Netherlands GP Qualifying Report

McLaren were dominant in the practice sessions for the Dutch Grand Prix but not everyone was finding it easy.  Most drivers were caught out by the gusts of wind off the sea, with Hamilton spinning.  Antonelli beached the car but his colleague Russell managed to get through the gravel and back onto track.  Stroll sent it into the wall and cost his father even more pennies to get his Aston Martin fixed for Qualifying.

Six minutes into the first Qualifying session though and Stroll put the car back into the wall.  He went back through the gravel and onto the track to take it back to the pits.  He was lucky the gravel was banked and he just slid back down it.  From then on it was more straightforward.  The McLarens were quickest with Piastri ahead of Norris for the first time this weekend.  Out went Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Bearman, with Stroll last.

McLaren were still looking strong in the second session, with Ferrari right behind them.  The bottom five changed quickly as the clock ticked down to zero.  Racing Bull driver Lawson pushed out Tsunoda who replaced him at Red Bull.  Alonso put in the last quick lap to knock out Anontelli.  Not joining the shoot out were Antonelli, Tsunoda, Bortoleto, Gasly and Albon.  The Williams of Sainz was clinging on.  Verstappen was able to split the McLarens from the Ferraris, opening up the last session a little.

Again, the final session was very straightforward.  It was only ever between the McLarens and Piastri put in two quicker laps than Norris.  There was a brief moment of wonder to see if Verstappen could steal it at the end but it was never really in question.  He came in in third.  Hadjar did a belter of a lap to take 4th, with Russell behind him.  The Ferraris ended up in 6th (LeClerc) and 7th, ahead of Lawson, Sainz and Alonso.  The Racing Bulls really should have shared their homework with Red Bull over the summer break.

Hungary GP Race Report

Hamilton was particularly hard on himself following Qualifying; he said that Ferrari should replace him as the driver.  We would hear almost nothing from him during the race, then afterwards, he said that there was stuff going on in the background and that he still loved racing.  It was two downbeat interviews on the trot and it made me wonder if he would even see out the season.  Perhaps if Russell is booted out of Mercedes, he can follow him there.

As Brundle finished interviewing Jamie Dornan and Axl Rose, the Sky team got more excited as a little rain was now forecast for the race.  Tsunoda would be starting from the pit lane as he qualified so far down the grid, he would have the chance to make changes for this if needed.  In the event, there was no inclement weather.

LeClerc got away from pole very well and Norris's launch was great off the grid but then he fell back, losing two places to Russell and Alonso.  With the cooler temperatures, Russell was able to push towards Piastri as his Mercedes preferred the conditions.   Sparks flying, Norris used DRS to get fourth place from Alonso.  It turned out that Hulkenberg jumped the start and was awarded a five second penalty.

Norris was under pressure to overtake Russell and the engineers on the other side of the garage were looking for a way for Piastri to get past LeClerc.  Now there was discussion about whether tyres could be stretched to a one stop strategy.  If we couldn't discuss rain, we were sure as hell going to be discussing tyre strategy.

There were some early pit stops from teams like Williams then Verstappen made one.  Suddenly, Norris was radioed with a change of strategy but McLaren brought Piastri in quickly to undercut LeClerc.  Ferrari responded immediately and Mercedes too.  It was a great call by the Italian team as he was in the front already and they put in a two second stop.  He held the lead.

When the second stops came around, Piastri had checked out, all he wanted was to do was stay ahead of Norris.  Disappointingly, he didn't seem fussed about winning the race.  LeClerc, then Russell, pitted first and Piastri came in in response.  This left Norris, on a one stop strategy, in the lead.  It took until lap 51 of 70 for LeClerc to fully lose his grip on the race.  The McLarens' strategy had pushed them forwards but Ferrari hadn't been that shoddy.  Piastri overtook LeClerc for second place.  It would be a chase between the boys in papaya from that point on.

There was more anger from a Ferrari driver, this time directed at the team, as LeClerc was so insistent he could have done a better job than his engineers.  Russell was able, after a couple of goes, to get past him with eight laps to go.

With three laps to go, Piastri was chasing Norris down for the win.  There was a half second gap.  As we were watching to see what would happen, Gasly was awarded a five second penalty for an incident we didn't see with Sainz.  The world is fixated with the battle between Norris, who has waited patiently for his shot at the Driver's Championship and  Piastri, who has strode into F1 and clasped it.  

With one lap to go, Piastri, went for it into the corner at the end of the straight and locked up his tyres.  It was very close to contact; Russell would comment in the cool down room, he wished they would have T-boned.  He was reminded how the team go racing (i.e. without taking each other off).  The stewards weren't watching the race, they were busy handing out penalties, this time to LeClerc for driving erratically in front of Russell.

Overall, it was a good strategy call for Norris and he managed to make it work to claim victory ahead of his team mate and championship rival.

Russell in third had the fastest lap and  LeClerc remained in fourth despite the time deducted.  (He was told after the race that there was a problem with his chassis.  He was still angry).  After them there was Alonso, Bortoleto (highest finishing place of his career), Stroll, Lawson, Verstappen (barely mentioned apart from his little fracas with Hamilton) and Antonelli.  It was definitely a race where one driver in a team did very well and the other was struggling more.  Still they have the summer holiday now to dust themselves off and prepare for the second half of the season.  See you soon.

Old man Alonso, muscle problem with his back, special seat

Hungary GP Qualifying Report

The questions over Vasseur's future in F1 seem to be in the distant past; Ferrari think so as well, as they made a big song and dance about renewing his contract.  As he pointed out, they are second in the championship and couldn't do too much better.  No one mentioned Horner at all.

There was a little chance of rain for Qualifying; there were some grey clouds nearby.  A few drivers dropped their wheels into the gravel, bringing it onto the track.  So it was slippy for one reason or another.  At least gravel can be swept off the track.  It was Piastri who sent the most debris onto the track but was able to put together good enough lap times to finish the first session in first.  Alonso was in second, then Hadjar, Norris in fourth.  It wasn't looking good for his championship hopes.  Out went Tsunoda (last of the Bulls team), Gasly, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Albon.  The Williams put in three runs and Sainz was able to get up to 8th; not a strong track for the team.

In the second session, there was a tiny drizzle over Turn 6 and possibly Turn 1 too.  There was a mini panic by the teams but much more excitement in the commentary cabin.  This time, Norris was fastest and impressively so but Piastri was hot on his heels.  Stroll was third and the Newey effect was clearly at play with the Aston Martins.  Out went Antonelli, Bearman, Hamilton, Sainz and Colapinto.  Both Racing Bulls and a Sauber were through.

In the final push, pole could have been anybody's.  The McLarens no longer had the lead; the Aston Martins were gunning for them.  LeClerc came out of nowhere to put in the quickest time and then had to wait and see if anyone would beat him.  No one could manage it.  They finished LeClerc, Piastri, Norris, Russell (whose car worked it's tyres better on the cooling track), Alonso, Stroll, Bortoleto, Verstappen, Lawson and Hadjar (who didn't set a time).  The Ferrari driver couldn't believe it but his team mate out in 13th would be even more bewildered.

All in all, it set up a great race with several drivers looking punchy.