Singapore GP Qualifying Report

The big news so far at the event, was that Red Bull were less competitive.  I don't think anyone believed that this would result in them being very far down the grid.

In the first session, backmarker Sargeant impeded Stroll.  Verstappen, not used to seeing cars ahead of him, radioed, swearing, back to the pits about how many cars were on the track in the last minute.  The track was cooling so the tyres were improving and the best laps would be put in at the very end.  Tsunoda went fastest and held this against Perez and several others, the Haas' also getting to the top of the chart.  We were riding on board with Stroll as his car veered to the side of the track and went through a huge spin on the main straight.  The director immediately replayed the incident, even though we didn't know whether Stroll was okay.  This was a huge departure from usual protocol but as we had watched it happen it didn't seem to matter.  Finally Stroll radioed in that he was okay.  It took a while for him to get out though and the chassis was ruined.  It didn't look in a state that it could be repaired for the race the next day.  Who would spin on demand during the race for Alonso now?

The Red Flag was brought out which ended the session.  Stroll went into the lap in last place and finished there.  Also out were  Bottas, Piastri, Sargeant and Zhou.  A couple of these were casualties of the accident.  Verstappen was also investigated for impeding drivers in the pit lane.

The second session was delayed so the TV director played some team radio.  Firstly, Verstappen was swearing about the poor balance of the car.  Then Norris was enquiring about Stroll.  Hamilton said the car was very hot.  Everything continued very topsy-turvy.  Lawson, in the sister team, knocked Verstappen out of the top 10, so he qualifies 11th.  Followed by Gasly, Perez, Albon and Tsunoda, who didn't set a time.  This is what we've waited for all season.

Lawson is driving so well, Alpha Tauri won't need to bring Ricciardo back when his broken hand has mended.  Though he finished tenth in the final Qualifying session  behind Sainz on pole, Russell, LeClerc (who will surely be very disappointed but didn't radio his team to tell them what they did wrong), Norris, Hamilton, Magnussen, Alonso, Ocon and Hulkenberg.  It was a very strong showing for the Haas.

Everyone hopes this will be the race that Verstappen and Red Bull don't win.  They'll probably win the Constructors' Championship though.

Italy GP Race Report

A thrilling race seemed to be promised: a Ferrari on pole, with his team mate  behind him, Verstappen looking for his 10th win in a row, everyone (apart from Red Bull) was saying how quick the Williams are in a straight line and will be difficult to overtake.  There have been several names in the running for the second Red Bull seat: the current holder Perez, longest Alpha Tauri driver Tsunoda, new Alpha Tauri driver Lawson, reserve driver Ricciardo but Albon, who is only on loan to Williams has been overlooked.

The first casualty at the cathedral of speed was Tsunoda, who didn't even make it around the formation lap.  I think the engineers can no longer compute hot weather having been to only cold and wet tracks for a while.  LeClerc also found that his car was tricky to handle.

When the race did start, Sainz made a good start and was able to stay ahead of Verstappen for the lead of the first 15 laps.  Albon suffered with a typical Williams poor start and fell back to 9th; Piastri gained three places.  

By Lap 4, Verstappen radioed his team as he had spotted Sainz beginning to slide on his tyres and was told to be sensible.  The race was full of overtakes and battles.  There were a few 5 second penalties; Russell, Hamilton and Piastri.  At the end, Noah brought the animals in two by two: two bulls, two prancing horses, two silver...foxes?  Verstappen got his record-breaking 10 wins in a row.  The Ferraris battled to the very end with no team orders, with Sainz getting the podium.

Monza usually brings out the best of the racers with shorter, tighter laps and always worth watching.

Italy GP Qualifying Report

Not much news at Monza, the Mercedes drivers have signed new contracts, LeClerc hasn't.  The sun was shining down on the Tifosi.  Alfa Romeo were trying to poach some fans by running an Italian flag livery, they weren't fooling anyone as the team is Swiss.  Perez had to change his engine due to an oil leak but it was part of his allocation so he wouldn't be receiving a grid penalty.

