Mexican GP Race Report

Alonso sped in the pit lane on the way to the grid and we went into the race awaiting the outcome of the steward's investigation.  He got a €100,000 fine.

They were quick off the start, especially Perez and Verstappen.  As Verstappen pushed for the lead, Perez pulled up on the other side of LeClerc but he squeezed it too tight going around the corner with the Red Bull ultimately going up and over the Ferrari.  This put the Mexican immediately out of his home race and broke the Ferrari's front wing.

Ferrari should have told LeClerc to move over to let Sainz through to chase Verstappen immediately but no.  A selfish decision too.  The bit of wing fell off on the next lap, which was good for LeClerc but a Virtual Safety Car had to be called to get a marshal out to remove it from the track.

Ricciardo held Hamilton off for a few laps before a DRS pass.  Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit, possibly using data from Tsunoda's stop in the sister team.

When LeClerc did pit, he came out 16 seconds behind Verstappen.  Then, halfway through the race, Magnussen had a big off in his Haas.  This brought out the Safety Car.  The suspension failed on the car and whilst he was quick to jump out, he then looked very shaky.  It took the medics quite a while to get to him.  Then the race was red flagged and stopped.

There was a standing start with Norris massively losing out and Ricciardo losing to Russell.  As they went on, Verstappen was able to pull out a lead and Hamilton honed in on LeClerc and took second place.

Alpha Tauri were having a great race until Piastri and Tsunoda started to tangle.  The first time, nothing came of it.  The next time, Tsunoda had a big off and went on a long path across the grass and into penultimate place.

Norris started pretty much in last place and ended up a triumphant 5th.  Both Aston Martins retired.  For some reason Hamilton took Fastest Lap at the end of the race, why he couldn't have done some of these to challenge Verstappen, I don't know.  Albon finished 9th and for some reason, Sargeant went into the pits on the last lap which meant he dropped a few places to finish last of the runners.

Not long until the end of this triple header in Brazil.

Mexican GP Qualifying Report

Coming in to the event from Disqualificationgate, the big questions were...Should more cars have been inspected for floor wear?  Would Verstappen move over to give Perez a home victory?  Was there any chance that Perez could actually get close enough for his team mate to make this even possible?  After the free practice sessions, there was one more question.  Having been second to Verstappen in FP1 and FP3, could Albon qualify his Williams in the top 3?

In Q1, all the drivers apart from Norris came out and put in an early lap.  Stroll, the Williams and the McLarens were loitering at the bottom.  Sargeant went very wide and asked for his floor to be checked.  There was a large queue to get out of the pit lane with two and half minutes to go.  Some drivers were being investigated for impeding others.  With 30 seconds to go, Alonso brought out a yellow flag, with a spin across a kerb, which would also hinder some drivers.  Albon was lucky as he probably would have gone out having struggled with tyres but with the traffic problems he was through.  Out went Norris in last place until Sargeant had his lap time deleted.  The race stewards had a lot to investigate.

Q2 had a bit more silliness at the pit lane exit but otherwise was much more straightforward.  This session saw team mates dividing.  Zhou went out in 11th with Bottas out, Gasly out in 12th following Ocon, Hulkenberg out in 13th following Magnussen, Alonso out in 14th following Stroll and Tsunoda didn't set a time in the end with Ricciardo through in 4th.

Seconds later, Albon had his time deleted and Zhou was through to Q3.  All those saved soft tyres were redundant.  In Q3 it was tight at the top after the first set of runs.  LeClerc led from Sainz, then pole favourite Verstappen.  Ricciardo was 4th and home hero Perez was 7th after the Mercedes.

In the end, Ferrari pulled an amazing one-two front row lock out from nowhere.  LeClerc will lead another race off the grid, as last week.  Verstappen took third, Ricciardo, fourth then Perez.  Using the Mercedes engine, Hamilton was 6th, then Piastri, then Russell with the two Alfa Romeos completing the top ten.

After all these investigations, only Albon was penalised.  From hero to zero.

