ad breaks, Zak Brown getting a tattoo, Paul di Resta...

There were no unusual losses in the first Qualifying session, with Stroll, Latifi, Raikkonen, Schumacher and Mazepin.  Maybe Giovinnazi knocking Stroll out, despite a spin.

Again, after Q2, no surprises: Ocon, Vettel, Giovinnazi, Alonso and Russell (with the one timed lap set deleted for going over track limits) out.  Staying up late to watch was looking like a big mistake.

And it was, Vestappen took the pole position, with Hamilton in second.  Perez (who held pole after the first round of laps) was third and Bottas fourth.  We were told to watch out for LeClerc whose Ferrari is much improved.  He came fifth and couldn't challenge the top 4.

Turkey GP Race Report

I saw Button on Instagram before the race commenting that it was spitting heavily and looked like good conditions for a great race.  By the time the Sky coverage had started it was properly raining and intermediate tire weather.  It was exactly the right kind of rain for a fun race, enough for the talent to show but not hours of red flag coverage.

It was a clean start with no losers apart from Alonso, who was tapped by Gasly and spun out, returning to the track in 18th from 5th.  At the back of the pack, Alonso then tagged Schumacher.  Both were duly served 5 second penalties and all my race predictions of one of the two getting a podium went out of the window.

Hamilton was starting from 11th after an engine replacement penalty.  He took Vettel quickly off the line.  Tsunoda held him up for quite a few laps, once taken, he was able to get past Stroll and then Norris, which made the Japanese driver look very good for a change.

Hamilton then slowly chased down his championship rival's team mate, Perez.  Finally, he was close enough to over take and over five corners they were side by side until Perez triumphed.  With Hamilton wishing that his wingman, Bottas, was more like this one.

Then the pit stop window came.  Ricciardo had previously become the track's guinea pig and tried a new set of intermediates early and failed but now the time had come to get a fresh set.  Vettel thought he'd try a set of medium, slick, dry weather tires and it took him less than a lap to decide that was a poor mistake, even sliding as he came into the pitlane.  The Red Bulls (in their fine one-off white Honda tribute livery) both pitted and Bottas from the lead too.  LeClerc led, with Fastest Lap under his belt.  He slid.  Would he change his tires or keep going to the end?  He questioned his team and they gave him permission.  Was this Hamilton's plan too?  There was a glimmer of hope for something a bit different from the Verstappen/Hamilton podium tussle.  Mercedes made the call for Hamilton to come in for new tires but Hamilton questioned them and stayed out.  Ultimately LeClerc couldn't make it stick and he came in for new tires after being overtaken for the lead by Bottas.  And Hamilton stayed out.  With 7 laps to go, he pitted and came out in 5th place.   Cue some old-skool whinging about tires and strategy decisions.  His press pen interview was surprisingly chipper.

Crofty got excited because he'd spotted a dark, rain cloud in the distance.  Many spectators would be happy with a Bottas, Verstappen, LeClerc podium.  Perez took LeClerc.

Bottas took his 10th (and final?) win in Formula 1 along with Fastest Lap.  Only 10th?  That's why he's going to Alfa Romeo,.

The moral of the story...a wet race only produced good racing when it is changeable.  When the drizzle is constant for the full two hours, it's just round and round as usual.  A dull race with Verstappen that they key to getting a podium was "staying awake".  Sainz was awarded Driver of the Day by the public.  Not sure why?  He started at the back and finished...not sure where.

Turkey GP Qualifying Report

Rain was predicted for the session but it was dry at the start, within two minutes, drivers were spinning because it was spitting.  They all got used to the conditions and fired in the laps before it stopped raining five minutes before the end of Q1.  Suddenly the lap times started to tumble, with Ricciardo and Latifi losing out, accompanying Giovinnazi, Raikkonen and Mazepin to the press pen early.  Mick Schumacher was through to Q2 for the first time.

Hot off the success of helmet cam, which the teams did not like as it gave away data and other information, we now have nose cam.  This has graphics which show what speed etc. the car is travelling at too.  It's good but it's not helmet cam.  What next?  Foot cam?  Rear view cam?  A sensor that detects tears?  A small unit that gives the driver an electric shock if they swear on team radio?

Verstappen must have eaten something dodgy before the second session as Crofty was heard to comment: "Out in the front, Verstappen is turning green then purple".

Sainz, Schumacher, Vettel, Russell and Ocon were all out after Q2, with Russell losing his Q3 pass in the last slow corner, that seemed to catch a lot of the drivers out.

Despite scoring the fastest lap in Q3, he will move back 10 places for a engine replacement penalty.  His team mate Bottas will move up from 2nd to 1st and his rival Verstappen will move from 3rd to 2nd.  LeClerc scored a respectable 4th (3rd on the day) in his Ferrari, Gasly doing well behind him  and then Alonso.  Norris and Stroll both comfortably out-qualified their older, illustrious team mates.

Button had predicted a yellow flag very early during the afternoon, however, despite all the spins, none came.  No red flag through rain.  Not so much as a bump into the barriers.

Did you know...?

 You can follow the Pitstop Princess on Instagram and Twitter @PitstopPrincess

Russia GP Qualifying and Race Report

Two Free Practices had been cancelled at this holiday destination circuit before Qualifying.  Luckily it dried up just in time, although cars used the wet weather intermediate tire for most of the three Qualifying sessions.  There had been a few crashes during practice sessions, then Giovinazzi spun during the first session.  The messages over the radio showed that teams had no idea whether there would be more rain or not.  Vestappen only briefly went out as he was already due to start at the back of the grid, taking a new engine.  This would develop into a theme.

In the second Qualifying session, Latifi and LeClerc also didn't go out and set a time as they had decided to take new engines.  We all learnt a rule, that the first driver to take an engine change starts at the very back and those who declare later will start in the reverse order of declaration.  So LeClerc was next and will start one place in front of Verstappen.  Williams were waiting to see what Ferrari did, then decided to take an engine change penalty, so Latifi starts in front of LeClerc.  In between them, Giovinazzi took a gearbox penalty.  Finally, and well after Qualifying, Bottas took an engine change, for "strategic purposes", meaning he starts five places ahead of Verstappen.  Is the strategy for Bottas to hold up Verstappen at the back of the pack?  At the end of the session, the other two drivers out were the Alpha Tauri drivers, who made poor strategic decisions about when to take their laps, with Russell and Alonso through to Q3.