In the first Qualifying session, we found out that drivers were finding it tricky to stay within the track limits on Turn 3, with lap times being deleted.  Ocon had a big trip across the gravel and damaged his floor.  It was another awful day for Alpine with both drivers out, Magnussen was out-qualified yet again by his team mate and Zhou.  Brilliantly, Albon finished 2nd and Sargeant 6th for Williams.  Obviously Verstappen set the fastest lap.  With the alternative tyre allocation in place this weekend, everyone ran the hard tyres.  It looked like LeClerc and Sainz went too slowly on the track and were under investigation by the stewards.  The stewards might find a horses head in their hotel rooms.

By the second session, the drivers had found the track limits.  It was a straight forward session, with the Alpha Tauris taking 11th and 12th, Tsunoda and Lawson, then Hulkenberg, Bottas and Sargeant (his team mate Albon managed 5th).

Half way through the final session, the Ferraris were in the lead, the Williams of Albon was still running well and Verstappen had a made a big mistake, going off the track, so was in 3rd.  I think his Red Bull could be on fire and he would still be in the top 3.  LeClerc held pole until Verstappen took it, then Sainz swooped in and took it and held it.  Russell took 4th ahead of team mate Hamilton in 8th.  Perez was 5th, then Albon.  Piastri was in 7th, ahead of his team mate Norris in 9th.  The promise of Aston Martin last week has disappeared as Alonso finished 10th.  As the drivers parked up, the stewards announced that there would be no further action for the Ferraris about their speed transgression.

The Ferrari drivers had to ask the crowd not to boo Verstappen.  We go into the race hoping that Sainz can hold Max up and perhaps a Ferrari can win at Monza but not holding our breath.

Netherlands GP Race Report

Another race day, another set of concerns about weather.  It definitely wasn't sunny at the seaside resort.

The three Brits behind Verstappen had plans to hold up Alonso at worst, get the better of the championship leader at best.  The banking really helped Fernando though, as he overtook Albon and Russell in the same corner.  They thought it would spit with rain later but then heavy rain fell.  As we watched several drivers pit, Alonso got past Norris for second position.  Obviously, Ferrari had the wrong set of tyres ready for LeClerc and had to go back to the tyre wardrobe for the correct boots.  It wouldn't be a Formula 1 race without Ferrari cocking it up in a very simple manner.

Perez was the first driver to take wet tyres and swiftly made his way to the very front of the race.  Over the next couple of laps, the order changed completely.  Diappointingly, Albon had gone from 4th to 14th, hanging on with dry tyres, Norris 2nd to 12th.  By Lap 12, drivers were coming back in for dry tyres, with LeClerc getting a new front wing too after his wet conditions collision with Piastri.

Four laps later, having drivers in 8th and 20th, down from 4th and 10th starting positions, things went from bad to worse for Williams as Sargeant broke his car taking a corner poorly and spun off, putting his car out of the race, breaking the barriers and bringing out the safety car.  Russell and Stroll gambled on pitting for their second tyre choice as Sargeant sat despondently on the grass track-side, hanging his head in shame.

We went into the next phase of the race with Verstappen leading the race from his team mate, then Alonso, Gasly and Sainz.  After battling Alpha Tauri reserved driver Lawson, making his F1 debut, for 15th position, LeClerc retired his damaged Ferrari, ending an awful weekend on his side of the Ferrari garage.  

Teams now needed to decide whether to stick with old tyres to the end of the race or pit.  Aston Martin bought in Alonso from 3rd, had a problem in the stop and sent him out in 4th.  With 15 laps to go, and a lot of rain predictions throughout the race that came to nothing, it seemed that we would get more rain and this time heavier than the start.

After 13 races and 60 laps, Gasly's decision to leave the Red Bull barn and go to Alpine paid off as he over took Sainz for 4th position.  And then it rained....  Again Perez was in first for wet tyres.  The next lap, Verstappen  took new tyres and held the lead.  Alonso also pitted but Albon and Ocon kept going and were persuaded to come in.

