Mexico GP Race Report

The question that plays on my mind as we enter this race is why are we all suddenly rooting for Verstappen to win the Driver's Championship?  Surely, we want anyone else but him to win...to prove that it is possible?

The circuit was showing itself to be tricky over the weekend, there were various directives about which way you should go if you happened to veer outside the white lines and it was also a little slippery, not to mention the high altitude (please no one mention the high altitude anymore).  There were lock-ups going to the grid and Verstappen's drinks bottle was leaking unless he clamped his teeth down on the straw.  I think this is just the kind of racing impediment that Ecclestone was looking to bring in to spice up the racing.

The start was both absolute chaos and not really chaotic at all.  Verstappen went wide and cut back in, then giving places gained back.  But not to Russell.  Stroll Strolled at the back.  Norris had a gap big enough to avoid DRS by the end of the first lap, out in the lead.  Bearman made up three places and Piastri dropped two.  

On lap two, Lawson pitted for a new front wing but it wasn't long before he had to retire the car.

Then something happened as we were watching the replays of the start.  It was hard to tell what because it was hard to tell if we were still watching the replays or live racing.  Verstappen went off, Bearman got to fourth, Russell dropped to seventh and Hamilton went off over the grass (BBC Five Live kept saying that drivers were "cutting the grass", this irked me because they are racing highly-sophisticated pieces of tech not ride-on mowers).  Then drivers seemed to go off again, or was this a replay, with Bearman getting past.  The coverage was very confused, at no point did they show a long enough shot of one continuous piece of action for you to get the full picture of what happened but cut to other angles or what was happening elsewhere.  They couldn't have known it was too soon to go back to replay the start but actually, they could see that the drivers were still going three or four wide into corners.  Ultimately, I still have no real idea what happened in these two early incidents, one of which resulted in Hamilton getting a ten second penalty and his promising race ruined.

Tsunoda did a good enough job of holding up Piastri for his team mate but by lap eleven, he was passed.  Meanwhile Norris was setting fastest lap after fastest lap but Antonelli and Russell seemed to be in freefall.

Williams gave Sainz a five second pit stop but the limiter was broken on his car so he received a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane too, which happened again towards the end of the race.  As he was out of the points anyway, he came in and took it with no work happening on the car so that it wouldn't be carried over to the next event.

And now we get to half way through the race, phew!  Russell was getting angrier and angrier on the radio that he was not being assisted to get past his team mate ahead of him.  Contender for radio comment of the season is his engineer who, when told that Russell felt he was quicker than Antonelli, told him he was free to race.  This went on and on until Mercedes capitulated and they switched places, which was tricky going because Piastri was right behind the pair.  It was then clearly pointlessly risky as they pitted Antonelli and McLaren also bought in Piastri.  This seemed like madness as it had been labelled a one stop race with no need to change for fresh soft tyres.  Russell and Bearman also went for it, with Bearman giving up his third place to Verstappen.  The question is whether Bearman secured fourth place or lost third?

At this point Aston Martin retired Alonso, with Hulkenberg having stopped in his garage earlier in the race.

We were nearly at the end now when Sainz stopped in the baseball stadium section, there were two laps to go when it was decided that a Virtual Safety Car was needed, which halted a fierce battle between LeClerc (who had held second for the whole race) and Verstappen.  By now Norris had a thirty-five second lead.  Even though Verstappen might think he was denied a short time to try and get past LeClerc, I would contend that it also game him time not to make a stupid mistake.  He is starting to look hot-headed again as the championship is now in his sight.  Unfortunately, Bearman was fifteen seconds behind, so even if he did something stupid and was given a ten second penalty, it wouldn't promote the Haas driver.  He would be voted Driver of the Day though.  It makes me want to check whether Ocon's contract is secure for next season as he has been so thoroughly trounced by his rookie team mate.

Norris finished the Mexican event as championship leader again and he looked calm, despite the booing.

Mexico GP Qualifying Report

Back to racing straight away on the other side of the pond, Sainz was going to be using his five place grid penalty straight away after he caused a collision last weekend.  The much-discussed repercussions had also been dropped at McLaren, which now seems like a very good way to get everyone talking about you.

All-in-all it was a very standard Qualifying event.  Colapinto seemed to go rallying at the end of the first session and Hadjar shocked everyone by putting in the quickest lap.  He was ahead of Hamilton and Russell; in fact, there were six different teams in the top ten.  Out went Bortoleto, Albon, Gasly, Stroll and Colapinto.  The Williams was having an ongoing problem with it's brakes, which they really need to fix before the race.  This position would have been a big disappointment.

In the second session, there was very heavy traffic in the pit lane with four minutes to go but it didn't lead to any drama.  The drivers leaving Qualifying were: Tsunoda, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Lawson.  This time Hadjar only scraped through in tenth.

