Netherlands GP Qualifying Report

There was bad news at the start of Qualifying: there would not be any more rain over the race weekend.

With Aston Martin making improvements the floundering Williams may now struggle to make it out of the first Qualifying session.  There were no incidents or accidents and Piastri, last year's pole-sitter, was fastest.  In the end Albon went through but Sainz was out followed by Alonso, Stroll, Bearman, Bottas and Perez.  It was Ocon and the Audis that made great laps.   Tsunoda, standing in for Lawson, who is standing in for Hadjar, was seventh quickest and showing that he is getting to grips with the new regulation cars quickly.

The second session was as exciting as the first, in that it wasn't.  This time the McLaren of Norris was fastest.  Out went Gasly, Tsunoda (only two places behind his team mate), Hulkenberg, Colapinto (who could not put together a good lap), Ocon and Albon.

Then we were halfway through the final Qualifying session and rain came down.  Most drivers got out early and put in their hot lap.  Norris hit the sweet spot before the track became too wet.  For a minute we watched the clock tick down to zero with no one on track before pole was confirmed.  Norris took pole showing a true resurgence for McLaren.  Russell and Antonelli completed the top three.  Behind them were Piastri, Hamilton, LeClerc, Verstappen, Lawson, Bortoleto and Linblad.

I will make sure I have a crossword or two to complete during the race.  Or maybe a little Sunday snooze?

Netherlands GP Sprint Report

 The wind was blowing in off the North Sea in the Netherlands.  The Spaniards, Sainz and Alonso had retreated to the pit lane to start the race.  On the formation lap, Norris seemed to be napping as Russell led the cars away.  Perez was wheeled away by his mechanics at the back.

Everyone was awake at the start and Russell led them all away pretty much in order apart from Antonelli who moved forwards.  It took a couple of laps for Perez to come out from the pit lane and a few more before Hulkenberg took his car back there to retire.

18 laps later another car retired, that of Sainz and we saw our first on-track overtake, LeClerc on Norris for second place.  It was a good move but not enough to sustain the entertainment for a whole race.

It did start to rain on the last lap but there were no more overtakes.  I would be interested to see how Channel 4 make a highlights package out of this race.  It was a thoroughly dreary race only made worse by techno music.

Netherlands GP Sprint Qualifying Report

We arrived at Zandvoort to breaking driver news...Albon and Sainz would be staying with Williams!  No, Verstappen had signed for four more years with Red Bull, ending all exciting speculation that he would be with a different team next season. 

There was change at Red Bull though, Hadjar had damaged his wrist over the holidays so Lawson was moved to stand in at the main team from Racing Bulls.  Tsunoda was brought in from the cold to drive in that seat.

Into the lap-setting and Antonelli was quick to go off through the gravel in the first session.  Alonso did something similar.  Aston Martin had brought upgrades to the last race and now it was their power unit provider, Honda's turn to bring the goods but the drivers were out in 19th and last places.  The six drivers out were Bearman (who seems to have lost it compared with the flailing Ocon), Sainz, Stroll, Bottas, Perez and Alonso.  It turned out a piece was broken on the wing on that slowest car.

The second session passed off with no incidents.  Lawson and Tsunoda were the best of the rest but that was still a good showing in new cars to them.  Behind them were Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Albon.  The Williams is really struggling at this track (and the rest of them really).

There were quite a few drivers who could have taken Sprint Pole but in the end it was Russell, who will not stop going on about getting engaged.  Norris and LeClerc took the other "podium" places then Piastri, Antonelli, Versappen, Hamilton, Gasly, Bortoleto and Linblad.  It's good to see the two top drivers in the championship a little further back and having to work for it.

Andrea Stella warned that despite his drivers starting in great positions there was lots of uncertainty for the Sprint.  The weather may be a problem.  It would be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Hungary GP Race Report

The breaking news at the Hungarian race event was not about the Formula 1 in Budapest at all but that Malaysia was going to host the Bahrain Grand Prix at the start of October; a strange mix of countries there.  Sepang is a notoriously hot circuit; Raikkonen famously got out of his broken Ferrari mid-race and went straight to get a Magnum out of the freezer.  It was hot in Hungary as well apparently but no one told us how hot.  With all the sunshine, thoughts were on the summer break which could not come soon enough for George Russell and if he felt that before the race, it would be even more welcome at the end.

Piastri was able to take the lead from his team mate off the start by the second turn and Verstappen was up to third.  Leclerc also lost out and was down to fifth.  Hadjar was seen darting out to the middle when the lights went out but it became apparent he had to do that to avoid Russell, whose anti-stall had kicked in and he went backwards down the grid to 20th.

I watched the Channel 4 highlights package for this event and none of the action further towards the back of the pack was shown, certainly not full screen, including Russell's overtaking manouevres to come back through.

Hamilton was the first of the lead runners to pit and came out in ninth.  It would be a race with unusual and changing tyre strategies.  Verstappen responded by pitting on the next lap but was overtaken. He then pulled out an amazing overtaking move to get past Lawson and Hamilton in swift succession.