At this point, the track was drying out and it was looking like there might be a dry line soon.  Russell was the first driver to decide to go on to slick, dry tires.  This initially looked like a poor idea as he nearly spun exiting the pit lane.  However, he was able to get a feel for these tires and built up to a quick lap.  Other drivers made the change, with Sainz and Norris able to get in better laps but it led to the Williams starting third.  A fantastic result for the backmarkers.  The young guns were certainly showing the old hands how to tackle the changing conditions, as Hamilton first collided with the pit lane wall, resulting in him holding up Bottas in the pit lane, then he spun on his first lap on slicks and his final lap of the session.

Everyone learnt something in Russia. Hamilton didn't know there were skiing places in Sochi.

On to race day, during the Sky build up with DHL, Aston Martin and Bond, Crofty arrived driving the truck.  We're that desperate for HGV drivers.

Rain was predicted 5-10 minutes into the race, with teams thinking that different amounts of rain were going to fall.  So this could have been another Spa...

A thrilling first lap kicked off proceedings, where the lead could have gone to anyone.  Sainz took it from Norris, with Russell maintaining third.  Stroll got up to 4th, which meant that most people thought that Hamilton was in 4th as their liveries are too similar.  Ricciardo and Alonso battled for position, with Alonso knowing all the shortcuts around the circuit.  Hamilton had fallen back to 7th behind them.  Chaos at the back of the grid saw LeClerc, Bottas and Latifi all hold their position relative to Verstappen with local boy Mazepin holdng his place but all of them got past Schumacher, Giovinazzi and Tsunoda.  Crazy.  And no replay, so I have no idea how that happened.

It took 6 laps for Verstappen to get past Bottas.  Then another 6 laps before the conversation became solely about tires.  Stroll took the undercut first.  The clouds showed no sign of dropping any rain.  Despite some whinging about tires, Norris was able to get past Sainz to take the lead again.  Russell was first to respond to Stroll and lost his third place to him.

On Lap 23, McLaren fell for Mercedes' bluff and then cocked up the pit stop.  The race continued and despite some good overtaking manoeuvres, there isn't too much to say about the middle of the race.

With the grid split on strategy quite drastically, it was hard to predict who was going to stand on the podium.  Add in many slow stops and there were several contenders.  The top step seemed to be between Norris and Hamilton.  As the race drew to a close, engineers were on the radio warning of light rain soon.  Crofty and Di Resta were gleefully pointing out grey clouds.  With 8 laps to go, the spectators put up their umbrellas and got out their rain coats.  Norris ran wide on the wet track and Hamilton pounded, sensing his time was now.  Norris held the place, then ran wide again.  Stroll was first to pit for wet tires, leading several followers.  As some drivers were not using wet tires, DRS was disabled, giving those in close battle a breather.  Stroll pushed his team mate Vettel into the wall.

Breath was held as Norris hung out without going onto wet tires.  Stroll and Gasley spun into each other.  Norris wobbled.  He wobbled some more.  The spray plumed higher and higher, with light rain becoming Scottish rain, and finally, with a grim inevitability, Norris spun off and Hamilton took the lead.  Lando called for full wet and to pit and the team finally agreed with him: "I can't go this anymore".  LeClerc also threw away his race because he didn't go to wets and stopped on the track as he was unable to drive the car any longer.  We then had to wait and find out whether Norris would also get a penalty for crossing back over the pit lane entry line.  With all this, Verstappen had made it from the back of the grid to second.  Raikkonen scored points for Alpha Romeo.  Norris did get Fastest Lap and Driver of the Day.  Russell was unable to convert his top 3 start to a podium position but did pick one point for 10th.  Despite everything that happened to him during the race, Sainz somehow managed to go from second to third, getting a much needed podium.

Norris definitely looked like he'd shed a tear before he turned up to the press pen, declaring it "heartbreak".   The race win was ultimately decided on a weather forecast interpretation.  Cruel.

I can tell you that most of this post is about the first 5 laps and the last 5 laps.  Channel 4 will find editing the highlights an easy task.

Italy GP Race Report

With Hamilton writing off his chances of besting Verstappen before the race, the worry was that this could be a dull race, with Verstappen taking the lead and maintaining it.  My predictions were Verstappen for the win, with Hamilton and Norris on the podium.  I thought that Norris would be the surprise winner.  Little did I know...

Before the race began, Gasly came back to the pits, then his team mate Tsunoda.  Tsunoda stayed in and never started.  Gasly started and then came back in to retire.  Sad times for Minardi at the their home track.

The start was thrilling, Hamilton went up to 3rd (but did he take a short cut?) and then back to 4th, Ricciardo went up to 1st with a storming start and Giovannizzi spun but kept going without his front wing.

Verstappen found it very hard to get close to Ricciardo, with the 1 second-ish gap getting a tiny bit more and less each time trap.  Hamilton couldn't get close enough to Norris either.  Overtaking is possible as Bottas showed coming up through the field and Latifi overtook Ocon - for a point!   (Lost in the end.)  Talking of Bottas, he was undertaking his new job induction at the back of the field after his grid penalty for taking a new engine.

Finally, the pit stops came.  Red Bull played the dummy and Ricciardo came in to pit from the lead.  The Aussie had to put in a stellar out lap as his former nemesis, Verstappen did not have the tires to fight back.  He pitted the next lap and it was an 11.1 second shocker.  Whilst all this was happening, Hamilton snuck by Norris.  A few laps later and Hamilton pitted to change his hard tires, much earlier than expected.  What was the point of taking the deficit at the start if you had no intention of running long?  Ricciardo kept his lead with Hamilton rejoining the track close to Verstappen and then it got too close, with the pair taking each other out.  Verstappen's tire grazed Hamilton's helmet and the Dutchman did briefly look into the Mercedes cockpit to check his adversary was alright.  This continues the curse of the sprint, as the old proverb says "first you sprint, never shall you call it a race, for then you shall shunt".  The Tfosi went wild.  This brought out the safety car which gave the Ferraris and Bottas a free pit stop and both Williams were in points finishing places. At this point, Verstappen  held the fastest lap...more later.  Verstappen did get points, unlike Hamilton at this meet because of the sprint.  So it has effected the championship.

