Abu Dhabi GP Race Report

The last race of the season is always a race of lasts.  Gasly got a guard of honour as he left the Alpha Tauri garage for the last time.  Vettel wore a helmet with photos of his supporters. Ricciardo had all his family with him.   Williams explained how to make the racey car go vroom vroom please no crash to Latifi.

Everyone was clean away at the start, I feel everyone has improved greatly this season in this respect.  Hamilton continued to have awful luck in Abu Dhabi as Sainz tapped him off the track.  He came back on track in front of the Ferrari and was finally made to give the place back.  By Lap 9, Russell asked, as he seems to do most races, if he was free to race his team mate.  Once confirmed, he was straight past him.

Mercedes are keen to pamper Hamilton as they gave Russell a 5.something second pit stop and then released him into the path of his friend Norris.  He was given a 5 second penalty for this.  There were a few slow stops, including Verstappen and the departing Vettel (his last pit stop?).

Alonso took the last bad luck as he retired for his last race with Alpine, on this stint has a race driver with the Enstone-based team.   Latifi and Schumacher finished as they started and continued by crashing into each other.  Vettel finished the race asking: "How did we get the strategy so wrong?"

With 3 laps to go, Hamilton lost all sort of functions on his car, pitting and retiring.  He could have brought out a safety car to finish the Abu Dhabi race with a bang, as is traditional.  

Verstappen had an easy win; not even a little panic about something not feeling right on the car.  LeClerc took second place, with Perez behind him and taking second place in the championship.  Vettel scored one point for finishing 10th and Ricciardo scored two for finishing 9th.

There were doughnuts all round.

Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Report

The big news at the event was mostly about those leaving the paddock: Vettel, with everyone celebrating his career, Ricciardo, potentially heading to a third driver job at Red Bull travelling full circle, Schumacher, who turned out to be too expensive despite the sponsorship money he brought and Latifi, unmentioned really.  Where were the Latifi tribute helmets?

Latifi's last qualifying session was the first session and he was out plum last.  Schumacher was out in the second Qualifying session.  Alonso was happy with 11th, I think his expectation of his soon-to-be-ex team was very low.

In the third session, Vettel finished 9th with Ricciardo behind him and due to take a 3 place penalty.  At the front, it was two Red Bulls, then two Ferraris, then 2 Mercedes.  There are plenty of people still fighting for points or to prove a point in the race, so it could be explosive.

Brazil GP Race Report

Following a shaken up Sprint, Russell looked confident on pole.  Otmar, team principal of Alpine, told us that he has advised his battling drivers that they need to be cognisant that there are a thousand people working to get them on the track and not to push each other off it.

Hamilton, notably, did not sing along with the Brazilian national anthem, tut tut for an honourary citizen.

Russell got off to a great start and maintained his lead ahead of his team mate.  It looked like everyone was clean away until, Ricciardo, out for "points and fun" and starting 11th, tagged pole winner Magnussen, who spun and came back round and took him out of the race.  The Safety Car came out.  No one pitted at first but Albon came in eventually for some new Medium tyres.

Russell managed to hold the lead from the restart but behind him old foes, Hamilton and Verstappen came together with the Red Bull needing a new front wing.  Hamilton: "You know how Verstappem is."  Immediately LeClerc and Norris tagged each other, sending LeClerc into the wall but able to escape and rejoin the race in 18th, right behind his championship nemesis this year.  Ferrari were able to recover the podium place from Norris with Sainz overtaking him.

Despite these incidents all looking like racing incidents, Verstappen and Norris were both awarded 5 second penalties.

Just as LeClerc put in Fastest Lap, Ferrari called him to the pits for new tyres, in a very Ferrari move.  There was a lot of potential pit stop overtakes but nothing of note.  The displeasure with Alonso at Alpine manifested itself in a very long pit stop for him.  Au revoir.

When Hamilton passed Perez for second place, the crowd went wild.  I don't think anyone would mind a Mercedes victory at this race to feel reassured that there are a number of drivers that can win a race.  An angry Hamilton came in for a third set of tyres as did Perez, then Russell.

Having soldiered through 52 laps, trying not to vomit or poop in in his pants, Norris lost power on his McLaren and came to a stop on the track.  He sat dejectedly by the side of the track.  A Virtual Safety Car was set then a real one came out.  The McLaren was cleared and Russell was ready to lead the restart.  He checked with his team whether he was racing Hamilton, who was right behind him, or whether they were going to hold position to maintain the 1 2.

Further back, Ocon was given firm instructions not to fight his team mate Alonso.  Russell was clean away at the restart, then the main fight was Perez and Sainz, with Perez holding the place initially then losing it.  Ocon "let" Alonso through, with Vettel falling back.  LeClerc had finally made it back up to the place he started despite his team endlessly pitting him.  Russell slowly pulled out enough of a lead to be out of hte DRS zone ahead of Hamilton.  Perez became a sitting duck, with even Alonso taking 5th place from him.  Vestappen was fighting back from calamity and easily took his team mate.  LeClerc pushed and pushed for Sainz to give him the podium and extra championship points.

With Russell taking the win, I expect this means him and Hamilton will be bitter rivals next year.  Somehow Hamilton took Driver of the Day, despite many other stronger contenders.  Is this the surprise winner of the year that we've been waiting for?  Not really, in my book.  Verstappen was told to give the place back to Perez and refused.  Examples up and down the parc ferme of how team mate relationships differ.  I think the happier dynamics of this year will be gone next season.

Brazil GP Qualifying and Sprint Report

It was a doozy of a Qualifying session, interrupted by rain but without endless red flags and pauses.  The headline, of course, was Magnussen getting pole to the shock and immense joy of his Haas team.  He was rewarded by doing a shed load more press.  This is the nearest thing we've had to a surprise winner, the first season I can ever remember not having one underdog race winner.

A red flag was brought out when Russell misinterpreted the advice of visiting the beach whilst in Brazil and beached his car in the gravel.  Verstappen, whom some would consider the natural pole-sitter, was second and Russell kept third place, as his red flag, followed by the rain, meant that no one else could set a quicker lap than the initial laps set.  Williams managed a creditable 11th place, just ahead of a frustrated and sarcastic LeClerc.  Once again Ferrari, Ferraried things up again, by being the only team to send a car out on wet weather tyres on a dry track.  Norris took 4th place despite having been suffering from a bad bout of food poisoning and looking like the shell of a man.  Unfortunately this all set the grid places for the shorter spring and not the main race, which would have been much more interesting.  

A new day and a new event, the Sprint...Magnussen held his position off the start, with Russell challenging but ultimately not taking second from Verstappen.  Carlando were battling in 4th and 5th.  Alonso's team mate pushed him off the track,  The inevitable happened on the third lap and Red Bull were in the lead, by midway through the Great Dane was 6th.

With the one (world champion-driven) Alpine having to pit for a new wing and tyres and ending up at the back of the pit, the Aston Martin drivers battled with Stroll pushing the (world champion-driven) Aston Martin off the track.  Stroll was given a 10 second penalty for the event, so doubly bad for the team.

Verstappen and Russell (miraculously) were able to battle it out for the lead.Whilst Albon spun his Williams and, having qualified 11th, will start last (Alonso starting next to him).  The Mercedes were absolutely storming, Russell able to take the lead and Hamilton battling for third from Sainz.

Did Verstappen have a fault with his car from the beginning of the race or was he playing it safe (very off-character if so), as not only Russell got past but Sainz too, damaging the Red Bull front wing in the process.  Next, Hamilton was cleanly past on the main straight, to the delight of his countrymen.  I suppose if Verstappen can have several home tracks, then Hamilton can scoop this one up through his honoury citizenship.

Not really a maiden win for Russell but glory nevertheless.  Perez asked if Verstappen would give him the place to get himself an extra point, which he needed in his championship battle again LeClerc.  I don't understand why Red Bull didn't put team orders in place for this.

Then the post-race shenanigans happened.  Zhou, Ricciardo and Hamilton were being investigated for a starting procedure infringement.  Gasly was called to the stewards for breaching some kind of speed limit.  Gasly was now close to having too many penalty points and being awarded a race ban.  Stroll denied any wrongdoing, as did Ocon, who is clearly now just riding out his Alonso experience.

With Verstappen starting 4th on the grid for the main race, the grid wasn't too "back to normal" after the sprint.  It's set for an interesting race, if only at the start.

Mexico GP Race Report

It was a party atmosphere in Mexico, although not for Hamilton, who was booed the whole weekend.  There was great hope that the new design regulations would enable more overtaking here.

It was a good start for everyone, no incidents, Verstappen maintaining his lead but not completely unchallenged.  Russell went for it but after a few corners his team mate passed him and left him to battle Perez.  Selflessly, he let the home hero past for a podium position.

Gasly forced Stroll off the track and was awarded a 5 second penalty.  The team had a new chance this race to see if they can serve a penalty correctly.

There was no way Perez was going to have a good race.  When that many people are cheering you on, there's only one thing that will happen in Formula 1.  It started with a poor first pit stop.  Then slight trouble with his DRS wing, but it came back and he was easily able to overtake the Ferrari of LeClerc.   Sainz also had a troubled pit stop.

Hamilton came out from his pit stop behind Verstappen, who had pitted before.  Russell decided to stay out.  Unfortunately he didn't stay out that long and came out of his pit in 4th.

One of the most interesting tussles of the race was between Tsunoda and Ricciardo.  The Australian was just out for a battle and ended up sending the Alpha Tauri over his front wheel putting him out of the race.  The McLaren served a 10 second penalty for the incident.

Alonso retired at the side of the track and brought out a Virtual Safety Car but his car was cleared very tricky and no one  was able to take a cheap pit stop.

The final lap crept up on me, with Verstappen claiming victory and winning the most races in a season ever.  Hamilton was second and the Mexican third.  Unlucky and frustrated Russell finished 4th.  Miraculously Ricciardo stormed along and finished 7th, keeping 10 seconds ahead of Ocon to keep his place when the 10 second penalty was deducted and being crowned Driver of the Day in the most unexpected twist of the season.  He was also ahead of his team mate, which have been the first time since his win at Monza last year.

In other surprising finishes, Albon was 12th in his Williams.