It wouldn't be a race without Cadillac woes; Bottas' brakes caught fire again and he brought the car into the pit lane.  Piastri was about to box but had to stay out as the burning vehicle moved slowly in.  Norris had been waiting for his team mate to get out of his way and for some clean air for a long time and had been complaining on the radio.  Hadjar was in second and tried to hold the McLarens back when they came out from their pit stops, less so for his team mate Verstappen who was behind them.  I have a sneaky feeling that he may be retained for the whole of this season, possibly even for next year, unless he is Lawsoned.

With more complaints from Norris, McLaren bought in Piastri for another pit stop, giving him some clean air.  He was impeded by Sainz and the pair came together.  There seemed to be something wrong with the blue flag system at the track although surely team radio could have assisted the matter.  This gave Norris the chance to put in some quick laps and come out ahead of his team mate after his pit stop and was able to overtake Antonelli too.

Then Perez' Cadillac had a suspension failure, or something and retired.  There was no Safety Car needed but then Piastri's gearbox went on lap 56.   This was another retirement for him following two races at the beginning of the season where he didn't even start.  Stella didn't know whether to be thrilled for Norris (probably was) or upset for Piastri but he made the valid point that a "world champion doesn't have a car which stops on the track".  A Virtual Safety Car was called for and Norris and both Ferraris pitted.  Verstappen didn't which ultimately gifted him a podium finish.  Hamilton and Antonelli had a very close approach to the pit exit and Hamilton had to give the place back to his usurper. 

In the end, it was a relatively easy victory for Norris although it probably didn't feel like that for him.  Verstappen was second and Antonelli was third after Hamilton was given a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane (another reason Ferrari should not have brought him in for the final extra stop).  Leclerc had a very nowhere race.

Williams would have finished last if Bearman had not received a penalty and there is little comfort that they are only in that position because both Cadillacs retired.  It was even more of a kicker because Stroll finished 13th and Alonso 14th for Aston Martin although I don't know how it ended up in that order (perhaps Alonso wants more pay for next year and is buttering up to Lance's pop?).

Hadjar had a well-deserved sixth place and Russell ended up seventh (he was practically wearing his trunks and snorkel in the press pit).  Both Racing Bulls scored points and Hulkenberg scored his first points for Audi.  Those had the back have a big battle ahead not to be at the back by the end of the season (not that Cadillac have scored any points yet, maybe they will have a special do-or-die engine for Austin or Vegas?).  Those at the front have a battle to stay there.  My message to the pit lane is do as much as you can in the one week you allowed before the shut down and then rest and relax because the rest of the season is going to feel like an uphill battle, or I really hope it does.  Thanks 2006 Part 1.

If Norris had "over peformed" according to McLaren team principal Stella in Qualifying, the win must have been a Verstappen drive.  We are not labelling types of performance by drivers as well as the more usual "Ferraring things up".  I suppose we used to have Sargeant to describe a poor performance.  This vernacular charge is being led by Lee Mackenzie who said that Piastri must be "feeling a little bit Russell" at the end of the race, a very apt phrase.

Hungary GP Qualifying Report

Everyone was geeing up for their Summer holidays but there was still work to be done before they could go on vacation.  Aside from getting a place on the grid several teams had bought upgrades that needed testing IRL.

Hungary is a track with limits that need to be kept too and a gust of win or misplaced confidence can lead to lap times being deleted.  Sainz was the first person off the track in the first Qualifying session and his old team mate Leclerc followed him in losing that place.  Norris was fastest and seemed to have a quiet confidence in his ability to string together three good sectors.  Out went Bearman, Sainz, Albon, Stroll, Perez and Bottas.  The Aston Martins have definitely secured the position of being faster than the Cadillacs with their upgrades and possibly the Williams too.

The traditinally quick teams had a tough time in the second session.  Hadjar spun out in his Red Bull right at the start, Antonelli was the only driver to have his lap time deleted and the Mercedes could only manage eighth and ninth.  Norris was fastest again so it seemed likely that someone else would stop sandbagging and take actual pole.  Lawson (who was having a horrible time), Gasly, Colapinto (or Colour Printer as the subtitles dubbed him), Bortoleto, Ocon and Alonso went out.  There was a little disappointment that Alonso could not get higher as their appeared to be promise there.

The Red Bulls saw a spin again in the final session, as Verstappen pirouetted right at the end.  Usually the track keeps improving all the way to the end of Qualifying but that seemed to fizzle out this time.  Norris took pole from the two Ferraris who just couldn't touch him.  Russell stopped on the track at turn one and was medium-level angry; there was a major water leak from his car.  I am surprise it was actually real and not just his own panicky sweat.  Norris set his time so late that Hamilton had already parked in the pole-winners spot and the sign had to be moved.  Hamilton had a hunch that he was going to be demoted down the grid for impeding someone during the last session and he had; Piastri had shaken his fist at him after he cut him up on a fast lap.  He would be moved back three places to fifth position.  Antonelli would also be give a three place grid penalty for failing to slow when there were Yellow Flags; I would have thought this dangerous behaviour warrented a higher punishment.

Pole is relatively important in Hungary but the field looked wide open for the race win; drivers from McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes or even Red Bull could take it.