Monaco GP Race Report

In a pre-race interview, Sainz told Naomi Schiff that we "would know soon" which team is he headed to for the 2025 season.  This still didn't touch the clamour around pole-sitter LeClerc, who was racing around his home town.  The grid was properly filled with celebrities; of all the races around the world, this is probably the closest to a "money can't buy" experience.

We thought Sainz would overtake Piastri off the start but contact was made and he was immediately off and out.  LeClerc was chased by the McLaren instead.  A Red Flag was called, which seemed extreme for a puncture.  We then cut to a huge collision with Perez and both Haas, the blame wholly at Magnussen's door.  The Red Bull was left as just a cockpit, no front wing, almost no wheels.  Sainz limped back to the pits.  It was a shame that it was so early in the race, first lap, which wouldn't shake things up much.  

Whilst we watched lots of replays, the TV director found more footage of a third first lap incident where Ocon put an overly aggressive pass on his team mate, being propelled over and into him.  Some team principals were going to have some heavy discussions with their drivers after the race.

There was some drama over whether the race would restart in the order it finished or in the order they started as it was a first lap incident.  Those who started on the hard tyres would be massively disadvantaged as they would need to either run the whole race on medium tyres or make a pit stop, compared to those who started on the medium and could try to run the rest of the race on hards.  It was eventually decided that they would restart in grid order minus those who didn't make it back to the pits unaided.

On the restart, everyone got away cleanly; in all fairness most of the liabilities were no longer racing (all eyes on Sargeant and Stroll!).  From there on, everyone stayed in their order, whilst the commentators wondered if and how pit stops might affect things.  Stroll was the first to pit but did not bring any excitement to the race until he got a puncture and the rubber completely came away.

Ocon meanwhile was causing some drama.  He had been awarded a 5 place grid drop at the next race but his boss spoke to the press early and stated that strong words would be had, there would be consequences and a difficult decision would be made.

LeClerc and his radio went back and forth over which pace he should be sticking to and it was all about managing the race of other drivers.  Hamilton asked his team why they didn't tell him the outlap after his stop was critical, I think, as a driver, you should consider each lap of a race critical.  

We did see an overtake from Bottas on Sargeant, ironically he might be in that seat next year...if Sainz doesn't want it.  Stroll was able to make two passes with soft tyres.

With four laps to go, LeClerc made a very cocky comment to his team, which seemed to doom him to a hard coming together with a wall.  It then seemed entirely plausible that they would find Ferrari to have used the wrong fuel or a sprocket had been replaced incorrectly and he would be disqualified.

It was a great race for Ferrari, taking third two.  And a great race for McLaren with 2nd and 4th.  Leaving aside Perez, as normal, Verstappen held his 6th place, making it a bad race for Red Bull.  Mercedes also held position and probably won't be happy with 5th and 7th.  The final three points scorers will be feeling very pleased with themselves, Gasly, Albon and Tsunoda.

I'm really looking forward to replicating these vibes with Stroll in Canada next.

Monaco GP Qualifying Report

With Sainz being linked to a drive for several different teams next season, you would think all eyes would be on him but they were actually on the home track racer, LeClerc.  Rivalling him for coverage was McLaren who were unidentifiable in their Senna tribute colours on car, uniforms and everything else possible.

Everyone struggled in the first Qualifying session because different teams chose to go out in an entirely random order, which meant that traffic was awful, with huge queues forming.  There were big scalps: Alonso ahead of Sargeant, then Perez behind him and ahead of both Saubers.  Perez commented that this was a "joke", not sure who he thought was laughing.  If people were questioning his position at Red Bull before the race, he will be facing it far louder now.

With Perez and Alonso out, there were a couple of free passes into the final Qualifying session from the second.  Gasly knocked out team mate Ocon.  Hulkenberg qualified in 12th, once again ahead of his team mate Magnussen in 15th.  Between them was a struggling Ricciardo and Stroll.

Verstappen struggled throughout Qualifying and hit the wall in the last few laps and had to take his foot off the pedal.  Piastri brought the fight to LeClerc but he held it and took pole.  We can only assume that Ferrari had turned everything up to deliver the car for him.  Sainz was third, so the car is looking good, will it be able to hold everyone off during the race?  After them is Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon and Gasly.  It's a great position for the Williams and Alpine cars.

After the session, both Haas cars were disqualified because their rear wings were not the correct size.

There are a few issues to look out for during the race: Ferrari cocking things up as usual, can Perez or Alonso make up some places, how bad will the graining be, will there be rain?

Emilia Romagna GP Race Report

Everyone got away from the start cleanly, which was a surprise.  The Racing Bulls were the biggest losers with both cars dropping two places.  Verstappen maintained first place from Norris.

There were some early pit stops at Lap 10, with no overtakes even happening before.  Williams didn't fix their lead driver, Albon's tyre on properly and he had to make a very slow lap back to the pits.  They would get a ten second stop-go penalty for that.

There were brief glimmers of excitement; Alonso's tyres caught fire after his pit stop and Perez had a big off through the gravel.

