Brazil GP Race Report

There were umbrellas up and gazebos erected before the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix as it was raining steadily but not heavily.  The drivers did some extra laps to the grid to get a feel for the track; world champion Antonelli went off on turn 12 through the grass, mud and water.  It was the scene of doom for several drivers during qualifying and I wondered how many other drivers would caught out there during the race.

The grid looked nothing like the finishing order in qualifying; there were so many grid penalties.  Lawson would start in third and Hulkenberg in fourth.  Bottas was wheeled off the grid as well as a wheel nut was stuck on his tyre.

Antonelli got a much better start than Norris who ended up in third quickly, behind Lawson too.  Alonso and Linblad (I think, we never went back to look at their start) slid wide and went of the track, slickly rejoining.  Hamilton was in the points by the end of the first lap whilst Verstappen was in eleventh, both drivers starting at the back.    The two of them were battling by the fourth lap.

Hulkenberg was already under investigation for doing something wrong with his practice start.  Verstappen and Albon were scrutinised for being out of place on the grid.  Nothing came of it.

The Ferraris were really battling; good job Vasseur had that chat with them.  The cars were not even in the points but Alonso butted in and got between them.    On lap 15 of 71, after a lot of begging over the radio, Hamilton was the first driver to go on to dry tyres.  A random selection of others followed him.  After one quick sector by Hamilton, a flood of drivers came into the pits.  

Russell managed to spin coming out of the pits in the narrow lane.  Three drivers nearly hit him as he had to spin back around to be pointing in the correct direction.  His tyres looked awful afterwards and he had to scrape them along the wall to get out.  He was back in tenth.

At first the slick tyres looked great but then Antonelli spun off the track and Norris took the lead.  Hadjar was easily past him when he rejoined the track.  Another off gave his third place to Verstappen as he lacked control over the car.  The race was sliding away from him.

It wasn't even halfway through the race when Norris started overtaking backmarkers.  Those drivers included the second Brazilian Camara in his Haas in last place and Stroll, second to last.  Stroll would not last of course.  I think he must have a cause in his contract that if he runs for twenty laps and he is not in a better place than twenty, the team will call on him to pull over to the side of the track and he can go home early.

It looked like Hadjar could hold out in second ahead of his team mate but then they had to swap.  Verstappen may have been faster.  Leclerc let Hamilton past further down the field.  After what happened next, Antonelli was told to let Russell past.  What a world we live in.

We were waiting and waiting for more rain to come and with less than ten laps to go it arrived.  Most drivers pitted for Intermediate tyres.  Hamilton on dry tyres spun and was the last to come in alongside Sainz.

Everyone held it together in the wet conditions to come home and somehow there was no Safety Car, no VSC, no Red Flags and barely any Yellows one during the race.  Everyone made the right decision about when to change tyres.  Perhaps the days of rain spicing up races have come to an end?

The Racing Bulls really held their own during this event and Lawson deserved a higher place than eighth with a side order of worry about whether he will be dropped next season.  Red Bull are back and strong but need to stop this current trend of beginning each season slowly.  Russell had a strong weekend and really let himself down (again) with his pit lane spin, at least he finished one place ahead of Antonelli in fourth.  Piastri was five places behind his winning team mate and must be starting to fear questions about his own future.  The Ferraris extracted nothing from their performance and it was a disappointing seventh for Leclerc and ninth for Hamilton.  Williams also did nothing with the advantage they gained on the grid with Albon in fifteenth and Sainz in nineteenth and one from the bottom.  Camara managed to finish his first Grand Prix, which is a result.  I would like to have seen Alonso in the points not twelfth but he finished so that's something.

Mercedes won the Constructors Championship and would be celebrating.  Norris begged McLaren over the radio to keep up the momentum, presumably for next year.  There is a break now before the end but we come back to another difficult track to manage in terms of time difference and timing of sessions, Las Vegas.  I wonder what will happen there this year to amaze and astound us.

Brazil GP Qualifying Report

There was not much happening in Brazil before Qualifying started apart from storms and Hamilton's engine failing and needing replacing, which meant he would definitely be starting from the back of the grid.  Leclerc had a ten place penalty.  Russell had a five place penalty.  Verstappen would be starting from the back of the grid too.  So whatever happened in Qualifying, it would not be setting the grid.

Just as the first session was about to start the next storm kicked off.  The mechanics had been drying up the garage apron with leaf blowers and rollers, all in vain!  It was proper rain not spitting or drizzle.  An Audi and a Haas just pulled up at the end of the pit lane to be wheeled back for extreme wet tyres.  After five minutes the session was Red Flagged and stopped as drivers were complaining about aquaplaning.  It was only Alonso and Verstappen who decided not to go out at all, the best decision possible.

The crowd whooped when the drivers finally took to the track.  Bortoleto was the first driver to go off the track and it was muddy, his tyres slew up the water and I was surprised the electrics still worked.  Stroll then did the same thing perhaps he felt the Brazilian was trying to steal his crown as the king of cock-ups.  Bearman waited until the dying seconds to ruin drivers' last flying laps with Yellow Flags.  I was surprised that with engine power somewhat negated due to the conditions more drivers did not outperform their car or benefit from mistakes of those with superior ones.  Colapinto, Gasly, Stroll, Bottas, Perez and Bortoleto (whose rear wing could not be fixed after his off) went out.  New-for-this race, Camara, went through two places ahead of his team mate, Bearman, a real triumph for the Brazilian who had never raced at this track before.  Alonso was in sixth.  Norris was the fastest ahead of Russell who has everything to prove.

Linblad had to retire his car a few minutes into the second session because "it was fucked".  He was carefully able to pull it right off the track.  Half way through, Alonso made the call to go on to Intermediate tyres first.  Drivers were trying to set one final fast lap in the last minute but Camara's luck was out, pushing hard he went off and nose-first into the tyre barrier.  His car would need removing and the barrier fixed so the session was Red-Flagged giving yet another delay.  Hamilton was out in eleventh (but it didn't really matter) followed by Piastri, Camara, Linblad, Sainz and Verstappen.  It was a shame that Sainz could not get ahead of drivers who didn't even finish the session, especially when Albon finished sixth, unless his lap was ruined by Camara?  Russell was fastest this time. 

The final session started late once the barrier was fixed but it started raining again.  It looked like they would need to get a lap in asap before it became intense.  It was a question of skill, experience and choosing the correct tyre.  They went out on Intermediates.  Alonso was first out of the pit lane.  The cameras didn't leave him.  It seemed to be a battle between Norris and Russell.  

They got about three minutes driving in before the rain meant it was all over.  Russell was furious that he missed out on pole position because he was told to back off as he would get another lap.  He handed the pole to Norris.  Behind them was Antonelli, new father Leclerc, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Hadjar, Bearman, Alonso and Albon.  The last two would be disappointed.  

Qualifying took two and a half hours and by that point, I don't think I would have watched all the interviews even if I hadn't run out of tape during Russell's.  Camara will start in eleventh, which was not to be predicted and could throw a spanner into the starting works if he makes a mistake off the grid.  The Williams start ninth and thirteenth, which is exciting for me, as the Williams Fan.

It is predicted to be a wet race too so let's hope that gives us an unusual winner.  If I had to choose, I would pick Albon, Sainz, Alonso but Hadjar or Lawson for the LOLs.

Mexico GP Race Report

The question hanging over the weekend was not whether Antonelli could win the drivers' championship but what on earth Sky TV would do with their build-up in the next race if he didn't.  Eventually we did get on to the race in hand and found out that Lawson had been disqualified from Qualifying for some safety regulation infringement that I can't quite follow.  His boss, Alan Pomaine, said that Lawson had messed it up.

