Canada GP Race Report

There was no news overnight but the Saubers decided to start from the pits.  The track was wet to begin but as no rain was falling to there was a standing start.  Everyone started on Intermediate tyres except for the Haas who cut through the pack and gained 12 places between them by the second lap.  But the rain came down harder and harder, so the Haas decision seemed like the best one.

Gasly and Perez had a collision early on, with the Red Bull going into the Alpine but it was disregarded as a first corner incident.  LeClerc was told he had engine issues early on.  The drivers were all disappointingly good in the wet weather; apart from Sargeant who went off when it was drying out.

Drivers started to slip and slide and Magnussen pitted for Intermediate tyres but his team weren't ready and the stop was hideously slow.  Hulkenberg began to hold up a huge train of cars.

Ricciardo made a false start, invisible to the human eye and was given a 5 second penalty.

By Lap 20, DRS had been enabled and it was the McLarens who had the pace.  Norris was passed Verstappen into second and Piastri set the fastest lap.  The next lap, Norris was able to take the lead.  Russell was caught out but swerved and came back into the path of Verstappen and had to pull back into third.

Finally, Sargeant had his prang on Lap 25.  Teams were braced for a Safety Car and it was slow to be called.  He was in the middle of the track and rain was due imminently, so cars came in but could they choose the correct tyre?  Everyone chose Intermedite tyres.  Norris was the big loser as karma meant he was past the pit lane entry when the Safety Car was called, meaning he came out in fourth from the lead.

Ferrari then decided to roll the dice and brought LeClerc in to perform some resets on his car and put on Slick tyres.  He was tasked by his team to just keep it on the track through two minutes of rain.  He came back into the pits to get Intermediate tyres and came out last.

Albon made what must be the overtake of the season, taking both Ricciardo and Ocon in one corner; threading his way between the cars.

Gasly was the next driver to try Slick tyres and went straight off.  Finally LeClerc retired after a race to forget.

More dice were rolled when Norris went for the over-cut on Verstappen and Russell.  LeClerc was shown gripped to the monitors in the garage.  Unfortunately Norris's tyres were too cold and split them.  Russell was able to get past fairly quickly, whilst Verstappen sped away.  Drivers still slipped on the track and Russell gave the place back to Norris.

Further down the field, Perez lost grip and smashed his rear wing into the wall and had to limp back to the pits with it hanging off.  This was investigated after the race.  Whilst that was happening, Sainz lost control and spun across the track, taking out Albon.  With Albon's car needing taken off the track, the Safety Car came out.  Sainz made it back to the pits but retired there, which made it a double DNF for Ferrari.  I think James Vowles will be ripping up any contract he had penned for Sainz.

The fight behind Verstappen continued.  Piastri and Russell battled and the Mercedes lost out and was then taken by his team mate who came back into contention.  The pole sitter was going backwards fast.  Piastri was offered the chance to get past Norris by his team but told them he was too busy fighting, which you thought they should have been able to see.

At this point, Russell got past Piastri but Tsunoda had spun elsewhere, across the track and just avoided a huge collusion.  It took him a minute to get going again.  McLaren took to the radio to put in an unsubtle request for a Safety Car to clear the damage.

Russell and Hamilton raced to the end, with Russell putting in the overtake and no team orders other than to keep in clean and safe.

5 cars did not finish but Verstappen was bemused with his victory.  He kept his racing clean and was happy to take the points and the top step.  The next three drivers were all British, which is a strong showing.  Norris was awarded Driver of the Day.

Canada GP Qualifying Report

The latest news from silly season is that Ocon will be leaving Alpine at the end of the year and Perez will be staying with Red Bull for the next two years, Albon would also be with Williams.  Much like Raikkonen and Ferrari, he must know which cupboard the skeletons are kept in to have negotiated this contract.  Ocon is less of a surprise after his boss's outburst following a huge lapse of judgement at Monaco last time out.  Tsunoda was also confirmed over the weekend that he would be staying at Racing Bull next year.

It was a wet start to Qualifying but not raining.  The rain might have come but didn't in the first session.  It was pretty uneventful.  Perez fully justified his shiny new contract by exiting, along with both Saubers, Hulkenberg and Ocon.

It was quite competitive to get through to the final Qualifying session though.  Verstappen was noted by the stewards for doing something against the race director's directions.  Merecedes pulled something out the bag and did well but both Ferraris went out, with Sargeant, Magnussen and Gasly.  From such a spectacular weekend in Monaco, they left all their luck and know-how behind and didn't put on new tyres to get through.

Again, it was super competitive in the final session.  Russell held pole position, despite Verstappen completing his lap in exactly the same time, because he got it first.  Norris was an incredibly close third, alongside his team mate Piastri.  The next row was Ricciardo and Alonso, the Hamilton, Tsunoda, Stroll and Albon.  Presumably the Ferraris will move forward and the Racing Bulls and Williams will move backwards.  

There was no rain but it wasn't really needed to spice up this Qualifying.

Monaco GP Race Report

In a pre-race interview, Sainz told Naomi Schiff that we "would know soon" which team is he headed to for the 2025 season.  This still didn't touch the clamour around pole-sitter LeClerc, who was racing around his home town.  The grid was properly filled with celebrities; of all the races around the world, this is probably the closest to a "money can't buy" experience.

