Two Free Practices had been cancelled at this holiday destination circuit before Qualifying. Luckily it dried up just in time, although cars used the wet weather intermediate tire for most of the three Qualifying sessions. There had been a few crashes during practice sessions, then Giovinazzi spun during the first session. The messages over the radio showed that teams had no idea whether there would be more rain or not. Vestappen only briefly went out as he was already due to start at the back of the grid, taking a new engine. This would develop into a theme.
In the second Qualifying session, Latifi and LeClerc also didn't go out and set a time as they had decided to take new engines. We all learnt a rule, that the first driver to take an engine change starts at the very back and those who declare later will start in the reverse order of declaration. So LeClerc was next and will start one place in front of Verstappen. Williams were waiting to see what Ferrari did, then decided to take an engine change penalty, so Latifi starts in front of LeClerc. In between them, Giovinazzi took a gearbox penalty. Finally, and well after Qualifying, Bottas took an engine change, for "strategic purposes", meaning he starts five places ahead of Verstappen. Is the strategy for Bottas to hold up Verstappen at the back of the pack? At the end of the session, the other two drivers out were the Alpha Tauri drivers, who made poor strategic decisions about when to take their laps, with Russell and Alonso through to Q3.
At this point, the track was drying out and it was looking like there might be a dry line soon. Russell was the first driver to decide to go on to slick, dry tires. This initially looked like a poor idea as he nearly spun exiting the pit lane. However, he was able to get a feel for these tires and built up to a quick lap. Other drivers made the change, with Sainz and Norris able to get in better laps but it led to the Williams starting third. A fantastic result for the backmarkers. The young guns were certainly showing the old hands how to tackle the changing conditions, as Hamilton first collided with the pit lane wall, resulting in him holding up Bottas in the pit lane, then he spun on his first lap on slicks and his final lap of the session.
Everyone learnt something in Russia. Hamilton didn't know there were skiing places in Sochi.
On to race day, during the Sky build up with DHL, Aston Martin and Bond, Crofty arrived driving the truck. We're that desperate for HGV drivers.
Rain was predicted 5-10 minutes into the race, with teams thinking that different amounts of rain were going to fall. So this could have been another Spa...
A thrilling first lap kicked off proceedings, where the lead could have gone to anyone. Sainz took it from Norris, with Russell maintaining third. Stroll got up to 4th, which meant that most people thought that Hamilton was in 4th as their liveries are too similar. Ricciardo and Alonso battled for position, with Alonso knowing all the shortcuts around the circuit. Hamilton had fallen back to 7th behind them. Chaos at the back of the grid saw LeClerc, Bottas and Latifi all hold their position relative to Verstappen with local boy Mazepin holdng his place but all of them got past Schumacher, Giovinazzi and Tsunoda. Crazy. And no replay, so I have no idea how that happened.
It took 6 laps for Verstappen to get past Bottas. Then another 6 laps before the conversation became solely about tires. Stroll took the undercut first. The clouds showed no sign of dropping any rain. Despite some whinging about tires, Norris was able to get past Sainz to take the lead again. Russell was first to respond to Stroll and lost his third place to him.
On Lap 23, McLaren fell for Mercedes' bluff and then cocked up the pit stop. The race continued and despite some good overtaking manoeuvres, there isn't too much to say about the middle of the race.
With the grid split on strategy quite drastically, it was hard to predict who was going to stand on the podium. Add in many slow stops and there were several contenders. The top step seemed to be between Norris and Hamilton. As the race drew to a close, engineers were on the radio warning of light rain soon. Crofty and Di Resta were gleefully pointing out grey clouds. With 8 laps to go, the spectators put up their umbrellas and got out their rain coats. Norris ran wide on the wet track and Hamilton pounded, sensing his time was now. Norris held the place, then ran wide again. Stroll was first to pit for wet tires, leading several followers. As some drivers were not using wet tires, DRS was disabled, giving those in close battle a breather. Stroll pushed his team mate Vettel into the wall.
Breath was held as Norris hung out without going onto wet tires. Stroll and Gasley spun into each other. Norris wobbled. He wobbled some more. The spray plumed higher and higher, with light rain becoming Scottish rain, and finally, with a grim inevitability, Norris spun off and Hamilton took the lead. Lando called for full wet and to pit and the team finally agreed with him: "I can't go this anymore". LeClerc also threw away his race because he didn't go to wets and stopped on the track as he was unable to drive the car any longer. We then had to wait and find out whether Norris would also get a penalty for crossing back over the pit lane entry line. With all this, Verstappen had made it from the back of the grid to second. Raikkonen scored points for Alpha Romeo. Norris did get Fastest Lap and Driver of the Day. Russell was unable to convert his top 3 start to a podium position but did pick one point for 10th. Despite everything that happened to him during the race, Sainz somehow managed to go from second to third, getting a much needed podium.
Norris definitely looked like he'd shed a tear before he turned up to the press pen, declaring it "heartbreak". The race win was ultimately decided on a weather forecast interpretation. Cruel.
I can tell you that most of this post is about the first 5 laps and the last 5 laps. Channel 4 will find editing the highlights an easy task.
