Spain GP Qualifying Report

The paddock gossip this week has been whether Bottas will be replaced mid-season if he doesn't start performing.  Mercedes and their team principal, Wolff, issued an unequivocal statement that he has a year long contract to race with them.  I wonder if this includes becoming the reserve driver.  Like most politicians, if they clearly state there will be no change to current policy, a think tank is currently working on it for them.  I have also noticed that there has been more coverage of Russell in his Williams, following him around on a lap, in the pits.  Hmmm.  (Crofty also called him Bottarse during his commentary).  Also Mick Schumacher continues to receive more media coverage than any backmarker rookie ever.

Other drivers facing the pressure include Ricciardo, there has been intense scrutiny of his Q1 exit last weekend even though he made some places up in the race.  Button identified him as the big One to Watch this week on his Instagram Stories, even though he has spent 7 days going over his qualifying pace with the media acknowledging and explaining his failures.  Ultimately you have do your talking on the track and he did outqualify his teammate here.

Raikkonen being fastest of anyone in sector 1 for a significant part of Q1, was still part of the no surprises eliminated drivers: Tsunoda, Raikkonen, Schumacher, Latifi and Mazepin.

No surprises in Q2 either: Stroll, Gasly, Vettel, Giovinazzi and Russell out.

Surprises in Q3?  Perez spun mid-session bringing out yellow flags, obliging cars to slow down as they pass the scene of the crime.  This had an impact on a couple of drivers out on quick laps.  With two and half minutes to go, every car left their garage at the same time to put in what would hopefully be their very quickest lap.  In the end not many bested their first lap and predictably the top three are Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas.  I could have written this report before the session started.  The grid means that Hamilton has reached 100 pole positions, which is only important really in that it gives the media something to fill the time/columns with as they aren't able to discuss such a boring qualifying.  Please do leave a comment and tell me which is your favourite Hamilton pole lap (he names Singapore 2018).

Portugal GP Race Report

All the talk before the race was about the same two drivers as at the end of the last race out, George Russell and Valterri Bottas.  Could Russell score his first F1 points at this race?  Could Bottas win?  Toto Wolff commented that Bottas's rebound from his "very bad weekend" was impressive.  There was definitely a feeling that he needed to prove himself.

With no rain, unlike the last visit to Portamau and the track less new and slippy, the great unknown of the race was tire choice.

The first lap was clean with no incidents but by lap 2 Raikkonen was off and despite parking very cleverly near a gap in a gravel trap, brought out a full safety car.  As debris was cleared from the main straight, Bottas trundled the pack around the track for several laps before deploying a cunning plan and backing Hamilton into Verstappen.  This paid off and when they crossed the line, Verstappen was quickly in second.  The other driver of interest, Russell was swiftly overtaken from having held his position in 11th down to 15th over the next lap.  

The problem with Bottas' plan was that it put himself into the sights of Verstappen who immediately got the use of DRS.  Luckily, Hamilton also received DRS and was able to retake the place from Verstappen after a slight mistake.  As long as Hamilton and Verstappen continued to wrestle each other for P2, Bottas would be able to extend his lead.  However, a third of the way into the race, just as drivers were conserving their tires, Hamilton was able to make the overtake using DRS.  DRS definitely being the biggest player in this race.  The question now was whether Verstappen was quick enough/Bottas slow enough for him to lose another place.

From then it was slightly processional until the one pit stop in the middle of the race.  Verstappen pitted first and was able to take Bottas after his stop.  This brief spurt of racey action didn't last.  We saw Perez in the lead, which will look nice on his end-of-season briefing sheet.

The current expectation is that Mercedes will battle Red Bull and McLaren will battle Ferrari however Alpine were right in there, which is pleasing.  In particular, when Alonso overtook Sainz.  

As the grid settled into place towards the end of the race we were left with team mates battling each other.  Vettel overtook Stroll.  Alonso went for Ocon but was unable to secure it.  

Bottas and Verstappen both pitted at the end of the race to secure the fastest lap point.  Bottas claimed it, then Verstappen beat him...by going off the track limits, so Bottas got it back again.  Di Resta got to break the news to Verstappen during the interviews.  Hamilton claimed it was a very tough race, mentally and physically because of the wind.  Bottas finished third in the end, despite his "strong package", he seemed to have no understanding why he could not maintain the lead of the race and secure the win.  There seems to be a growing realisation in him that he is just not going to beat Hamilton.

