China GP Qualifying Report

Cars were queuing to get out well before the start of the first Qualifying session in Shanghai.  Bottas nudged his Cadillac out in front of the line in a most cheeky manner.   For the first time, in any significant running, LeClerc was at the top of the time sheet at the end.  Obviously followed by Russell and Antonelli but then Verstappen, which might raise a small, very small, smile.   Out went Sainz, Albon, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll and Perez (who only just got running).  The Williams seem have made a significant backwards step over the Winter but at least they're not being beaten by Cadillac unlike Aston Martin (yet).

With half a minute to go on in the second session, Bortoleto crashed out, which meant that a number of quick laps were ruined.  The Audi went skidding across the tarmac, then the gravel and finally into the barrier on a long journey away from the track.  It was only the Alpines who were really going for it and would be able to go through.  Gasly was already in the top ten but jumped to sixth.  Colapinto was only able to get twelfth, which meant Hadjar was safe in tenth.  Antonelli took first place, then LeClerc and then Russell in third, his grip on dominance slipping.  This was explained when he radioed to his team that he was having "major understeer" and asked them to prepare a new front wing.  The drivers departing Qualifying were: Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Ocon, Lawson, Linblad and Bortoleto.

Things went from being somewhat bad to absolutely awful in the final session for Russell as his engine groaned and grunted around and he came to a stop on the track.  He couldn't find the gears but got going again and was able to get back to the pits.  After the first round of quick laps, his team mate Antonelli was the quickest.  McLaren seemed to have found something though and were ahead of the Ferraris.

There was a lot of camera focus on the Mercedes garage but the mechanics all looked very calm as they tried one thing after another.  With a couple of minutes to go, Russell was out of the pit and on his way.  All the drivers were improving their quickest laps, pushing each other lower each time they crossed the line.   Russell put in three green sectors, which meant that Antonelli took pole to be the youngest pole sitter ever and the first Italian for a long time.  Behind the Mercedes' lines up Hamilton, LeClerc, Piastri, Norris, Gasly (who will be pleased to be ahead of...), Verstappen, Hadjar and Bearman.

In the press conference, Hamilton praised "this big lad" Antonelli but is this a careful way of undermining him?  Gasly seems to be riding high and seemed happy.  His former team mate, Verstappen, was not expecting anything better but seemed philosophical.  Once again (although I shouldn't be saying this before the second race of the season) it will be Ferrari who will be bringing the challenge to the Mercedes.  The biggest question hanging over the grid will be reliability.

China GP Sprint Report

Before we even got to the grid, parts had been flying off Gasly's car and Albon decided to start from the pit lane.  The teams are still settling into the changes.

When the lights went out the headline was an awful start by Antonelli who went from second to seventh.  Ferrari went well: LeClerc was third and Hamilton went from second out of the first corner to leading by the middle of the lap and then LeClerc got through for second.  Verstappen hit someone on the first lap, possibly, it was hard to tell and the replays didn't come for quite some time, and his stable mate Linblad spun right around in the middle of the pack.  The new energy system saw Russell get the lead back by the end of the first lap and then Hamilton retook it.   The racing was fast and furious.  Do we mind that the racing is due to use of amped up battery power?

Further back, Albon had made it up to 16th by the end of the second lap from the pit lane and was behind his team mate.  

It went back and forth between the two former team mates until LeClerc had caught up to them on lap six and was in the mix too.  Unusually, we had no radio transmissions broadcast.  

Having got up to fifth place, Antonelli got a ten second penalty for crashing into Hadjar.  I wonder if the length of penalties should be decreased given the lesser number of laps in a Sprint?

The Ferraris were battling now, with LeClerc getting past Hamilton, all of which played into Russell's hands, who was currently in the lead.  On Lap 11, Antonelli was close enough and with enough battery to get past Hamilton for third.  At this point, it started going wrong for everyone: Linblad then Bottas were asked to go into the pit lane to retire their cars and Hulkenberg had to pull over to stop.  A Safety Car came out and the top five all came in for fresh tyres followed on the next lap by drivers from up and down the pit lane.   With only five laps to go, it seemed like madness and the last sprint of the Sprint would be full on.  Several drivers lost out as they were double-stacked.  