Verstappen and Norris nearly had race, mostly manufactured excitement from the commentators.  He was over a second behind on the last lap.  We were also promised a safety car, which never materialised.  Behind them was LeClerc, a little something for the Tifosi.  Then Piastri, Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Perez, Stroll and Tsunoda finishing the points.  

Russell got the point for Fastest Lap and Norris was Driver of the Day.  Hopefully there'll be loads of overtaking and excitement at the next race....oh, it's Monaco.

Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying Report

 The super-early silly season continued as the season reached Europe.  Newey seems closer to announcing that he will move to Ferrari, Albon is to stay at Williams and Sainz has rejected Audi/Sauber.  

All eyes were on Norris to see if could keep the momentum going from his maiden win last time out.

In the first Qualifying session, Alonso took a long trip through the gravel (newly reintroduced to replace sensors) and finished last.  Ahead of him was Magnussen, whose team mate went fastest over all.  Completely the list of those leaving Qualifying was Bottas, Sargeant and Zhou, making it drivers from five different teams.

The headline in the second session was Ricciardo out-qualifying Perez.  The Racing Bull held 10th, with the Red Bull unable to pull out a better final lap and was out in 11th.  Behind them was Ocon, Stroll, Albon and Gasly.

The final result saw Verstappen on pole, followed by both McLarens, Piastri then Norris.  However, Oscar would be given a three place penalty for impeding Magnessen later.  Behind them was LeClerc, Sainz, Russell, Tusnoda, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.  Behind Verstappen, there is an interesting line-up.

Miami GP Race Report

There was nothing exciting in the build-up to the race.  The celebrity who got the most screen time was Adrian Newey, prowling about with his notebook.

Verstappen made a storming start off the line, with the Ferraris behind but Piastri came straight through to third place.  Perez cocked it up, going wide, a straight across and then a little off the track and back on and across, holding up Norris but letting everyone else get away ahead of them.  Verstappen was out of DRS range of LeClerc by the third lap.

Piastri continued to have a great start to the race, overtaking LeClerc for second place on the fifth lap.

Nothing much happened for many laps, including some pit stops until Verstappen ran wide and knocked down a bollard, depositing it in the middle of the track.  Did he do it deliberately to try and get an easier pit stop behind a Safety Car?  A Virtual Safety Car was called very briefly for the debris to be cleared away and only a few cars could benefit, none of the leaders.

Verstappen, Piastri and a few others took their stops and then Sargeant does what any second Williams driver does best and brought out a Safety Car in a crash with Magnussen.  It may have been Magnussen's fault but it was a close call.  Norris, who was in the lead, got the quick pit stop and maintained the lead.

Norris didn't handle the restart well and Verstappen was right on his tail, with LeClerc more than a second behind him to trouble the Red Bull.  Ultimately he did keep the lead and pulled out far enough ahead before DRS was enabled.  Verstappen started to complain about the steering.

Behind them LeClerc carried on by himself and Piastri and Sainz battled corner after corner.  Going off the track, the incident was investigated with no further action.  Then Sainz had the final go and got past but with Piastri sustaining damage to his front wing, meaning he needed to box to have it replaced.  Sainz then began to feel problems with his car.  The stewards duly investigated.

Magnussen was awarded a penalty for his role in the earlier incident and then a further penalty for failing to serve the penalty correctly, then another penalty for, well, who knew by now.

It was another awful race for Williams, with Sargeant out and Albon locking up a few laps before the end and running far off the track and back on to take a comfortable last place.

The Russian bots had clearly got to the vote for Driver of the Day, when Hamilton briefly came in third with 6% of the vote and then Bottas with a hefty share of the vote later.  Norris clinched it though.

Norris took a comfortable win in the end with Verstappen and Sainz both pulling along side him on the cool down lap to congratulate him.  He radioed in some lovely messages, stopping just short of saying he manifested it.

Alpine scored first points of the season but the feel-good race was all about Norris.

Miami GP Qualifying Report

Obviously, there was no news going into Qualifying as we had only just had the Sprint.

In the first sessions, the drivers complained bitterly over the radio, grassing each other in for impeding their laps.  Ricciardo was carrying a three place grid penalty for overtaking a Haas under the Safety Car at the last race.  His great Sprint meant nothing later in the day, as he was out in 18th, with Bottas and Sargeant ahead of him and Magnussen and Zhou behind him.

The second session really saw drivers struggling with their tyres.  Both Alpines, both Aston Martins and Albon's Williams were out.  Stroll out-qualified Alonso again.

The third session was thoroughly boring with Verstappen taking pole, followed by both Ferraris (LeClerc, then Sainz, with normal order resumed).  Next was Perez, who cannot match his team mate.  After that was both McLarens and both Mercedes (Norris ahead of Piastri but Russell ahead of Hamilton), Hulkenberg and Tsunoda.

It really seems like the race is going to be very obvious.  We need Stroll to really Stroll things up and Alonso to go aggressive.  Ideally a Red Bull engineer will completely forget how to get the tyres working.  Maybe we'll be treated to Hamilton battling a Haas again?

Miami GP Sprint Report

All over social media and television coverage, Ferrari's special livery blue shirts were looking good.  Very occasionally there's merch I'm tempted to buy.