It wasn't the most exciting of races and more overtaking had been predicted.  It was a shame that when Gasly and Ricciardo did overtake and it went slightly awry, they were penalised, which would also discourage overtaking attempts in the future.  The Ferrari drivers were very downhearted about being one minute behind the Red Bulls

Mexico GP Qualifying Report

The focus for the weekend was firstly, a Mexican, Perez, racing in Mexico which seems to be a more exciting location to have a native driver than anywhere else on the planet and, secondly, Christian Horner being quite irate at being punished for breaking the rules.

We were told this would be a good circuit for Williams but both cars were out in Q1 in 19th and 20th.  I don't need to say what order the drivers were in.  Vettel, who was supposed be on a "winning" streak, was out.  Hamilton was in first place, ruining the fiesta, with Perez in 7th.  Ricciardo, however, was through to Q2, to end the season on a high!

Again, no real surprises in Q2.  Ricciardo headed the drivers leaving Qualifying.

Ferrari had an awful show, qualifying 5th and 7th.  The Alpines might as well have not run as they were 9th and 10th.  Verstappen predictably took pole ahead of the two Mercedes, Russell then Hamilton.  George was kicking himself as he felt he could have taken pole.  It looked like there could be several different potential winners, but only one probable winner, Verstappen.

CotA US GP Qualifying & Race Report

With a few grid penalties being taken, Qualifying was already almost redundant as a method of arranging the starting grid; we just had to enjoy Sainz' supreme performance to gain pole.  LeClerc was clearly frustrated in second and Verstappen had a double-word champion bounce and nonchalance about his third place.  Amidst it all, the paddock was waiting with pitch forks and placards to hear what punishment would be handed to Red Bull for their breach of the cost cap last year, with many people comparing it to the Spygate of yesteryear.  Then the Red Bull camp was shaken by the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz.  How much this unsettles their future is unsure.  The team chose to celebrate their co-founder by playing the Rolling Stones instead of their usual dross and wearing jeans.  

On race day, the stars were out to see the spectacle.  They'd actually already missed it as Ricciardo arrived on track horseback and may as well have continued that way for the heady heights on 17th on the grid and finishing a thrilling one place off last, after a gripping battle with Latifi.  Geri Halliwell manhandled Ed Sheeran about the Red Bull garage for maximum publicity.

The passing of Mateschitz was somewhat preempted as he had been ill but what to do on race day was somewhat hastily prepared with David Coulthard trotted out to ask the crowd to applaud for an unspecified length of time.  Anyone associated with Red Bull was given front line status for this and drivers unblessed by the caffeinated spirit of extreme sports regulated to two lines back.  As Hamilton ranked in this number, he made sure to fist bump a large number of children, who didn't know who he was, who had been lined up next to the grid, presumably to promote inclusivity.

Hamilton then put in a complaint to his team about his brakes on his out lap, mechanics worked furiously to completely replace the brakes on both sides.  No problem with his start though.

Verstappen made a great start from second place and Sainz  a poor start from pole and was then bumped by Russell.  He spun, going to the back of the grid, radioing in with puncture then being wheeled into the garage.  I think he did longer driving Sky TV presenters around the track than he did in the race.  The Aston Martins did very well off the grid, in third and fifth on the second lap.  I'm sure it's not a spoiler to say they didn't finish that well.

Latifi spun his Williams on Lap 6, a notable race for him, as this is the first time his accidents have only had a negative effect on himself.

The race went on and Verstappen was struggling with wind.

People came into the pits, people came out.  Not much happened.  Then Bottas spun and beached himself in the gravel, which is quite a feat as CotA is mainly tarmac run off area.  A Safety Car came out and gave LeClerc, Vettel and Alonso a cheap pit stop.

Just after the Safety Car period finished, another started as Alonso took off over next year's team mate, Stroll.  I wonder who the new boss will blame, his expensive new star or his son?  I have no idea how but Alonso pitted and rejoined the race, still ahead of Ricciardo and Latifi.  Stroll was out of the race and with footage of cars driving through a lot of debris and smoke, the true extent of the damage was to be seen.

Gasly continues to be in the wrong place at the wrong time this season, being more than 10 car lengths behind the car in front during the Safety Car period and getting a 5 second penalty for that.  Turns out that, in the taking of the penalty, he was also in the wrong place at the wrong time and got another 5 second penalty.

Hamilton pitted to try the undercut with 20 laps to go and set off a fantastic chain of events.  Verstappen responded but had a shocker of a stop with a wheel gun failing.  LeClerc must have been told to do whatever Max did and also pitted, exiting the pits ahead of his rival.  In turn, they were behind Vettel leading the race with Hamilton behind him.  Hamilton overtook Vettel and went off to fight for his first win of the season and Vettel went into the pits for an abysmal stop that saw him drop right out of the points.  Predictably, Verstappen hunted down and overtook first LeClerc then Hamilton to take the win.  The action continued to the very end with Vettel and Magnussen racing for a few points and Russell taking the point for Fastest Lap off Red Bull.

Overall, probably one of the best races so far this season: a challenge for the drivers, nothing controversial coming out from the race directors and some great battles for the spectators.

Japan GP Race Report

The race was supposed to be dry at the start and then rain later during the event but the rain came down quite heavily as the drivers took to the track to drive round to their start positions.

LeClerc made a better start than Verstappen (who couldn't go diagonally quick enough to cover off the Ferrari) and clearly thought that in the wet, his rival wouldn't push too hard.  He was wrong and he did.  Verstappen took a risky pass and made it stick.  He was clearly out to race and not play it safe for the mathematically-possible championship.

The rain was coming down hard and the on-board shots showed how little the drivers could see.  One world champion, Alonso, hit another, Vettel.  This was not the biggest event of the first lap, as we were watching Alonso try and take Hamilton, we saw a flash of scarlet at the side...was LeClerc out of the race?  No, it was his team mate Sainz.  The Safety Car was out and we saw Albon pull to the side of the track with car failure and Gasly push a huge piece of hoarding around the track like a snow plough.

The race was then Red Flagged and we fast-forwarded through a lot of the coverage.  The drivers got back in the car and then the restart was suspended and I went  back to fast-forwarding.  I think the FIA needs to consider how racing can happen in wet weather conditions.  Eventually, the cars set off for a rolling start and the rain started to get heavier.  Drivers were asked on the radio what the visibility was like.

Despite the plumes of water behind the drivers, Latifi and Vettel came in for Intermediate tyres.  After a very brief period of analysis most of the rest of the pack came in too.  Russell decried the choice immediately and Schumacher was told that they would change to Inters when there was a Safety Car.  Schumacher led the race for a few metres and can now retire having fulfilled his father's legacy.

The race continued a little damp, with Hamilton and Ocon being the biggest battle on track.  Latifi, miraculously stayed in the points.

The clock counted down to the end of the race.  When it went red and the last lap occurred, Verstappen was in the lead and LeClerc in second and defending fiercely from Perez. To win the championship, Verstappen had to win and have the point for fastest lap if LeClerc was in second.  Zho though, held that prize.  Alpine finished a sterling 4th for Ocon and 7th for Alonso.  Latifi scored points for Williams and the McLarens finished exactly where they started.  Gasly, finishing last, will be glad with his new job at Alpine.

However, the eagle-eyed spotted that LeClerc went off the track and came back on holding his place against Perez.  Race Control also saw this and investigated and put the championship contender back a place, giving Verstappen the World Champion title.  So that's that.  At least someone told Johnny Herbert so he could tell Verstappen.  Probably not how Max dreamed it would be.

Japan GP Qualifying Report

With talk of budget cut fouls and a little driver reshuffle between the Alpine, Mercedes and Red Bull stables, this was going to be an interesting weekend.

Gasley massively struggled with his brakes and was out in Q1 along with the predictables: Stroll, Magnussen and both Williams.  Latifi was both last and 5 places behind last, having "Latified" someone last weekend.

The second Qualifying session was very tight.  Ricciardo had an amazing qualifying, up until the point Russell knocked him out by three milliseconds and put him in 11th place.  Vettel was through to Q3 and home boy Tsunoda was out.  The big news was Perez claiming the fastest time and Alonso (who was fastest in the wet practice session) second fastest time.

To finish it was all very predictable, with Verstappen taking pole despite have an awful final lap, ahead of LeClerc.  Charles was hoping for a little bit of rain on race day.  Vettel was very emotional to have driven his last Suzuka Qualifying.

There was some discussion whether Verstappen would receive a penalty for turning close to Norris.  He got a reprimand and many would say the stewards continue to favour the Dutchman.

Singapore GP Race Report

Tuning into the Singapore GP coverage, it was dry, then it was very, very wet.  And the race was delayed.  Then, just as abruptly, the rain stopped.  Water was cleared from the track and off the cars went to the grid.  

As predicted, Ferrari had put on woolen wheels and Perez took LeClerc at the start.  Hamilton lost out to Sainz and Verstappen was down to 12th from 8th.  Predictably it was a Williams that spun first, less predictably it was Albon not Latifi.  Hamilton radioed in to his team to say that they should have listened to his tyre call.

Zhou was the first driver to retire, colliding with Latifi (of course).  The first Safety Car was out.  It was too soon for anyone to take advantage and pit.  Latifi, having sustained a puncture and got back to the pits, was also out of the race.

By Lap 11, Verstappen was back up to 8th.  Brundle thought this put Verstappen back into contention for the podium.  A third of the way through the race and Verstappen was stuck behind Alonso.  The old man, out for his Sunday drive, must have been thinking that he'd done this 350 times before and will be doing it another 350 times in the future.  Unfortunately the Alpine engine, thought otherwise and conked out.  A Virtual Safety Car was called.  The only driver to pit was George Russell, who gave slick tyres a go.  As the Safety Car ended, we watched the Mercedes slip and slide over the track.

There was a third (Virtual) Safety Car for Albon, who collided with a barrier.  He managed to extricate the car but left his front wing behind in the wall.  That was two Williams out.

Next Ocon's Alpine engine died.  That was two Alpines out.   Fourth Virtual Safety Car and now Ted Kravitz was hallucinating slick tyres.

Rather brilliantly, Hamilton slid into a corner but managed to pull back out in between Norris and Verstappen who were battling.  He massively held up the championship leader, who then radioed in frequently that Hamilton's wing was about to fall off.  The floodgates opened for cars to come in for slick tyres: Gasly, LeClerc, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Vettel, Hamilton.  LeClerc overshot his pit spot and caused himself a 5+ second pit stop and cost himself the win.

