The promise of a great race is always present at Spa...everyone tried their best to line one up during qualifying. Kubica caught fire and Giovanizzi brought out the red flag. Raikkonen sustained a leg injury through some sort of naughtiness and Hamilton crashed in FP3. LeClerc secured pole and Russell took a Williams to the giddy heights of 14th on the grid.
Apart from the tragic events earlier in the weekend, all the elements were there (apart from the threat of rain) for an epic race, hopefully with LeClerc finally winning a race.
The lights went off and, after the first lap, what followed was not that memorable. With Verstappen out on Lap 1, we looked elsewhere in the top 6 for the battle. Vettel ran wide and let Hamilton through but even with this error, he easily caught him up and retook the place. Ferrari looked strong and even a bit of tyre-strategy-jeopardy couldn't reignite the race.
Vettel let LeClerc by on Lap 26, roughly half way through the race. I am adding this to my list of reasons why he will retire at the end of the year. A few laps later, Hamilton overtook him.
Norris was the surprise star of the race despite LeClerc winning and it was a shame when he and Giovannizi went off on the last lap.
It's pleasing to have another race winner on the grid....but will we be regretting all this when he dominates for the next five years?
Tuesday, 3 September 2019
Belgium GP - Results
1. Evel Marque - 712*
2. PickedInAHurry - 685*
3. BottHaas - 666*
4. The Hope Fulls - 665*
5. Je suis Charlie - 616
6. Jack the Lad - 521
7. The Pitstop Princess - 514
8. Hippy F1 - 456*
9= Ferrari Rocher - 365
9= Francesco Bernoulli - 365*
* Home track played
2. PickedInAHurry - 685*
3. BottHaas - 666*
4. The Hope Fulls - 665*
5. Je suis Charlie - 616
6. Jack the Lad - 521
7. The Pitstop Princess - 514
8. Hippy F1 - 456*
9= Ferrari Rocher - 365
9= Francesco Bernoulli - 365*
* Home track played
Sunday, 18 August 2019
Hungary GP - "sorry I doubted that strategy"
After the race in Germany, Hungary was always going to disappoint but we got off to a promising start with Verstappen claiming his first pole.
As I was in London, I was watching the highlights, which I find confusing as time speeds up and slows down. Before I knew it, it was half way through the race and Verstappen and Hamilton were having a great battle.
On lap 40, Vettel had a poor pit stop, no change to his position though, so not really exciting.
With six laps to go, Verstappen radioed to his team that: "the tyres are dead". He'd led the whole race and then DRS gave it to Hamilton.
The main debate was over whether to do one or two stops. And that was only about the Red Bulls and the Mercedes...we barely saw the Ferraris.
Still Verstappen was happy with P2...sigh.
As I was in London, I was watching the highlights, which I find confusing as time speeds up and slows down. Before I knew it, it was half way through the race and Verstappen and Hamilton were having a great battle.
On lap 40, Vettel had a poor pit stop, no change to his position though, so not really exciting.
With six laps to go, Verstappen radioed to his team that: "the tyres are dead". He'd led the whole race and then DRS gave it to Hamilton.
The main debate was over whether to do one or two stops. And that was only about the Red Bulls and the Mercedes...we barely saw the Ferraris.
Still Verstappen was happy with P2...sigh.
Wednesday, 14 August 2019
Hungary GP - Results
These results reflect the post-race adjudications at the German GP.
1. Evel Marque - 664*
2. PickedInAHurry - 647*
3. The Hope Fulls - 640*
4. BottHaas - 609*
5. Je suis Charlie - 560
6. Jack the Lad - 479
7. The Pitstop Princess - 476
8. Hippy F1 - 429*
9. Francesco Bernoulli - 328*
10. Ferrari Rocher - 312
* Home track played
1. Evel Marque - 664*
2. PickedInAHurry - 647*
3. The Hope Fulls - 640*
4. BottHaas - 609*
5. Je suis Charlie - 560
6. Jack the Lad - 479
7. The Pitstop Princess - 476
8. Hippy F1 - 429*
9. Francesco Bernoulli - 328*
10. Ferrari Rocher - 312
* Home track played
Monday, 29 July 2019
German GP - "Amazing"
Ferrari's shambolic loss of power during qualifying should have been a hint of the topsy turvy, eventful race that lay ahead.
When I saw rain on the grid parade, my heart soar. This is the sort of race where unexpected teams score points, LeClerc and Vettel were going to storm through the field (with LeClerc breaking his duck) and Raikkonen was starting from 5th. I knew a good race was on the agenda but...
By the end of the first lap, Raikkonen was up to 3rd. By the end of the second lap, we had our first spin, by Perez. There was a safety car and by the fifth lap, Kimi was 11th. A few quieter laps and then Sainz was off.
Just as Francesco Bernoulli was commenting joyfully on Hamilton's 5.6 second pit stop, LeClerc was off into the gravel and hoarding and we felt that any chance of a good race was gone. Then, on the same lap, Hamilton lost his front wing at the pit entrance (jammy s*d), the crowd were cheering, Mercedes mixed up the tyres and kept changing their mind. An investigation was launched about whether he entered the pits on the wrong side of a bollard. This is all on one lap! Even better, he was given a 5 second penalty a few laps later for going slow behind the safety car.
We started cheering on the minnows who could achieve greatness but they didn't want to unfortunately. Hulkenberg went into the barrier from a potential 3rd. Then Stroll started leading the race...! We're only two thirds of the way through the race.
With eleven laps to go. Hamilton spins off and recovers, despite the crowd's cheers. Bottas followed him soon after but couldn't recover.
Unfortunately in the last few laps, Vettel overtook Stroll for third, then Kvyat for second. What a shame that Kvyat wasn't let off press duties to go and see his newborn daughter; he took advantage of being made to do interviews to make a covert pitch to Red Bull for his old seat back. Hamilton didn't do any interviews.
A final note, that I have just discovered the injustice that you have to be in the top ten to score a point for fastest lap...never here folks.
When I saw rain on the grid parade, my heart soar. This is the sort of race where unexpected teams score points, LeClerc and Vettel were going to storm through the field (with LeClerc breaking his duck) and Raikkonen was starting from 5th. I knew a good race was on the agenda but...
By the end of the first lap, Raikkonen was up to 3rd. By the end of the second lap, we had our first spin, by Perez. There was a safety car and by the fifth lap, Kimi was 11th. A few quieter laps and then Sainz was off.
Just as Francesco Bernoulli was commenting joyfully on Hamilton's 5.6 second pit stop, LeClerc was off into the gravel and hoarding and we felt that any chance of a good race was gone. Then, on the same lap, Hamilton lost his front wing at the pit entrance (jammy s*d), the crowd were cheering, Mercedes mixed up the tyres and kept changing their mind. An investigation was launched about whether he entered the pits on the wrong side of a bollard. This is all on one lap! Even better, he was given a 5 second penalty a few laps later for going slow behind the safety car.
We started cheering on the minnows who could achieve greatness but they didn't want to unfortunately. Hulkenberg went into the barrier from a potential 3rd. Then Stroll started leading the race...! We're only two thirds of the way through the race.
With eleven laps to go. Hamilton spins off and recovers, despite the crowd's cheers. Bottas followed him soon after but couldn't recover.
Unfortunately in the last few laps, Vettel overtook Stroll for third, then Kvyat for second. What a shame that Kvyat wasn't let off press duties to go and see his newborn daughter; he took advantage of being made to do interviews to make a covert pitch to Red Bull for his old seat back. Hamilton didn't do any interviews.
A final note, that I have just discovered the injustice that you have to be in the top ten to score a point for fastest lap...never here folks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)