Apart from a few Mexican Day of the Dead figures hanging around there was no one on the grid to be interviewed. Ferrari were at the front and had had a strong weekend so far; it was now a question of how the team would Ferrari it up. Hamilton locked his wheels up on the formation lap and gave himself a flat spot on his right front tyre - ouch,

There was a little funky madness at the start. Hamilton went well, Russell worse and Leclerc steamed ahead. Leclerc wanted the lead and went for it but drove wide and whilst he did Verstappen got past Hamilton which meant that he would need to lose two places if he gave the place back. He did not. In the background, Hadjar spun off. It was a tricky situation and at times the cars were four abreast.

A few laps in there were questions: what would Ferrari do, what would the stewards do, did Russell send Hadjar off the track and why were there two Aston Martins in the pits? The first questions were not answered immediately but Alonso was called to the pit lane to retire and then Stroll was told to stop at the side of the track. Of course, that called for a Virtual Safety Car. No one used the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres. Finally Leclerc was given a five second penalty which would be fine if he could maintain that gap at the front. It was lesser than him giving away those places. Russell however was given ten seconds.

There were mysterious early pit stops. We didn't know why Gasly had fallen four places at the start. Not to mention the astonishing fact that Haas have replaced Ocon with a thirty-two year old in Hirakawa. It was a Halloween spooky spectacular.

The front runners stopped just before halfway through and reassembled from fourth down. Others went later and there were some slow stops about perhaps some ghoulish gremlins hanging about in the pit lane causing mischief. Those that hung about waiting for a Safety Car opportunity had forgotten that Stroll had already retired from the race.

It was Lap 45 when the beleaguered Bottas spun after a suspension failure, crashed and brought out the Safety Car. It was bad news for Antonelli who had only just pitted; he did jump Hamilton though. As the Medical Car came around to check him out, the race was stopped with a Red Flag as the barriers needed repairing. Bottas had given a thumbs up to say he was okay and it took a long time for him to get out of his chassis and for us to see a replay, you could hear the crowd gasping.

Hamilton came on the radio to say that "we have problems. Big big problems." He stomped off into his pit when he got out of the car. From absolute delight with the team the previous day, he was now embittered. The cameras were trying to get as far into the Ferrari garage as possible.

Poor Gasly was not having any luck in the race as he lost power at the start and then, as he exited the pit lane under the Safety Car the exit traffic light turned red just as he was crossing it and was under investigation.

The race director decided to go back an extra lap to take the order for the race restart. Verstappen got away well from first place despite Red Bull's launches being abysmal this year. Leclerc was second but the dirty side of the track did him no favours and he lost the place to Hamilton in third. Then he locked up and got large flat spots on his tyres which left him vulnerable to those behind him and it wasn't long until Antonelli was past. Somehow he held Norris and others off despite everyone reporting that the holes were down to the canvas. I don't know if this is real canvas or just what we refer to as canvas these days.

Verstappen was investigated for being over the white line at the restart but was cleared. Further back Hulkenberg collided with Bearman, running straight into the back of him and putting him out of the race. He got a ten second penalty for that.

On lap 59 of 71, another Safety Car came out because Linblad had pulled over in his Racing Bull after coming together with Piastri and being sent into the air. The Medical Car came to get him.

Verstappen backed them right up for the rolling restart. No one made an overtake. It stayed that way until the finishing line. And there we were, the first words came from Bonno as Antonelli cried. He is the youngest ever world champion and spoke to Nico Rosberg whilst Verstappen, the winner and Hamilton, the runner up, watched on. Russell had made his way over from wherever the also-rans parked to congratulate his team mate, probably knowing he would get a little bit of TV coverage. Hamilton had chilled out a bit by the time he was interviewed so Rosberg poked the bear. It must have galling to lose the win in a Ferrari watching his replacement take the ultimate prize. Everyone is babying the new champion - there were lots of cuddles and lifting him, then Hamilton gave him another in the cool down room before Verstappen sorted out the confetti on his face by wetting a towel...the youngest champion ever.

There are a few more races to enjoy this season and Antonelli can sit back to enjoy them and watch things implode around him. How is Russell going react and will he finally get some wins now the pressure is off? What will be said in the Ferrari debrief? Will there be anymore fallout from the Ocon debrief debacle? Will Bottas be sacked having survived the imploding car? Will Stroll finally be sacked? Will we have some new race winners this season? It's still all to play for.

Mexico GP Qualifying Report

All the focus for the weekend should have been on Antonelli becoming world champion (potentially).  However, other people wanted to steal the limelight.  The dead were trying to have their day with the Mexican Día de los Muertos.  I remember the real spectacle that it was when we returned to Mexico in 2015 now it's less of a novelty.  Talking of dead men walking, Ocon was sacked in the middle of the weekend, following Free Practice 2 for talking back to the team.  Obviously there must be more to the story but Japanese driver Ryo Hirakawa will be benefiting this weekend.  Where eyes should have been on Mercedes, they turned towards Haas.

Alonso had also made a big splash with a comment about drivers at the back of the grid (probably directed at Albon) being substandard.  Albon said he was disappointed but still looked up to Alonso.  That was more frustration coming out.

Before that a number of drivers had missed the press day or been ill earlier in the week including the championship contender.  It had been blamed on this race being the second triple-header in a row.  I think it's the same lurgy that we're all getting passed on aeroplanes between Texas and Mexico.

When in Mexico though, all attention was on Checo Perez.  Cadillac capitalised on this by announcing that his contract was renewed for the next season.

In Free Practice 3 there were more divas wanting their share of the attention: Lawson and Verstappen were given conflicting advice over the radio about what the other was doing and crashed into each other.  This was followed by some very harsh comments from Verstappen about what a driver "who is fighting for their seat" should be doing.  Both drivers were given a one place grid penalty.

There was more going on with Red Bull drivers, Hadjar also received a warning from stewards after pushing a paddock guest who aggressively approached him for a selfie when he was running late for Free Practice 1.  In the olden days he would have gotten away it but with people catching footage for social media everywhere, he did not.

If you really want people to see you then you need to do what Alonso did in the middle of the first Qualifying session and pull over to stop your car in the middle of the stadium section of the track.  40,000 people were present and the session was Red Flagged and stopped.  He did not know why they stopped the car like that.

Leclerc and Norris had been quickest during Free Practice but Hamilton was the fastest in the first Qualifying session.  The slowest six cars were Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez and Bottas.  It seems likely that this will be Bottas' last season in Formula 1.  I don't understand how Stroll could not beat his team mate when his team mate did not even have a car.  When will it be his last season?  Alonso would even be reprimanded for not replacing the steering wheel correctly when he stopped.

The second session passed without event although we started to see some drivers have lap times deleted.  The drivers that didn't go through were: Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Piastri, Bortoleto, Bearman and Sainz.  If Alpine are going to have a good day, someone in a top team will go out and today it was Piastri.  It was a pretty big scalp when McLaren were looking good at this circuit.  Ultimately the team made a poor choice with tyres.

In the final session, drivers were pushing.  Hadjar crossed a white line at the pit lane entry and became under investigation.  From nowhere, with a minute to go, Russell took pole position from Leclerc.  He had not been mentioned at all thus far into the coverage.  Hamilton quickly took it off him.  Leclerc, who had been so strong, could only come back to third place.  Antonelli was not quick and then Verstappen locked up his tyres as Norris was in his way.  The dying seconds did not see anyone put in a quick lap.  The top ten were: Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Antonelli, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Linblad and Gasly.  Verstappen and Lawson will both take a one place grid penalty, remember.

Hamilton was overwhelmed and almost hugged his car.  Russell and Hamilton both need to finish near the front in the race if they are to take Antonelli's championship bid on to the next race.  It looks like a good line-up and I'm actually exited to watch the race.