Tsunoda couldn't keep his slick-tyred car on the track and, lo and behold, a fifth Safety Car.  At the restart, a frustrated Verstappen attacked Norris and went straight on down a slip round and did a handbrake turn.  He came back on track in...8th!  And needing to pit again.

Next up, Schumacher and Russell rub tyres and Russell picks up a puncture.

With 14 finishers, for Verstappen to start 8th and finish 7th was abysmal.  It wasn't like he was up and down but kept plummeting down and regaining the position.  It was certainly a fantastic race for Perez.  Nobody had Ricciardo finishing the race 5th, right behind his team mate.  Nobody had Latifi finishing the race and he didn't.

Singpore GP Qualifying Report

Well, the weekend kicked off to a thrilling start: rain and accounting.  Have Red Bull cheated the cost cap system?  Well, probably.  Are the other team principals outraged?  Yes.  Have they probably also been cheating the system?  Probably.

Then it was all "will it, won't it rain?"  There were lots of Yellow Flags for drivers having minor incidents, none of which were broadcast.  Despite putting on a second set of intermediate tyres, Ricciardo was out in 17th.  Bottas and Ocon were also out of qualifying, letting their team mates carry the can.

The second Qualifying session was dominated by the decision of when to change from Intermediate tyres to Slicks.  It was Charles LeClerc, de facto Ferrari strategist, who asked for Slicks, however, he was given Inters.  It was Lance Stroll, who actually went first and everyone braced themselves for a Red Flag when he hit the wall.  It didn't help him and he was out with Russell and fellow soft-compounders Zhou and Vettel, who messed up a corner.

In the last couple of minutes, it was close for pole position: Hamilton, then Alonso, then LeClerc.  Verstappen was trying too hard, aborting two laps, being called in, possibly because he was on the edge for fuel testing.  He will start 8th.  There was a lot of swearing.

At the end we saw LeClerc's helmet design for Singapore...gold and shiny...very Monaco.

Italy GP Race Report

The race started with a bananas grid, McLaren scored the second row and Williams were 8th and 10th.  It's always tempting to get your hopes up at races like this.  It was LeClerc's to lose though, with Verstappen starting in 7th and both rear gunners at the back of the pack with Lewis Hamilton.  Would Russell, starting 2nd, break his duck?  Norris went nowhere off the grid and caused the pack to have to move to avoid him.  It made a messy start, with LeClerc hearing the crowd roar as he kept his lead, Russell going off the track to secure the Ferrari in place and Ricciardo taking a confident 3rd.  Gasly was up to 4th, showing his dance card for the silly season recruiters.  Two laps in though Verstappen was in 3rd and on to the podium.  De Vries held his 8th place, with Williams team mate Latifi sinking to 14th.  By 5 laps in, Verstappen had overtaken Russell for 2nd.  Sainz was making excellent progress through the field to save his team mate from the Dutchman's clutches, whilst Perez just couldn't overtake the "slower" cars.  Hamilton had some incident at the start and couldn't get past 18th for a long time.  Perez was pitted and given a catherine wheel, which smoked it's way around the track.

Ricciardo held up the pack well and was in position to pick up a podium place if anyone Ferraried up at the front.  De Vries found himself in no position to overtake anyone in front of him, just needing to hold up everyone behind him.

Former Ferrari driver, Vettel, in his last Italian race, lost power and pulled off to the side of the track, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.  Ferrari brought in LeClerc for a "free" stop and came out in 3rd ahead of Ricciardo.  The mechanics swarmed around the car like panicky wasps, in their celebratory yellow and black uniform.

The next round of pit stops shook things up more, with some teams winning and some losing.  Ricciardo and Gasly were battling on track, then Alpha Tauri did a poor stop and gave McLaren the place.

Alonso came in and was retired.  Was it the curse of the World Champion?  Or the curse of the former Ferrari drivers?

LeClerc continued to manage Ferrari's strategy from his cockpit as radio transmission was all about Plan B, Plan C and Plan D.  He's a busy man: lead driver, chief strategist, PR.

Stroll was retired in his Aston Martin.  Monza was putting drivers and their vehicles under pressure.  With 6 laps to go, Ricciardo's engine failed and last year's race winner was out and the Safety Car made an appearance.  His victory last year was a highlight of the season, this year his retirement saw a sour end to the race under the Safety Car.  Where the FIA trying to prove that they can handle these technically-tricky situations?  But only in Verstappen's favour.  The crowd, rightly, booed.  De Vries finished 9th and brought home some points for Williams.  I wonder whether the money this brings Williams will be more than Latifi brings in as a pay driver?  He also made Driver of the Day.

Ferrari told LeClerc he had raced well and managed the tyres well in a dejected tone.  I think they are starting to get scared about what LeClerc will say and do to the media and back behind closed doors.

Italy GP Qualifying Report

It was another Qualifying where the result of the session would not reflect the grid.  A Qualifying without purpose.

Off the track, Albon had appendicitis and was off for surgery leaving reserve rookie, Nyck De Vries to race in his place.  He started one tenth of a second off Latifi's pace, seemingly putting the nail in the coffin of the Canadian's career.  For no apparent reason, the Ferrari drivers had been dressed in yellow, like expensive bananas.  However, following on from the Dutch GP, the elegant and civilized Tfosi were breath of fresh air, if only because of the lack of flares.

In the first session, both Aston Martins failed to make the grade (great choice there, Fernando).  The Haas just couldn't catch a break, as they crossed track limits lap after lap.  Latifi's car just drove off the track and through a chicane despite his immense driving skills and he was out with his rookie team mate De Vries through.

Unfortunately, De Vries couldn't keep his Williams on the track all the way round on his final quick lap and was out in 13th but will move forward with other drivers taking penalties.  Ricciardo managed to get his car through to the final session though!

LeClerc took the pole from Verstappen to the delight of the crowd.  The commentary team frantically tried to work out who would start where, following penalties.  They still didn't know at the end of the broadcast.

Netherlands GP Race Report

Before the race Lewis Hamilton was out adjusting a sound system near his pit as it made the turn in close.  He had an eye for detail in this race that he did have the potential win.  However, most agreed it was Verstappen's to lose.

It was a clean start, then Magnussen couldn't keep his car on the road and went through the gravel, touched the wall and just as it looked like a Safety Car would be coming out, KMag kept the car going and went out the other side of the corner and rejoined the race behind Latifi.

The were some early pit stops, led by Vettel.  Alonso, having fought past both Alfa Tauris also pitted.  Some of the last in this phase were Sainz and Perez.  Perez went over the Ferrari wheel gun and Ferrari Ferraried things up by not having the right tyres ready and giving Sainz a 12 second stop.

Then there was not a lot of action for a long time.  After the Mercedes finally stopped and the proper order was resumed, Hamilton overtakes Perez.  The Mercedes are showing strength in straight line speed, as witnessed last race by Albon's Williams.

It wasn't until Lap 44 that Tsunoda pulled over at the side of the track, well on it really, telling his pit that the tyres weren't properly fitted.  All the teams came out into the pit ready.  His team told him they were fine and to keep going, so he did. Unfortunately, he had undone his seatbelt so had to pit anyway.  After the Perez spin and Safety Car yesterday and as the Red Bull's sister team, once again, something smells fishy at the sea side track of Zanderboorg.  Under the Virtual Safety Car, different teams did and didn't pit and for different tyres.  The key beneficiaries were the Mercedes, who were now 2nd and 3rd behind Verstappen.

10 laps later, Bottas stops on track.  Sainz Ferraris things up for himself, by overtaking Ocon under the Yellow Flag, next to the stranded car.  With the Alpha Romeo parked at the end of the straight, there was no clear way to remove the car.  The Ferrari was then released unsafely in front of an Alpine, placing an order for another penalty.

In retro 2021 style, Hamilton was in the lead under the Safety Car but lost it to Verstappen on the first corner.  The radio waves were blue with Lewis complaining to his team.  I'm not sure why.  It clearly distracted him because Russell went straight past him on the straight.  It seemed to all be about Russell being pitted for different tyres and not staying out to play the important role of "buffer" between himself and his current nemesis.  Just as we were processing this, LeClerc was past him for the last podium position.

The end of the race crept up on me.  Guido van der Garde wasn't good enough for the podium interviews and David Coulthard (at best an honorary Belgian) stood up.  Verstappen didn't get the hint to address the crowd in Dutch (or he doesn't speak Dutch?).  Russell joked about how close he and Hamilton are.  I think things are going to go the way of Rosberg and Bottas now.

Netherlands GP Qualifying Report

In Qualifying 1, there was nothing much to report beyond the bellowing cheers of the sea of orange-shirted fans as Verstappen lapped his way to first place.  Verstappen and LeClerc were confident of their first run times and didn't go out for a final run, as did Albon in his Williams!  Ricciardo went out in 18th with his team mate finishing 5th, don't know if he's driving slowly as a gesture to his team.  Vettel went wide across the pretend gravel and also went out.

There was no real shock in Q2 - Alonso went out.  The action was all down to pigeons and flares, which sounds like a fun night out in the 70s.

After the first runs in Q3 LeClerc was leading, so tension was mounting.  Stroll proved that money can buy you a lot of things but it can't buy you a consistent race car, as he was out with a technical problem.  In the closing minute, Perez spun, bringing out the yellow flags.  This meant that Verstappen was guaranteed pole as no one  could go quickly past his team mate's beached car.  The Orange Army got what they came for and it looked like we were in for a boring race.

Belgium GP Race Report

The race start was initially all clear with Alonso making a great get away into second.  Less great for the Williams, who started 6th and 11th and fell way back to 7th and 12th almost immediately.  Then Hamilton shunted Alonso, flying across the top of him and causing his own retirement.  Perez was back in second but completely undeservedly.

Lap 2 saw a Safety Car come out as Latifi (surely not driving again next year...Ricciardo for Williams?) put a tyre into the gravel and spun, taking out Bottas.

Verstappen cruised along, carving up the competition, with no one putting up much resistance.  This looked like it could have been a day for an underdog to swoop in for a glorious points position.  For Alonso, this would have proved he is not too old for this game.  For Ricciardo, it would prove he deserves a drive somewhere next season.  However he was overtaken by Albon in his Williams so there we go.  For Albon, this race was a chance to show off Williams' straight line speed and wave two fingers at Red Bull (as it goes passed him).