America GP Race Report

Before the race had started we had both Aston Martins and both Haas starting from the pits, putting both Williams at the back of the grid.  The boxer Anthony Joshua radioed in to his newly owned driver Gasly to wish him good luck, which I suppose gets you extra coverage.

It was an amazing start for Norris and he took the lead from LeClerc, before the first lap had even ended the two Ferraris were fighting.  Russell was fighting to get past Ocon and was investigated for going off the track and gaining an advantage.  As soon as DRS was enabled, Russell and Perez were past the Alpine.  Hamilton then used his DRS to get past Sainz for third.  On lap 5, Verstappen overtook Sainz and on the next lap Hamilton overtook LeClerc.  DRS was really ruining this race.

Ocon retired his car with a big hole in the side after coming together with Piastri at the start; neither good luck wishes from Anthony Joshua nor golf lessons from Rory McIlroy could help him.  A fifth of the way into the race, Piastri had to retire too.

It was half way through the race that Verstappen inevitably took the lead from his pal Norris.  With 20 laps to go, Norris pitted again and triggered a chain reaction.

Poor Norris lost his second place to Hamilton with 7 laps to go.  Mercedes fed Lewis the little nugget he always needs to push: "Verstappen is managing a brakes problem."  With 6 laps to go LeClerc was told to let Sainz by despite messing the drivers about over tyre strategy.  Alonso retired having managed nearly the whole race.  Verstappen managed his brakes to bring the car back in first place, with Hamilton pushing close behind.

We haven't seen a race so determined by tyre strategy in many a long year and I remember being really frustrated by this in the past.  DRS is the new tyre strategy but this made a pleasant change.

Considering LeClerc started on pole, he finished 6th, not what is needed to keep things harmonious at Ferrari.

Considering Alonso decided to use the old car that they started the year with he was able to put in some good overtakes before retiring.

Ricciardo stole the Fastest Lap point from a top ten finisher by finishing both last and fastest, so he won't get the point himself.

The big grumbles about this race were: holes in your side, DRS, inconsistent wind, problems with the floor, track limits (although I think Albon was the only driver to receive a penalty), attending the race only to find out that two drivers were disqualified for shaving their floors on the track, thus running too low and gaining an advantage.

With LeClerc and Hamilton disqualified, both Williams scored points!  Gasly will also be 6th, which is a great result for Alpine.

America GP Sprint Report

Off they went up the crazy steep hill for 20 laps of racing and obviously Verstappen held pole with LeClerc getting away well in second too but being overtaken off the track by Hamilton.  They were battling hard, seemingly without worries for sustaining damage before the main event the next day.

Russell had been given a penalty for impeding LeClerc in the Shootout so was demoted to 11th.  He was up to 7th after a few laps but by overtaking Gasly and Piastri by going wide.  Drivers were pushing each other off the track left, right and centre and if their elbows were this sharp for the Sprint, there could be some tough battling in the race.  Russell was given a 5 point penalty.

A highpoint of the race for me was Albon overtaking the McLaren of Piastri for 9th place.  I wonder if Williams put all their eggs in the Sprint basket to get points this weekend as they qualified higher for the Sprint than for the race.

Piastri was the first driver to receive a black and white flag for track limits.  It took Perez half the race to realise how to drive the car and he suddenly came to life and started overtaking and working his way up the placings.

In the end, Verstappen won by a comfortable margin.  Hamilton was second and LeClerc third.  Norris was fourth ahead of Perez, who just can't find the same pace as Verstappen in that Red Bull.  Great to see four different teams in the top four positions.  Hopefully this can continue next year and there's more of a battle.

American GP Qualifying and Sprint Shootout Report

There was no real news going into the race weekend.  Verstappen is racing as a three times world champion, Danny Ricciardo is back after breaking his hand.  Piastri had trouble in the practice session and hasn't had much time to set up his car.