 

US GP Race Report

It was almost a clean start apart away from the grid apart from a tiny tap between the two Ferrraris and the US GP was underway.  Antonelli was off into the distance.  Leclerc took third and then second place from the Red Bulls and then Verstappen took it back.  This argy-bargy meant that Antonelli left them far behind and was over two seconds clear after the first lap.  There was a very quick Virtual Safely Car to clear some debris; no time to make a pit stop.  Alonso was the only real loser at the start and dropped five places, the debris had come from Albon's car as it came past him.

After only eight laps, Piastri was asked to let Norris through.  They were both on medium tyres with no other discerning difference between the cars, it may have been unfair although Piastri was told they were on different strategies.  This didn't seem to be put back later and Norris went for some risky strategies to stay ahead and finished fifth.

Russell, who is one of the few drivers who could challenge Antonelli for the championship, was given a five second penalty for leaving the track at the start.  It seemed petty.

The first round of stops were very early.  I felt we had only just begun.  Norris was served poorly with a long stop and Hamilton came out behind Lawson.

In between quite a lot of overtaking, Bearman was given a ten second penalty for a collision with Gasly at the beginning of the race.  He received an unusual radio message from the team telling him they were happy to retire the car on lap 26.

Antonelli made one stop whilst many others were going for two.  He made it pretty much in the middle of the race and came out in fourth between the Ferraris and bequeathing the lead to Verstappen.  After the second round of stops everything was refreshed and he was back at the front.

On lap 52 of 56 a Virtual Safety Car was called because Bottas had come to a stop at the side of the track.  It had all been a bit racy up front and now the race was put on a freezehold.  Apparently, Antonelli was going to make a stop but he didn't ,which seemed like the right thing to do.  He had 19 seconds at the end of it.

Ferrari finally came good, having lost direction in Qualifying, and Leclerc finished second.  Verstappen took third place, which he wasn't unhappy with and then it was Hamilton, Norris, Hadjar, Piastri, Russell, Lawson and Gasly.

It was an awful outing for Cadillac and Williams with Aston Martin coming out ahead at the back.  Further up it was a real mixed bag with team mate quite far apart from each other.  Antonelli did everything he could to secure the championship at CotA: pole position and race winner.  Hamilton and Russell were both only one place away from handing it to him.  Has he won it this year or did everyone else lose it?

US GP Qualifying Report

There was only one name on everyone's lips going into this event in Austin, Texas: Kimi Antonelli.  Russell and Hamilton would have to do very badly this weekend and he would have to win and the Mercedes driver would be world champion.  And now I will move on.

Qualifying was Ferrari's to lose, they had been the fastest in every practice session.  They started losing it in the first session when Norris was quickest.  Gasly was the only driver who fell foul of the track limits but he put in another lap and secured his place.  It was a predictable six drivers that went out: Ocon, Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Perez and Bottas.  Alonso had been on fire to put on a bit of a show for the Americans.

Leclerc regained that quickest slot in the second session ahead of Antonelli.  It was uneventful and out went Gasly, Hulkenberg, Bearman, Bortoleto, Colapino and a smoking Alonso.

Ferrari entirely lost it - or Ferraried it up - in the final session.  Calmly, Antonelli slid in and took the pole position from nowhere.  I won't mention why this might be important.  Behind him were Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Piastri, Linblad and Lawson.

The stewards were out in force: there were track limits infringements here and black and white flags for driving unnecessarily slowly there.  I wonder what they will get up to during the race or will they have had so much brisket and beer that they have a lovely nap?

Bortoleto will start at the back of the grid for the race with a record (?) 60 place grid drop, for that he has replaced everything on his car, had a respray and had two ribs removed.

It was a pretty uneventful Qualifying but the drivers went out and showed their skill and the teams produced the best cars they could to challenge with so there's little you can do without being too artificial.  Let's hope something interesting happens in the race.

Singapore GP Race Report

Race day finally arrived in Singapore and it felt long-awaited for.  Hamilton turned up in special spangly jeans.  Another fashion he has pioneered is use of a scooter by the drivers to get around the paddock; even Hulkenberg had one.  Somewhere children are going without.

There was no Safety Car last year and no rain before this race so there was a feeling that anything could happen at this year's race.  Somehow Verstappen kept his place at the start despite a formidable challenge from Leclerc.  The car floors sparked in the night's darkness as they ran down towards the corners.  Russell started from the back of the grid and by the end of lap two, he was in seventeenth place, so it was looking good for him.

After that there wasn't much competition so it was disappointing to be shown a great team mate battle between Bearman and Ocon in the mini-screen rather than full frame.

The Safety Car opportunity came at the end of lap eight when Bortoleto pulled his car over to park it at the end of the pit lane.  It was a Virtual Safety Car though and too early to be capitalised on.  The teams tried to figure out their next move.  Norris talked with his engineer who asked him if he wanted to go with his idea from the briefing, which the driver agreed to.  This was much more coded than Ferrari who told Leclerc that they would be going for Plan C with the opposite to Verstappen.

Those first stops came on lap 17 with Hamilton moving from medium to the preferred soft tyre, Leclerc doing the reverse seven laps later.  With perfect timing at exactly half way through the race, Colapinto stopped, he drove off the track and into what appeared to be a civilian car park.  Norris and Piastri sensed a Safety Car coming and pitted with Piastri getting a delay and slow stop.  But Safety Car came.

Meanwhile Antonelli diced with track limits as he often does.  The one person who we can rely on to bring drama to a race finally did.  Stroll stopped on lap 39, retiring from the race and calling for Virtual Safety Car conditions.  Leclerc and Antonelli pitted at the front.  Russell came in but of course just missed out on it being a cheap stop because it finished.

McLaren called Piastri in for an unusually early second stop and it seemed like their were losing their strategic nous but it turned out he had a slow puncture.  The Aussie has had no luck this year.  He and Russell should form a club.

Ferrari were handling strategy in their own special way and there were times when it would have been a good idea to switch the position of their drivers but they waited until lap 46 of 62.  Verstappen, whilst seeming to be cruising to an easy victory out front, suddenly had a very slow lap.  We couldn't figure it out because his radio transmissions were not broadcasting, to us or to his team.

Towards the end of the race it became do-or-die time.  Norris had decided that he was going to get past Hamilton, who was not on good tyres.  This was his own call and he apologised for it later.  However both drivers went wide and Antonelli got past them both.  Norris is now back to self-recrimination.  Eventually Norris did get past Hamilton and we were treated to Kim  Kardashian's reaction.  Bonno was busy telling Antonelli off for exceeding track limits but the race was done.  Norris offered to help Piastri get past Hamilton was but was told not to worry, it wouldn't have been any recompense for tipping him out of the Sprint anyway.  Piastri managed it himself.

Russell started from the back of the grid and made it to ninth.  Hadjar started in the pit lane and made it to tenth.  Both were points positions but is it what their team mates would have achieved?

Singapore marks a new milestone in this season of F1; a driver can now secure the championship at the next race.  Exciting times and Antonelli did do the usual play of saying they would not think about it but took on the challenge with glee despite looking absolutely exhausted at the end, clutching his water bottle for dear life.

So there we are, a week off for good behaviour and we are on the championship straights.  Austin is always amusing and I feel we are heading into Kardashian territory now.  Yee ha!

Singapore GP Qualifying Report

With the sun set and the drivers fresh from a wet Sprint, Verstappen was looking to maintain his dominance over the race weekend.

Not everyone had such confidence.  Ocon went into the wall as soon as the first Qualifying session started.  Hadjar's awful weekend continued with more problems on his car.  He kept resetting, trying again but could not set a time.  There were no such issues for the other Red Bull and perhaps he is beginning to see what Webber, Sainz, Ricciardo, Gasly, Albon et al were dealing with.  Hamilton set the fastest time and at last there seemed to be a real challenge for Verstappen.  The Audis are beginning to get stronger and are now looking officially "midfield".  Out went Alonso, Albon, Stroll, Perez, Bottas and Hadjar.

