Just when Formula 1 is reaching more fans and becoming more accessible, the FIA throws a spanner at Liberty Media and Lazenby is left trying to explain some imperative technical changes because Pirelli have botched up making tyres, the one thing that Pirelli do. It turns out that staying on the track at turns 12 and 13 is too much for these tyres. Or the kerbs. Something or other. And they're going to check the tyres more often. Don't worry, Rosberg was there to grill someone from the FIA, who also struggled to explain the problem.
For light relief, Sky cut to stroppy Stroll. New footage had emerged of him throwing his steering wheel away. He was also in trouble for going backstage and pushing his trainer rather than going to be weighed.
The Shootout was delayed for an extra 10 minute practice so drivers could experience the changes to the track. As it got underway, it became clear that track limits would continue from Qualifying yesterday to be a problem. On the timing chart, drivers set times and then fell back to the bottom as their time was deleted.
Out went: Stroll, who went wide; Albon who wide, Tsunoda, who cursed all the way back to the pits, having had a time deleted; Magnussen and Sargeant.
In the second session, it seemed much tighter at the top with Norris really pushing Verstappen and Russell and LeClerc in the mix too. Hamilton and Sainz had lap times deleted but the Ferraris were struggling with wind. In the end though Sainz pushed Hamilton out of the Shootout in 12th. He was preceded by Gasly and followed by Lawson (who would be put back after a time deletion to split the Alfa Romeos), Bottas (just like the good old days) and Zhou.
I hesitated to type the final Sprint Shootout classification as lap times continued to be okay and not. Norris gave the pole position to his team mate Piastri with a huge slide coming out of the final corner. Verstappen had to settle for third with Russell, Alonso, Sainz, LeClerc, Hulkenberg, Perez and Ocon.
And on to the Sprint...
It was a competitive start, not many drivers seemed to care about keeping the car in one piece for the race tomorrow. Alonso had stressed the importance of "staying safe" after the Shootout. The Ferraris made it up to 3rd and 4th and Russell got into 2nd. Norris fell back to 6th, behind Verstappen. The McLaren driver wasn't the biggest loser, it was Lawson, in his final race for Alpha Tauri this season, as he spun out into the gravel and beached himself. It brought out the Safety Car, so we could replay the start lots. Luckily it didn't take long to remove the car.
Russell had soft tyres and was able to overtake Piastri for the lead when the Safety Car went back in. Still, it was less than a lap later for the normal Safety Car Whisperer, Logan Sargeant, to beach his car in the gravel and no sooner had Burt Mylander took his helmet off, he was back out again. It was a long walk across the gravel for the American.
Russell slowed the pack right down, knowing that when he led off the medium-tyred Piastri wouldn't be able to keep up. Sainz had a good look at the rookie too. Finally on Lap 9 of 19, Verstappen switched his Red Bull on and sailed passed LeClerc to take 4th. It was down to the soft tyres the Ferraris were on starting to grain and go off, whilst the medium tyres of the Red Bull and McLaren came into play. Norris swept past LeClerc too and Piastri overtook Russell for the lead. Just as things were getting interesting, we got another Safety Car on Lap 11. Perez tangled with Ocon and Hulkenberg; all three cars tried to go into the same corner at the same time. As Perez wouldn't be getting any points, as long as Verstappen scored something, he would be world champion. Checo stood hands in the air in despair beside his car. Russell was desperate for new tyres but he couldn't retake the places with so little time left and the pack running so close together. Verstappen was warned that damage was starting to show on his tyres but he was desperate to win.
LeClerc was the biggest winner at the restart, taking his place back from Norris. A lap later, Verstappen took second from Russell. When McLaren got their tyres switched on, Norris was past LeClerc and Sainz for 4th. On the final lap, Norris claimed the third step of the podium from Russell and Piastri was nearly 2 seconds ahead in the lead. We can see now why Norris was so disappointed after Qualifying, McLaren can challenge Red Bull at this track and he wants to be the driver to do it, not his rookie team mate.
Somehow, and with 5 cars DNF, Albon made it from the back of the grid ish to 8th, getting past the Aston Martin of Alonso on the last lap to claim 1 point.
The Dutch fans who had travelled to the Middle East and paid the extra for the Saturday Sprint, were rewarded by seeing their hero crowned World Champion. McLaren and Piastri proved that the whole fiasco with Alpine was worth it as he took the Sprint win.
I had wondered why there were no black and white flags for going over the track limits during the Sprint but apparently we just weren't told about them during the race. There weren't enough for any time penalties to be handed out though. There shouldn't have been many as so many laps were slow under the Safety Car.
The podium finishers were given their plaques, which look a lot like house door number signs. Then they stood in front of the neon screens to have their photos taken with them. Could Norris break his duck in the race tomorrow? Will Verstappen have one too many Red Bull and vodkas tonight to celebrate his championship and help his pal out?
No comments:
Post a Comment