At the restart, Ricciardo handled it well and kept his lead, LeClerc immediately lost second place to Norris then falling into Bottas' clutches.  The battle continued, which kept the McLarens safe at the front.  The advice to Ricciardo from his engineer was: "We think the best thing is to be as quick as we can until the end of the race."

With 12 laps to go team orders were issued in McLaren to hold position.  Perez and Bottas continued to battle, trading third and the final podium spot.  Mazepin then scored a 5 second penalty for...something..then his engine conked out and he pulled off to the side of the road.  This brought out another safety car.  Ultimately Bottas couldn't get past Perez but did got third place due to 5 second penalty for the Red Bull driver for gaining an advantage.  It was smiled all round when the McLarens crossed the line in first and second.  

Just to confirm that Driver of the Day, Ricciardo, could have got the win without team orders keeping Norris behind him, he also scored Fastest Lap.  "For anyone who thought I'd left, I never left.  I just moved to the side for a while." - Ricciardo

He didn't disappoint the broadcasters, finishing the podium celebrations with his trademark shoey.  What Formula 1 really needs and what the new 2022 rules aim to bring about is more teams in contention for winning races and this race brought a new contender into the fore.  A joyful day for McLaren and a much-needed day for F1 fans.

Italy GP Qualifying and Sprint Report

Qualifying was fairly interesting this race.  Both Williams were out in the first session...or were they?  This is a track where the stewards watch track limits carefully.  Russell was happy with P16 as he felt they had a good car for the race, however Tsunoda had his time deleted so suddenly Russell was able to claim P15.

The slow laps came in to try and be the last driver across the line as the session came to a close.  Not quite the disaster of previous meets here though.  The world champions Vettel and Alonso both came in ahead of their team mates, two by two.  Perez could only manage 10th, with Verstappen in 4th.  Does a track that favours the Mercedes help keep the championship in the balance?

It seems a shame that this is only qualifying for the sprint.  With Bottas on pole (although with a grid penalty to come), McLaren showing strong and Gasly starting well in his Italian car, it could be a good race.  The Tfosi will be hoping that Ferrari will do well in the sprint.

However, Saturday dawned and Sainz crashed in the morning and LeClerc fell ill.  The Ferrari resurgence would have to wait.  On to the sprint...

The first corner was all action...the McLarens made an awesome start, up to 3 and 4, Gasly maintained his position but clipped his wing on one of the McLarens, it ended up under his tires and sent him off the track spectacularly.  Hamilton got bogged down off the start and lost four places.  Tsunoda and Kubica (standing in for Co-viddy Kimi) came together, with Tsunoda coming in to the pits to get a new front wing for his Alpha Tauri.  Kubica, wise old man that he is, managed to get out of the gravel trap and back into the race.  Other bad starts came from George Russell, who went to the back of the grid.

Giovinnazi did an excellent job of keeping Perez in his Red Bull behind him, as one of the few drivers unsigned for next year, it's a good advertisement.

Nobody ended up at the back of the grid (other than Gasly) who wouldn't have been there otherwise.  The McLarens did very well out of the sprint format, finishing 3rd and 4th, choosing the soft tires to their advantage.   Ricciardo finished in front of his team mate, which was much needed and will hopefully give him the confidence boost he needs to push.  Bottas (the squirrel killer) triumphed to keep his first place and get some points.  The biggest loser was Hamilton.

And let's mentioned the gangsta rapper over-sized medals.  And the interviews on the back of a truck.

Netherlands GP Race Report

The Dutch Grand Prix had the makings of an amazing race: the two championship contenders lined up next to each other on the grid, the banking looks amazing, the roar of the crowd, three abreast for the first lap.  From then on it was downhill (notably Vettel spinning up and then down the banking).

By Lap 5 Hamilton was whinging about his tires.  He came in very early for a second stop, it felt like he'd only just done his first, coming out in traffic.  It was potentially a poor strategy decision from Mercedes.  Would Red Bull bring Verstappen in straight away or let him stay out longer until the window was better for re-entry?  They brought him in sooner, which worked out to be slightly better but all the same the most exciting factor of the race was the tire choice and when to change them.  Hamilton quickly decided it was a poor strategy decision and used the radio to let the world know, repeatedly.

Now on to team orders.  Towards the start of the race, Ocon was denied his request for Alonso to move over, largely because Alonso showed his true speed when it was mentioned.  Norris was given the pass past Ricciardo.  I'm looking forward to hearing the post-race interviews on that.

We also saw mechanical retirements for the first time in a while, Mazepin and Tsunoda did the raised reverse glide into the pit.

Different strategies were employed by every team.  Mercedes went with a bizarre choice at the end to pit Bottas but ask him not to take the Fastest Lap point away from team mate Hamilton.  Did he listen?  No.  Does this make it clear he's not staying at the team next year?  Yes.  Lewis got it back in the end, don't worry.

Some drivers had a very quiet race, we didn't see Kubica in his borrow Alfa Romeo once, or Giovannizi going backwards in his.

From a sea of orange, we move on to a sea of red next week at Monza.  This triple-header is feeling like a lot of hard work.  From the disappointment of Spa to this...what will Italy bring?  A sprint race at least.

Netherlands GP Qualifying Report

The drivers arrived, took to the track and raved about it.  Instagram was full of people illustrating how steep the banking is by rolling things (or themselves) down it.

Raikkonen announced his retirement this week and knowing that he was going to face a barrage of press this weekend, "tested positive for Co-vid".  Polish "superstar" Kubica took his seat and was able to qualify ahead of the Haas, which is good for someone who has been out of F1 for such a long time.

The shock loser of Q1 was Perez, clearly the Curse of the Recently Signed.

The red flag came out immediately as George Russell took his Williams into the gravel.  If anything a little premature as he was able to keep the car going and get back to the pits.  Despite bumping the back of the vehicle into the barrier....he starts 11th.

The session started again...and Latifi put the other Williams into the barrier.  So both Williams out in Q2 with Norris, Stroll and Tsunoda.  Whilst Russell got away with his crash, Latifi hit with much more force.

At the end of the final qualifying session, Verstappen had pole position at his home grand prix, however he is joined on the front row by his championship competitor, Hamilton.  Ocon and Giovannzi also secured great grid places, in front of Alonso and Ricciardo, the latter could not do better than 10th.  Most interesting was Gasly in P4 ahead of both Ferraris.