In the second session it was Colapinto's turn to hit the wall straight away.  Predictably Hulkenberg, Bearman (who had an outstanding Sprint with a great battle with Gasly), Ocon, Sainz, Bortoleto and Colapinto were dismissed from Qualifying.

The third and final session passed without any incidents, no one even kissed the wall.  The Ferraris tried to challenge and Norris hoped for "a miracle lap" but Verstappen took pole.  Leclerc beat his team mate Hamilton to second, which had not looked certain at all.  I don't know why Leclerc is wearing a black costume this weekend and Hamilton red?  A mystery.  Behind them were Antonelli, Norris, Russell (who will start from the back of the grid after a power unit change), Piastri, Gasly, Lawson and Linblad.  The Red Bulls and Racing Bulls are showing their strength.

Predictions are difficult at Singapore; it is all down to driver error and whether there are Safety Cars and Red Flags.  It seems likely that Verstappen's experience and talent will win out though.

Singapore GP Sprint Report

The rain came down before the Sprintt and I wish I had watched in it full rather than on Channel 4.  Verstappen made a "horrendous" getaway from pole and lost the position to a hero start from Russell in second.  It was hero to zero for the Mercedes driver though as the was first through the final corner at the end of lap one, was delivered a power spike, misjudged it on the painted white lines, found more rainwater than he expected and spun off and into the wall.  He gave his car a thump in frustration.  It took seven corners for the Safety Car to be called for which was not good enough for safety-minded David Coulthard.

Russell was not the only retirement though, oh no!  Perez and Stroll also came together and took each other out of the race at the end of lap one.  Hadjar had a power unit failure and parked up.  Colapinto stopped on lap four.  Linblad was nearly out when he spun his car, then drover the wrong way around the track to be able to spin himself around and get going again.

At the restart, Verstappen held the lead and did not let it go even if Hamilton was pushing him slightly.  Albon, Bottas and Bortoleto were not expecting the backing up if the pack and came together in a motorway-style incident, putting all three drivers out of the Sprint.  

Would there only be fourteen finishers?  No.  The McLarens had been close together with no team orders and, more importantlly, no mention of Papaya Rules.  On the last lap, Norris believed there was a gap and, having been pushing for the previous sixteen, went for it.  It was not big enough, he tagged Piastri and put him out of the race too.  I cannot remember an event recently with such attrition and it shows what this street track can do, Singpore tends to let the top drivers shine and the lesser ones struggle.

If it's a dry race though, Verstappen will dominate and everyone will have to think very carefully about their strategies.

Singapore GP Sprint Qualifying Report

As usual, when we go to the OG night race, everything looks amazing in Singapore; the car livery's dazzle, the lights shine out, drivers choose sparkling helmet designs.  All was not going so glisteningly well for the FIA.  Having had to prostrate themselves for the wet running conditions software glitch last week in Bahrain, sorry Malaysia, no, sorry, Bahrain, a similar incident was triggered when Perez crashed his Cadillac in Sprint Qualifying 1 and a Red Flag stopped the session.  Something about this meant that when the drivers went back out again, some of them had limits put on their Power Units.  Is this what all that fuss was about a fortnight ago when we were told that AI would kill us all?

I didn't see the whole incident but I do feel that Cadillac possibly need to sack both drivers and start afresh next year.  And I am not asking them to hire Ocon.  Piastri, Verstappen and Hadjar were all effected by the timing of the Yellow and Red Flags and had one shot to put in a quick lap to get them through to the second session.  They all managed it, indeed Verstappen went fastest of  everyone.  Out went Linblad, Stroll, Alonso, Perez, Bottas and Sainz.  Sainz was one of the drivers who the software failed for and it seems unfair that he should be starting behind Perez.  The results show that Williams just don't seem able to pull themselves back into any kind of contention again.  If they finish the year battling with Cadillac, this is a new low and think they should rebrand as a new kind of Formula 1 team and bring back Sargeant and Latifi, with Stroll as reserve driver.

Former championship challenger, Russell, had a huge lock up in the first series of runs in the second session and nearly put himself out of contention.  The Ferraris look very fast at this circuit and Leclerc was quickest in the session.  Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Bearman, Bortoleto, Alonso and Ocon were dismissed.

The final session was straight-forward.  Several drivers could have taken pole but the Mercedes did not seem to be in contention, certainly not that of Antonelli, perhaps it was past his bedtime?  Verstappen took pole, followed by Russell (who should be cheered), Leclerc (deserved second?), Piastri (from out of nowhere), Norris, Hamilton (should have had a better result), Antonelli, Hadjar (will be looking to get closer in the proper Qualifying), Lawson and Gasly.  Lawson's year continues to look much better than the last one.

One can only assume that Verstappen on Sprint Pole for the Sprint means Sprint victory and Sprint points for the Red Bull driver.  Lots of Red Flags and Safety Cars are the only way out of a procession.  As I said, where are Latifi and Sargeant when you need them?

Bahrain in Malaysia GP Race Result

With Max Verstappen on pole, this race seemed to be an inevitable win for him and with spits of rain in the lead up to the start, this could only help him.  The other aspect looming over the race was the more textured track than usual which would eat up tyres, so we might get a lot of tyre chat.

As the pit lane opened for drivers to go to the grid, the rain came down heavily.  The track was very hot so it would evaporate quickly but the mechanics were scurrying around to find wet weather tyres.  Everyone was keen to get out to discover what this track, nay any track, would be like for these regulation cars.  By the time Martin Brundle hit the grid, it was raining torrentialy; the surface was a vast pond.  The start would be delayed but it would have been much better to have a rolling start behind the Safety Car as Jean Alesi had requested.  Most drivers went back to sit in the garage but some stayed inside their car on the grid or at the side under an umbrella.  The medical car went around and around displacing some water whilst the marshals went out with brooms and water-sucking vehicles drove about.

When the start time was announced all the drivers came out on their scooters to get to their cars.  The tyre strategy was now a free-for-all because the formation lap would be behind the Safety Car.  Hadjar and Norris were the only drivers to go off on that lap with Lawson stuck on the grid but eventually getting going.  Hamilton's car broke down as well and he dropped to the back crawling around.  He got back around the final straight but the Audis had not overtaken him so he powered down and got the whole system going.  I think it was too much for the Race Director, who decided to stop the ridiculous carry on and brought all the cars back to the pit lane to try again in a few minutes.  The mechanics scrambled back out.  It was a shambles.  Meanwhile Antonelli said the track was drying out very quickly, so all our excitement about the potential of a wet race was dying out quickly.  No one knew what order the cars would start in.  The Safety Car was parked in the middle of all the race cars.  All the drivers were back in the garages with their headphones on.  It was decided that the race would start again from the original grid line-up.  It had been over an hour since the race should have started.

At this point, it had stopped raining and drivers were hanging out in the pit lane.  Bearman was hanging with Bortoleto, Russell was chatting to Piastri, Stroll was chatting with his engineers.  Finally, we got a third start time and I was two cups of tea down.  There was a complete mix of tyre choices amongst the cars with no one wisdom prevailing.  Verstappen on pole was on intermediate wets as was third place Antonelli and their team mates, the Racing Bulls and the Williams.  The McLarens and Aston Martins were on the medium compound and everyone else was of soft tyres with Haas splitting their strategy.  Gasly went off on his, it was a big backwards cruise across the grass.  Hamilton also regretted his choice.  

We thought the race was underway.  Then the Safety Car took them around for another lap.  Perez came in to change his tyres to wet tyres before we went to the standing start.  Several drivers including Norris and Hamilton asked to come in for wet weather tyres and were effectively given a shush and stroke over the radio.  We would see who has the deeper level of talent to get around the first few laps.  McLaren didn't trust Piastri and gave him them, splitting their strategy.  Bortoleto came in too so those drivers would all start from the pit lane.  It would make sense if you were changing to dry tyres as you would have to start from the pit lane but to go wets and know you will have to change again some time soon was madness.  

