All eyes were on Mick Schumacher as his father, in a Ferrari, has history here. Mick has none, so I'm not sure how much new info he really provided.
As seems to be the norm now, everyone was saying that Mercedes weren't the top team at this track and then they were. Everyone else made little errors and Hamilton cruised past them.
Usually a red flag adds some drama to qualifying but Tsunoda's spin was so near the start that it had no impact other than giving his engineers a late night. The impact looked so slow and gentle, perhaps we need a road car going alongside the race cars to show the true impact? I volunteer myself plodding around in my Honda Jazz to really give the viewers a new perspective on how quick the cars are.
Every season has it's technical trap for teams and drivers - overcut, undercut, refuelling, tire choice...this year it's track limits. All we are going to hear about is whether a driver is on or off the track. To combat this, I suggest electrifying the borders of the track. If you go over it you get a mild jolt of a few volts. Not enough to cause any long-lasting damage, just enough to put you off your step for a second and negate any advantage you may have gained. No need to thank me FIA. Combine this with Bernie's sprinklers and I think we've got a winning format for the sport.
Haas have said that they are not going to spend any money upgrading the car this year. They were last in qualifying and I can't see that changing. Both Williams drivers got into Q2 and if Haas aren't bringing any more speed to the party, it looks like they are handing their invitation to the Top 15 Party over to other drivers. Neither Sauber/Alfa Romeo made it through either. Can Williams be the quickest of the snails this year?
Q2 saw a gorgeous slo-mo shot of LeClerc flying through the air off of a kerb. A good reason why you should watch the coverage rather than rely on my missives. At the end of the middle session, I was very pleased that Russell, in his Williams, qualified ahead of three world champions no less. And only one place behind Sainz in his Ferrari.
To finish, predictably Hamilton took pole position, as Bonno commented, "That's a surprise innit?" No trace of irony. Pipsqueak hopped and skipped like a delighted pre-schooler out of the car. I think any notion that Mercedes are not on top of this game is phooey.
Going Up
👍 Stroll - spending his Daddy's money wisely, knocks his quadruple world champion team mate out of the parco.
👍 Villeneuve - a corner named after Gilles means I keep thinking that drivers are swinging into or bumping Jacques
👍 Perez - outqualifies his much-lauded team mate. Horner heaving a huge sigh of relief as I imagine this keeps his boss off his back for a minute or two. Perez believes that if he hadn't made a small mistake on his final lap he would be on pole, so he's disappointed. He needs to understand that everyone on the grid bar Hamilton could say the same thing. Red Bull 2 and 3 somewhat excitingly, with Bottas out of the picture.
👍 Gasly - puts his Minardi in 5th - the home team will be thrilled
Going Down
👎 It still all boils down to a Hamilton vs. Verstappen battle (occasionally with Bottas too) battle in Q3.
👎 New graphics - why do the position numbers change between white, grey and red? What does this signify? Does grey mean garage? Does red mean their lap time is going to be deleted?
👎 Norris - falls foul of the track limits monitoring, from some camera angles it looked barely off the track but from others, he was clearly visiting a local pizzeria.
👎 Stroll didn't set a time and no mention of it
👎 Bottas - where was he? MIA
No comments:
Post a Comment