There's huge potential for a great race tomorrow.  My predictions are: Hamilton for the win.  Gasly (again) for the surprise win.  Two red flags.   Williams mechanics fall asleep mid-race in the garage and fail to get the tires ready in time for a pit stop.

Belgium GP Race Report

Early morning posts on Instagram showed that it was still raining in Spa....so you know you're in for a thrilling race.  Forty minutes before the race, the cars took to the grid.  They all took the chance to do a couple of laps to gauge the conditions, just as I was commenting that, with the rain coming down, it was unlikely all drivers would make it round safe to the grid, Perez went over the wet paint and grass, into the wall and out of the race (just as Red Bull signed him for a second season).  Jos Capito, Team Principal of Williams, commented before the race that you could be out in the first corner or you could be on the podium.  After the formation lap, Verstappen radioed in that it was fine to race.  Further back the grid however, the drivers were complaining.  We even heard from Giovanizzi (I assume he was the only driver not to swear on the radio).  So the race was red flagged and the cars lined up in the pit lane.  Hamilton had water leaking in the top of his helmet.  I'm surprised that they're not waterproof.

And so it went on, we waited and waited.  Red Bell made a compelling case for getting Perez's car fixed and back in the race.  What did the drivers do during the break?  Alonso had a coffee, Sainz was on his phone, Norris played ball, Ricciardo clowned around, some drivers chatted to their dads.  The broadcasters were really pushing for a postponement until tomorrow, it was never going to happen but when you're desperate, you're desperate.   Mercedes pit wall personnel asked race control if they could leave their bar stools for a coffee and were given permission.  After three hours the safety car led the cars out of the pit lane.  Just to help with visibility, the Dutch fans let off their orange flares.

Spa isn't usually too dull a race but this took the biscuit.

So who were the winners and losers from this bizarre two lap, no over-taking allowed race?

Winners

Russell - got second place and half points for that position

Perez - got a "get out of jail free" card and was able to rejoin the race, after his car was fixed during the lengthy pause

Mazepin - got fastest lap, however no point (or half point) as he wasn't inside the top 10

Losers

Bottas - started 13th, finished 13th

Alonso - started 15th, finished 15th

Raikkonen - had been penalized with a pit lane start for changing his wing to one of different specification (although this meant he didn't have to sit in the rain on the grid for 25 minutes)

Ferrari - both started out of the points and finished outside the points

Norris - lucky to be able to participate in this race after his massive crash yesterday in Qualifying, both in body and car.  In the rebuild the gearbox was changed so that he was also handed a five place grid penalty. so started 15th and therefore out of the points.

The crowd - the "true fans" who stood in the rain.  Let's hope there's some financial recompense.

I was very pleased that my race predictions of Verstappen for the win and a big points haul for Williams were spot on.

Belgium GP Qualifying Report

It was a long Summer break and I was so pleased to be back to the F1 race weekend routine.

There was big news at Spa...no, not Russell vs. Bottas but the new helmet cams.  An amazing addition to the coverage, with teams worrying whether what is seen on the steering wheels might be compromising.

Even more exciting, rain!  For most of the first qualifying session, Williams were first and second, having, for once, chosen the best strategy.  Which was the intermediate tire, everyone else was on full wets when it just wasn't wet enough.  The contrast between the two Williams drivers became apparent when the rest of the field changed to inters and many of the drivers set times inbetween Russell and Latifi.  This may be the first time Latifi has made it into the second session.  Norris showed his strength in the wet conditions by finishing the session at the top, with team mate Ricciardo just scraping through. Brits are far more used to this weather than Aussies.

The rain eased off during session 2 and the fun petered out.  Norris remained at the top of the timing sheet, Ricciardo answered his doubters (somewhat) by getting through in 9th.  Latifi scored his best qualifying of his F1 career in 12th, splitting the Ferraris, who were also both out.   I guess the points haul before the break has relaxed the Canadian into F1 at last.  At least Sainz and LeClerc were in similar positions, managing to get equal amounts out of the car.  Disparities continue between Ocon (10th and through) and twice world champion Alonso (out in 14th) and Stroll (out in 15th, also son of the team owner) and four times world champion Vettel (6th and through).  All eyes are on Russell and Bottas, because most seats are secure up and down the pit lane, but here are many questions over the choice of drivers made by the teams.

Again, the weather changed for the third session, when the rain came down much harder.  Vettel and Norris were calling in on the radio for the session to end.  It did end, when Norris had a major spin.  Hot off his PR triumphs of litter-picking at Silverstone and Pride T-shirt wearing in Hungary, Vettel ignored the red flags to drive round to check Norris was okay, knowing he would be first on the scene.  Brundle had picked up the spin almost before it happened as the McLaren didn't appear on the TV coverage as the angle changed.  You forget how good he is.  

Norris's car span and span - I wonder if you just close your eyes?  Awful damage but you could see the monocoque was working.  Norris did seem to be pushing very hard, however, if he'd done it later in the session, he probably would have pole position (albeit with a pit lane start).

During the pause, Latifi commented that the Williams car would be best in the wet....well...

When the cars came out again, the condition were wet but stable.  All the cars put in a banker lap.  Then Williams pulled out another strategy coup (you wait a very long time and then two come along at once...!), having saved a set of tires.  Russell put in a pole lap but was the first to cross the line at the chequered flag.  We had to wait for Hamilton to beat him.  No.  Vettel?  No.  Verstappen?  Yes.  Russell is on the front row alongside Verstappen.  Despite being written off for most of the season, Ricciardo finished in 4th.  A thrills and spills qualifying of a true Belgian variety.  

Hungary GP Race Report

From extreme heat in Hungary, the race started with drizzle.  Always a situation to make a grand prix fan get excited for the race.

We all thought Bottas had ruined the race on turn 1, lap 1 with a very old school style pile-up.  Breaking too late, he tagged Norris who went into Verstappen and he shunts Perez.  You could say he completely sabotaged Red Bull's race.  This took out LeClerc, Stroll, Perez and  Bottas, sent Norris and Verstappen to the end of the pack and brought out the safety car, followed by a red flag.  A real humdinger of an incident.  Bottas sat at the side of the track, refusing to go back to the pits like a toddler who knows they are in real trouble.  I haven't seen anything like it in a decade.

