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.