It was several laps until the Safety Car did come in, with three laps to go and it would have been amusing but disappointing if the race had finished under it with all the tyre changes.  The drivers were weaving their cars frantically to boost the tyre temperature.  LeClerc lost out with wheel spin.  The rolling start, rather than a standing start, evened out the playing friend.  Hamilton was able to get past Norris for the final podium place.  Perez received a five second time penalty for a Safety Car infringement.  Piastri was told to give a place back to Antonelli back as he was under investigation for overtaking him before the Green "go racing" flag.

Russell won and was lucky that the Ferraris fought with each other and let him take it more easily.  Behind him in the points was LeClerc, Hamilton, Norris, Antonelli, Piastri, Lawson and Bearman.  Verstappen was right outside the points.

I could see that the main race would probably have a first stint similar to this and then it will settle down.  The only differential could be whether there are Safety Cars.

China GP Sprint Qualifying Report

Before the race weekend had even started it was rumoured that things were being ditched from the season: namely the Saudi Arabia and Bahrain races.  If I haven't said it before, damn Trump!

Then we went into this session and Perez' Cadillac was not ready to race and stayed in the pits.  Bortoleto and Bearman both went off on big trips through the gravel but made it through to the next session.  There will be disappointment in Williams as Sainz and Albon were out, followed by Alonso and Stroll, Bottas and Perez.  Two by two.

Verstappen was asking his team to check the "driveability" of the car between sessions.  That's the sort of question I ask of a mechanic.  The Red Bulls ended up ninth and tenth, with Verstappen having a big off.  Russell was fastest with Antonelli behind him for the second session in a row.  I'm not sure why Mercedes went out for a second run when Ferrari didn't.  Out went Hulkenberg, Ocon, Lawson, Bortoleto, Linblad and Colapinto.

Five cars had not set a time with seconds to go in the final Qualifying session, including both McLarens.  Russell took the Sprint pole of course, with his team mate next to him.  Norris got a surprisingly good result in third, how funny we should be saying that.  Hamilton was next, splitting the McLarens.  LeClerc was sixth; Gasly seventh beating former team mate Verstappen.  Finishing up the top ten was Bearman and Hadjar.

I think behind the Mercedes it might be a good race although teams might hold back, saving the car for the main race.

Australia GP Race Report

I don't think there were any huge shocks in Qualifying.   Yes, Verstappen spun out in the first session but he had been complaining about the revised sport for a while.  We knew Mercedes were very strong and Ferrari and were doing well too.  The whole championship seems to be Russell's to lose.

No one had any educated guesses about what was going to happen in the race and there were huge questions over reliability.  And it was proven so...home track hero, Piastri had to radio to the team that he was okay after crashing out on his way to line up on the grid, smashing into the wall.  He went into the wall and took the front wing and nose clean off.

A couple of cars were starting from the pit lane and then Hulkenberg had radio problems and his card was returned to the pits.  It was a new starting procedure to enable the new electrics to work at their most efficient.  I thought the lights almost went off for the race start before all five had come on.  It seemed to catch some drivers out.  LeClerc commented on this after the race.  Hadjar nearly had Russell before he'd even put his foot to the throttle but LeClerc made it past easily.  His team mate Antonelli went back several places because he had no battery.  Lindblad got an amazing start and, after jostling with Hadjar, ended up fourth.  Everyone had said that Ferrari had a strong start mechanism.

It was hard to tell which passes used the electrics because it was fast and furious as they were close from the starting grid.  Russell and LeClerc got away from the pack, Hamilton hung back a little but still had a gap to the rest of the pack.  Lap after lap the front runnering two overtook each other and got the place back whilst Hamilton watched on.  When Russell locked up, he pounced.  Meanwhile, Verstappen was coming up through the pack and was in 10th place on the 10th lap then his team mates' engine went up in smoke.  It was a great time to pit under the Virtual Safety Car.  Lots of cars came in.

I noticed that Hulkenberg did not make the start.  Alonso had to stop his car.  The first retirement was Bottas who pulled his Cadillac onto the side of the track and there was another Virtual Safety Car.  Hamilton was firing instructions at his team for their tyre strategy.

There were fights further back too, including old rivals Gasly and Ocon.

Ferrari did not stop under either Virtual Safety Car and they had to pit during regular racing.  Alonso came back out onto the track with car/body fixed.  Whatever was happening with the nerve damage to the Aston Martin drivers' fingers, it seemed to have been resolved for the race.

