Singapore GP Race Report

There has been a Safety Car in every single race at this venue.  Would this be a rare race without one?  Could Norris hold his pole position off the start?

He did make a good start for once and kept Verstappen in second place.  It was particularly difficult to tell the Mercedes and the Aston Martin cars apart, fortunately no one really changed places so it didn't matter beyond the first couple of laps.  Something happened to Albon, who dropped four places off the start, not what he needed, caught out by his own rookie team mate.  Piastri seemed to be holding up a train very early, was this a team plan?  Part of Papaya Rules?

The race continued in a procession with Albon and Ricciardo rolling the dice and taking an early pit stop.  The Williams would then retire.

By half way through-ish, Norris was 24 seconds ahead of Verstappen in second.  There had been some overtakes, not sure who would win best overtake though.  Norris gave the wall a healthy whack a couple of times but survived.  Magnussen however, made the slightest touch with his Haas on the wall and had a puncture.

LeClerc chased Russell all the way home, for fourth place.  Ricciardo went in for soft tyres at the last minute and took the Fastest Lap.  It was disappointing that Colapinto finished just outside the points, but this race was long, hard and physically demanding without a Safety Car, virtual or otherwise.

The pit strategy worked well for Piastri, who finished 3rd.  Alonso managed 8th ahead of Hulkenberg and Perez.

Ricciardo has probably finished his F1 career but he only finished 6 places behind his team mate (with an extra pit stop).  Perez was 8 places behind his team mate, in the sister team.  Verstappen thanked Ricciardo over the radio for taking the bonus Fastest Lap point from Norris and McLaren.  He was also awarded Driver of the Day, with fans sending a clear message to Horner and Marko about who they want to see in the car for the rest of the season.

The drivers in the interviews immediately after the race looked like they might cry or faint.  The length of this post shows just how boring this race was, I'm sure it used to be exciting.  Has the talent of the field overcome the challenges of the track?  Do we miss Latifi and Sargeant?  Where was Stroll?  He can usually be counted on to cock up something.

In terms of the championship, there are still 3 sprint races to come as well as real races; so nothing can be banked yet.

Singapore GP Qualifying Result

There were remnants of the silly season kicking about before this race.  There were strong rumours that this would be Ricciardo's last ever F1 race and that this will be Bottas's last F1 season, as he will be replaced by a younger driver, perhaps the F2 current leader (managed by Alonso) or Colapinto.

Qualifying was McLarens to lose (excluding the Qually Lap King, LeClerc).  In the first session, a lot of drivers had slides, Sainz failing to go around some bollards after his and having to go and get his knuckles rapped after the event.  There were lots of shots of drivers kissing the concrete wall with their tyres.  Everyone had to put on fresh tyres and go out for a second run, which was unusual.  Russell made a panicky call to the pits about the tyres feeling completely different to Free Practice.  Ocon knocked Ricciardo out of Qualifying (7 places behind his team mate) and possibly out of F1.  Behind him Stroll, Gasly and both Saubers.  Norris was first ahead of Verstappen.

Again in the second session, the drivers were sliding about all over the place.  Out went both Williams, then Perez (back to being awful again after shining at the street track in Baku last week), Magnussen and Ocon (who had over-driven the car to be in the session in the first place).

Finally a Red Flag came in the third session, the first in a long long time.  Sainz spun his car and ended backwards in the barrier.  The drivers waited for a long time to come out after the track was reopened.  They had to move quickly get over the start line before the chequered flag flew.  It looked fast and furious.  LeClerc's lap time was deleted for going off track limits, so it didn't pay off for Ferrari.  Norris took pole position ahead of championship rival Verstappen, followed by Hamilton and Russell, Piastri, Hulkenberg (who set a quick lap before the Red Flag), Alonso, Tsunoda and then the Ferraris.

The drivers looked shattered when they got out of the cars and this was only Qualifying; the race would be a challenge, especially for Colapinto in his third F1 start.  With grid position being so important in Singapore, no one was changing any parts and suffering the penalty.  There would be no Latifi or Sargeant on the track, so the predictability of a Safety Car or Red Flag was lessened.

Azerbaijan GP Race Report

Post-qualifying, the stewards were busy.  McLaren wanted the procedures undertaken during the Qualifying sessions investigated after Norris saw a Yellow Flag and aborted his lap, rightly or not.  Gasly was disqualified despite Alpine showing that the flow of fuel at the speed it was gave him no benefit.  