Leaving the pits, Ocon drove straight into LeClerc, having been told by his engineers to stop, breaking his own front wing and was duly awarded a ten second penalty, a significant chunk of a shorter sprint race.

Williams elected to start Albon from the pit lane.

Verstappen was punchy at the start, diving across at LeClerc.  His team mate Perez completely missed the corner behind him and lost a number of places to cars behind him, with Ricciardo ending up third.

In the first corner, Norris was out and the Safety Car came out.  The two Aston Martins came together, Stroll crossing in front of Alonso, with Hamilton going for what he felt was a gap, coming in to the Aston Martins.  The pair went into Norris.  Stroll then came into the pits to retire and Ocon, cheekily took his 10 second penalty early.  Unfairly, the stewards decided no further action was needed as it was a first corner incident.

On Lap 5, when DRS was enabled Perez was past Ricciardo, if he couldn't overtake the weaker sister team, questions would be asked.  The Australian was then vulnerable to Sainz but still had DRS from Perez, less than a second ahead.

Then there was more bad news for Norris, who was to be investigated for crossing the track to get back to the pits.

Everyone enjoyed watching Hamilton struggling to pass the Haas for one point.  His team mate, Russell, meanwhile was in 14th.  The battle raged on with Magnussen cutting a chicane, getting a ridiculous ten second penalty.  As this was announced, the stewards also announced that Hamilton was being investigated for speeding in the pit lane.

Further up the race, Sainz could not get past Ricciardo for 4th.

Hamilton and Magnussen kept going at each other, with Tsunoda sneaking up behind them.  As Hamilton  went for it again, Magnussen put up a strong defence and both cars went off the track.  With potentially both cars carrying a time penalty, Yuki stood to get points at the end.  But he wasn't content with this and, in one swift move, he was past both cars.  In the aftermath, Hamilton finally got past Magnussen (the Dane getting another 10 second penalty, giving places to lots of drivers, but no points, as the pack was so close).

There were plenty of opportunities on the last lap for overtakes to take place.  Hamilton overtook Tsunoda, so the drivers finished thus: Verstappen, LeClerc (both running a boring race), Perez, Ricciardo (a much needed and hard fought for 4th), Sainz (challenging to the very end), Piastri, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Gasly (6 places ahead of his team mate), Sargeant (3 places ahead of his team mate in a very rare placing), Zhou, Russell (the Mercedes having both an abysmal qualifying and race car for this event), Albon, Bottas, Ocon and Alonso (we guess carrying some damage from his first corner collision).  After the 25 second time penalties were applied, Magnussen was moved to the back of the table but points were not affected.  Hamilton was then given a 20 second penalty for speeding in the pits, which put him out of the points and Tsunoda in, meaning the Torro Rossos had both cars in the points. Ricciardo commented: "I prefer it up the front." and the team were delighted with the result.

LeClerc commented that he played it somewhat safe at the start so as not to get any damage that might hurt Qualifying later.  This is a good point and makes you wonder why his team mate Sainz went for a last minute, unsuccessful dive up alongside Ricciardo in the last couple of corners.  Some people (Fitzpatrick for one) feel you can take chances because there are fewer points places to chase and it's just the Sprint but that isn't true.  If you get damage, you damage your Qualifying session in a couple of hours thus damaging your race.

Magnussen said that all his penalties were deserved and that he played the game well, creating a gap to protect his team mate Hulkenberg from Hamilton.  It was not the way he liked to go racing but fully took credit for those points for his team.

Mercedes admitted that they couldn't get the tyres working; had they got enough information to make them work in the race?

Adrian Newey enjoyed periodical coverage as the cameras checked in on him.  I don't know whether the director thought he might switch cap or shirt as a sneak peek for which team he will move to.

 

Miami GP Spring Qualifying Report

Since the last race, more news has rocked the paddock: Adrian Newey is leaving Red Bull.  Would he even be at the race?  Would he be giving interviews if he was?  He was and he spoke to Brundle; letting the world know that he would be off spending time with the family and travelling, like a disgraced politician.

There were lots of new liveries to get to grips with as well.

It's a shorter format for the Spring Qualifying and not much of a chance to redeem a poor lap.  In the first session, Williams were out in the bottom with Albon's lap being deleted as he careered off the track and went outside track limits, which meant that his team mate and home track hero, Sargeant, was not plum last.  Both Saubers and Gasly also went out.  The McLarens took the first two top spots in the timings.

Several drivers hit the wall; Alonso nearly did, Ricciardo did but with no ill-effects and Hamilton too, putting him out of Qualifying.  Russell was 11th, then Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen and Tsunoda.

Red Bull appeared to have turned up the engines for their final run in the third session and dominated in the end.  Verstappen took pole, then LeClerc, Perez and a stunning 4th from Ricciardo.  Next came Sainz, Piastri (who had been second all the way to his team mate), Stroll out-qualified Alonso, Norris (who had first spot until the last push) and Hulkenberg (who had briefly held pole!).

Verstappen felt that he put in a poor shift and someone else should have shown up and taken it.  He took the Etch-a-Sketch trophy and we were left to look forward to the Sprint.