Once a quarter of the race had passed, Verstappen was behind his team mate and calling for him to move over.  Perez obviously fought hard and nearly took him out...no he didn't.  When Verstappen finally pitted from the lead, Sainz took the lead back.  LeClerc was a couple of places back and looking to overtake Perez, who did fight hard and nearly take him out.  In this case though, Russell overtook him.

When Verstappen did catch up with Sainz though, before half distance, it was an easy overtake.  With the Red Bulls firmly in the lead, the race focused on Albon and Ricciardo's fight for 9th.  The Battle of the Red Bull Rejects, if you will.

The second pit stop window opened and Ferrari double-stacked, with one tyre being slightly slow for LeClerc.  This wasn't too bad as he was, crucially, out ahead of Albon (!).  I imagine Alonso giving an "I told you so" shrug in his cockpit after a slow pit stop.

Then in a shock turn of events, Hamilton gave an interview and admitted that the crash with Alonso was his fault.

With five laps to go, Norris reported to his team that he was "really struggling" with his tyres.  He was told it was "too late for Plan G".  I assume Plan G wasn't to be part of the Albon train.

Ferrari hadn't really done too much to cock up their own race, until the last lap, when they pitted LeClerc to go for fresh tyres to get the fastest lap point.  Unfortunately they brought him out right in front of  Alonso, who immediately overtook him but he got the place back in the last few corners, not managing fastest lap.

Verstappen made winning look so easy.  All eyes on 2023 now.

Helmet cam was back and the porpoising looked dreadful, I don't know why we haven't seen anybody vomit into their own helmet yet.  I also wonder what Bottas and Hamilton said to each other as they sat and watched the race.

Belgium GP Qualifying Report

All the talk in Belgium was of Alonso and Ricciardo with a sprinkling of fear over the future of the race track.

Danny Ric's luck continued to plummet in the first session of Qualifying, just behind his team mate, he had a lap time disqualified and found himself falling down the grid as drivers popped in their last lap.  He did make it through though.  Albon put in a great lap to go 6th and Vettel was knocked out.

The big scalps in the second session were Ricciardo and Gasly.  The big news was Albon through, this seeming to be a great track for Williams.

In the final session, team mates were helping each other with a tow and every driver was tripping up another driver.  LeClerc gave Sainz a tow but he ruined it dropping his tyre into the gravel trap.  Albon finished 9th ahead of Norris.

With many grid penalties to be taken, it was very mixed up but impossible to understand qualifying.  Really, what was the point?  I had no idea who was starting where despite having watched the whole thing.  Perhaps, if you are taking a penalty, you should be disqualified from Qualifying and have sets of tyres removed?  Still rain predicted for the race... 

Hungary GP Race Report

Another day in Hungary and another set of weather conditions; the race was set to be windy and cold with several drivers locking up wheels and driving off the track on the way to the grid.  Finally it was announced that heavy rain was expected, so all predictions were off.

Vestappen and Perez were very slow to take their place in the formation lap.  Russell's youth showed when he failed to back the pack up in response to this.

Hamilton complained of a vibration in his brakes on the grid.  Getting his reason for not besting his team mate in early, although as it turned out the race would come to him.  Russell made a good start from pole and held his position, then, suddenly, there was a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 2 to clear debris on the track from a collision between Albon and Vettel.  With new engines in their motors, the Red Bulls flew past the Alpines afterwards.  They kept on moving up the grid, with Norris going backwards.  On Lap 21, we heard some very sweary radio from Verstappen.  Possibly with some engine trouble, it was hard to hear.  He was told to try "Fail 20", yesterday it was "Fail 21".  The Alpines had fought off the grid and continued to fight as they circled the track.  It didn't benefit the team, as Ricciardo earned a few pennies of his salary, taking both cars in the same corner.  The race continued and half way through, after a few botched pit stops, LeClerc mounted his attack on race leader Russell.  You could see the Ferrari was quicker and Russell played every card he held.  Finally, all the DRS and battery boosts aligned and LeClerc was passed and into first place.

Next came the second round of pit stops.  The Red Bulls went early and Mercedes went later, which led to Crofty saying: "The race leader is now in 6th".  Ferrari surprised everyone apart from me by putting on hard tyres when they had not run well for anyone else.  I wasn't surprised because it's exactly what Ferrari would do; putting the hard tyres on or losing them or trying their new chocolate compound.  Never matter, Verstappen overtook LeClerc but then spun and lost the place back, with Russell taking advantage of a surprised Perez behind his team mate.  Inevitably Verstappen did get back past LeClerc.  Brundle kept telling us how Ferrari have a mistake with the tyres.  Verstappen announced a new hip hop sensation "Little Drizzles".  Was the heavy rain here at last?

Further down the pack, Ricciardo locked up his tyres and nudged Stroll, sending him spinning and earning himself a 5 second penalty.   It's like he's composing the longest resignation letter ever.

For quite a while, Hamilton led the race but he was out by himself and we didn't see much of him.  He'll be happy with that on the records for this year though.  The hard tyres on the Ferrari made even the struggling Mercedes look good as Russell overtook LeClerc.  Hamilton was able to carve his way past Perez and Sainz and LeClerc found himself in 6th.  With 3 laps to go, Alonso was told that there would be rain on the last lap.  Next, Bottas retired at the side of the track and brought out a Virtual Safety Car.

In the end, it looked like an easy first place for Verstappen and I couldn't really tell you how he ended up there.  Red Bull were happily surprised with their win.  LeClerc will be wondering what he has to do to catch a break and whether his team are with him or against him.  Luckily he has a nice long holiday now to ponder this.  There's a seat going at Aston Martin.

There was lots of action during the race but were was the helmet cam?  It was back in abundance prior to the race but nothing during the race.  What a shame.

Hungary GP Qualifying Report

With heavy rain for FP3, Latifi took his Williams around the track fastest.  Could the team translate this into a superb qualifying result in the dry?  Though thick, dark clouds loomed.  Everything this week has been overshadowed with Vettel's news that he has created an Instagram account.  And used it to announce his retirement at the end of the season.  LeClerc wishes that were true.  Vettel's retirement post didn't divert the media's attention from his crashing out in the dry, from the lead, last weekend.

With the track evolving as the session went on, every car was out at the end of the first Qualifying session.  Fernando "wily old fox" Alonso backed everybody up to try and make the most of it.  Despite lots of potential, there were no surprises for the drivers leaving the Qualifying: Tsunoda, Albon, pensioner Vettel, Gasly and Latifi.  Williams and Alpha Tauri just haven't brought it again this season.  Latifi swearing all the way back to the pits for a mistake at the end of the lap which cost him dearly.  Gasly had a lap deleted.

With 4 minutes to go in the second Qualifying session, Perez felt drops of rain.  There was no one interesting in the bottom 5 any way, so it really didn't matter.  It can only have been a couple of drops though as Ocon and Bottas then put in a quick lap each and knocked out Perez.  The Mexican had already been having a rocky session with a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and then having it re-instated.  He felt he was blocked by Magnussen on his fast lap.

On to the final session and Red Bull's bad luck continued with Verstappen losing power in the final run. The reliability issues that bounce between Ferrari and Red Bull has landed in Austria.  Sainz looked good for pole.  His team mate couldn't beat him.  Then, out of nowhere, Russell took it, with his team mate Hamilton ending the session with a DRS problem in the pits.  Norris scored 4th, 5 places ahead of his team mate Ricciardo.

Russell was first to acknowledge that beating the Ferraris in the race was unlikely and Hamilton was pretty dejected that it wasn't him taking the pole when it was a possibility for the team (and by team, he usually means him).

France GP Race Report

In response to an Insta Story between races, Ricciardo had lined up a long interview with Sky to explain that the problem with his performance is not him but the car.  Apparently, he cannot dance with this partner.  Some would say that the best dancers can perform with anyone - as the Strictly pros will tell you any day of the week.  And I'm sure his will tell us this next year.

LeClerc made a textbook start and held his position from Verstappen to lead the race.  Alonso also made an excellent start and made up 2 places.  Zhou dropped back to the end of the grid.  Ocon spun and hit Tusnoda and sending him off and right to the back (and earning the home boy a 5 second penalty).  Sainz only made up a couple of places on the first lap with Magnussen shooting up 7 places.  How did all these drivers jump forwards?  It seems Bottas lost 6 places somehow.   Choosing the harder tyres certainly cost those drivers.

The race plodded on and nothing much happened, Verstappen seemed to give up on the idea of overtaking on track.  Lap 18 our of 53 and a Yellow Flag came up, who was it?  Was it just the red and black stripes on the track making me think it was a Ferrari?  No, it was a Ferrari, LeClerc Ferraried up his own race, possibly due to old tyres or another throttle pedal problem?  No, he later admitted a mistake. We heard his radio back to the team, breathing heavily and furiously ending with a roar.  Unlike last year, Verstappen did check in to see if his rival was okay.  Many cars pitted under the ensuing Safety Car, Hamilton briefly taking the lead before pitting and losing it to Verstappen who had pitted a couple of laps earlier.  To even things out, Ferrari sent Sainz out of the pit box straight into Albon's Williams and we awaited his penalty.

Upon the restart, Sainz carved his way up the grid, past Ricciardo, Norris and Alonso almost in the same lap.  And so the race went on.  Sainz overtook Russell.  Hamilton went very wide off track.  Latifi took  his newly upgraded car for a wee spin.  

Finally, with 10 laps to go, Sainz goes for the podium place by overtaking Perez, who had a dull, dull race.  It was a maneuver that took several corners, during which Ferrari told him to box over the radio.  Russell, buoyed up by the move, went to take Perez too and nearly caused a collision.  Sainz then pitted and came out 9th, not sure why, how bad were the tyres?  Ferrari believe this was the safest option.

Russell is told that he will be able to hunt Perez down.  Sainz passes Ricciardo (as does Ocon), Ocon and Norris. then Alonso, setting fastest laps as he goes.  Following a Virtual Safety Car brought on by Zhou retiring at the side of the track, Russell caught Perez sleeping and passed him.