Ocon, who had a technical problem during Qualifying, decided to start from the pit lane rather than last on the grid.  Joining him was Hamilton who changed some bits and pieces on the car and were basically planning a testing session.  There was a big shunt off the start in the Formula 2 race when someone stalled on the grid.  This was a reminder that there are many different ways to make up places on the grid.  Ocon, Hamilton and Norris would all be hoping for some of those.  With so few Red Flags and Safety Cars this season, would they be out in this race?

It wasn't a Piastri special start and LeClerc was able to get away cleanly.  The Red Bull launch is good and Perez overtook Sainz for third and Verstappen also made up a place.  Bearman fell back from his excellent Qualifying position and ended up behind the Williams.  Stroll picked up a puncture in a coming together with Tsunoda.

Norris was up to 11th by lap 3.  His team mate Piastri was close to taking the lead; over the following laps it looked like Piastri would get into LeClerc's DRS zone and push past but slowly the Ferrari built up a gap and held a one second then two second lead.

On Lap 20, after the pit stops, Piastri overtook LeClerc for the lead, with the Ferarri on newer but colder tyres.  Norris had really helped his team mate by holding Perez up to give him a clean pit stop.  There was a lot of battling up and down the pit lane.  Albon and Norris held out a very long time before pitting, waiting to see if the race would be paused any way at any point.  They held up long queues.  Albon pitted on Lap 32 and gave Norris some space to push before his stop.  He came out in 10th behind his team mate, Hulkenberg immediately overtook him.

There were two main battles going on: Piastri, LeClerc and Perez for the top three and then Sainz, Norris, Verstappen, Russell behind them.  Sainz was pretty much on his own, this not being his circuit by his own admission.  The similar make-up team-wise caused a lot of confusion; with all the graphics options available you'd have thought they would be able to let us know who we were watching.

When Norris did pit on Lap 38 of 51, it was a longer one as he overshot his marks and came out in 7th ahead of Alonso.

In the last few laps, LeClerc's newer tyres went off and he was under pressure from Perez and needed Sainz to help.  This didn't seem likely but then Sainz picked up the pace and was right behind the Red Bull, Perez went to make the move but LeClerc held him off and Sainz was able to slip through the hole left for third.  Off LeClerc went for a clear second position on the podium.  Something happened to Sainz's car and he snapped to the side, collecting Perez and sending them both into the wall.  Perez's body language was very upset inside the car.  A Yellow Flag was shown and Verstappen pitted, banking on a Safety Car pit stop, presumably so he could get the point for Fastest Lap.  Norris, who had started 15th, 8 places behind him and his main championship contender was now 3 places ahead of him.  Hands were raised in the Italian garage.  A Virtual Safety Car was called so Norris and Verstappen finished 4th and 5th.

Just before this Colapinto got past Hulkenberg for the final points position but no one showed or told us this.  I also don't know how Hamilton suddenly jumped the two Haas to get into the points.

In the end, Stroll retired himself, the Saubers finished last again and McLaren lead the Constructor's Championship.  There must be some former McLaren leadership who are slowly realising that it was them who had been holding the team back for so long.  Christian Horner said that Sainz "had got a nip up the inside", which made me think that Perez had touched Sainz but the Mexican was adamant that he should get a penalty.  The stewards looked at it and said that no driver had driven erratically (which I guess they will have seen on the data) and both drivers could have done more to avoid the collision.  No penalties were awarded.

Perez needed this strong race more than Red Bull needed the points that were eventually lost (well, nearly).  Alonso was strong but I don't think we saw his car at any point during the race.

What they will need to improve next season (and I don't know if this is due to a change in the time of year we are visiting) is the camera angles.  With the low sun, all the cars were shadowed and appeared black so it was very hard to keep abreast of what was happening.  It didn't help that Sky had dispatched their B Team to commentate.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

 The past fortnight had brought some big news to the paddock.  Firstly, that Adrian Newey has chosen Aston Martin and the Stroll dollars for his new home.  There were lots of reasons for this choice: the money, the location, the new factory, the two-time world champion...no mention of Lance Stroll though.  Secondly, McLaren decided to get some headlines for themselves as they finally made the choice to give Norris any and all the help they can to get Norris the drivers' championship ahead of Piastri.

Into Qualifying, LeClerc was the favourite to take pole  He had to have three shots at getting through in the first session with various problems.  Sainz was struggling and took the car off the track; not his favourite track.  Colapinto was flying in his Williams, having crashed in Free Practice.  Bearman, subbing for Magnussen in the Haas, also crashed in Free Practice.  Lots of drivers were pushing.  LeClerc was first at the end of the session, with the Williams in second and eighth.  There were lots of brief yellow flags as mistakes were made.  This caught Norris out.  Ocon was last, then both Saubers, Norris and Ricciardo (back to putting in a poor show again).  This was good news for Piastri and Stella as no difficult team orders decisions will need to be made during the race.