They were tentative off the start and looked like they were on ice.  Both Mercedes made an awesome getaway and got past Verstappen.  All the drivers on dry weather tyres dropped straight to the back with Hamilton in 12th being the highest running after the first lap.  Leclerc came in for intermediates and a new nose as he had come together with Hulkenberg.  The gap between wet and dry runners was then a pit stop's worth of time.

Lawson made it up to fourth place by overtaking Hadjar.  Hamilton could not make his soft tyres work and was asked to pit but he negotiated and decided to stay out and gamble.  Verstappen got into the groove and was able to get past Russell. There was certainly lots of overtaking.

Hulkenberg was the first driver to change from wet to dry tyres.  As the intermediate tyre lap time matched the soft tyre lap time, Bottas spun into the gravel and beached his car to help out all the other drivers.  It was obvious that a Safety Car would be needed and it gave all the intermediate tyred drivers a chance for a free stop.

At the restart experience showed, Verstappen and Russell were both past Antonelli.  We seemed to be back where we were to start the whole show off.  The race calmed down and as we approached half way one of the most important overtakes happened: Antonelli took Russell for second place.

With twelve laps to go, Williams had lost all the advantage they had gained through basic ineptitude, a collision with Hulkenberg and then Albon's car was done and he pulled over to the side of the track.  A Virtual Safety Car was called for to slow the cars down, thus completing the F1 Procedures Bingo Card.  There was a rush for new tyres.

Something was amiss with the rescue of the stranded car and it was switched to a full Safety Car and anyone who hadn't piitted went now.  The tractor came out and the vehicle was lifted.  All the cars pulled up close behind Verstappen and it would be a sprint to the end.

Crofty said that it should be the Safety Car ending this lap several times.  As it began to look more likely that the Race Director might call it, Russell pulled up to the side of the track from third, his whole body language showing the disappointment and frustration as he climbed out.  Norris went off into the gravel as he took avoiding action as the cars in front slowed down, it was some kind of telepathic sympathy but regained the track.

There were three laps to go when the Safety Car came in.  Unfortunately Hadjar was not able to hold on to third position to gain a second podium in eight days as Hamilton overtook him to try and get back to close to where he was to start off with, around 36 hours ago.  Leclerc had fallen back at the restart but was also able to get past the Red Bull for a good Ferrari resurgence which will help Fred, whose abilities are being questioned.  

It was a race with everything apart from an actual Red Flag and perhaps a lot of on-track action.  Alonso scored some points.  Other than that there were no surprises in the top ten.  Singapore can throw up some surprises and as the last race in a triple-header some of the drivers might find it additionally challenging.  With Abu Dhabi and Qatar confirmed for the calendar this year, the end is not in sight yet.

Bahrain in Malaysia GP Qualifying Report

Firstly, do we need to address the fact that we are racing the Bahrain race at a different circuit that is not in that country?  I think we're all over it and it's nice to be somewhere different.  It's nice to see drivers tackle a triple-header too.  My favourite Malaysia memory is Kimi Raikkonen having a Magnum after he crashed out one year.

Secondly, Alonso had confirmed that he will be racing next year for Aston Martin in a record-breaking 79 year career.  He will be the brain in a jar racing in the future.  The Aston Martins were going well at this circuit and their performance has gone from dire to on-again, off-again, which is progress at least.  Both drivers were through in the first session.  Verstappen looked to be completely in control at the track and held fastest place throughout.  Hulkenberg, Bearman, Ocon, Albon, Bottas and Perez went out.  Hulkenberg and Albon were massively out-qualified by their team mates.  Albon's season really hasn't gone well and I think it's lucky he has already resigned for next year because if I was Vowles I would be tempted to do away with loyalty and go with someone newer and fresher, like Williams used to do.

The second session was trickier for several drivers who had their first times deleted: three drivers had to go and make their last lap count.  Verstappen again dominated the session.  Out went Lawson, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Colapinto and Linblad.

Predictably, even though there were some competitive lap times at the end of the session, Verstappen was on pole.  Of the others, it was Hamilton who pulled something out of the bag to join him on the front row.  The top ten was completed by Hadjar (who will take a five place grid drop for a change of power unit), Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri (the McLarens struggling at this circuit), Russell (struggling in comparison to his team mate), Gasly and Bortoleto.

Verstappen feels he should win from pole and I think he probably will.  Hadjar feels he has a good enough car to come back from eighth to make up places, I'm not sure he will.  Brundle thought it was an exciting Qualifying session.  I disagree and I am worried that this will be repeated in the race.

Azerbaijan GP Race Report

Lots of drivers were looking for positives and only finding negatives in Baku.  Sainz had secured a points position grid place but had been awarded a five place grid drop for going fast under Yellow Flags.  Norris had a fuel injection problem before he even got to the grid.  Antonelli went off on the Formation Lap and found that Leclerc did not follow immediately meaning he would end up sat at the start of the grid by himself for a good long while.

Russell and Piastri were away quicker than Lerclerc.  There was quickly some separation between the cars at the front.  Unusually, Antonelli went backwards rather than forwards off the grid, losing a place.  The Red Bulls were flying, Verstappen made up three places in three laps and Hadjar up in front of him was flying as well.  On Lap four, Hadjar got passed Leclerc for a podium place.  It would have been nice for Hadjar to get a podium but he had to give the place up to Verstappen.  Would this turn out to be the best strategy for them?

On Lap nine, a potential problem, Stroll was called on to stop his car, which he managed to do at a good place where he was right off the track; no controversial VSC would be needed.  Alonso would also retire before we were half way through the race as well.

After twenty laps Antonelli was in a position to score one point but we had not been shown one of his overtakes in full screen.  At the front however, Hadjar was calling to be let past Verstappen because he was close behind on medium tyres.

On Lap 30 I was wondering whether anyone had made a pit stop as we hadn't been shown any.  In fact, we had only watched Verstappen and Hadjar not-battle for many, many laps.  The other teams needed to do something to get some airtime for their sponsors.  Norris locked up his brakes, went wide and had to do a big loop to continue.  Not to be outdone, Albon put his Williams nose-first into the barrier, excellent promotion for Barclays (Fred the Shred is finally vindicated).  There was a Yellow Flag then a Safety Car but who was past the pit lane entry?  The question for teams was whether a Red Flag would be put out shortly and no pit stop would be needed for the whole race and a pit under Safety Car would be a mistake.  The Red Bulls would need to double-stack.  

The restart was wild: everyone was weaving back and forth to pick up heat in their tyres and it looked like Russell was taking it too far.  I thought everyone was going to get passed him but off he went.  Verstappen was ready to pounce though and passed Piastri.  Behind them it was chaos with half a dozen drivers running into each other around a corner: no one seemed to stop they just kept sliding into the next car.  I don't know how Norris got involved in it from ninth position but he was out.  The Safety Car was immediately back out with no break for Mylander.  Colapinto had been in too tight a space and ran out of braking room and into his team mate Gasly, they both slid into Norris.  Meanwhile Linblad T-boned Lawson; he was pushed off the track but manged to get going again.  Somehow lucky Antonelli got through it all safely.

Colapinto was apologising immediately.  The Alpine Team Principal was off the pit wall and across to shout and I can only imagine what Briatore will say to him and on Netflix.  I imagine his phone has "run out of battery".

With the race about to restart again, Verstappen was ready to push past Russell.  As the pack being six cars down, this was a clean start.  Antonelli was in seventh with both Ferraris, both Red Bulls and Piastri between him and his championship-challenging team mate.  Hadjar was pushing Piastri for third place and the Australian locked up and went wide where Norris had.  This dropped him back to 15th; Villeneuve called this a rookie mistake.  An awful weekend for McLaren too.  And Antonelli was up into sixth.