The red flag then completely mitigated the length of the exciting period of rain.  As the drivers went round for the standing start, Russell predicted that all the drivers would box for slick tires as the track was now dry.  This led to the crazy image of Hamilton alone on the grid as all the other cars were in the pit lane.  They would have to wait for him to pass the pit lane exit before they come out.  With Russell in the Williams being first so taking second place!  We were wrong, the race was just getting started and Bottas had not killed the party.

Hamilton came in the next lap, putting Ocon in the lead.  Something went wrong with Russell's Williams and every driver overtook him so he ended in 7th (turns out it was a steward's call as he undertook in the pit lane).  The late call for the Mercedes meant that Hamilton was plum last and very far back.  This set up a Verstappen and Hamilton tangle in the future, although Verstappen had a severely damaged car.  One of the racers (unnamed on BBC Five Live podcast) predicted that Verstappen would take Hamilton out during this race.  I waited for the lap to come round...it never did as it was all sorted out by pitstops and backmarkers.

Hamilton couldn't blame his team for this as it was his call not to come in.

With Russell now in 7th, his team mate was 3rd and in a podium position.  Ever the gentlemen (well just out of short trousers and possibly still in Huggies Drynites), he radioed in to his team to tell them to prioritise Nicky as he had such a good position.

In the midst of all this Raikkonen was unsafely released in the pit lane into Mazepin's car.  Having avoided the first lap calamity, the Russian was out of the race.  At least he didn't have far to walk back.  The Finn was given a 10 second penalty.  I think Kimi will quit this year as he will be tired with constant Steward's interventions.

The action was still coming, Hamilton could not get passed the cars in front of him and, barely a quarter of the way into the race, Verstappen was battling Mick Schumacher for 1 point and 10th place.  Lap 20 out of 70, saw Hamilton take an early pit stop, covered off by Verstappen and Ricciardo (Don't know why McLaren thought he was in the mix?).  The undercut worked and Hamilton was ahead of both of them.  Which is probably fair given he has the best and least damaged car running.

For the first time ever, we were shown footage of a Haas battling with a Williams and the overtake.  A topsy turvy race for sure.  Ricciardo and Verstappen following Russell soon after. 

The director was flicking from the race at the front, Ocon vs. Vettel, and Hamilton and Verstappen's progress through the pack.  Vettel suffered a shocking 3.3 second pitstop (0.3 seconds longer than needed).  Ocon covered him off and this put Alonso in the lead.  The old champions to the fore.  Ocon's pit stop was 1 second shorter than Vettel's and he maintained his lead, the undercut being lost.

We watched Alonso hold Hamilton up, the first driver to really take the fight to him this race.  Is it surprising that Lewis made such a come back from last place?  Even though no one can overtake at Hungary?  (I disagree).  With such a good car, that avoided all damage in Lap 1, not at all.  When Alonso finally locked up, Hamilton slipped through.  He made short work then of taking Sainz.  Hamilton took the podium place.  There was 9 seconds and 4 laps left now for Hamilton to take 2nd...or 1st.  We waited with baited breath and no, it was third place for him.  Vettel back on the podium and Ocon taking his maiden victory.

Would Ocon have won if Alonso had not done such a good job of holding Hamilton up?  Lewis complained about the Spaniard's deft work, however as Alonso basically did what Hamilton did to Vertappen last race...hah.  Fernando did get Driver of the Day though.  Ricciardo's awful season continues as he finished outside the points with 6 cars out (5 if you don't count Mazepin, which I don't).  Finished 11th basically means he finished 16th.

Clearly all drivers are filmed reacting to winning prior to the season starting, to put up on the big screens straight away at the end of a race.  We got to see Ocon's today, I wonder what Alonso did and Latifi and Raikkonen?  And...and.

Ultimately the real joy of the race comes when you look a little further down the grid.  5 points for Williams with 8th and 9th position.  Surprisingly Latifi ahead of Russell, perhaps Nicky will get the Mercedes seat??  I suppose Benetton winning again is enjoyable too.  Even Vettel finishing second is rather something...it gives Alonso and Raikkonen hope for their futures.

I can't remember the last time 6 drivers retired from a race, let alone by lap 5.

In other points to note, Vettel should be commended for wearing not only his Pride rainbow helmet but also T-shirt and mask on the grid, protesting against recent legislation in Hungary.

So, with Brundle at Silverstone, Sky viewers were treated to Rosberg in the commentary box.  And what a race for your rookie commentary (at least in English and as far as I know).  He did a good job although Crofty did the lion's share of actually speaking.  There were also a lot of throws to Karun and Ted.

Post-script: Vettel stopped on track...why?  Because he'd run out of fuel.  This means that the FIA could not collect the litre of fuel required for testing.  So he was disqualified.  Hamilton took second and Sainz third, the race never seems to end these days.

Hungary Qualifying Report

Firstly, no F1 coverage this weekend is complete without saying "Happy 40th Birthday" to Fernando Alonso, I'm sure most of us thought, "Isn't he already 40?".  Along with, "He must dye his hair".  And that's the kind of insightful commentary you come here for.

Mick Schumacher kindly crashed his car in the morning's practice and was unable to participate in Qualifying, giving other drivers the chance to get through to Q2 or even 3....oh no, sorry, he drives a Haas.  Did Papa Mazepin slip him a few Euros...

There were no real surprises in the first session of Qualifying, although Russell failed to get through for the first time this season.  It was a scrappy lap though.

In the second session, Sainz brought out the red flag to halt the running, "I crashed.  I'm sorry".  It was driver error, he kept the engine running and got going to get back to the pits, the race director brought out the red flag, possibly prematurely, before his front wing fell off and his front tires went over and the whole car was stuck.  This track is a Ferrari track, so a major setback for the team.

Raikkonen managed 13th, which I would say shows that experience and track knowledge is valuable here, Vettel and Alonso also running well.  A huge mistake cost Ricciardo entry to the final session and he starts 11th.

The final session played out as expected.  The Mercedes were dominant and were placed first and second with the Red Bulls failing to get Perez across the line in time to put in a final quick lap (yet he still starts 4th, so no change really).  Gasly in P5 is impressive though.  Pierre must be pleased that he made it back to the Red Bull B Team that is Alpha Tauri after his stint at Red Bull and not in crime scene recreation like Alex Albon (who had to replicate Verstappen's track position to make a (failed) point to the stewards).