With less than three minutes until the end of the final session, the drivers were all queued up again but no one missed out on putting in their fastest effort.  No driver really put a foot wrong so it was all down to inherent pace, set up and skill.  Norris was fastest, which looked like a shoe-in, followed by LeClerc, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen, Antonelli, Sainz, Piastri, Hadjar and Bearman.

LeClerc will have been pleased to pip his team mate to second at the last gasp as Hamilton had been second in both the other sessions.  I can't believe that Hamilton is still chasing his first podium for Ferrari and I expect he has his eye on the win.  He said he was going to be aggressive and I think he will be, not minding getting in trouble with Fred if anything happens with LeClerc and knowing Norris needs to be cautious.

Verstappen said he had no pace and needs other drivers ahead of him to retire if he is going to make up any places (could Hamilton's plan to be aggressive help him out?).  Piastri is still two places behind him on the grid and seems to have lost all confidence in his capabilities.  I wonder if this will be play out in the same way as when Button won his championship with Brawn, in that it was a strong start and then the gap closed and closed until there just wasn't any more races left to lose points at.

US GP Race Report

Before we got racing, Austin provided us with the added excitement of monster trucks to take the drivers around on their parade.  Not all trucks were created equal and some drivers seemed to be going around in glorified golf buggies.  

Qualifying had been a mixed bag: Albon's position of 17th makes me start to be disappointed in him.  However, it was looking as spicy as a hot wing at the front of the grid and there would definitely be some elbows out and other drivers holding their breath and just hoping to get through the start safely.  All the discussion immediately after the first turn incident in the Sprint was that it had been a racing incident, that seemed to have changed to the blame being assigned to Hulkenberg and by the time the race had come around there were digs at Piastri.

Brundle's grid walk was unusual, if you caught it.  He was made to do the first part with actor Glen Powell, who asked questions like: "What is a tyre?" and the straight was packed with people who all seemed to be paying punters rather than slebs.  Apart from Shaboozey, who seemed, like Powell, to be omnipresent.  

Disappointingly, it was a clean start, with Verstappen driving off into the distance.  LeClerc overtook Norris, who had more reason to be cautious, on softer tyres, a Ferrari strategy that was well-thought out for a change.  The pair battled hard for half of the race.  Albon, at the back, collided with Bortoleto, Stroll was in the mix too.  Hamilton and Piastri got past Russell and Bearman fell back.

The calm was short-lived and on lap seven, Antonelli and Sainz came together, putting the Williams out of the race; he was to be the only retiree.  A Virtual Safety Car was put in place and Albon was the only driver to pit during it.  If the whole Williams weekend wasn't such a shambles you might think it had been planned.

The thrilling prospect of track limits came into play fairly quickly (almost exciting as tyre strategy talk); Hadjar was shown the dreaded black and white flag (although I have never sighted it) for exceeding track limits sufficiently that if he did it again, he would get a five second penalty.  He would be followed during the race by Norris, Albon and Bortoleto.  No one actually was penalised though, which just goes to show that it is possible to stay within the white lines.

Ferrari fought hard to try and get LeClerc second place, boxing him ahead of Norris but in the end they had to settle for third.  Bearman tried to bring in more interest by going wide and spewing up a plume of dust as he tried to overtake Tsunoda and spun himself.

With sixteen laps to go Norris's tyres started to go and it looked like the one battle on track was off but they came back to him and it was reignited.  There was six laps to go and he got passed LeClerc with five to spare.

The race finished Verstappen (who we barely saw), Norris, LeClerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Alonso in the points positions.  The fastest lap however went to Antonelli.  Obviously all the talk now is of Verstappen winning the championship and whether McLaren will have to choose to back just one of their drivers.  This will rumble, boringly, on.

US GP Qualifying Report

With some mechanics having worked through their lunch break, all the cars that were damaged in the Sprint in the morning were now fixed up and ready to go for Qualifying at COTA.  Excitingly, the winds had changed a bit.

Before we had a second to take in the first session, Hadjar

US GP Sprint Report

Despite securing the Constructor's Championship, all eyes remain on McLaren: how they treat their drivers and what role "Papaya Rules" will play in the final six races.  On press day, Norris commented that there would be "repercussions" following his collision with his team mate at the last race.  Cue speculation about what form this punishment might take.  The team seemed to be finding it harder to provide a car that would stay out front of all the competition to allow their own brand of racing to play out.

The Sprint Qualifying had led to a promising line up for the Sprint (must keep reminding myself not to call it a race and slap my wrist when I do).  Verstappen made a good start which meant he was well ahead of the carnage behind him.  It was a Turn 1 racing incident but Piastri was definitely making a move to push at Norris and Hulkenberg had got himself into the thick of things without considering an exit plan.  Norris and Piastri were immediately parked up at the side of the track, with the Brit securing quite a lot of damage, his wheel lying a long way from his car.  Alonso was also out but somehow Hulkenberg carried on but didn't get back into a points paying position.  The Safety Car was out for four of the nineteen laps.

