China GP Qualifying Report

Hot on the heels of the first Sprint of the season came Qualifying.  Doohan had been awarded a fine and 2 penalty points for his collision with Bortoleto at the end of the Sprint.  He then went on to spin on his first attempt to put in a timed lap.  I can't see Briatore being happy with his performance so far.  With 2 reserve drivers at Alpine, he needs to make rapid improvements.

LeClerc made a very scrappy lap in the first session and Norris had a time deleted.  Both had to rely on their second and final attempt.  The track got better and better as more rubber was laid down.  The name at the top changed with every car past the chequered flag.  Norris managed to get the McLaren to give the fastest lap, which should have been a confidence boost after a dodgy weekend to that point.  Behind him was Hadjar and Tsunoda in their Racing Bulls, definitely catching some eyes with Lawson finishing last.  Out went Gasly, Bearman, Doohan and Bortoleto with him.

The second session was incident-free.  Again the Racing Bulls finished well, Hadjar 4th and Tsunoda 5th.  Out went Ocon, Hulkenberg (former team mates next to each other on the grid), Alonso, Stroll (still not out-qualifying his geriatric team mate) and Sainz, who was unable to improve his first lap time set.  Hamilton has now laid down a clear marker for how quickly a top driver can fit in with a new team; Sainz is not living up to it.

After the first round of laps set in the final session, only Antonelli had any drama, with a lap deleted for exceeding track limits.  Piastri put in a record lap for the track to secure his first proper pole.  Russell put in a good lap too to be alongside him.  Norris aborted his final lap and finished 3rd.  Then it was Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, LeClerc, Hadjar, Antonelli, Tsunoda and Albon.

Horner, TP of Red Bull, thought it would be all about strategy and not about starting position, batting off comments about Lawson.

I don't think it will be long before LeClerc really starts complaining.  Could Fred have already been setting things up in deference to Hamilton's preferred style?

An early prediction is that Tsunoda will get a mid-season call up to the Big Team, Red Bull.

China GP Sprint Report

In the morning there was no news from Sprint Qualifying but Hadjar and Gasly did something wrong on the way to the grid.  Albon was also being investigated and fined for not returning some cameras and footage because of the new wing rules that came into force this weekend.  Pirelli had also changed the mandatory tyre pressures, which would need a lot of management by drivers.

Hulkenberg would start from the pit lane after changing his suspension, which meant that Lawson would be last on the grid but not absolute last.

Hamilton got off to a great start, cutting off Verstappen.  Norris locked a wheel and dropped back to 9th.  Throughout Sprint Qualifying the time bar kept failing and the same happened during this race, which is very frustrating.  Gasly and Sainz made up a few places.

By lap 9 of 19, Verstappen was right up behind Hamilton and tyres were beginning to go.  You either had to manage the tyres and not gain position or risk losing them to stay ahead or push ahead.  At the back, they were two abreast across the track with most of the rookies up against each other.  Piastri crept closer to Verstappen and Hamilton escaped the DRS zone.

It looked like Sainz was out of the race and brought in to pit but they sent him out again, it meant he was last.  Were Williams using this session as Free Practice?

With 4 laps to go, Piastri got past Verstappen (who admitted afterwards that he let him by) but Norris was struggling and conversations were happening on the radio, where it couldn't be solved.  LeClerc was right behind Russell for 4th position but he was carrying a problem.

Hamilton secured his first victory for Ferrari, albeit a Sprint, followed by Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, LeClerc, Tsunoda, Antonelli and Norris, as the points finishers.  It was a quiet race for the Racing Bull but successful.  Bortoleto and Doohan came together on the last lap and spun.  I think the rookies' behaviour will have an impact on the races for a while to come.

A lot of the drivers seemed to be surviving, which would make for an interesting race.

China GP Sprint Qualifying Report

It was a beautiful sunny Friday in Shanghai for Sprint Qualifying and I think it caught a lot of fans off-guard that the second race of the season, and in a double-header too, would be a Sprint weekend.

The first session saw Hamilton put in the quickest lap with Doohan, Gasly, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Lawson going out.  The Kiwi complained that he "could not get the tyres down".  I expect Gasly, Ocon and Hulkenberg had high hopes that this was the year that they weren't all out in the first session of every session.  I caught myself realising that the Haas were now green and then remembered Hulkenberg had moved to mark the back with a different team this season.