My final thoughts of Rosberg as a commentator to follow tomorrow.

Race predictions are: Hamilton for the win, Bottas for the surprise win (arf arf) and Gasly for the very surprising win.

GB Race Report

It's well known that Hamilton always collides with anyone who challenges him for the world championship.  Today it was Verstappen's day to feel the wrath.  Lewis is beginning to look more and more like one of his idols, Michael Schumacher, who frequently relied on a little tap to anyone who gave him a serious race.  With the red flag brought out after the incident, pausing the race, there was no cost to him repairing his car.  His radio footage made it clear that he felt Max did not give him space.  Verstappen looked very shaken and spacey as he got out of the car and into the medical vehicle.  All the pundits came out on the side of Verstappen, which is unusual not to be supporting the Brit.  In 2021 revamped F1, we also got to hear Horner speaking to Michael Massey on his new Sunday afternoon radio show (MMFM).   Whilst Horner claimed that Hamilton was never ahead of Verstappen, Wolff called (long time listener, first time caller, arf arf) to say that he was "significantly alongside" the car). Wolff then sent a special mystery email to Massey (race director), pointing out something in the rules.  He kept patiently telling the angry team representatives that the race stewards were investigating the incident.  Also, footage of Hamilton watching the replays and seeing the full extent of the damage to the Red Bull (and Verstappen).  I think Verstappen's visit to the medical centre prevented us from seeing some good old-fashioned pit land fisticuffs.

It had been a thrilling start to the race with Hamilton and Verstappen battling back and forth for the lead, showing real skill and race craft.  LeClerc had a great start, getting past Bottas and then taking the lead into the pit lane rolling start.

After the break in the pit lane, when Merecedes gaffer-taped up Hamilton's car, it was round the track for a standing start.  LeClerc reminded us all what an excellent driver he is by making an excellent start and retaining the lead.  Vettel spun his car and ended up behind the Haas.

All calmed down then suddenly on Lap 15, LeClerc's engine cut out and returned to life.  They gave him a new setting, but the driver was still closer to Hamilton and the dreaded DRS window.  He held on.

Lap 20 showed Raikkonen battling with the beleaguered Perez and proving why he continues to be paid the big bucks to drive in F1, holding off the faster car where skill counts in the corners and only conceding the position on the straight where money talks with engine performance.

From 3rd position Norris came into the pits and McLaren failed the home track hero with a 6 second stop.  I remember going to Silverstone in the Noughties and everyone was wearing Mercedes colours and supporting Hamilton, despite other Brits on the grid.  Now Norris and his papaya army are growing - is this a backlash against Hamilton?

It was a day of doomed pitstops, with Sainz taking a 12 second stop.  Hamilton took 4.2 seconds, on top of his 10 second penalty.

Another long period of calm, with Hamilton chasing LeClerc.  With less than 5 laps to go, Gasly gets a puncture and makes it into his pit in time.  Raikkonen spins off when battling with Perez.  Then the Mexican made the ultimate sacrifice by going in to the pits for soft tires to get the fastest lap - only he didn't get the point for it because he was not in the top ten (I still dispute this clause) - he did it to stop Hamilton getting the point.  Then LeClerc just couldn't hold off the Mercedes left with so few laps to go.

I don't think anyone would have predicted that LeClerc would come second this race.  It really shows why Ferrari picked him, making almost the absolute best of a golden opportunity.  His team mate finished 6th.  He maintained the lead for pretty much all of the race, losing out to the superior car with 3 laps to go.  I think only the staunchest Hamilton fans would think that he deserved victory today and until we hear how Verstappen is in hospital, there's no reason to celebrate.  LeClerc claimed Driver of the Day.  Still no points for Williams.

Hamilton put in a very slow lap, collecting a flag on the way to thank the fans and then ran around with said flag.  Obviously emotions were running high with the sudden victory but over-the-top celebrations are not respectful when the driver you ran off the track is in hospital.  As Verstappen pointed out himself on Twitter.

Looking at the crowd in light of the Hamilton Commission, you wonder whether you also need to change the fan base and grass roots engagement of the sport too.  You can only watch one full race for free on council TV every year and tickets for the race are well out the reach of most people.

Should also mention Tom Cruise.

GP Qualifying & Sprint Race Report

With only soft tires an option for Qualifying, I was worried that there wouldn't be any surprises as there would be no opportunities to play a different card.  Ultimately it was good one though.  With a capacity crowd. it was great to hear the cheers for Russell and Hamilton.  With Russell straight through Q1 and P7 in Q2, will he go backwards during the sprint race?  In Q3 he finished P8 ahead of Sainz and Vettel, not too bad.  Like most Williams fans, I think this format does not seem to be a winner for us.

It seems unlikely that I would write this but it was quite a nice surprise for Hamilton to take pole position in Qualifying.  It bodes well that possibly he can keep the championship race ticking along.  With the new format, this is his chance to score much-needed bonus points for the sprint race.

The start of the sprint (not a race, note) was electric, with Verstappen pulling away and Hamilton fighting hard to retake the position.  Alonso went from 11th to 5th.  No one was expecting the drivers to push to hard.  Russell gave everyone a tow off the grid and went backwards, tapping Sainz as he went.

Third of the way through, Perez spun the car (drive error), saved by the gravel trap, he didn't hit the wall and managed to rejoin the track, somewhat dangerously.  He was still ahead of Mazepin though, until he retired the car.

What did the sprint change about the grid?  Latifi started 17th in Williams, which is perhaps one place ahead of normal.  Verstappen took to the front of pack a day earlier than he would have.  LeClerc managed to jump ahead of the two McLarens.  Russell starts 9th instead of 8th.

How did Verstappen find the sprint?  "Nice".  The best move of the race/sprint was Alonso's start by far.

Have to say 17 laps seems like quite a long sprint.  The laurel wreaths are fun though.  The truck they went round in was like an Acme designed Securicor van that escorts prisoners to court.

I wonder how the free tire choice for the whole starting grid will play out...

Austria GP Qualifying and Race Report

Note: for this race I am "on holiday", the reality being that I can only watch highlights on C4 late at night and come to write this very late in the day on Monday...