Merecedes were "freestyling" their set up this weekend and probably did not expect two podium places.  Hamilton finished by exhorting his team to "keep pushing".   Verstappen was very happy with his 25 points.  LeClerc was very harsh on himself and his mistake.  Fans need the battle, Rachael Brooks, for Sky, seem to be suggesting we should all club together to get him a sports psychologist or mentor.  We all want the fight.

Unusually, for a race with only one short Safety Car, an even briefer Virtual Safety Car and not much action, 6 cars didn't finish.  One week to go until the next race and we'll get to see what else Ferrari have in their arsenal to scupper their own races.  Fishes in the tank?  Choosing square tyres?  Forgetting to fuel the cars?  The mind boggles.

France GP Qualifying Report

There were no surprises under the sunny French skies as the first part of Qualifying ended.  Albon made it through despite spinning and Latifi didn't and the writing is on the wall for his F1 career, I'm sure it would be more widely talked about if DannyRic weren't about to receive his marching orders.  DR3 and Mick Schumacher both had times deleted for exceeding track limits, which cost the German but not the Aussie.  And so the heart sinks as it looks like another race weekend where all eyes are on the white lines.  Not in the fun, Studio 54 way either.

Sainz and Magnussen were destined to start at the back of the grid, following changes to power units.  Both felt the need to put in speedy laps in Q2 to scare the opposition.  Albon briefly looked like he could make it through to Q3 but then tumbled down to 15th.  Out in 11th was DannyRic.

Ferrari ensured Sainz was through to the final Qualifying session to be out on the track, giving a tow to his team mate.  Red Bull didn't seem to want to play that game.  It gave LeClerc pole position though.  Norris was able to put his McLaren inbetween the two Mercedes with Alonso and Tsunoda finishing the running cars.

It would be interesting to see LeClerc and Verstappen battling on even ground.  Will there be reliability issues?  Will "track limits" be cried often?  Who will be able to look after the tyres best?

Austrian GP Qualifying, Sprint & Race Report

At the Red Bull home track, packed full of bigoted Verstappen fans dressed in orange accessorised with orange flares, it seemed like the team were on track to bring home a one-two.  In Qualifying a lot of teams struggled.  Norris was "scared to hit the brakes" in his McLaren and Ricciardo was out in the first session.  Vettel was the other surprise knock-out in Q1, although I'm not sure it is a surprise anymore.  The final Qualifying session was more chaotic with Hamilton crashing out his Mercedes, closely followed by his team mate.  It looked like it was going to be a Ferrari front row for the Sprint then Verstappen snatched pole.

On to the Sprint and Alonso didn't make it off the grid and then Zhou's engine switched off.  Not a great start to the make or break 20 laps.  There was a little bit of argy-bargy but not too much.  Albon received a 5 second penalty for pushing Norris off the track, which he also did to Vettel, who reversed off of the gravel.  Ultimately Vettel retired, which is not what you want in the sprint.

Vettel started off race day with a disagreement with the stewards.  He feels the switch-around of personnel isn't working for him.  It does seem strange with changes in sticking to the track limits, penalties and how quickly the Safety Car or Red Flag is issued seems to vary hugely race to race, the sport has become more inconsistent.  With Masi having quit the FIA completely to return to his native Australia, perhaps everyone turned on him too quickly?

The number 2 drivers didn't have a great race.  Perez was out early doors and on Lap 57 Sainz caught fire and had the dilemma between staying in a burning car rolling backwards and getting out of the burning car rolling backwards.  McLaren quickly made it up to 9th and 10th but fell back as the race went on.  Ricciardo took to Instagram to let the world know he is not leaving McLaren - only a Story though.

The battle continues to be between LeClerc and Verstappen.  Red Bull just didn't have the pace and LeClerc passed him easily on Lap 12 and Lap 33 and Lap 53.  Despite having problems with his throttle pedal, Verstappen couldn't find a way back past, closing the gap slowly until the race finished.

It looked like Alonso might have pulled a blinder by saving his tyres but then he pitted.  The busiest people this race were the stewards, eyes glued to the white lines to see whose tyres went over and then waving their black and white flags with abandon.  With two more races until the summer break, some drivers have a lot to prove, if they want their seat next year, if they want to be more than number two.

GB GP Race Report

The grid was celeb-packed and the grandstands were filled; the sky had been taken over by heavy, dark clouds.  This despite being promised a dry race, absolutely, for sure.

A thrilling start.  Verstappen easily took Sainz off the start and Hamilton (my prediction for race winner) also got a great start.  Behind them though, it all went wrong.  We saw a car fly upside down across the gravel trap.  Russell was out of his battered Mercedes first and running over to Albon in his Williams who was also there.  Ocon was damaged and limping back to the pits as was Tsunoda.  However, Zhou was trapped in his Alfa Romeo in a barrier.  With improved morals of TV coverage, we didn't see him at all.

As the race had been Red Flagged, the drivers lined their cars up in the pit lane, Latifi was up to 8th.  As the race continued to be paused, the Alpine mechanics struggled to fix Ocon's car and got the gaffer tape out.  It became apparent that Russell had stopped his car of his own volition to see if his fellow drivers were okay but because the marshals bought it back to the pit lane on a truck, he wasn't going to be allowed to restart the race.  He had been running to and from the car out on the track and kept his helmet on, maintaining that he was going to restart the race.  The "Extraction Team" had been out at Zhou's car as it had flipped over the tire barrier and eventually he was pulled out of the car and put on a stretcher and into an ambulance.  At this point, we were shown the incidents off the grid.  Gasly had gone into the back of Russell who spins into Zhou, who flips up, travels upside down across the whole gravel trip and is turned up and over the tire barrier.  Meanwhile, Vettel runs into the back of Albon and spins him.  In positive news, Latifi had overtaken both Zhou and Russell off the grid and is in 8th on his own merit.

For some reason, the cars started in their original grid position. This time, Sainz put on the softest tires and went for a very aggressive start and managed to hold his position with Verstappen, LeClerc and Perez all holding their positions, Norris taking Hamilton behind them.

Sainz and Verstappen resumed their battle from Canada but on Lap 10, Sainz went wide and ran parallel to the track, handing Verstappen an easy lead of the race.  Two laps later, Verstappen ran over the  a bit of carbon and got a puncture, giving Sainz back the lead to a huge cheer/jeer from the crowd.   Further back down the track, the mechanically-mended Alpha Tauri of Tsunoda tangled with his team mate Gasly, sending them both spinning.   Glancing at the race order, I see that Latifi is back in 8th.

Out of the pits, Verstappen declares his car 100% broken and undrivable.  His team report that his car is a little broken at the back but perfectly safe to drive so suck it up.  The Ferraris were now right together and battling for the lead with Hamilton (my prediction for the race win) creeping up behind them.  With both Ferraris pitting, Hamilton took the lead.  Verstappen also pitted and was given the hardest tires that were proving hard to get warmed up and working well.  

By Lap 30, Sainz had been told that unless his lap times match Hamilton's, LeClerc will get a shot of being the leading Ferrari.  Also, Zhou was released from the medical centre as fit but Albon had been transferred to hospital for precautionary checks.

Sainz couldn't make it and LeClerc took second place to Hamilton (my prediction for the race win).  After a slow pit stop from Mercedes though he was behind both Ferraris.  He was warned that the hard tires take a while to get into the zone.  I could see some whinging over the radio coming.

The cars kept dropping out of the race.  After a nice wee battle with Verstappen, Ocon pulled over with a mechanical failure.  He chose a spot that brought a Safety Car straight out.  With 6 cars out of the race, there were two lapped cars, Ricciardo and Tsunoda.  We've barely seen DannyRic this weekend other than when he hit smacked Norris in the race with a space hopper.

With 10 laps to go, the Safety Car period was finishing, Sainz was asked to give LeClerc 10 car lengths breathing space.  With Hamilton right behind him though, how could he do this?  The Ferraris battled hard, with Perez trying to take Hamilton right behind them.  One lap later, the order was Sainz, LeClerc, Perez, Hamilton.  The crowd were on the edge of their seats.  Latifi was in 11th, which is such as shame as he really had earnt a point today.  LeClerc was on hard tires, the others soft.  DRS was enabled.  Could the Red Bull Number 2 overtake the Ferrari Number 1?  Yes, no, yes, no, yes and they let Hamilton through into second.  The tussle continued, places continually switching, Perez pushing drivers off the track left, right and centre.  Alonso, with Norris behind him, arrive on the scene.  No driver was happy to sit back and give up a place, positions switching and switching back and switching back again.

Once again, Ferrari Ferraried things up for LeClerc by not having him on the soft tires after the Safety Car.  Everyone was happy for Sainz to get his maiden victory and for Hamilton to be on the podium (and Fastest Lap).  Schumacher gained his first points in Formula 1.

GB GP Qualifying Report

Being patriotic, we tuned into the Channel 4 coverage.  Well that was a poor choice, I'd forgotten about Eddie Jordan.

The first session started with rain, which slowly cleared away during the session although drivers were able to chase down a quick lap beyond the chequered flag.  Latifi put in a lap to take him 12th momentarily and still made it through to Q2 in 15th, beating his team mate who had the "improvements" on his car.  Mick Schumacher followed him around and wasn't able to even sneak a peek at Q2 (neither was his team mate).  It shows that Schumacher probably isn't the driver his father was and Mazepin must have been truly dreadful to flatter him.  The Aston Martins continue not to benefit from recruiting Red Bull staff by completing the Out in Q1 Line Up.

There were no surprises in the second Qualifying session: Gasly, Bottas, Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Ocon out.  Hold on...where's Latifi?  Didn't he get through to Q2?  He got through to Q3 too!  There's a surprise.  It should be big news for Ricciardo to be out but not these days.  I'm predicting he drives for Williams next year.

The final Qualifying session looked like it was going to be a question of who crossed the finishing line of the drying track last.  Even Alonso and Hamilton were in the mix.  Sainz was first to seem to take pole; Verstappen and LeClerc were unable to beat his time and we waited for the other cars to complete their laps.  Perez 4th, Hamilton 5th, Norris 6th, Alonso 7th then Russell, Zhou and Latifi unable to push higher than 10th.

The crowd were very happy for Sainz to get that pole but then booed Verstappen.  He took it well, like the pantomime villain he is.

Canada GP Race Report

The mood in Montreal was definitely to cheer the under groundhog, Alonso.  He'd come out with some fighting talk about overtaking Verstappen as soon as possible and everyone wanted him on the top step come the end of the race.  It was a good day for the Alpine sponsors.  Fernando was like an adorable grandfather at his teenage daughter's 21st birthday party, lapping up the attention.