Then Antonelli was passed Hamilton and Verstappen was getting closer and closer to Russell and he started to panic.  Race Control suddenly said that they were investigating Verstappen for not following race director's instructions (nothing came of it).  Russell managed to pull out the crucial one second gap but with two laps to go it was down to half a second and everyone would be holding their breath for the three minutes until the end of the race.  Somehow I looked up again and Russell had found something and it was a second again.  To add to the comfort for George, there were Yellow Flags for them to get past Bottas who had put his car into the barriers on the last lap.  There was a tenth of second in it with Hadjar getting a very well-deserved podium in third.  Linblad overtook Ocon almost on the line.  The final points-scoring ten were Russell, one tenth of a second ahead of Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc (who had a very quiet race), Antonelli, Hamilton, Linblad, Ocon, Bearman (lots of points for Haas) and Sainz (Williams should have scored a lot more points this weekend).

Red Bull played the strategy game very well and it does feel that Verstappen should have earned a win so far this season.  Some drivers really earned their stripes during this race and others just didn't seem to be able to join the dots and achieve as much as they should.

Seven cars did not finish the race so it was a tricky one to either keep it on the track or avoid being collateral damage.  Norris said Colapinto should be given a one race ban for the incident, as though he has never done anything like that.

There will mechanics locked up in containers to try and fix the damage before Free Practice in Bahrain/Malaysia.  It's a triple-header with a week off before another.  Tough for the mechanics, tough for the drivers and even tougher for us F1 bloggers.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

There were a couple of issues with the Baku circuit on Friday for Qualifying: firstly, the track was still being fixed after an incident in an earlier event so it would start late, secondly there were gusts of wind that could catch a driver unaware and thirdly, it was Friday, a day early, because the race would have conflicted with an important Memorial Day in the country.

The first Qualifying session did not go well for the Championship leader Antonelli, who hit the wall and damaged his tyre, if not more of the wheel.  He had to park the car, pulling off the track to do so.  This was the very thing we needed to try and bring about some more competition for the season however he started even further back in Monza and still won.  At the very end, Williams made a big jump up to 9th and 11th and Stroll went off the track bringing out Yellow Flags.  The Williams have brought a major upgrade this weekend and are a more competitive weight.  Reminder, Sainz was third in his Williams last year at this track.  Russell was fastest and Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Perez, Bottas and Stroll went out.

As soon as the second session started, Linblad was off the track and had to reverse back onto it.  This track was not proving to be straight forward yet again.  With two minutes to go he did it again.  Ocon also went wide but that's not news and won't help him find a new seat for the 2027 season as it seems Haas no longer require his services (unless Cadillac want to replace Bottas with him, I don't think there's much hope and I would rather see more rookies come in).  Russell was absolutely dominant and fastest again.  Both Alpines went through and Sainz which was great news for them.  Bearman, Lawson, Albon, Ocon, Linblad and Antonelli were out.

For once Liberty played some fun radio...Norris and McLaren gave away what their plan was for the final session and was playfully corrected by his engineer; F1 bants ensued.  Both Colapinto and Norris briefly stopped on track at one point or another to bring out a Yellow Flag.  Even with flying laps from Leclerc and Piastri, Russell was fastest and secured pole position eight tenths of a second ahead of Leclerc.  Behind them were Piastri, Hadjar, Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Sainz and Colapinto.  In a disappointing showing from Verstappen, who is four places behind his team mate who is returning after three races out for an injury and also sandwiched by drivers that he drove out of Red Bull but was held up by a Yellow Flag.  Hamilton will also be disappointed to be four places behind his team mate.  He pointed out that the Mercedes engine was very quick almost saying it was unbeatable.

There should be thrills and spills in the race with lots of Yellow Flags, Virtual Safety Cars and Safety Cars.  It's a beautiful, tricky circuit that promises lots and doesn't always deliver.

Spain GP Race Report

So far the Madring (Which syllable are you emphasising?) had been full of surprises but lacking in real action.  There were a few costly crashes during the Free Practice sessions and Norris's pole.  We were yet to see how it would all play out in truly competitive action.

It was a great start from Norris but Antonelli cut across tight behind him, he went wide twice and took avoiding action over two corners.  This meant that Verstappen was able to get past him.  Hamilton wanted that place from him.  It was all a bit messy but all the drivers knew their best chance to win the race was to take it at the beginning.  Norris got away into the clean air showing that was true.

Behind him, after a lot of pleading over the radio, Verstappen had to move over to let Antonelli past him so that Hamilton could get past him.  The Ferrari was having a slow brake failure though so it wasn't long before Verstappen was back.  In a matter of corners, Leclerc was past too then Russell.  With the failure soon dropping him back to 22nd place, he was getting black and white flags for going off the track.  Ferrari did not want him to stop on track because Leclerc was on the hard tyres and did not want the Safety Car brought out.  He got it back to the pits but we didn't see how they stopped him - did the mechanics grab him?  Was there some sort of net put across?

Stroll's brakes also failed and he did stop at the side of the track on lap 15.  Norris had just passed the pit lane entry as a Virtual Safety Car was declared so Antonelli and all those behind him took the cheap stop and he would have to wait.  Leclerc on the hard tyres did not pit but Russell in the same position did.  Norris was told to box but it was too late and he came in as the VSC ended.  Alonso had to get a whole new nose after colliding with his comadpre Sainz, ruining Aston Martin's weekend.  Norris's mechanics could not get one of the tyres on either.  The whole couple of laps was a disaster for many but, as always, played right into Antonelli's hands.  Leclerc was the race leader with the Mercedes behind him.  Norris was in fifth.  His excellent start should have secured race victory.

There was action amongst the drivers at the bottom end of the points.  At the front, Leclerc just kept going, allowing Verstappen and Norris to catch up with Antonelli.  There didn't seem much chance of any real racing taking place.  The Red Flag or Safety Car that Ferrari wanted did not happen and with five laps to go they pitted Leclerc who came out in fourth.

Antonelli acknowledged straight after the race that Norris should have won.  All the good luck during the whole season has flowed his way, washing aside his competitors, none more so than Russell who was left adrift in fifth place.

In the wind down room, the grown-ups almost ignored the young winner as he gamely tried to make conversation.  The unusual trophy looked like a horseshoe but when you discovered that it is a model of Le Monumentale corner, the greatest on the track, it makes it much more special.

We don't know how many races are left of the season but I do feel we know who the drivers and constructors champions will be.  Antonelli is now 81 points ahead of his team mate in second place.  The best that Russell can hope for is that another team does not put in a big challenge and he will have to then take team orders to protect him.  Yes, I've gone there.  The kind of catastrophe that could stop him is only a Michael Schumacher broken leg kind of one.  I hope we end the season in Italy, that would be amazing.  And I hope that Russell, Norris, Hamilton et al regroup over the winter and come back stronger because I do not need the next decade to be nothing but Antonelli.  Remember when we all thought Vettel was sweet?

Spain GP Qualifying Report

I thought if we were giving up the Barcelona race, we were getting a street circuit right the centre of Madrid.  It turns out we are going around the conference centre and under the motorway just outside the city.  It was tricky though with not a run off in sight.  Linblad was the first driver to have a big crash but that was earlier in the event.  Bearman and Hamilton had bigger crashes in Free Practice 3, which would impact their Qualifying more.

No one was looking at Haas or Ferrari though: all eyes were on the Mercedes drivers.  Russell said he was "being rational" about it which is one way of dealing with unfortunate failure.  Antonelli was the first driver to go off the track during Qualifying. He did end up quickest in the first session though until Russell pipped him in the last milliseconds.  There was disappointment at the other end of the timings board with both home drivers out.  Those who finished their Qualifying then were Sainz, Alonso, Perez, Bottas as well as Bearman and Stroll who both had broken cars and did not set a time.

