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.

Baku GP Race Report

It's a long lap, nearly 2 minutes at Baku, so only 51 of them.  You can certainly feel the length.  My prediction for the race (usually posted on Twitter and Instagram @pitstopprincess) was Verstappen for the win if Red Bull get the strategy right, Hamilton if not and Gasly for the surprise contender.

LeClerc maintained the lead from pole for a couple of laps, but Ferrari's lack of horsepower on the straight finally gave Hamilton the chance to use the tow and DRS to take first place.  It took Verstappen far longer than expected to replicate this for second place.

Russell and Giovanizzi went for a Lap 2 pit stop to get the obligatory change of tires done.  10 laps in LeClerc pitted and that was him out of contention.  Everyone was playing for the undercut, Alonso and Norris pitting very early to get past Bottas.    Given it's such a long lap, why is getting out from the pits into traffic such an issue?

On Lap 11 Sainz took a trip to the run off area, locking up on the hard tires.  At the same time Gasly held up Hamilton's release from his pit stop, giving him a 4.6 second stop (shockingly long!).  With Red Bull holding the season record for quickest pit stop (1.93 seconds), Verstappen was able to overtake Hamilton in the pits.  Could Red Bull manage the same for Perez?  No a 4.3 second stop for him, yet still overtakes Hamilton, we were braced for  whining.  In the mean time, four time world champion Vettel became the leader of the race.  It almost felt like the television director didn't know who to follow and finally realised he should be giving the Aston Martin some airtime.

It seemed like Hamilton had been given a glimmer of hope for the race and then the reality of how much Mercedes have struggled at this circuit kicked in.

That was the first third of the race.

They followed each other through the amazing architecture for a while...Mazepin followed Sainz down the escape road later.

Then suddenly, on Lap 31, we saw Stroll spinning around on the main straight, debris everywhere, with a tire failure.  It was quite a while until he was able to get out of the car.  And sounded very shocked and shaken on the team radio.

Obviously a safety car presents the teams with options to change tires.  Mercedes and Hamilton ummed and ahhed and then did nothing.  Alonso thought he would try softs.  Schumacher too but they didn't put them on correctly.

At the restart, Vettel took LeClerc then tussled with and took Gasly ("That's not possible!") and Perez gave Hamilton the tow to attack both himself and Verstappen.

Then with 5 laps to go...a huge spin for Verstappen, who was in the lead, with another tire failure.  Furiously kicked by Max when he got out of the car.  With two tire failures, could there be any more...  The team looked absolutely devastated.  After the safety car was considered, the race was red flagged and suspended.  The cars lined up in the paddock.  Knowing he was on camera, live to millions and race control, Christian Horner explained to Dieter Materschitz (Head of Red Bull Sport) that it was the exact same failure as Stroll, I don't know why Materschitz hadn't figured this out already...it's almost like it was played out for the TV.  I can see this Netflix Drive to Survive episode already.  Red Bull got on the radio to the FIA (still loving this new for 2021 feature) to ask for a red flag and all cars allowed to change tires.  Given that they were still on for the win with Perez, it seems generous and caring.

Williams completely ballsed up the red flag, telling Latifi to stay out when they meant come in.  A simple mistake to make.  I'm sure that will please all the new investors.

After a long wait they had a short, sprint race of two laps.  Perez made an awful start and my heart sank as Hamilton moved ahead of him, then he didn't manage his brakes and went straight on...a swell of emotion.  With Verstappen out through no fault of his, Hamilton's exit neutralises the potential world championship points deficit.  I held my breath for two laps and there was the podium with no Verstappen, no Hamilton, no Ferraris, no Bottas.  Indeed Bottas finished around 52nd.  Finally Red Bull have a driver that can bring the points home and hopefully we have someone who won't be constantly questioned until they are driven out of the team.  Alongside him on the podium was Vettel (his familiar "yes yes yes yes yes" on the radio was actually heart-warming, unlike that horrible period from 2010 onwards), finally earning his wages and Gasly, my prediction for the surprise contender.

It was a bittersweet race for Aston Martin, as they scored their first podium but the owner's son had a huge shunt and brought no points home.  Also bittersweet for Perez, scoring his first podium and win for Red Bull whilst the golden boy had a huge shunt and brought no points home.  

Baku Qualifying Report

With Mercedes clearly on the backfoot, the front of the grid was up for grabs.  Things are heating up in the contest for the championship, at least in the media room.  Wolff was moved to say that: "Christian is a bit of windbag who wants to be on TV".

A scant 13 minutes into Q1, Stroll visited the corner and took the right front corner of his car to the cleaners and the session was stopped.  The debris was cleared up, the car was removed and the barrier checked.  Everyone came back out and four minutes later, Giovinazzi smashed his car up and bought out the red flag.

It now felt like a waiting game to see who would be next.  In to Q2 we went, the cars at the front were unbelievably close with 5 cars all setting the same time exactly.  Then with a minute and half to go, Ricciardo put his papaya machine into the barrier and the session was closed.  The winners from this were Alonso, who was right on the cusp and Tsunoda, who finished the session 4th and through to his first ever Q3.  He needed this boost as team mate Gasly was first in FP3.  The losers were Russell, who didn't get a chance to show what he could do with his newly-fixed Williams, it needed a new engine unit after a failure in FP3 and the world champions Vettel and Raikkonen.

These crashes, when viewed from the sofa, all seem particularly avoidable, just turn the wheel when you go into the corner.  The car-lifting truck got a lot of track time this week.

Getting a slip stream from a car in front proved to be very important.  On the first run, we saw Bottas get 8th spot, with Hamilton, who was directly behind him on track, getting 2nd.   With all the chat focused on Mercedes and Red Bull, well Hamilton and Verstappen, Gasly and LeClerc were the big names in Q3. We saw fun and games heading round the track for the second run, I didn't know F1 cars could travel so slow.  With LeClerc in pole position, could he manufacture a wee incident somewhere round the track.  I predicted Sainz would do it for him and he did, with some help from Tsunoda.  Only the four red flags during Qualifying.  LeClerc looked like he couldn't quite believe what had happened.  In interview he said: "I thought it was quite a s**t lap".  Don't write off the power of a good first run.

Still Azerbaijan looks absolutely beautiful and the coverage really sells it as a holiday destination, if I can remember what a holiday is.