Qualifying

The second Qualifying session had a couple of notes of interest.  Four times world champion Vettel impeded twice world champion Alonso, a move that cost him 3 grid places.  Former Aussie hot shot Ricciardo could only get his (flash lightning) McLaren into 13th, whilst Russell in his (improving?) Williams made 10th and through to the final session, beating both Ferraris.

The crowd was a sea of orange (Rangers fans or as Norris repeatedly joked, there in papaya for McLaren?) and gave a huge cheer when Hamilton could only go 4th in the final session.  Norris missed pole by 0.04 seconds.  Russell wasn't 10th as expected and put in a quicker lap than former Williams protégé/pay driver Stroll.  After, Russell felt it was a particularly quick lap as it was done on medium tires, which he will have to start on.  He was pleased as the soft tires looked "disastrous for the race".  So Williams definitely to score points in this race...

Race

It still felt like the media were running a skeleton crew (for each 5 members of crowd, 1 member of the media had to go?).  DC was left interviewing his godson, Monty Horner, who was very clear that his favourite driver is Max....  Turns out Perez is doomed after all.

With Ocon out on the first lap, hopes were that Russell would definitely be in the points after the first lap.  No, down four places at the start.  Perez was also down six places by lap 4, which also saw Bottas overtake Hamilton.  Lewis was particularly quiet this race, not complaining or questioning, just head down and race slowly.

Then the stewards remembered they had the power to hand out penalties.  Norris for pushing Tsunoda off the track, two for Tsunoda pushing drivers off the track, two for Perez pushing LeClerc off the track and many more for track limits, speeding in the pits and crossing a special white line.

Half way through the race I looked to see where Ricciardo was placed and couldn't find him....I was looking to low, he was in P5!  After the pit stops had played out, Russell was in 16th, definitely going to score some points.  Hamilton and Bottas were "inverted", a chance for Bottas to show Russell how to score points?  The question is why did Mercedes leave poor tires on Hamilton for so long when they clearly weren't working?  They let Norris past them.  Hamilton even commented on the radio that Lando is "such a great driver", maybe he will be the Brit in the second seat?

Towards the end, Alonso and Russell were battling for 10th.  In the end the car with the bigger budget (and world champion) won.  Behind them a fuming Kimi Raikkonen was upset that no one in the team told him to watch the track limits at turn 10.  Not surprising they didn't mention it until they really needed to.  Hamilton was given the number 2 job of backing a 10-second-penalty-carrying Perez up.  While Norris held 3rd, Sainz overtook Ricciardo, having also been given the team orders pass to overtake LeClerc.  On the last lap Vettel was taken out by his pal Raikkonen.  Norris felt his penalty cost him second place, which is probably true and bodes well for the future of this season.

The interviews were done by Christian Klein, which was a blast from the past.

How do I rate the Channel 4 experience?  Jones' questions are short and to the point.  DC is greyer than I remembered and they seem to get changed during the race?  There are so many ad breaks though, so many.

Styrian GP Race Report

My race predictions were: Verstappen for the win, Norris as the surprise contender, Russell not to score points (though I hoped he would prove me wrong) and Alonso to get a good points haul.

All predictions of rain seemed to have disappeared in a ray of hot sunshine, so with track conditions of 50 degrees, the drivers lined up for a 3 DRS zone race.

With a host of Sky personnel missing, Paul di Resta finally found his place in F1...holding a microphone on a long pole.

There were a lot of excellent starts off the grid.  With LeClerc and Gasly tangling, and Gasly subsequently out of the race, Ricciardo was up 4 places and Russell up 2.  Norris was able to hold Perez up for 10 laps then the Red Bull driver was able to take the final podium position.

Roughly a third of the way through the race, the pit stops started to happen.  Unfortunately Russell was served a 18.3 second pit stop and exited 17th (he should have been 13th), with Perez following him with a 4.8 second stop.  With Hamilton getting a 2.2 second stop, the pressure was back on for the Red Bull pit crew.  They delivered in 2.0 seconds and kept the lead.  How long could Norris keep going on his soft tires as everyone switched to the hardest option?  Not long and Sainz jumped him through strategy.

The race ploughed on without incident, with Russell quietly retiring his Williams on lap 39.  There was a great battle between former Ferrari driver Raikkonen and his replacement LeClerc, the latter taking a chunk off the Finn's wing.  For a while 9-12th places running had three world champions driving, with 7 championships between them.  They also battled with Raikkonen overtaking his buddy Vettel.

Ultimately the Red Bull had significantly better straight line speed.  Unless Mercedes think of something special quickly, next weekend is going to be a repeat of this.  Verstappen really must be thinking that this could be he era.  I'm getting deja vu with the young Vettel.

How did I do with my predictions?  Verstappen - yes.  Norris - finished 5th, best of the rest, Russell correct, Alonso - only 2 points.

The idea of going over those ridged curbs for 71 laps (and doing it all again next week) is not for me.

Styria Qualifying Report

Earlier this week, we were promised a full weekend of rain in the Styrian area of Austria.  When we switched on to watch Qualifying though, the skies were blue.

What would bring the spice to this weekend then if not the clouds?  Perhaps track limits...another circuit, another corner that drivers cannot put a wheel over a certain line and if they do a man watching a video feed will delete your time.  Classic motor racing.

With 16 cars out in the last minutes of Q1, there was long procession all tempting fate...  Raikkonen was out, having gone rallying through the gravel on his first run, taking a wee sabbatical again.  Obviously Latifi in the Williams and both Haas were out.  The surprise of the session was Ocon failing to get through.  For no real reason I could see.  It means that Russell continues being "Mr Saturday" and Giovannizi got a free pass.

In Q2 many of the drivers were struggling to set a competitive lap.  Briefly it looked as through Russell was going to make it through to Q3, finishing 11th, the best grid place for Williams since I don't know when.  Norris captured the top spot at the very end with Perez taking it shortly after.  His McLaren team mate though continues to struggle, Ricciardo was out of the session in 14th place.  With both Alpha Tauri (Minardi) through as well as Alonso, who seems to have conquered the Alpine, the five drivers out was a mixed bag.  Russell and Giovannizi are the obvious drivers to fall out but former hot shot Ricciardo, four times World Champion Vettel and Ferrari's Sainz should have comfortably made it through.  Were Red Bull and Mercedes holding back?