There was no drama in the second session.  Out went Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda and Albon (who barely set a lap time).  The final session carried on in much the same way.  For a track where several Yellow and probably Red Flags were predicted for Qualifying alone, nothing came of it.  From out of nowhere, Norris took pole, leaving Antonelli the place beside him.  Behind them would be Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Russell, Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto and Linblad.

Over a longer race run, we should see more accidents and mistakes which will be critical for making the event enjoyable for spectators because otherwise it will be a procession.  Yo-yo racing came back last week so perhaps that might be a feature?

Italy GP Race Report

The first abomination in the Italian race was the new build-up feature "Gigs on the Grid", which Sky were clearly as obliged to broadcast as the national anthem.  Let's hope this was a trial and the feedback reflects the enjoyment no one derived from it.

The grid had had a glow-up since Qualifying.  Alonso and Lawson would be starting from the pits, having changed power units and Albon and Antonelli had done the same but would start at the back of the grid.  Piastri had received a three place penalty for impeding during his trauma-filled Qualifying.

Gasly made an amazing start but behind him the Ferraris were pushing hard.  They lost out to Russell, Leclerc and Hamilton were too close to each other.  It was too much too soon and the Brit was forced into the gravel. The McLarens pushed forwards.  Before the end of the first lap Russell was close behind Gasly and pushing to get past, he did it the next time they went down the home straight.  Leclerc snuck through behind him but Gasly was able to gather some electrical energy to get second back.  Antonelli had already made it up to 13th in an ominous sign.  All the drivers were running close and easily able to overtake each other.  At the end of the that second lap, Leclerc went off at speed sideways and incredibly heavily into the tyre wall.  With Hamilton in eighth, it was an awful start for Ferrari.   The Safety Car quickly became a Red Flag as the tyre barrier needed a lot of work to fix it.  Where was Mater to tow the car away?

It would have been nice of Liberty Media to put up the restart line-up on screen, as the glare of the hot Italian sun meant it was hard to see the liveries.  It would have helped Tsunoda too as he went into the wrong spot.

This time Russell's start was excellent and Gasly was still behind.  Colapinto was somehow third, I'm not sure how that happened although Verstappen was close as well.  The Alpine was out to impress Briatore and went for the overtake him and then go over the gravel but managed to get himself back on track.    Antonelli was in eighth.  We wondered how long all these frantic overtakes would last before things settled down into a procession like all the races at the start of the year when everyone was adjusting to the new regulation cars.  

By the tenth lap, a fifth of the way through, Gasly was dropping back quickly.  The top ten were Russell with Verstappen close behind, Hamilton, Piastri, Antonelli, Gasly, Norris, Linblad, Tsunoda and Bearman.  The other Red Bull was Lawson in eleventh.  It still seemed that there were any number of drivers who could win the thing.  For example, no sooner was this noted than the podium changed to Verstappen, Russell, Piastri.

The next phase of the race would see a Mercedes one-two in front with Antonelli being told to race clean but on the main straight he got past for the lead and the crowds roared gently.  Verstappen was waiting in the background to see what would happen.  There was no shot of Toto Wolff gripping his monitor with white knuckles.

With Alonso pitting to retire earlier, Aston Martin radioed Stroll to tell him to pull over as he would need to retire due to a hydraulics issue.  Of course he Strolled it up by pulling off the track but not right off to make it easy for everyone.  Virtual Safety Car conditions were brought on.  Antonelli and Verstappen pitted but not Russell.

Just as it looked like Russell had finally lined everything up in order to win a race, it was announced that he was being investigated for failing to lift under a Yellow Flag.  There would be no further action though, so perhaps?  The next obstacle was that Antonelli caught him up with five laps to go.  It was scrappy, Russell locked up into a corner; he was saved when Antonelli went wide and into the gravel.  It gave the older man a lap or so reprieve.  Antonelli took the lead of lap 50 of 53.  He was able to pull away with fresher tyres.  

Now our attention was on whether Norris would get past Piastri for fourth place.  Verstappen seemed safe in third.  It finished thus.  The competition was on, up and down the pack, throughout the race and at last the new regulations seem to be paying off for the spectator.

The second and final abomination was David Coulthard quoting LL Cool J during the post-race interviews.  Not sure why Russell was booed as he went on to the podium, Antonelli shook his hand to try and mitigate it.  Antonelli got a trophy of stacking cups, he'll enjoy playing with those.  There won't be long for the twenty-year old to celebrate as we are racing at a brand new track next weekend in Madrid.  In my mind, he isn't old enough to drink.  I'm sure some good, wholesome fun will happen in Italy before the circus moves to Spain.

Italy GP Qualifying Report

What could be more interesting at the Monza race than whether the Italians were supporting Ferrari or world championship leader (and Italian) Antonelli?  I suspect they will support whoever wins.  The media were devoting a lot of time and discussion to this.  I was more interested to see Lightning McQueen on track (as Mr Pitstop Princess keeps saying, it should have been Francesco Bernoulli IYKYK).

Not everyone did well in the first Qualifying session.  Alonso was out of his car before the time was up, shaking his head in frustration.  Piastri went wide off the corner on his final push lap.  Tsunoda's car was only just ready in time but he couldn't put a lap together.  The drivers out were Tsunoda, Albon (who has a grid penalty anyway), Bottas, Perez (we've stopped hearing that Cadillac are shopping for a replacement for the Finn), Alonso and Stroll.  After finding some form at recent races, Aston Martin seem to have lost it all.  Gasly was the fastest!

Piastri kept being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the second session: he nearly held up Lawson, he was investigated for a pit lane infringement.  There was too much traffic on the track.  Antonelli took his rightful (?) place as the fastest driver despite giving a tow to his team mate.  Out went Bortoleto, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Lawson (the victim of traffic), Sainz and Ocon.  Hamilton scraped through in tenth.

By the time the cars came out for the final Qualifying session, it looked like no one had learnt anything from earlier on.  There was traffic and argy-bargy in the pit lane.  The set of timed laps were set and nothing unusual happened, then the drivers went again.  Piastri went off across a corner again and lost his lap time and meant he wasn't able to give Norris the slip stream.  In the dying seconds, as it looked like Russell was going to take a predestined pole, Gasly put in the fastest lap.  He couldn't believe it as the team went wild in the garage.   Russell said it was "a bit messy" and unhappy with the team's strategy.  Behind them was Piastri (unbelievably), Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Antonelli, Colapinto, Norrs and Linblad.  A really good show for Alpine and a shame that Briatore will get the credit for it; still in a weekend where everyone is celebrating Schumacher perhaps he should share a little of the limelight.

Having won the race at Monza before, this was still Gasly's first pole position ever which doesn't seem right.  We had the regular F1 farce of a native carrying out the interviews and everyone had to speak English.  Gasly asked to give his second comment in Italian, "prego" was the answer and he spoke well; perhaps this is his pitch for a Ferrari seat or perhaps he just wants to get away from the track alive.  Russell gave this a big round of applause.

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Netherlands GP Race Report

At last our prayers were answered and it started raining in Zandvoort before the race started.  The drivers went to the grid on Intermediate wet tyres.  It stopped though.  Would there be a tricky transition for drivers between wet and dry tyres or would the track be back to normal before they needed to?  Before we got to find out a woman sang the national anthem in a dress with black pointy shoulders and black pointy breasts and a train approximately 100 metres long that celebrated the history of the track.  It was Madonna meets Mansell.