On lap 38, another Virtual Safety Car was called to allow the marshals to pick up a bit of Perez' Cadillac; it was a little dicey.  At this time, Verstappen was now on Norris's tail and he pitted to avoid the competition.

Having come back out, Alonso pitted and retired as did Stroll.  Then Stroll was back out.  Aston Martin were doing the Hokey-Cokey.

Really Ferrari lost the win because they did not put under Virtual Safety Car conditions; they will need to start listening to Lewis.  Russell took a well-deserved first place and Antonelli capitalised on Ferrari's mistake for second.  LeClerc was ahead of Hamilton behind them.  Wolff looked very relieved.  Norris was fifth and Verstappen sixth.  Bearman took a good seventh, four places ahead of his team mate Ocon.  Lindblad scored points for eighth place on his first F1 race and Bortoleto handled the Audi well for ninth.  Gasly beat the slowly-diminishing Ocon for tenth.  It wasn't a good sign that Williams were 12th and 15th.

There were seventeen finishers including Stroll who was several laps down.  I wonder if much can be done before the next race weekend in seven days time and which features a Sprint qualifying and race too.  The drivers have a better idea what they are facing but the teams have little time to make changes.  Russell, Antonelli and LeClerc seem happy with what they have but how quickly can other teams and drivers catch them up?

Abu Dhabi GP Race Report

A lot of the talk this weekend and after Qualifying was about Hamilton; all the sympathy is now going to the pit lane reporters at the press pit who are having to try and interview him.  The three way run in this race for the driver's championship was a welcome distraction.

It seemed to be the general consensus that Verstappen would win this race but Norris would win the championship.  No one really thought Piastri was in contention.  As they left the grid for the formation lap, it was seen that drivers were on a variety of strategies with Piastri on hard tyres and Verstappen and Norris on medium.  Some drivers further back had gone for soft too.

Verstappen made a quick start and it almost looked as though Piastri was going to try and get past Norris but he moved across and blocked him off.  Alonso and LeClerc battled behind them furiously.  Piastri held his place for a short while and then he got a slip stream behind Norris and was easily past him.  Russell dropped back.

After four laps, Russell got past Alonso and then Norris had LeClerc right on his tail.  On lap 17, Norris and LeClerc pitted on the same lap.  They were both ahead of Russell though.  Norris was stuck in a DRS train; he got past Antonelli then Sainz (who pitted afterwards), next up was Stroll and I held my breath.  He got past Stroll and Lawson in the same corner, giving everyone a good reason why he should be world champion.  LeClerc repeated the feat though behind him.  Tsunoda was the next driver up and Red Bull were quick to instruct him to hold Norris up, he tersely told them to leave him alone.  Brundle was not happy with this all, considering it to be "verging on unsporting behaviour".  Norris risked everything and went for the overtake.  This was investigated by the stewards: Tsunoda as weaving but Norris left the track.  It was the Red Bull who would be penalised.

By the middle of the race, I felt I was being held hostage to the tyre strategy of the race.  Piastri was due to come in to pit on Lap 41 but LeClerc pitted and Ferrari were directing the McLaren strategy now.  Norris was brought in instead and Verstappen overtook Piastri.  He boxed on the next lap.

With ten laps to go, Verstappen started to panic that LeClerc may not overtake Norris for third place and he would not be getting the championship despite his late efforts.  He got his first warning for exceeding track limits as well.

Norris held on to the end though to clinch his championship.  Verstappen took the win and Piastri was the biggest loser really having thrown it all away at the end of the season.  Norris celebrated with a cry and doughnuts.

Verstappen was being very sweet to Piastri in the cool down room as they awaited Norris, who was interviewed by Coulthard below.  Norris was interviewed twice and got to stay on the podium as long as he liked.  Piastri was let off doing a long interview.  I think everyone was happy with the outcome.  I wonder how different it would have felt if Piastri had won.

Meanwhile it was the last race for Tsunoda, Renault, Sauber, DRS and ground effect cars.  None of them were going to get much attention but perhaps that was the Plan B for the broadcasters if one of the others won.  We will see what next year brings.  The rise of Verstappen?  A surprise team that excels with the new regulations?  Some jazzy new graphics for TV coverage?