The first Qualifying session was uneventful until Verstappen was running 5th and told his current time was "on the bubble" for getting through to the next session.  He made it through but both Williams and both Aston Martins were out with the Haas of Hulkenberg (with a lap time deleted).  For such a strong start to the season, Aston Martin are really floundering; they passed on the news much more kindly to Alonso than Stroll.  Apparently they brought upgrades too.  Alonso said they were using these weekends as test sessions for next year.

In the second session, Russell, Perez and Ricciardo (with a lap time deleted) all struggled to show the same competition as their team mates.  Out went Tsunoda, Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen and Ricciardo.

During the crucial final session, Verstappen had a big wobble on his hot lap and then a second off but still hit pole position then had the lap time deleted.  Russell had a lap time deleted but just crossed the line in time to make a final run and qualified 5th, with his team mate in 3rd.  LeClerc took a brilliant pole, showing that Ferrari can be strong at this track, with Sainz in 4th.  Norris lines up 2nd alongside LeClerc, securing a much-needed Qualifying triumph over his team mate Piastri in 10th.  Verstappen was 6th with Perez in 9th and the two Alpines complete the top 10 in 7th and 8th.

Norris felt he could have had pole but wasn't too disappointed as he made mistakes.  Which LeClerc also admitted.  I remember when drivers never admitted mistakes.  It seemed like Schumacher insisted the team publish a problem whenever he made one.  Now, it is all about being humble.  Hamilton came out singing the praises of American and this circuit.

The next day, everyone moved on to the next Qualifying event, the Sprint Shootout.  In the first Shootout (?), LeClerc was 2 milliseconds behind Verstappen.  The Williams had dialled the car in and Albon was in 3rd although Sargeant was in last place.  Ahead of him and also out was an incredulous Tsnuoda, Bottas and the Haas of Magnussen and Hulkenberg,  Russell heavily impeded LeClerc.

In the second Shootout, Verstappen spun the car but reentered the track facing the right way, although his lap time was deleted.  Out went Ricciardo, Alonso, Ocon, Stroll and Zhou.  It makes you wonder what on Earth Williams were doing with their car yesterday as Albon went through in 10th.

By the end, the pole was Verstappen's for the losing, both Ferrari's right behind me looking for the smallest mistake from the Dutchman.  In the end he took it from LeClerc, with Hamilton, Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Albon and Gasly behind him.  All this and there's so much more racing to come.

Qatar GP Race Report

The problem with the Pirelli tyres and the corners rumbled on to race day and tyres should only be used for 18 laps including any laps those tyres have run already over the event.  This meant that teams should be using a minimum of 3 stop strategy and there would be a lot of tyre chat during the race.

The second casualty of the race was Sainz whose car had a fatal fuel system problem and couldn't even leave the pits.  He hung about to watch everyone struggle in the heat though.

The second and third casualties were both Mercedes into the first corner, taking each other out.  The wheel came off Hamilton's car but Russell continued in 17th.  This brought out the first and only Safety Car (was expecting many more).  Russell admitted fault and Hamilton stomped across the track.  He was grumpy about his tyres already so probably best he was able to take an early bath.

Next up, Hulkenberg was given a hefty 10 second penalty for starting in Sainz's empty grid spot.

After 13 laps the pit stops started.  By this point, Russell was up to 3rd and back in the podium spaces.  The Mercedes really had some pace.  The Williams were also in 5th and 6th, benefiting from not having used many tyres in Qualifying.  It was hard to keep up with them as most of the cars visited the pit lane.  I looked up and Perez over took for 3rd and then jumped as Albon was running 2nd.  The Williams briefly led the race when Verstappen pitted before pitting themselves.  As the cars fell out of order through stopping, there was a lot of overtaking as normal order was resumed.

By midway through the race Lawson, Albon and Perez had all been shown the black and white flag for going off track limits a significant number of times.  One more time and they would be given a time penalty.  Perez was the first to be awarded a 5 second penalty.  

Alonso really struggled in his Aston Martin, firstly, with a burning bottom and then a massive off, sliding back onto the track immediately in front of LeClerc.  He had to see the stewards after the race.  The drivers were getting hot and bothered.