And as for Russell, he finished 16th ahead of his team mate, the Haas and the retired Raikkonen.  Russell will not score points until he is driving a car with the race pace.

I was very pleased during the race when Crofty confused Alpine with Williams - not just me who is struggling with the blue liveries.

Throughout the race we were urged to Visit Portugal....when?  How?

Portugal Qualifying Report

Here we are, during this topsy-turvy season, in Portugal.  Racing here, on this typically motorbiking track, last season in October and now in May, it's a different track facing the drivers.  At a glance you can see that everything has changed in F1 as the drivers are wearing beanies more often than caps, they're not visiting the tracks during the hottest parts of the year as they normally would.

The final arrangements for the sprint race qualifying have been released this week.  My feeling is slightly that of being deprived of watching qualifying as it now takes place on Friday afternoon - I bet lots of F1 fans work on a Friday afternoon.  The sprint race will also deliver points, which seems unfair as you also win position on track for the main race.  I have a gut feeling that each sprint race will either be fantastic viewing or a boring procession.  There are three practice sprint races (Silverstone, Italy and TBC) this year but if it happens for every race next year, what about the processional races such as Monaco?  This will be pointless.  If there's any sort of incident though, the sprint race could be very good as there is no opportunity to reclaim places lost.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes and it means I get three evening of F1 on those weekends.

Sky F1 spoke to Bottas ahead of qualifying and he spoke about his problem this season is not being able to get his tires working.  This is a fine reason if you are fresh in the team, like Ricciardo at McLaren, Perez at Red Bull or Sainz at Ferrari but he's been in this car for a fair few seasons now, he should have the engineering relationships and feel for the car to eliminate this.  He tested for Pirelli between the last race and this, so perhaps this will help.

As quite often happens, teams bring upgrades to races but only enough for one car, this was the case for Aston Martin.  Who got the parts?  Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel or the Canadian in his third season, Lance Stroll?  Stroll of course, his daddy owns the team.

With Qualifying underway, Perez spun with a tail wind into the gravel in Q1 but this didn't affect his place in the next session.  Russell continued his qualifying success, getting his Williams into Q2 every race so far this season.  What is notable about this is that he beat Ricciardo in McLaren (with his team mate finishing the session in second and a hearty swear on team radio, thinks he'll feel and drive better after a sleep) and Stroll in Aston Martin (with the upgrades).  In the end he didn't make Q3 but was "best of the rest" in 11th.  It's all going in the right direction.

At the sharp end of the grid, Verstappen just couldn't put the lap together, especially after his first was deleted (track limits), costing him the pole position as the wind picked up towards the end of the session.  The fact that he wasn't much lower down the grid than third was mostly due to other drivers not being able to best their initial lap.  Bottas scored pole position, a much needed victory over his team mate, Hamilton.  He puts this down to "hard work pays off", makes you wonder whether he believes the other drivers, at the top and peak of their profession spend their off-time eating doughnuts on the couch.  What sort of hard work has he been doing?  All the British media are secretly pleased that Hamilton didn't score his century pole as they can string this out for another race or two.  Ocon scored a pleasantly high margin over veteran team mate Alonso, position 6 to position 13.  Vettel was finally able to show his worth finishing 10th to Stroll's 17th.  Sainz starts 5th ahead of his established team mate LeClerc in 8th.  It wasn't all good news for team newcomers as Norris starts 7th ahead of Ricciardo's 16th.

Today's suggestion for improving F1 is to paint these controversial corners, which are drawn to drivers' attention as to where the track limits are.  Let's paint them red or do it virtually like the advertising hoarding, this would make it much easier for us laymen to spot when a violation has occurred.

I wouldn't say the grid promises a spectacular race.  Will the wind affect it?  Last year it was incident-packed so fingers crossed...

San Marino/Emilia Romagna/Imola GP Race Report

There always seems to be one driver at any given time that holds the media focus.  As this is Italy and everyone favourite bridesmaid, Sainz, is it.  Everyone says that Sainz is fast but "it's a shame that..." or "if it wasn't for..." Borne out on Lap 15 when he spun and was told to "calm down and don't go too fast" over the radio.  He wasn't able to put up much of a fight when Hamilton had to come back through the pack later in the race.  Hiring Sainz was never a bold move by Ferrari and I think he will be another driver who will show that LeClerc is in another class.