Everyone pretty much got away clean at the start with a little front wing damage for the high-starting Magnussen coming into contact with Hamilton.  When DRS was enabled Sainz was straight past Alonso.  There was overtaking up and down the field as drivers out of place moved up and some took unusual pit stops.

9 laps in and Perez lost power, the pendulum has swung back from Red Bull starting the season with reliability issues to Ferrari and now back again.  He considerately parked it near a gap in the barriers to be moved swiftly.  There was a Virtual Safety Car, which many teams chose to pit under, including Verstappen which left Sainz in the lead.

Then Lap 20, Schumacher suffered a power unit failure and parked up.  Virtually out came another Virtual Safety Car and all those that didn't pit last time, pitted this time.  Apart from Alonso, so Verstappen passed him for the lead with Sainz in third.  Hamilton was in front of his team mate Russell, albeit with fresher tires for the fresher driver, so things could get nicely spicy for the Mercedes drivers.  I don't know if team orders were in play but nothing came of it unfortunately.  LeClerc also chose to stay out and take track position.  McLaren Ferraried things up by double stacking the drivers and then taking extra long to do each.

Hamilton overtook Alonso, who then took a regular pit stop, bringing him out in 7th.  The Big Question, as always though, is how are Ferrari going to ruin their race?  LeClerc was stuck behind Ocon for many many laps with Alonso behind him in the other Alpine.  Eventually, the team agreed to pit him.  However, they decided to go for a slow stop, which brought him out behind a long train of traffic in 12th.  They're ingenious and imaginative that team.

Meanwhile, Verstappen was complaining about his tires on the radio, so Red Bull pitted him from the lead.  Only to bring him out right next to Hamilton, who immediately overtook him.  The Dutchman was immediately on the radio swearing at his team.  Not to worry though, as Hamilton was in the pits the next lap, giving Russell third place on a different strategy.  Or was it?  One lap later and Russell was in.  By this point Ocon is running in 5th and Alonso in 6th, showing just how badly Alpine got their strategy wrong.  Just as Sainz and Ferrari had decided to wait for Safety Car to pit, Tsunoda put his car into the wall and ta-da...a Safety Car.  Now it was just a question of a fresh tire overtake at the restart - the biggest test of the Spaniard to far in his career.

In the closing laps, it became clear that Sainz did not have what it takes to take the lead.  Alonso asked for team orders to overtake Ocon but was refused.  LeClerc finished a creditable 5th behind the Mercedes but it's not saving his championship hopes.  The whole weekend showed that it doesn't matter too much if you choose an outstanding up and coming young driver or an old, experienced world champion, if you don't get the strategy right, you may as well employ Latifi.

Canada GP Qualifying Report

A wet race meet had been on and off since the teams touched down in Montreal and Qualifying Day saw just the right amount of rain fall; not so much the session was Red Flagged and sufficient to make it interesting.  The Goldilocks amount of rain.

Rain promises a shake-up in the order of results.  Gasly got himself in trouble with the stewards by driving the wrong side of a bollard.  Canadian Latifi was unable to get through to the second qualifying session, with his team mate managing to do so.  The other Canadian, Stroll, was also out along with team mate Vettel.  LeClerc, Albon and Stroll were investigated for going too slow.  All these investigations came to nothing...

In to session 2 and Albon went off the track, appearing to crash into the wall but no, he kept it going and rejoined.  He is just what Williams need.  Perez then showed Albon how it's done with a full frontal into the tech-pro with a thud and brought out the Red Flag as he couldn't find reverse.  With 8 minutes left of the session, torrential rain would have been very good fun, as Alonso would have been on pole position.  

LeClerc, already awarded a grid penalty for taking a fourth engine of the season, didn't go out to put in a lap.  Alonso held onto that first place for a while before Verstappen swooped in to claim it.  Along with Perez and LeClerc, out went Albon (starting 12th, well done), Bottas and Norris, who had a problem with his car.

In the final session, it all came to down to the very last laps the drivers put in.  Verstappen had quite a secure hold on pole position.  Sainz came close to challenging for it and took second from Hamilton before a storming Alonso, took that away from him.  Russell gambled on slick tires and could only manage 8th.  One wonders if Toto made that call just to stop Hamilton whinging for a bit as he out-qualifies his team mate for once.  Alonso is definitely the fan's favourite and he says he's going for it on race day.

Azerbaijan GP Race Report

I started watching this race knowing who won but not how or why.  So after the start, where Perez had a strong lead over pole-sitter LeClerc, I began to worry that Red Bull are killing the sport in F1 by denying Perez victory.

Obviously Williams are killing themselves in the sport by hanging about on the grid for too long and then taking their stop and go penalty without also changing the tires.

First scalp of the race was Sainz as something failed on his car and he pulled to the side of the track.  This brought out a Virtual Safety Car call, LeClerc pitted immediately and the Red Bulls did not.  It was not the perfect pit for Ferrari, loading the pressure on their one remaining driver.

Lap 15 and it did appear that Verstappen took Perez in a clean overtake with no team orders.  Then we heard the radio and Perez had been told not to "fight".

Next clue as to how he won it; LeClerc's engine blew as he was going down the straight in the middle of the race.

A further clue, being told to slow down by his team with a strong warning that "you know what can happen here..."

The Ferrari-powered cars continued to drop like lead balloons: Zhou then Magnussen.  The latter needed another Virtual Safety Car to clear the car.  The cars flew in to the pits for a "free" stop.

After all the engine failures, the next part to fail was the DRS wing.  Firstly, Tsunoda's split in two and had to be fixed with gaffa tape in the pit, next Verstappen was told not to use his for the rest of the race.  Not to worry as he was out ahead with his wingman Perez behind him.

Further back the McLarens were having a spat over who got to be the first one to cross the line and the Mercedes drivers were being bounced to pieces by their car.  Next thing we know, Hamilton takes Gasly for 4th, which means that they are 3rd and 4th.  Still it's better than Ferrari.  And Latifi gets into trouble for ignoring blue flags.

Russell took a strong third (Mr Consistency, as his team called him, sexy).  Alonso had a strong race but we didn't see anything of him.  Ricciardo finished ahead of his team mate but I'm sure the media will say Norris was told to stay behind him.  The Big Question as we leave the street tracks behind was whether team orders were at play at Red Bull, Perez did take the point for fastest lap.  Also why was Hamilton voted Driver of the Day?  Lots of overtaking I suppose and he could barely get out of the car for back pain.

I'm really enjoyed the return of the televised cool room, especially with the screen warning the drivers not to swear.  They decided not to say anything just in case.  Not long to wait to see if the tension in the teams boils over, next week Canada.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

Firstly, Qualifying was delayed.  Then, nothing much happened for ten minutes or so.  Our predictions were LeClerc for pole (me), Verstappen for pole (him) and Schumacher (me) and Latifi (him) to bring out a Red Flag during Qualifying.  It was Stroll.  Leaving lots of drivers in a precarious position of trying to qualify with two and half minutes left.  Still, it's a street circuit, and one should know to get a banker lap in.

With seconds to go, thirteen cars were out on track and hoping to pass the chequered flag in time.  The Haas made a last-minute overtake to be ahead of the McLarens on track.  The back of the train were further hindered by a Yellow Flag in the second sector of the track.  Albon was calling for Alonso (the bringer of the Yellow Flag), to be penalised for holding everyone up.  There were no surprises with the two Williams drivers and the two Haas out with Stroll.

Qualifying 2 was then held up by Stroll's team mate Vettel, hitting the wall (who still made it into the final session???).  Luckily, for the drivers, not for Aston Martin, he was able to reverse and get back to the grid.  The session continued with no great drama.  Both McLarens out and most of the usuals through.

The final Qualifying session was, once again, down to the Red Bulls and Ferraris.  Perez, having looked very strong so far,  conveniently wasn't fueled in time and let Verstappen out cleanly.  Not to worry, he still popped his car ahead of this team mate to take second.  With his recent record, Verstappen may fall out of love with this team quickly.  Sainz didn't have the pace to match his team mate, who pulled his trade mark single spectacular lap out of the bag to take pole.  There was no way the Mercerdes were in the mix as the bouncing looks unbearable, I don't know how they're going to keep it up for 2 hours.

Johnny Herbert has been let loose in the paddock again, not really asking questions and bewildering the drivers.

Monaco GP Race Report

The grey clouds were looming over the moneyed cliffs of Monte Carlo and a wet race seemed our only chance of an enjoyable race.  Be careful what you wish for.  Before the race, Sainz commented that he wouldn't be racing LeClerc as this isn't a track you can actually race at.  It's a race where the tires and the pit stop strategy and teamwork therein is going to make or break it as entertainment.

Just as the race was due to start the heavens opened and the race start was a little delayed.  The drivers tried a few formation laps behind the Safety Car then the race was red flagged and stopped.  So much for rain bringing electric racing.

Behind the Safety Car,  Latifi  drove his Williams straight into the wall at the hairpin, then Stroll hit the barriers side on.  Next the Canadians nearly collided in the pit lane.  Gasly was also in on the first racing lap for the Intermediate tire.  I know wet conditions, living in Glasgow, and I wouldn't have said it was Inters o'clock.  But as the laps went by it was Gasly on those tires that brought the racing to Monaco.  It looked like the other drivers would go straight from Wet tires to Slick, dry weather, tires.  Hamilton pitted, would it be him to lead the way?  No, Intermediate tires.  Perez playing the same strategy as the Red Bull guinea pig after him.   Hamilton and Ocon started battling.

LeClerc and his rival Verstappen pitted at the same time for a cautious Wets to Intermediate tire change, which allowed Perez to take overtake them.  Albon took slick tires alongside Schumacher, rolling the dice as they pass the casino.

Sainz came in for dry tires too and Ferrari double-stacked him with LeClerc behind.  The team had radioed him to come in, then to stay out but it was too late.  Once again Ferrari Ferraried their race up.  Red Bull then also double-stacked.  Perez overtook Sainz in the pits; with Verstappen overtaking LeClerc too.

A third of the way in to the race, Mick Schumacher managed a typical Monaco, dramatic spin and crash which led to the Safety Car being deployed.  A few laps later the Red Flag was flown to stop the race and there was so much car to sweep up, both the nose and the back end came off.  A key safety point though: no tires ran free.