Sargeant was "feeling poorly", brought on during the race and was called in by the team to retire but pleaded with the team to stay out.  A few laps later he retired himself though; the cameras showed him struggling out of the car until him team moved in front of them.  As Albon had hustled LeClerc before pitting and having led the race and continuing...can Williams afford to hire a driver who is not physically fit enough to complete a race.  Although Albon did get a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits.

Stroll claimed two 5 second penalties for track limits, continuing his abysmal weekend.  As with Williams, Aston Martin will struggle to justify his position in the team other than that he is the owner's son.

Further up the grid, McLaren, with 9 laps to go, instructed their drivers to hold positions.  Norris was very reluctant to come in behind his team mate (again) and could not see the logic.

With only a few laps to go, Russell then Verstappen pitted for soft tyres.  Despite a slow stop with a sticky tyre, Verstappen managed to retain the lead but Russell would have to overtake both McLarens to resume 2nd.  Norris is definitely getting the same feeling Ricciardo had at McLaren.

Before awarding and discussing final positions, all time penalties would need to be applied.  Whilst Verstappen did win, both McLarens were behind him and they are looking the stronger team.  Or is Perez driving awfully?  Russell finished 4th with LeClerc close on his heels.

Everyone was just happy to finish the race, with conditions beyond challenges.  

Qatar GP Sprint Shootout and Sprint Report

Just when Formula 1 is reaching more fans and becoming more accessible, the FIA throws a spanner at Liberty Media and Lazenby is left trying to explain some imperative technical changes because Pirelli have botched up making tyres, the one thing that Pirelli do.  It turns out that staying on the track at turns 12 and 13 is too much for these tyres.  Or the kerbs.  Something or other.  And they're going to check the tyres more often.  Don't worry, Rosberg was there to grill someone from the FIA, who also struggled to explain the problem.

For light relief, Sky cut to stroppy Stroll.  New footage had emerged of him throwing his steering wheel away.  He was also in trouble for going backstage and pushing his trainer rather than going to be weighed.

The Shootout was delayed for an extra 10 minute practice so drivers could experience the changes to the track.  As it got underway, it became clear that track limits would continue from Qualifying yesterday to be a problem.  On the timing chart, drivers set times and then fell back to the bottom as their time was deleted.

Out went: Stroll, who went wide; Albon who wide, Tsunoda, who cursed all the way back to the pits, having had a time deleted; Magnussen and Sargeant.

In the second session, it seemed much tighter at the top with Norris really pushing Verstappen and Russell and LeClerc in the mix too.  Hamilton and Sainz had lap times deleted but the Ferraris were struggling with wind.  In the end though Sainz pushed Hamilton out of the Shootout in 12th.  He was preceded by Gasly and followed by Lawson (who would be put back after a time deletion to split the Alfa Romeos), Bottas (just like the good old days) and Zhou.

I hesitated to type the final Sprint Shootout classification as lap times continued to be okay and not.  Norris gave the pole position to his team mate Piastri with a huge slide coming out of the final corner.  Verstappen had to settle for third with Russell, Alonso, Sainz, LeClerc, Hulkenberg, Perez and Ocon.

And on to the Sprint...

It was a competitive start, not many drivers seemed to care about keeping the car in one piece for the race tomorrow.  Alonso had stressed the importance of "staying safe" after the Shootout.  The Ferraris made it up to 3rd and 4th and Russell got into 2nd.  Norris fell back to 6th, behind Verstappen.  The McLaren driver wasn't the biggest loser, it was Lawson, in his final race for Alpha Tauri this season, as he spun out into the gravel and beached himself.  It brought out the Safety Car, so we could replay the start lots.  Luckily it didn't take long to remove the car.

Russell had soft tyres and was able to overtake Piastri for the lead when the Safety Car went back in.  Still, it was less than a lap later for the normal Safety Car Whisperer, Logan Sargeant, to beach his car in the gravel and no sooner had Burt Mylander took his helmet off, he was back out again.  It was a long walk across the gravel for the American.