So, with all the excitement, the tyres were revealed and...it was dry tyres.  It was still looked a little bit hairy on certain corners but it was lights off and away we go.  Mercedes poor starts let Russell down again and Antonelli got ahead of him but Norris was away in the lead.  The final corner looked to be the wettest part of the track, the rear end of the cars on the high camber were sliding around.  And so, at the end of the first lap, Verstappen lost it and went hard into the wall and sprayed Bortoleto with his debris.  Verstappen seemed the most unlikely driver to make this error although if he had qualified better then he would not have been in the middle of it all.  The mistake was perhaps inevitable wherever he was.  He hung his head as the medical car collected him.  The race was stopped.  It was preposterous that no other drivers were caught up in it as they were all racing so close together.

In the midst of it the incident, Ocon overtook Albon and then Bortoleto did a full 360 degree spin with Hulkenberg's reflexes causing him to dart to one side to miss it through the smoke from the tyres.  Linblad and Colapinto were both under investigation for overtaking under Yellow Flags.

With the cars stopped in the pit lane, the drivers could stretch their legs and the techno music was switched on.  Eventually there was going to be a second dry standing start.

There was a mix-up in the pitlane and some drivers were held back by a red light or flag which meant Norris would get to the front of the grid a very long time before the back of the pack.  To make matters worse, Bearman pulled over to the side of the track as his power unit failed.  I am getting to grips with calling it a power unit and not an engine.  I wonder when we will all have power units rather than engines in our cars just like we got ABS and then F1 outlawed it?

An extra formation lap was needed to clear away Bearman's Haas.

Now the Mercedes made a great start and Antonelli got past Norris.  Russell's start was pretty good too but he fell back as Piastri somehow got past him.  They followed each other around for a dozen laps and then Russell was the first of the front runners to pit.  It was a bold move but he was under pressure from Leclerc.  Piastri responded but was given a five second plus pit stop from his team so it didn't work out well at all and Russell took his place back.  Antonelli was the next driver to pit closely followed by Norris, Leclerc and Lawson.  Hamilton took the lead of the race, I bet he was hoping that was the moment Kim decided to switch on the telly to check in on him - who are we kidding?  She is never going to watch a race.

Towards the middle of the race there was an epic mid-field battle between five or six cars.  Halfway though all of Norris's promise was gone as first Leclerc then Hamilton got past him and he was back in sixth.  Both passes were nicely done, with Hamilton imitating his team mate.  It was also pointed out by the stewards that Piastri was driving erratically.

When the second round of pit stops were happening it was hard to see who was where in reality.  You would have thought the FIA could have tweaked the graphics to show this at this stage of the game.  Hamilton appeared to be leading the race from Antonelli but did he need another stop?  This was the subject of much debate between team and driver.  Norris, Russell, Leclerc and Piastri were behind them.  

A panicky Antonelli was on the radio asking how to manage the car on tyres that were not suiting it.  Norris took advantage and got past him.  On old tyres Hamilton could not defend the lead any longer and both Norris and Antonelli got past him.  Ocon pulled the other Haas onto the side of the track to retire and, just as those big overtakes had happened, the Virtual Safety Car was declared.  Hamilton was frustrated on the radio wondering whether and when he would get new tyres and then he was allowed to pit and get a cheap stop.  They double-stacked with Leclerc.  Piastri was nearly the only other car to pit under these conditions but then Antonelli came in when it was clear the marshals could not move the stricken Haas quickly.

With seven laps to go, Mercedes made the call for Russell to swap places and give Antonelli second place.  He questioned it but gave way swiftly.  It was a big demand of the teenager to make up the eleven second gap to Norris over seven laps and overtake him.  Hamilton was immediately preying on Russell and was on much fresher tyres.  Should they have made the switch right at the end?  Russell did some excellent defending but could he hold Hamilton off for three laps?  The question was deferred as a Virtual Safety Car was called in order for the marshals to collect debris from the track after the Williams drivers collided.  This was not the team unity that they had been presenting as part of their re-signing announcement.

With laps to go Colapinto, Lawson and Sainz were all given ten second penalties for one misdemeanour or the other.  Leclerc had caught up with Hamilton and Russell and nearly got too close to his team mate.  I don't know quite how it happened, when he took the lead again and why no one else got close but Norris won the race.  He thought the strategy won it for him.

There was a lot of outside influence in this race: long pit stops, two starts, mismanaged tyre strategies.  However the Sprint Qualifying, Sprint and Qualifying  promised a particularly dull race and it was actually full of carry on.

Piastri was sixth and not showing any of the spirit he brought to last season.  Hulkenberg scored points for Audi and, more surprisingly, Alonso scored points for Aston Martin.  At some point Stroll retired but nobody noticed or cared.  Tsunoda finished ahead of his team mate which was excellent going for a sub driver; I do think Red Bull were too quick to dispatch him from Formula 1.  Only sixteen cars finished the race, a high level of attrition and Norris looked very tired.

The points from the Sprint and third place promoted Russell to second place above Hamilton.  The problem will be that if Antonelli keeps on going at this pace and everyone else squabbles, the teenager will win the championship.  With back-to-back wins, Norris seems to have joined Hamilton and Russell as contenders.

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. 

Belgium GP Race Report

It was a fine, sunny day in Spa as the drivers lined up on the grid.  The back of the Qualifying order was a mess with several drivers taking grid penalties for making changes to their cars.  The bottom four were Sainz, Stroll, Hadjar and Alonso.  Gloomy as it was there, the skies were clouding over and the radar weather monitors were in use, gloom growing in the skies.

It didn't take long for Verstappen to get past Antonelli off the start but he got it back.  Verstappen fell back behind him and Hamilton went into Russell and tipped him off the track.  It was all clean at the back of the pack though.  Leclerc had got past Antonelli behind the Red Bull but by lap two the Safety Car was out.  It would be a very early pit stop but cheap; the hardest tyre could go to the end of the race; no one really risked it.

Antonelli held it well at the restart but Verstappen was quickly past Leclerc, the Ferraris struggling for straight line speed.  Piastri was not far behind, wanting that third place for himself.  When he did go for it, Leclerc cut him off and Piastri lost a bit of his car in the process; it would affect his aerodynamics for the first half of the race until he changed his tyres.  Piastri said that he did not leave enough space (so he could overtake?).

Bearman snitched on Sainz, pointing out over the radio that the Williams' wing was hanging awkwardly.  We couldn't see it because that would give the team airtime and they probably don't record the Williams cars anyway.

Verstappen was the first to pit from the front-runners and almost lost the advantage when a Virtual Safety Car was called to allow the marshals to clear some debris from the track.  It didn't last long and all was well.  Antonelli pitted which put the Ferraris at the front.  Hamilton was angry that Ferrari had not gone with the tyre strategy that he wanted and he had not noticed.  They may not have told him he also had a five second time penalty for his collision with Russell, even though the Mercedes driver thought it was a racing incident.  Leclerc got away with his coming-together with Piastri though.  

The VSC came again and this time both Ferraris pitted; they were double-stacked and it was perfectly timed although Hamilton had to wait five seconds and then he nearly ran over a mechanic.  Leclerc was able to jump Antonelli.  Piastri pitted and he had been scrapping with Norris despite allowing him past a couple of laps earlier.  Norris took the lead, having started in 13th place.  

From there, Norris's tyres deteriorated until he fell right back and then was given a 7.8 second pit stop which meant he came out of the pits and into eighth.  Hadjar fought back from the back of the grid.  It was inevitable that with clever deployment of the tools available to him, Antonelli took the lead back eventually and maintained it to the end.  Leclerc was happy with his second place and Verstappen happy with third.  The most upset man at the track was Russell.

What was notable about this race?  Ferrari had plenty of opportunities to Ferrari up this race and didn't.  There seems to be nothing the plucky and unlucky George Russell can do to catch a break.  Antonelli seems pretty unstoppable and not in a Piastri way which was stoppable.  This season, upgrades are not enough.  Weather radars mean nothing in Spa.