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.