Rain an hour before the race started to spice things up but, bizarrely, only at one corner.  We kept being shown the rainy corner but I suppose the feed goes out all over the world and some viewers are not as familiar with rain as we are in Glasgow.

Gasly started on extreme wets, which was a hero or zero move.  Vettel started from the pit lane as both his and Stroll's brakes caught fire.  This eventually led to a time penalty later in the race when the stewards finally decided he didn't have his tires on in time to compete.  Stroll however had quite a good race, holding up Bottas for a considerable chunk of the race.  More of Bottas later...

Ironically, at Aqua Minerale, LeClerc spun out on the formation lap but fortunately is allowed to regain his position if he can get there before arriving on the pit straight otherwise he starts from the pit lane - is this true, I'm sure I've seen others have their race ended this way?

Vertaappen and Hamilton went head to head at the start with Perez ducking out almost immediately.  Latifi spun on lap 1 predictably, got it back on track and then spun again nudged by Mazepin.  Money can buy you a seat in Formula 1 but you may just be sitting in it statically.  The Ferraris  really struggled with the wet conditions then LeClerc got into the groove and overtook Perez.  Thus all the wingmen were running their own races and unable to give assistance to the #1 Drivers.

Mick Schumacher spun at the pit lance exit as he was warming his tires on Lap 4 under the safety car and lost his front wing, he then went the whole way round.  We watched him go round the whole lap, some good advertising coverage for the Haas.  However, the pit lane entrance was closed so he had to go round for another lap.  It was looking like we weren't going to see the Haas again after this point.  They pootled round and finished at the back but Mazepin put in a spin on the penultimate lap.

Things continue to go not quite right for Ricciardo, asked to let Norris pass him on Lap 19, becoming another pootler and finishing mid-points.

Verstappen always seems to panic when he's in the lead and starts questioning everything.  Generally as at this point in the race when not much is happening.  However, we were heading towards the time when the question of changing to slicks was rumbling.

Mid-race the big tire change happened from wets to slicks.  Vettel was the guinea pig and a few laps later Verstappen blinked first, then a Ferrari followed by Hamilton a lap later.  Lewis was held up by a slightly slower stop and having to wait for a car to go past before being released.

Laps later he slips going round a corner, locks up and nudges the barrier.  Given he was in a gravel trap, he escaped and got back on the track having sustained some (more) damage to the front wing.  We were distracted from this however by a much greater incident involving Russell (again, will he ever earn points?) and Bottas, who had been having an atrocious race.  It's been a while since I chanted "get out, get out, get out" at the TV whilst waiting for drivers to get out of a crashed car.  And it seems very old school that it was Russell who had to approach Bottas in his car, was it for a shout or to check he was okay?  Both drivers had a good swear on the radio and looked very winded, they accorded each other the blame.  As manager of Russell and principal for Bottas, I bet Toto Wolff is looking forward to a pleasant conversation over some chianti later.  The subsequent safety car and red flag saved Hamilton.  He got to show that he is able to overtake other cars, which has been questioned recently.

Having survived being the first car behind the big crash, Raikkonen then spun off behind the safety car at the rolling start.  As did Verstappen, taking a wee trip over the grass, with a lucky escape, keeping the lead.

The rolling start gave Norris a jump into second place.  Then Tsunoda spun off but was quickly cleared, the fear was another safety car or red flag (which is very serious when you have to watch the race after you've put your children to bed and don't want to be up all night).

I remember when going into the gravel trap was the kiss of death for your race but these drivers seem to be able to keep the engine going and slowly extricate themselves.  First Hamilton and then Perez (continuing his work showing that Verstappen is unbeatable within the team) were able to continue racing this way.

Moving on through the lull that was the second, dry, half of the race, Stroll broadcast a tantrum about the capabilities of the car over the radio and was told that he'd forgotten the kitchen sink.  Both he and Vettel struggled with gearbox issues but it was fatal for Seb.

In the end Verstappen was "very happy" about his race win.  Driver of the day, which is awarded by a public vote, was Norris and he sounded much happier than Max.  Hamilton got second place, which was an excellent recovery race with two incidents hampering him and possible being outpaced by the Red Bulls for once and he also secured fastest lap which went towards securing him first place in the championship.