The second session was quieter.  Verstappen took the lead, which was needed, with LeClerc in second.  Bearman finished in 11th, 3 places ahead of his team mate Hulkenberg in 14th.  Also out were Tsunoda, Gasly and Stroll in 15th ( a mere 10 places behind his team mate).

In the final session, Verstappen slid the rear end of his car off the track on his first run, piling the pressure on himself for the end.  Williams left the airbox on the car as it went out; his crew pointed this out on the television monitors.  Albon managed to get it out himself and threw it away.  It was an unsafe release of the car and his tyres and time to the line was compromised.   He didn't make it in time and lost his last chance to set a time.  LeClerc predictably took pole, followed by Piastri and Sainz, Perez, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Colapinto and Albon.  It was still a worthy out-qualifying by the rookie at Williams.  

What Norris needs during the race is for as many drivers as possible to finish ahead and take points from Verstappen.  I think there are several contenders who not only want to do that but are in the position to do it.  It lines up to be a great race.  There has been a dearth of safety cars and red flags this season...will the Baku GP bring them?

Italy GP Race Report

There was no big news after Qualifying apart from Hamilton saying that he is really struggling with Qualifying this year and cannot put the lap together.

Zak Brown promised that there were no team orders for the drivers for the race.  It was hot and there were a lot of unknowns: how long the tyres would last, would everyone make it safely through the first chicane, would it rain?

It was a clean start and everyone made it around the chicane, however Russell locked up and hit the gravel coming out of it and had to go down the escape route.  It was neck and neck, Piastri took the lead from Norris, with both Ferraris having come through, LeClerc then took Norris as well in the melee.  Hamilton had overtaken his team mate and Verstappen had gotten up to 6th, claiming that Hamilton had pushed him off.  We suspect that the McLaren drivers were told to hold places in whichever positions they came out of the first corner, so Norris was not expecting Piastri to make a move?

Further back, Ricciardo had run into Hulkenberg, who had to go for a long pit stop but not before bumping into Tsunoda.  Ricciardo was given a 10 second penalty, which the team didn't carry out properly, so he got another penalty, with an instinctive touch to the car from a mechanic.

There were some early stops made, including a hasty and messy pit lane entry for Norris, coming out a lowly 9th from 3rd.  LeClerc and Hamilton came in on the next lap to respond.  Piastri was able to pit and come out in front of LeClerc and Norris.  Verstappen was late but was served an unusual extra long stop by Red Bull.

There was a lot of talk on McLaren radio about "Papaya Rules", which everyone was uncertain about.  It turned out that it meant they were allowed to race each other, fairly.  It was fairly argy-bargy up and down the order.  The Haas were all over the shop.  Russell had a run in with Perez.  Norris left the track as LeClerc chased him down and then made an early (and slow) pit stop.  Mercedes also gave Russell a slow stop; as Crofty said, "Sticky nuts here today."

With twelve laps to go, Norris had to overtake Verstappen for 4th and it made for good viewing.  The Ferraris were in the lead and possibly going for the one-stop.  Williams were in 10th and 12th, a good showing for the rookie.

With 8 laps to go Piastri took Sainz for second, as the Ferrari tyres started to wear out.  Then Norris overtook him.  The Tifosi roared LeClerc on, as Piastri couldn't decrease the gap.  How could they Ferrari it up?  He had been on radio and told the team to stay quiet in a Raikkoneneque message.

With a lap to go, Stroll pitted, he wouldn't get the point for the fastest lap from 19th and last.  Williams came home a respectable 10th and 13th.  Norris took fastest lap on the last lap for a bonus point.  Beyond the top 4 of the Ferraris and McLarens, Hamilton took 5th, Verstappen 6th, Russell 7th, Perez 8th, Magnussen 10th with a penalty to take and Albon scored a point too.  With Stroll 8 places behind Alonso, you must wonder how much longer this situation is tenable at Aston Martin.

LeClerc gushed in Italian over the radio.  The two races he would have most wanted to win this year, he has.  Good for him for choosing to answer some of the pre-podium interview in Italian, Roberg did a hasty translation.  It's a shame they were wearing a black and grey chequered suit for the home win.

McLaren are now only 8 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors Championship, and the gap between Norris and Verstappen has decreased.  McLaren have now said they will need to consider bringing in team orders to help Norris secure the Drivers Championship.  I think we have to look forward to Piastri being a very boring dominant champion - duller even than Vettel or Mansell.

Magnussen had a penalty and was then given some points on his licence, which means he will miss the next race.