After another rolling start, the laps ticked by in a processional format.  The lap counter switched to a clock.  With 10 minutes to go the top 4 (2 Red Bulls and 2 Ferraris) were nose to tail.  It did all come down to tires and pit stop strategy and Red Bull won it with Perez with an old skool over cut.   After all that effort Gasly didn't even get points.  LeClerc commented that this was "abysmal".

Monaco GP Qualifying Report

Not much to say about the first Qualifying session.  Firstly because I didn't see it through an administrative recording error and secondly because it appeared only usual suspects went out: the Williams, Zhou, Gasly (maybe a surprise here) and Stroll.

Again, no huge surprises in Q2.  Ricciardo continues to have abysmal form and was 14th.  Vettel was delighted to be through and Bottas was astonished to be out.  Russell and Alonso just edged it through.

Also there didn't seem to have been any accidents so far (although did something happen with Gasly and a marshall with an errant red flag?).  Then Q3 happened.  All 10 cars were out for a final push, it didn't look like there would be any major changes from the earlier fast laps.  Then Perez slid into the barrier, Sainz didn't see the Yellow Flag and crashed into him.  The drivers came up along the pair and couldn't get past.  Would Sainz get a penalty for going through these flags?  It gave LeClerc the pole, Sainz second and Perez third, costing his team mate any chance of starting the race ahead of him.  Will Perez have to change some car part to move Verstappen up the grid?  It seems team orders are on now for the second driver at Red Bull.  Further back around the grid, Alonso also put his car nose-first in to the wall.  The pressure at Monaco to qualify well showed.  Shall we just award the points now?

Rain was predicted for race day.  A little bit of spice added to the bouillabaisse.  

Spain GP Race Report

Another week, another scorching hot race.  I remember when Spain wasn't at all interested in F1 but now it's a huge event.  They have two drivers participating with massive support, with that in mind, Alonso took a new engine and had to start at the back of the grid.  Most teams turn up the wick at their home track.

It was predicted as a two or three stop race with tire degradation being a major issue and the drivers who can best manage their tires being in the best situation.

An exciting start off the grid; Perez got an excellent take-off and was briefly third before being overtaken by Russell.  Behind them, Hamilton also made a good start but was then tagged by Magnussen, who went off into the gravel.  Magnussen made it back to the pits and eventually came back out.  Hamilton had a puncture and pitted to get new tires.  Just when a red flag or safety car would have helped them out immensely, none was forthcoming.  I believe it's a different rotation of race director this weekend...

Alonso was being heartily cheered on as he progressed up the grid.  By the time he reached 14th, Sainz was caught by a gust of wind at turn 4 and spun off, luckily he was able to get back on the track.  A couple of laps later, Verstappen was caught out by the same (???) gust of wind at turn 4, spinning off the track and coming back on.  During this incident though, Russell and Perez went passed him.  Red Bull had to solve the headache of whether to leave Perez ahead or ask him to move over.  It didn't take long before the latter was acted out.

Hamilton was on the radio asking to retire the car and save the engine.  He was told to keep going as he might get 8th place.  How the mighty have fallen.  Still he rises.  Talking of ignominy, Ricciardo was overtaken by Norris.

Red Bull faced their own mechanical problems, with the DRS flap not always opening.  A long and angry team radio conversation ensued, with Verstappen being told he had closed the DRS flap at one point and the reply being that he has to press it 50 times to get it to work.  During this Verstappen is in a long and intense battle with Russell for second place.  Verstappen briefly took the lead but Russell regained his position immediately.  Perez arrived at the back of this tussle and got on his radio demanding to be let past Verstappen as he had fresher tires.  Meanwhile, LeClerc is miles out ahead and enjoying a calm race before we see him going slowly and hear a noise akin to a Dyson switching off and a space being cleared in the garage for his car.  The first retirement.  Heartbreaking.

Stroll helped Hamilton gain a place closer to his race-leading team mate by spinning off.  It felt like he might just trundle about at the back to prove his point to his team.  Then he shook off his fug and made his way up to 4th position.

Red Bull pitted Verstappen, solving the dilemma of which of their drivers should be in front of the other.  This also put Bottas in a podium position.  Half way through the race, Perez sailed passed Russell to take the lead.  Verstappen was able to overtake Bottas for third place easily.  Another Ferrari powered engine, that of Zho, then failed.  The reliability gremlins have left the sinking ship of Red Bull for the sweeter pastures at Ferrari.

Red Bull positions were again changed two thirds through the race when Verstappen took a third pitstop.  He later thanked Perez on the radio for being a "good team mate".  Read "biddable".  The Mexican did take the point for fastest lap though and commented on the radio that: "We need to speak later."

With one lap to go both Mercedes were told to "lift and coast" as much as possible and this was a DNF risk.  Sainz was straight passed.  Bizarrely it was water leak on the power unit.  Unusual and even more unusual that it occurred on both cars.

The Spanish GP was notable in that there were no red flags and no safety cars.  Lots of overtaking, DRS and otherwise.  Lots of action albeit with stretches of order maintained.  Russell was overjoyed to be on the podium.  Verstappen looked happy  but used to these circumstances.  Perez looked fed up  but pulled out a smile for the Spanish crowd and diplomatic comments.  It didn't help that De La Rosa also called his a "great team player."

Spain GP Qualifying Report

Back to racing in Europe and major upgrades were expected.  Aston Martin reworking themselves as the Green Bull did no good as both drivers were out in Q1.  Along with Alonso, massively disappointing the record Spanish crowd.  Upon being told he was out, Vettel said: "You must be kidding".  So it must have all looked very promising on paper.

Greater drama came in Q2 at the end.  Norris had his time eliminated just as the session was ending, which meant that both Haas were through to Q3.  Alpha Tauri felt that they could not give Gasly the car he deserved, he did manage to get this horrific vehicle to 14th though.

At a circuit where overtaking is difficult, it would be a test for the new aerodynamic regulations to see if they could spice up the race but, just in case, the drivers needed to qualify well.  LeClerc hadn't had a brilliant session so far, spinning the car.  When it looked like Verstappen might get the pole, he radioed that he was losing power, was told to go to the pits by his team and didn't.  Luckily for him, his first run lap was good enough for second; with home hero Sainz only managing third and his team mate LeClerc getting the pole.  The commentators were looking to see if Russell could get in the mix with this potential change of order, not Hamilton though...  Russell managed fourth.  LeClerc didn't seem to believe it in the interviews.

Miami GP Qualifying & Race Report

Despite the hype, neither Qualifying not the Race were great shakes.  It was noticable that neither Ricciardo not Vettel could make the final Qually session, despite their younger team mates managing it.  Anyway, enough about the track action back to the hype.

There were marshals placed at strategic position in trees around the track to stop 4kg iguanas falling onto the track. The pundits were keen to make sure we all knew about other perils around: concrete walls = guaranteed safety cars, Florida = spontaneous heavy rain, poor quality track = high levels of tire degradation, low level running prior to race = unknown pit strategies, high level of celebrity presence = Paris Hilton.

The first mistake of the race came from Aston Martin, who played it too cool and chilled their petrol to illegally low levels and lost the advantage of good qualifying positions to start from the pit lane.

Not much interest at the start, Zhou retired.  The straight line advantage of the Red Bull showed when Verstappen overtook pole-sitter LeClerc on Lap 9 with a wee bit of DRS assistance.  The irony here is that it let the Dutchman take off into the distance, eliminating any future overtaking.

Alonso and Gasly seemed to be the headline makers of the race.  Alonso showed the field how to have a poor pit stop, which several others tried out too.  Notably Sainz but it the long term it did him no damage.

Perez had an interesting argument with his engineers.  They told him he definitely was not losing power.  Definitely.  Told him to try "Fail 50" and later concede he was right.

Then , at last, some of the promised action, it was Lap 41 of 57 and Norris tags Gasly, spinning multiple times.  The Virtual Safety Car came out, giving Russell the opportunity he wanted, having earlier decided he would leave his choice of tire up to a time such as this arising or not.  Gasly appeared to be struggling with a mechanical problem.

The stewards announced that Alonso was going to be given a 5 second penalty for an earlier knock with Gasly.  And the race restarted....with nothing much changing.  Bottas was running high in 5th, ahead of both Mercedes.  Hamilton had to decide whether to pit under the Safety Car and try some soft tires and lose a position or not to pit and lost position to his team mate because he had old tires.  Next thing we know both Mercedes have overtaken Bottas.  He keeps trying for Schadenfreude and it never seems to work out.  There were no team orders in the German outfit as Russell and Hamilton kept battling it out for 5th and 6th place.

Mick Schumacher was set to score the first points of his career in 9th when his mentor, Vettel crashed in to him putting them both back quite a few places.  There is always a silver lining though as Albon was up to 10th, gaining another point for the beleaguered Williams.

The stewards noted an incident involving Magnussen and Vettel, who were nowhere near each other on track.  A few laps later a correction came up, which I haven't seen before, it was Schumacher and Ricciardo.  Proving it was a dull race and the stewards had dozed off too.

In the end, once he had got past LeClerc, Verstappen held the race lead and never looked like he was going to lose it.  I had thought he would make an error but none came, a sign of a driver maturing...or a driver not really put under pressure.

Emilia Romagna GP Race Report

We switched the TV on and the umbrellas were out...there was huge potential for something a little bit interesting at this race.  Even with Verstappen and LeClerc lined up at the front of the grid, how many Red Flags would there be?  How many Safety Cars?  How many drivers would finish the race?  Will the Honda/Red Bull engines be reliable?

The track started to dry up and the drivers needed to choose which wet tire to start on.  As Hamilton was out on track investigating, he radioed in with engine problems.  The Mercedes just can't catch a break at the moment.

LeClerc has only ever won from starting in pole position (a trend which continues).  And he lost out to both Sainz and Norris off the start.  Things went from bad to worse for the Tfosi as sometime Italian Ricciardo took Sainz out at the next corner.  Ricciardo was able to get the car back on track though.   Refreshingly, this was put down as a racing incident by the stewards.

Safety Car: 1

Red Flag: 0

Unsurprisingly, Perez posed no great threat to his teammate Verstappen when the Safety Car went in.  During the calm everyone realised that Russell had made up many places from his starting position and Alonso had a great big hole in the side of his car.