Ultimately, what has the world come to when you watch the winner of a Formula 1 race being interviewed in (what I imagine to be) a rigorously Co-vid prevention scenario and think, "he's not wearing a mask"?

Going Up

👍 Norris - epic two car overtake in the wet on Lap 9, followed by a podium place

👍 Lack of crowd - you can hear the brakes, the squealing of the tires, it really adds to the race

Going Down

👎 Lack of crowd - it definitely affects atmosphere

👎 Swears - so much bleeping you can't really make out what the drivers are saying

👎 Bonno: "Not to worry" - who says "not to worry" when your driver crashes the car

👎 Gravel traps - what is the penalty for having such a big off, surely it should put some sort of dint in your race?

👎 DRS - Hamilton in a Mercedes does not need DRS to overtake, it makes it far too easy and takes the racing out of the race

San Marino (Imola) Qualifying Report

 All eyes were on Mick Schumacher as his father, in a Ferrari, has history here.  Mick has none, so I'm not sure how much new info he really provided.

As seems to be the norm now, everyone was saying that Mercedes weren't the top team at this track and then they were.  Everyone else made little errors and Hamilton cruised past them.

Usually a red flag adds some drama to qualifying but Tsunoda's spin was so near the start that it had no impact other than giving his engineers a late night.  The impact looked so slow and gentle, perhaps we need a road car going alongside the race cars to show the true impact?  I volunteer myself plodding around in my Honda Jazz to really give the viewers a new perspective on how quick the cars are.

Every season has it's technical trap for teams and drivers - overcut, undercut, refuelling, tire choice...this year it's track limits.  All we are going to hear about is whether a driver is on or off the track.  To combat this, I suggest electrifying the borders of the track.  If you go over it you get a mild jolt of a few volts.  Not enough to cause any long-lasting damage, just enough to put you off your step for a second and negate any advantage you may have gained.  No need to thank me FIA.  Combine this with Bernie's sprinklers and I think we've got a winning format for the sport.

Haas have said that they are not going to spend any money upgrading the car this year.  They were last in qualifying and I can't see that changing.  Both Williams drivers got into Q2 and if Haas aren't bringing any more speed to the party, it looks like they are handing their invitation to the Top 15 Party over to other drivers.  Neither Sauber/Alfa Romeo made it through either.  Can Williams be the quickest of the snails this year?

Q2 saw a gorgeous slo-mo shot of LeClerc flying through the air off of a kerb.  A good reason why you should watch the coverage rather than rely on my missives.  At the end of the middle session, I was very pleased that Russell, in his Williams, qualified ahead of three world champions no less.  And only one place behind Sainz in his Ferrari.

To finish, predictably Hamilton took pole position, as Bonno commented, "That's a surprise innit?"  No trace of irony.  Pipsqueak hopped and skipped like a delighted pre-schooler out of the car.  I think any notion that Mercedes are not on top of this game is phooey.

Going Up

👍 Stroll - spending his Daddy's money wisely, knocks his quadruple world champion team mate out of the parco.

👍 Villeneuve - a corner named after Gilles means I keep thinking that drivers are swinging into or bumping Jacques

👍 Perez - outqualifies his much-lauded team mate.  Horner heaving a huge sigh of relief as I imagine this keeps his boss off his back for a minute or two.  Perez believes that if he hadn't made a small mistake on his final lap he would be on pole, so he's disappointed.  He needs to understand that everyone on the grid bar Hamilton could say the same thing.  Red Bull 2 and 3 somewhat excitingly, with Bottas out of the picture.

👍 Gasly - puts his Minardi in 5th - the home team will be thrilled

Going Down

👎 It still all boils down to a Hamilton vs. Verstappen battle (occasionally with Bottas too) battle in Q3.

👎 New graphics - why do the position numbers change between white, grey and red?  What does this signify?  Does grey mean garage?  Does red mean their lap time is going to be deleted?

👎 Norris - falls foul of the track limits monitoring, from some camera angles it looked barely off the track but from others, he was clearly visiting a local pizzeria.

👎 Stroll didn't set a time and no mention of it

👎 Bottas - where was he?  MIA