After the first runs in crucial Q3, Verstappen led Hamilton, so yes, the top teams were sandbagging.  For the final run, there was jostling for track position.  Hamilton pushed his way through the pack but immediately failed to put together a good enough lap.  Would he lose his front row position?  Yes, Bottas immediately took second (although he has a three place grid penalty for spinning in the pit lane).  So Norris will start third!  The Finn definitely needed a good qualifying session...

So much coverage of Williams this race, which makes me wonder why all of a sudden?  Was it the 12th place finish for George Russell last race?  Is it the rumours that he might go to Mercedes soon and take Bottas' seat?

There was also a noticeable lack of top commentators and former drivers at the track?  Is this Co-vid related?  Apparently Billy Monger tested positive on arrival putting a number of Channel 4 staff including Steve Jones into isolation.

France GP Race Report

Let's begin this report with a review of the four big swaps.  Sainz has had no problem fitting in with Ferrari.  Vettel scored a podium for Aston Martin last race.  Alonso was up in Q3 this weekend and seems to be heading in the right direction.  Ricciardo however is grinning but not smiling.  It's getting critical that he starts challenging his team mate.

Speaking of critical, with ever-increasing speculation about his seat, Bottas needs to start going forwards in races not backwards.  He seems to have Qualifying pace over one lap but is unable to challenge in the races.  The strategy plays don't pay off for him either.

Sainz was one of my picks for surprise podium contender (along with Gasly) but he went off the track on his lap to the grid and flat-spotted his left rear tire.  Although not his race tires.  He finished 10th for one point.

At the start of the race the French army dropped the trophy in from a helicopter with two soldiers.  It is a cool trophy though, artist-designed and depicting a triumphant gorilla.

After a good start off the line, Verstappen didn't get round the second corner and gave the race lead to Hamilton.  With world champion style Raikkonen made up three places on the first lap.  By lap 2, Hamilton started commenting about his tires and lack of grip, which would be a theme of the race.  Confirming that Aston Martin really are Force India no more, Stroll was quick to start making up places from the back of the grid following his disastrous Qualifying.

Everyone began to lose grip and by lap 14, Alonso commented that everyone is struggling with their tires.  Well not the McLarens as they head up and through the pack  It was predicted that this would be a one-stop race as the pit straight is very long.  Verstappen and Red Bull managed to undercut Hamilton out of the pits and took the lead.  Unfortunately with Hamilton and Bottas right behind him.  Bottas, having been written off during the first stint of the race, had actually been managing his tires which gave him fresher boots in this critical stage.  Vestappen was told by the team to calm down and he gave a strong retort.  Keeping a clear head, he slowly started pulling away from Hamilton and out of the one second DRS window.  Bottas however continued to keep within one second to Hamilton, thus having the DRS overtaking advantage and being encouraged by his team.  How would the team play this?

Vestappen bit the bullet and went for a second pit stop.  In the closing laps the question was then whether Hamilton could keep his tires running...well Bottas could always hold off Verstappen on his fresher tires, what a wingman!  Bottas fumed on the radio: "Why didn't anyone listen to me when I said it was going to be two stopper!"  I've omitted the swears.  At the end of the race Hamilton also blamed the team over the radio.

The leader of this race was always under pressure, with Hamilton feeling it he hit a curb as Verstappen chased him down.  As Perez took Bottas, the Red Bulls proved their strategy can be strong.  Finally, with those newer tires, Verstappen got into the DRS window and with one lap to go retook the lead.

There were a number of nominees for Driver of the Day. Hamilton for getting the lead and managing his tires to keep it almost to the end.  Verstappen for his resilience.  Norris or Ricciardo for a race spent overtaking.  Russell finished a commendable 12th and Tsunoda finished 13th starting from the pit lane.  Clearly they ran good races but with so much going on at the front, not a bit of coverage on this action.

Bottas finished a miserable 4th, as his strategy let him down as he predicted.  How long can he continue in this team and maintain his self-belief, self-esteem and general sanity?

France GP Qualifying Report

 The Hamilton Whinging started early this race weekend with complaints during Free Practice 2.

Following the two tire blow outs last race, there has been intense scrutiny of Red Bull. Aston Martin and Pirelli.  The coverage was keen to try and get to the bottom of the problem.  They can't get the problem without ending up in a libelous situation so there's a lot of tiresome technical chat.

Going into Qualifying, the Red Bull of Verstappen was a clear favourite for pole, with Bottas out-performing Hamilton.

4 min into Q1, Tsunoda spun and red flagged the session.  If that wasn't bad enough, there was a lot of fuss whether he could get the car in gear and drive back, eventually admitting defeat and letting the tow truck do it's work, Mater wouldn't have stood for this nonsense.  With a minute to go, one of the other rookies, Mick Schumacher, crashed and the session was red flagged then stopped.  Was this a move reminiscent of this father at Monaco?  The session stopping gave him his first entry into Q2, even if he can't take the car out in the session.  That's 15th position secured for him.  Stroll also didn't make it through: "Shall I go this lap?"  "You have to go this lap."  This was his second try and the flag cut him short.

In Q2, Norris was instructed to abort his final quick lap, it seemed to be because nobody was going to really challenge him.  Looking at the names, of those out in the session it was very predictable: Ocon, Vettel, Giovanizzi and Russell.

The majority of the final Qualifying session was as dull as dishwater.  With three minutes to go, the drivers started to come out for their final quick lap.  Alonso and Gasly were the two bonus drivers in the session (with two each Red Bulls, McLarens, Ferraris and Mercedes).  Alonso and Ricciardo were the two drivers redeeming themselves after their tumultuous team transfers.  In an old fashioned manner, all drivers went for a last minute flying lap - do or die.  Verstappen initially scored pole with Perez briefly taking second before Bottas, then Hamilton took that spot.  Mercedes seemed happy with that result.  Frenchman Gasly starts his home track sixth.

So predictions for the race...  The baguettes will play some part (Jonathan Wheatley claimed that they cost the team £100,000 every time a driver crosses them.  The FIA insist they just enforce track limits).  Verstappen has the pace to win and it will come down to decisions made by the Red Bull strategiests.  I predict Bottas will go backwards.