Russell slowed the pack right down, knowing that when he led off the medium-tyred Piastri wouldn't be able to keep up.  Sainz had a good look at the rookie too.  Finally on Lap 9 of 19, Verstappen switched his Red Bull on and sailed passed LeClerc to take 4th.  It was down to the soft tyres the Ferraris were on starting to grain and go off, whilst the medium tyres of the Red Bull and McLaren came into play.  Norris swept past LeClerc too and Piastri overtook Russell for the lead.  Just as things were getting interesting, we got another Safety Car on Lap 11.  Perez tangled with Ocon and Hulkenberg; all three cars tried to go into the same corner at the same time.  As Perez wouldn't be getting any points, as long as Verstappen scored something, he would be world champion.  Checo stood hands in the air in despair beside his car.  Russell was desperate for new tyres but he couldn't retake the places with so little time left and the pack running so close together.  Verstappen was warned that damage was starting to show on his tyres but he was desperate to win.

LeClerc was the biggest winner at the restart, taking his place back from Norris.  A lap later, Verstappen took second from Russell.  When McLaren got their tyres switched on, Norris was past LeClerc and Sainz for 4th.  On the final lap, Norris claimed the third step of the podium from Russell and Piastri was nearly 2 seconds ahead in the lead.  We can see now why Norris was so disappointed after Qualifying, McLaren can challenge Red Bull at this track and he wants to be the driver to do it, not his rookie team mate.

Somehow, and with 5 cars DNF, Albon made it from the back of the grid ish to 8th, getting past the Aston Martin of Alonso on the last lap to claim 1 point.

The Dutch fans who had travelled to the Middle East and paid the extra for the Saturday Sprint, were rewarded by seeing their hero crowned World Champion.  McLaren and Piastri proved that the whole fiasco with Alpine was worth it as he took the Sprint win.

I had wondered why there were no black and white flags for going over the track limits during the Sprint but apparently we just weren't told about them during the race.  There weren't enough for any time penalties to be handed out though.  There shouldn't have been many as so many laps were slow under the Safety Car.

The podium finishers were given their plaques, which look a lot like house door number signs.  Then they stood in front of the neon screens to have their photos taken with them.  Could Norris break his duck in the race tomorrow?  Will Verstappen have one too many Red Bull and vodkas tonight to celebrate his championship and help his pal out?

Qatar GP Qualifying Report

Qatar is quite a straight forward event, even with night racing and a sprint.

Qualifying was uneventful in Q1.  Out went Lawson, Magnussen (trumped by Hulkenberg), Sargeant (just pushed out by his team mate), Zhou and Stroll.  Whilst Stroll starts in 17th, his team mate was the fastest car on the straights and finished the first session in 3rd. Stroll then gave sub-Raikkonen one-word sullen answers in the press pen.  This probably isn't going to quash the rumours that his father is going to sell the team he bought for his son.

Q2 was slightly more interesting.  Tsunoda led the way for those exiting, followed by Sainz, Perez, Albon and Hulkenberg.  With Perez being the only driver who can challenge Verstappen for the championship, he did not need a lap deleted for going over track limits.  Sainz also put in a shocker.  Hamilton came back from being second to his team mate in the first session to put in the quickest lap in this session.

Through Qualifying, Norris had been on and off the track, with lap times being deleted.  Having finished second, it happened again and he ended up in 10th handing 3rd place to his team mate Piastri.  As Piastri was being interviewed, the interviewer was informed that Piastri was now in 6th as he too had gone over the track limits line.  Hamilton had a big slide and finished behind his team mate, who was second.  Verstappen went out to put in some more quick laps but ended up watching the remainder of Qualifying from the pits, out of the car and chatting.  The final classification was Verstappen (didn't even consider going near a white line), Russell (never a rule breaker), Hamilton (still unhappy), Alonso (I thought he was 4th before lap times being deleted, so not sure how he finished 4th and not -2nd), LeClerc (disappointing), Piastri, Gasly, Ocon (cracks beginning to show at Alpine), Bottas and Norris.