With a 20 second deficit to his team mate, Perez went off the track and handed 2nd place to Alonso.  Ocon had taken on the full wet tyre, which helped him as the rain came down harder and harder.  The other drivers came in for those tyres too.  Zhou went off and a Virtual Safety Car was put out as the car was tucked into the barrier.  Then the race was red flagged.  Now there was a lot of confusion.  A lot.  With cars in the pit for wet tyres, which was the responsible thing to do and part of the reason for the Red Flag, would they lose position when the race restarted?

It was a rolling start for the final 7 laps.  The order was decided somehow, I didn't follow.  Verstappen in the lead, then Alonso, then Perez...Hamilton lucked out in 6th.  Off they went and it was announced that Perez had a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.  Russell was out of the race, I couldn't understand why there weren't any yellow flags but it was a puncture and it he made it back to the pit lane in a gentlemanly fashion.  Everyone else was scrambling to get within 5 seconds of Perez to move up a place.

Verstappen reigned supreme at his home track.  Alonso comfortably held on to 2nd (voted Driver of the Day too), with Gasly taking his first podium in a long time.  Perez was 5 seconds ahead of Sainz, so claimed 4th, then Hamilton, Norris, Albon, Piastri and Ocon.  It was a good points haul for McLaren and the mass sacking at Alpine seems to have been justified now.

Lawson finished his maiden race in 13th place, 3 places ahead of his team mate (not sure when Tsunoda went back 3 places).

At least Norris wasn't on the podium to smash the Delft (?) trophy.

It was an epic race and one that will be remembered and discussed for many years.  I definitely want this level of personal weather forecasting in my life.

Netherlands GP Qualifying Report

The big news of the weekend so far was the weather.  It has caught a lot of drivers out; most notably Piastri, whose incident was avoided by Ricciardo, breaking his hand in the process.  Danny Ric was dispatched to Barcelona to visit the same surgeon who fixed Lance Stroll.  Everyone will have to look forward to the come back from the come back.

As Qualifying started, in wet weather conditions, Albon, a Haas and Verstappen quickly went off the track.  Several followed and it got wetter and wetter as the first session progressed.

Kiwi Liam Lawson stepped in for Alpha Tauri finished Qualifying last and went out alongside Bottas, Magnussen, Ocon and Zhou.  Alpine continue to sink to the bottom and you have to wonder how long Renault will continue to fund this catastrophe.  LeClerc just scraped through and, once again, berated his team publicly over the radio.  His advice?  They needed to manage their strategy with traffic better.

The second session saw the weather improve and drivers had to make decisions about tyres.  This was not supposed to be a good track for the Williams car but Albon and Sargeant both made it through to the third session.  Both cars got into the final part of Qualifying for the first time in years.  Albon was even in third.  Stroll went out, Gasly, Tsunoda and Hulkenberg.  Sargeant benefited from a huge timing mistake by Mercedes and Hamilton, which caused them to be out in 12th position.

At the start of the final session, Verstappen was the only driver out on Intermediate tyres instead of softs, which could have been a problem but he always gets the luck...  Just when I was wondering whether Williams are the new McLaren (who are the new Aston Martin), Sargeant spun his car heavily into the wall.  The session was stopped and the dire Dutch DJ started up again.

Just as we got started again, with Norris now in the lead, LeClerc hit the barriers and the session was stopped again.  I can't see that he can blame this one on the team and he apologised.  The Ferrari driver did an Alonso and sat by the side of the track on a deckchair watching the rest of the action.

There was only a couple of minutes to put in a final offer for the grid.  Verstappen went out and did the business and got his pole position.  After him it was all to play for, with Norris taking second position and Albon briefly getting third before being pushed down one place by Russell.  Alonso was in fifth.  It's notable that Sainz and Perez are 6th and 7th, being in much better cars than those ahead of them.  Piastri was in 8th, a gap his team mate Norris needs to reinforce his position as Number 1 in the team as the Aussie grows in experience, confidence and, most importantly, results.  The crashers finished the top ten.

For Albon his position was a "nice surprise".  Up and down the paddock there was delight that the Williams were showing more success.  Let's see where they actually finish the race though.  Alex was disappointed that one of the mid-field cars hadn't popped up in the middle of the top 10 to help him, all hopes are on Logan holding the pack up.