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.