The Stewards rightly judged it to be a racing incident but little was made that both Williams had managed to keep out of the mess, which was highly surprising for the team who seem to find a loss in even the most promising of situations.  The question at the restart was whether Sainz could hold of his old team mate LeClerc to keep third position.  It turned out the bigger question was whether LeClerc could stay in front of his current team mate and Hamilton took the position from him when he made a silly mistake.  All of which benefitted Sainz. 

Also largely unmentioned was Tsunoda's rise from the back of the grid to 7th after seven laps, a position he held until the end.

Halfway through the Sprint, Russell had one opportunity to overtake Verstappen for the win but it wasn't really there and didn't happen.  They both went wide and off the track but nobody suffered for it.  There were lots of incidents noted but not much followed up on; we shall see if this is the same during the race.  The potential for drivers being penalised for leaving the track limits too often seems high.

With three laps to go, Stroll locked up at a corner and went straight into Ocon.  He was waving an apology to the Haas driver before his car had even come to standstill.  This meant that the Sprint finished under the Safety Car and Stroll was awarded a five place grid penalty for the Race (the actual race not the sprint race which is not a race but a sprint).  Bearman did something or other to Antonelli (pushed him off the track or gained an advantage by leaving the track...) and was given a ten second penalty.  As the cars were so bunched up in the finishing conditions, this meant that not only did Bearman fall back from his one point position but his classification was right at the end.  Verstappen held his lead from start to finish, with Russell feeling he had done well to get second.  Sainz was happy with third but we didn't get to hear about it.  Off the podium (no, not a podium, a kind of standing hug) but in the points were Hamilton, LeClerc (who comes up as Charlotte Flair on subtitles, a merry distraction but it does mean you can't see what the Stewards are up to), Albon, Tsunoda and Antonelli.

Qualifying later in the day could not possibly be as interesting as the Sprint and lots of engineers and mechanics would be very busy fixing cars over their lunch break to ensure all drivers could get out. 

US GP Sprint Qualifying Report

 As usual there was a lot of talk about how everyone involved in F1 loves going to Austin; so we're all very pleased for them.  The most there was to say about the track on the first competitive event of the weekend was that there was gusty wind but enough about the barbeque beans.

I feel like the last time there was a disaster with traffic it was in America too.  The cars that desperately needed to improve their times all came out of the pits together in a traffic jam, which didn't do anyone any favours as they couldn't get going on a quick lap whilst blocking each other.  Out went Bearman, Colapinto, Tsunoda, Ocon and Bortoleto in last, whose lap time was deleted and therefore failed to set any time at all.  Norris, Piastri and Verstappen were quickest.

Racing Bull have a new livery for the weekend, which appeared to be flames as viewed when the cars were travelling at speed.  This seems to be in poor taste and I hoped poor Grosjean didn't see it.  When I did some research though, it is not flames but a tortoiseshell pattern in honour of a new prepaid Tortoise card from VCarb, their sponsor.  This is being fronted by Shaboozey, whose most famous (or only?) song is A Bar Song (Tipsey).  This seems in poor taste and I hope it doesn't mean that Hadjar and Lawson will be as slow as the animal they are representing.

In SQ2, Ferrari were putting in desperate last laps to try and stay in Qualifying and knocked out Antonelli.  He was followed by Hadjar, Gasly, Stroll and Lawson (who also didn't get a lap time in as his was deleted for track limits).  Norris was the fastest again and it seemed like pole was his for the losing.  (We all know how it will go if something is Norris's for th losing).

For the pundits the big story seemed to be that Hulkenberg was flying and that Antonelli was not in the top ten.  I would argue the bigger story is Tsunoda finishing in 17th.  Is this the Jonathan Wheatly effect, leaving Red Bull for Sauber?  Both Williams were also through to the final session.

All the top drivers waited until the end to put in one quick lap, a risky strategy but as the weekend had not been filled with crashes, Safety Cars and Yellow Flags, it seemed a managable risk.  Norris looked like he had pole, but then, as always, Verstappen took it from him.  They finished Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Hulkenberg (!), Russell, Alonso (again, no mention of this great performance), Sainz, Hamilton, Albon and LeClerc.  The Williams had beat the Ferraris.

With a Sprint it is all down to the start as there are few laps after it to make up places.  It will be interesting to see how punchy Piastri is, I assume he will not want to risk sustaining damage to his car but is he slowly becoming more hot-headed?  I feel this is a big opportunity for Hulkenberg and Alonso to make a splash this season, with nothing to lose.  How safe Verstappen plays it should be a indicator of how much he believes he is in with a shot at the Drivers' Championship.