We thought Sainz would overtake Piastri off the start but contact was made and he was immediately off and out.  LeClerc was chased by the McLaren instead.  A Red Flag was called, which seemed extreme for a puncture.  We then cut to a huge collision with Perez and both Haas, the blame wholly at Magnussen's door.  The Red Bull was left as just a cockpit, no front wing, almost no wheels.  Sainz limped back to the pits.  It was a shame that it was so early in the race, first lap, which wouldn't shake things up much.  

Whilst we watched lots of replays, the TV director found more footage of a third first lap incident where Ocon put an overly aggressive pass on his team mate, being propelled over and into him.  Some team principals were going to have some heavy discussions with their drivers after the race.

There was some drama over whether the race would restart in the order it finished or in the order they started as it was a first lap incident.  Those who started on the hard tyres would be massively disadvantaged as they would need to either run the whole race on medium tyres or make a pit stop, compared to those who started on the medium and could try to run the rest of the race on hards.  It was eventually decided that they would restart in grid order minus those who didn't make it back to the pits unaided.

On the restart, everyone got away cleanly; in all fairness most of the liabilities were no longer racing (all eyes on Sargeant and Stroll!).  From there on, everyone stayed in their order, whilst the commentators wondered if and how pit stops might affect things.  Stroll was the first to pit but did not bring any excitement to the race until he got a puncture and the rubber completely came away.

Ocon meanwhile was causing some drama.  He had been awarded a 5 place grid drop at the next race but his boss spoke to the press early and stated that strong words would be had, there would be consequences and a difficult decision would be made.

LeClerc and his radio went back and forth over which pace he should be sticking to and it was all about managing the race of other drivers.  Hamilton asked his team why they didn't tell him the outlap after his stop was critical, I think, as a driver, you should consider each lap of a race critical.  

We did see an overtake from Bottas on Sargeant, ironically he might be in that seat next year...if Sainz doesn't want it.  Stroll was able to make two passes with soft tyres.

With four laps to go, LeClerc made a very cocky comment to his team, which seemed to doom him to a hard coming together with a wall.  It then seemed entirely plausible that they would find Ferrari to have used the wrong fuel or a sprocket had been replaced incorrectly and he would be disqualified.

It was a great race for Ferrari, taking third two.  And a great race for McLaren with 2nd and 4th.  Leaving aside Perez, as normal, Verstappen held his 6th place, making it a bad race for Red Bull.  Mercedes also held position and probably won't be happy with 5th and 7th.  The final three points scorers will be feeling very pleased with themselves, Gasly, Albon and Tsunoda.

I'm really looking forward to replicating these vibes with Stroll in Canada next.

Monaco GP Qualifying Report

With Sainz being linked to a drive for several different teams next season, you would think all eyes would be on him but they were actually on the home track racer, LeClerc.  Rivalling him for coverage was McLaren who were unidentifiable in their Senna tribute colours on car, uniforms and everything else possible.

Everyone struggled in the first Qualifying session because different teams chose to go out in an entirely random order, which meant that traffic was awful, with huge queues forming.  There were big scalps: Alonso ahead of Sargeant, then Perez behind him and ahead of both Saubers.  Perez commented that this was a "joke", not sure who he thought was laughing.  If people were questioning his position at Red Bull before the race, he will be facing it far louder now.

With Perez and Alonso out, there were a couple of free passes into the final Qualifying session from the second.  Gasly knocked out team mate Ocon.  Hulkenberg qualified in 12th, once again ahead of his team mate Magnussen in 15th.  Between them was a struggling Ricciardo and Stroll.

Verstappen struggled throughout Qualifying and hit the wall in the last few laps and had to take his foot off the pedal.  Piastri brought the fight to LeClerc but he held it and took pole.  We can only assume that Ferrari had turned everything up to deliver the car for him.  Sainz was third, so the car is looking good, will it be able to hold everyone off during the race?  After them is Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon and Gasly.  It's a great position for the Williams and Alpine cars.

After the session, both Haas cars were disqualified because their rear wings were not the correct size.

There are a few issues to look out for during the race: Ferrari cocking things up as usual, can Perez or Alonso make up some places, how bad will the graining be, will there be rain?

Emilia Romagna GP Race Report

Everyone got away from the start cleanly, which was a surprise.  The Racing Bulls were the biggest losers with both cars dropping two places.  Verstappen maintained first place from Norris.

There were some early pit stops at Lap 10, with no overtakes even happening before.  Williams didn't fix their lead driver, Albon's tyre on properly and he had to make a very slow lap back to the pits.  They would get a ten second stop-go penalty for that.

There were brief glimmers of excitement; Alonso's tyres caught fire after his pit stop and Perez had a big off through the gravel.

Verstappen and Norris nearly had race, mostly manufactured excitement from the commentators.  He was over a second behind on the last lap.  We were also promised a safety car, which never materialised.  Behind them was LeClerc, a little something for the Tifosi.  Then Piastri, Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Perez, Stroll and Tsunoda finishing the points.  

Russell got the point for Fastest Lap and Norris was Driver of the Day.  Hopefully there'll be loads of overtaking and excitement at the next race....oh, it's Monaco.