The track dried out and McLaren pulled last place Ricciardo in to try slick tires.  As he set good times through the sectors, everyone pitted their drivers.  Red Bull won this with a pit stop 1.4 second quicker than Ferrari.  Bottas also had a nightmare stop.  Not quite like Hamilton, who had Ocon released on top of him and was then overtaken by Albon in his Williams for 12th place.

The race plodded on, the second rain shower (Class 0-1 according to McLaren) never arrived, Verstappen lapped Hamilton, Ricciardo came in for 97 pit stops.  LeClerc could not catch up with the Red Bulls, Norris couldn't catch up with LeClerc, Russell couldn't catch up with Norris.  Plod plod plod.   With 12 laps to go, LeClerc pitted for the soft tire to try something new.  This brought him out behind Norris, although it was only a few corners before he got passed.  Perez came in from second next for some soft tires and came out in second.  Then Verstappen.  Surely someone was going to have an awful stop or be penalised for speeding in the the pit lane?  No.  LeClerc came on to the radio regretting having chosen the soft tire over the medium.  Altogether now: non, je ne regrette rien.  The commentators began to hype up the potential of LeClerc going for second place and as they spoke, the driver hit the kerb awkwardly, spun and nudged the wall, requiring a trip to his pit for new wing and tires and came out in 9th.

Ultimately, it was a dominant weekend for Red Bull, pole position, Sprint win and third, 1 2 finish.

I was surprised to see the return of pre-podium room banter!  Co-vid has bid us farewell and now we can listen in to people in a small room not wearing masks.  They watched LeClerc's crash and analysed it.

Much was made of there being no DRS for the first 35 laps.  Would it have improved the race?  I'm not sure. It wasn't a classic and we're all being reminded why we haven't raced at Imola for while until Co-vid forced the FIA's hand.  Roll on Miami.

Emilia Romagna GP Sprint Report

With 6 Red Flags in Qualifying, what would happen in an actual race?  Lap 2 and out came the Safety Car when Zhou went over Gasly and into the wall.  

This came hot on the heels of an explosive start with LeClerc taking Verstappen off the grid, with Norris pushing him hard.  Alonso, starting out 5th and everyone's shout for surprise podium, got overtaken by all and sundry.  The Mercedes couldn't make a speedy getaway to make up for their poor qualifying with both cars losing places.

Basically the Sprint meant that anyone interesting who was near the front of the grid is starting much further back and there was no real change at the front.  Ferrari will have a greater knowledge of racing on the Soft compound of tire, which hopefully they can apply for the race proper.  On the mini podium the drivers were given a maxi medal - what happened to the laurel wreaths?  Next year, a book token will be awarded.

Emilia Romangna GP - Qualifying Report

A new feature at this race weekend - rain!

Following his hot points success in Australia, Albon set fire to one of his brakes and brought out a Red Flag in Q1.  Not sure why as the Williams didn't leave any debris on the track; there was a lot of sweeping up anyway.  The track dried up but rain still threatened.  Latifi also managed to spin his Williams putting both cars in the bottom 3 positions.  Heros to zeros.  The porpoising on the Mercedes looked unbearable and they just scraped through the first session.  The Williams were joined by Ocon, who doesn't have the new floor, and got stuck in his garage and both Alpha Tauris.

Q2 saw rain clouds blowing in and drivers pushing to get multiple quick laps in on the same run.  Different drivers were setting personal bests and pushing.  Sainz pushed too hard in his Ferrari, clutching his brand new contract, lost the rear of his car and put it into the wall.  Another Red Flag.  By the time Sainz got back to the pit on a moped and his car was hauled out of the wall, the rain was falling heavily.  The Tfosi had their rain macs on and it looked like no one wanted to go out on track as there was no way to set a quicker time.  With a couple of minutes to go, some of the drivers came out to get a feel for the conditions.  So both Mercedes were out of Qualifying, along with the predictable three: Schumacher, Zhou and Stroll.

And Q3 started, off the 10 drivers went, then KMag went nose-first into the wall.  There were waved Yellow Flags...would it be a Red?  He drove it round the tarmac and back on track, it was still a Red Flag though.  The drivers get going and there were lots of contenders for pole battling it out, trying to avoid the slippery white lines.  Then, of course, another Red Flag as Bottas pulled his Alfa Romeo in to the side of the track.  So the drivers queued up at the end of the pit lane to get out at the front to try and have two stabs at pole.  Off they went...and Norris spun off, quite gently.  The sixth and final Red Flag secured his third place on the grid.  Verstappen got his first pole position of the year followed by LeClerc and Norris.  Magnussen did a good job starting fourth for the sprint, with Alonso behind him they need to make themselves very wide.

George Russell felt that they could make up this poor qualifying in the sprint, and there was the race too.  It's Friday hey!  Saturday, Sunday, what?

Australian GP Qualifying & Race Report

It was a doozy of a weekend for Aston Martin, who seem to have attracted a number of headlines.  There was the Free Practice sessions with crashes for both drivers (one of whom doesn't seem quite right after his bought of Co-Vid) with Vettel then getting a fine for driving back to the pits on a moped, on the race track.  Then Stroll ran into Latifi in his freshly rebuilt car in Qualifying.  A triumph of Daddy's money over driving ability.  

The biggest scalp in Q1 was Magnussen, no longer the comeback backmarker magician.  There were no big surprises in Q2.  The final Qualifying session was slightly disastrous.  Alonso pushed too hard and had problems with his hydraulics and gears and DNF.  There were 2 red flags (without Latifi even being on track).  As Sainz was only able to take 9th, his Ferrari team mate LeClerc snatched pole from Verstappen.

The race promised excitement with the two rivals lined up next to each other on the grid.  Hamilton made up 3 places off the grid, unfortunately Sainz spun on Lap 2 bringing out the Virtual Safety Car and then the real Safety Car.  Albon did not pit under Safety Car conditions.  I watched this race on Channel 4 and it speaks volume about the quality of the race that in a highlights format they chose to show the replay of the start 5 times from different driver perspectives rather than action on track.  Verstappen was reminded that he is not allowed to draw alongside the leader of the Safety Car crocodile, very much a primary teacher shouting to walk single file in the corridor.

16 laps later, Vettel drove off the road bringing out another Safety Car, in the middle of a great battle between Hamilton and Perez.  Albon did not pit under Safety Car conditions.

The battle between Verstappen and LeClerc simmered away throughout until weird noises and strange smells brought the Red Bull to a stop.  A Virtual Safety Car was called again.  The Dutchman is not going to keep his world title if Red Bull cannot achieve better than 1 in 3 race reliability.  Albon did not pit.  By this point I was very worried/confused.  Albon was running in 7th, brilliant.  Why hadn't he pitted?  Is running two different tire compounds no longer a requirement?  Is he waiting for another Safety Car?  Surely his team mate, Latifi, could bring out another Safety Car?  A startling brilliant strategy from Williams played out, earning them one point, as Albon pitted during the final lap to comply with regulations.  Is Latifi's daddy going to start asking the team if the two men are driving the same car?

Hamilton appeared to blame Mercedes for putting him in a "really bad position" with Russell able to put under the Safety Car and Hamilton having unfortunately pitted just before the incident.  He needs to find some way of driving a poor car well, as his team mate is second in the championship.  Which, whilst being mathematically correct, does seem inherently wrong.  Red Bull seem in danger of handing points over to Mercedes too often.  Everyone was pleased to be in the Australian sun again, although questions were asked about the sustainability of travelling there and back for just one race and not stopping in somewhere local as well.  With three races confirmed in America next year, I think we can see a winning sustainable format ahead...hold all the races in different states of America and call it a world championship.  Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

Saudi Arabia GP Qualifying & Race Report

Well, everyone was very happy with the result of Qualifying, Checo Perez taking his first pole position, with a lap that he couldn't explain.  Mick Schumacher lost control of his Haas in a big incident; big enough that we weren't shown it until he was in the ambulance, having spoken to the medics.  For those of us who watched Senna's crash, it feels like such a paradigm shift.  With his car finishing in two parts, he wasn't able to take part in the race, which is a huge shame as Haas need to capitalise on being ahead of other, better-funded, bigger operations.  Magnussen started in 10th.   It's no shock that there was another big smash at Jeddah, it's a tricky, street-style circuit with concrete barriers.  The big shock was that Hamilton couldn't put the lap together to get out of Q1 and started 15th.   Williams seem to have been completely unable to work the regulation changes to any kind of advantage, starting 16th and 18th.

Following all the drama with Red Bull Power Trains (their engines) last race out, Tsunoda breaking down en route to the grid wasn't a good sign for those Red Bulls trying to catch up with Ferrari and Mercedes.  Perez was still in the lead off the grid, with Verstappen overtaking Sainz.  The Alpines held their places and theirs was also the early battle, the team mates really going head-to-head down the main straight, with Alonso finally getting the DRS advantage.  They did help Russell keep ahead in 5th though.

Ferrari and LeClerc tricked Red Bull into stopping early, even radioing in "Box to overtake".  The advantage was definitely given when Latifi (the championship decider from 2021) crashed into the straight wall and brought out the Safety Car.  Ricciardo, who went for an early stop and committed to a one-stop race, was also a big winner (or so it seemed).  Betting on the Safety Car coming out at Saudi is all the bookmakers' favourite.

After the Safety Car went in, LeClerc held on to first place.  And the race trundled on...

Suddenly, lap 36, Bernie's Big Magnets (a bit like his plan to use water sprinklers) were switched on and Alonso lost power, then Ricciardo and then Bottas was in the pits retiring.  And the Virtual Safety Car was brought out.  After a lot of clearing up, there was 9 laps of racing to go.  Verstappen took LeClerc, LeClerc took Verstappen.  Verstappen might be an aggressive and instinctive driver but LeClerc has the smarts.  With 3 laps to go, Verstappen finally got it right and now had to defend.  Ferrari took second and third.  Hamilton gained a point for finishing 10th.  Magnussen got 2 points from Haas.

Just to make Williams' day even worse, Albon and Stroll came together.

Going Up

• Say what you like about the Saudi's but they know how to paint some damn fine run-off pictures
• Alpine - team mates allowed to race
• Marshals - handling any and all crisis'

Going Down

• Sportswashing