Singapore GP Race Report

The biggest disappointment coming out of Qualifying the previous day was that Williams had been disqualified and would be starting from the back of the grid, after the triumph of the podium at the last race weekend.  Sparkles/Sprinkles the Unicorn was back on Sainz' helmet to continue to bring good luck.  Albon was going to be starting from the pit lane.

It had rained during the day and the track was wet, the rubber had been washed away and there was no sun to dry up all the rain (poor Incy Wincy).  Then, more rain!  Then it was drying out.  Lots of stars were out on the grid as well as in the sky for this race.  Lewis Capaldi very much looked like a Scot struggling in foreign heat.

Also looking to the stars were McLaren, wishing on one to seal the Constructor's Championship on their second attempt this year.  The top four on the grid had not won this race before.; it was anyone's at this point.  Russell was able to hold his lead over Verstappen, which looked unlikely because of the Red Bull's choice of soft tyres.  Norris made up two places to get past his team mate for third but did make contact with someone, turned out it was Piastri.  Sparks were flying as they got underway and several drivers had made up places with Antonelli falling back.

Piastri was on the radio asking about the contact and calling into question the Papaya Rules.  He got grumpier and angrier with each interaction.

Suddenly, Bortoleto was in the pits for a new front wing, his was heavily broken; we had a mystery Yellow Flag earlier, perhaps this was it?  At the same time, Norris hit the wall but it looked okay.

A third of the way through, Tsunoda was running in 19th for no apparent reason.  And McLaren did a full dummy stop for Norris to try and trick Red Bull into stopping Verstappen.  Two laps later, stops started happening and Verstappen was in first but it was a slowish one.

Finally, most of the pitstops were done bar a few long runners and Piastri.  There had been no Safety Cars yet.  It was a very long one, five seconds for Piastri, so it was a good call from Norris who, when invited, chose not to go in second.  McLaren really need to practice doing two good stops in a row.  Aston Martin also had a really slow one with Alonso, who had been running really well.  When given a call about how many laps were left, the spirit of Raikonnen appeared in his old Ferrari teammate, as he said that if his engineer was going to speak to him every lap he would disconnect the radio.

Gasly gave the wall it's biggest bump so far on lap 34.  Verstappen was really struggling, genuinely asking for help on the radio and locking up his tyres.  Hulkenberg slid into a spin on lap 45 (of 62), sending out a lot of smoke from his tyres but not causing a Safety Car.

We barely saw Russell all race and then we got a glimpse of him for his celebratory radio call as he won the thing.  It wasn't dwelt on for long because we had to cut to the McLaren drivers being thanked for playing their part in securing the Constructor's Championship.  Piastri insisted in the press pen that he would not comment on the incident with Norris until he had seen the footage, he was surprisingly unmoody and unupset.

The drivers were sat on the floor, trying to recover, smiling but sweaty and exhausted.  The three of them looked very unwell, not fit to be interviewed.  There was no Safety Car for two years running to give them a breather.

All around, the drivers were sporting shiny, glittery, sparkly helmets. which twinkled under the lights.  Most importantly the sticker of Sparkles sent Sainz from 19th on the grid to a 10th place points finish.

Behind Russell, Verstappen seemed happy to take second and Norris had worked hard for third.  Then came Piastri, Antonelli, LeClerc, Hamilton (who nearly lost the place), Alonso and Bearman (who had a strong race).

Singapore GP Qualifying Report

How were things in Singapore?  Very hot, yet it had also rained very heavily in the days leading up to the event.

It continued to all be very leisurely first session until Gasly had to pull over as his car had stopped.  This was in the last minute, so out went Bortoleto, Stroll, Colapinto, Ocon and Gasly.  No shocks there.  Hamilton and Russell were the two fastest cars.  Stroll's lap wasn't great; I wonder when they will announce if he has signed his contract for next year?

There were quite a few drivers either all having a bad day or too tightly packed together in the second session and they all jostled for positions 7-15.  The McLarens did not look strong on the track, whereas the works team, Mercedes, were doing well.  Out went Hulkenberg, Albon, Sainz, Lawson and Tsunoda (back to regular form in the second Red Bull).  Russell, Verstappen and Antonelli were the top three.

Again, they were close and they were pushing in the third session and drivers were routinely brushing the wall.   Several drivers were pushing for pole: Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Piastri.  It was George who got it though followed by Verstappen, Piastri, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, LeClerc, Hadjar, Bearman and Alonso.  It was a good job from those last three drivers but they weren't mentioned at all.

The Williams' rear wing was investigated after the session and it was too tall somewhere, so both drivers were disqualified and will start from the back of the grid. 

Everyone was sweating once Qualifying was finished, it must have been gruelling and Norris admitted that he was ill too.  Unless there is a dramatic change of conditions, the race was going to be tough.  I wonder if there will be any in-helmet vomiting?