In the second session, it looked like all the promise Williams had made at the first race of the season was disappearing, with Sainz out.  But Albon put in a great lap to get through in 7th.  Hadjar gave his team mate Tsunoda a slip stream to get him through but didn't set a lap time himself.    Out went Alonso, Bearman, Sainz, Bortoleto and Hadjar,  Norris was quickest.

The third and final session had a funny end.  Norris didn't set a particularly fast lap and pitted to withdraw from the contest.  Hamilton was fastest (and surprised), followed by Verstappen (spicy), Piastri, LeClerc, Russell, Norris, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Albon and Stroll.  Hamilton was presented by some strange Pirelli gismo for this endeavour.

How many times will Tsunoda outqualify Lawson by many many places before he gets called up to Red Bull?  Lawson had nothing much to say to the press other than "um" and "frustrating."

Russell thought the Sprint will be an interesting race.

Australia GP Race Report

The Brits were having a lovely time down under, talking about the rain.  The drivers put in a lot of laps before stopping on the straight to get a feel for the wet track.  Only Hamilton went out on Intermediate tyres; everyone else was on wets.  Bearman and Ocon had spins.  It looked pretty grim for the drivers and dignitaries stood on a small platform for the anthem.  A rolling start had been predicted but it was barely raining when the start came.

Hadjar, having got his Racing Bull into a starting position of 11th, just outside the top 10, spun on the formation lap and knocked his rear wing almost off.  That was one rookie out of the race.  He had a little cry at the side of the track.  Still crying as he got back to the pit, Lewis Hamilton's dad smelt a whiff of publicity and greeted the greeting boy to put a hand on his shoulder.

At the end of the 2nd formulation lap, it was time to go for real.  Lawson and Bearman were making starts from the pit lane but it seemed a safer option on this day.  Norris was quick to start pulling out a lead, with no spray in his face.  Verstappen overtook Piastri for 2nd but before the 1st lap was complete the second rookie of the day exited the running.  Doohan spun his car, losing it and dragging the car backwards down a wall, which immediately triggered the medical car and thus the Safety Car.  LeClerc had made up 2 places in his Ferrari.

Under the Safety Car, last year's winner and new-to-Williams, Sainz, spun his car, also into the wall.  He blamed it on a "torque surge".  It was a comfortable 6 laps for Norris before they went racing again.  As it hadn't actually rained for a while, the next challenge would be deciding when to change to slick tyres.

Another rookie, Antonelli, also spun but managed to regain the track unscathed.  Most overtakes were made when the driver in front made a mistake.  Piastri was able to get 2nd back off Verstappen when he went too close to the curb.  

The best radio of the race, and probably of the season, will go to Ferrari.  When LeClerc radioed in to complain (there was a lot of complaining on the red radio) that his seat was full of water, was there a leak?  His engineer said: "That will be water."  He commented that those were "words of wisdom".

On Lap 34 another old timer, crashed, the oldest of timers, Alonso, again scraping it down the wall and the Safety Car came out.  A lot of drivers pitted immediately but not the 2 McLarens in the lead at the time.  There was a 2nd tranche after.  Everyone went to dry tyres apart from both Haas.  After a few laps though and with McLaren having discussed the weather and decided that maybe they should put on intermediate tyres, Haas came in and put on dry tyres.  Clearly no one knew what the weather was going to do.

Back to the rookies, previously unmentioned Bortoleto, was awarded a 5 second penalty for an unsafe release.  

The rain came suddenly out of nowhere.  Initially it looked like the 2 McLarens out front had come together as we cut to them both running and wide and spinning.  Verstappen took the lead.  It became clear that this was the rain hitting the track.  Norris pitted and many others followed him.  Piastri, however, was beached on the grass.  With the crowd roaring him on, he did everything he could to try and get back on the track by rocking backwards and forwards until he got purchase.  Luckily, he was right in front of the pit lane entrance.  Verstappen would have to do another lap before he pitted but he was not in the lead but was told to stay out.   That looked a good move but then we saw how much it was raining at the end of the lap and he only just made it back safely into the pit.

Both Ferraris were left out on dry tyres.  A Safety Car came out to give them a free stop if they wanted it as 2 rookies, Bortoleto and Lawson came to a stop at the side of the track, having spun in the wet conditions.  The scarlet cars did choose to come in for a change of tyres.  Hamilton had said it was "dangerous" to stay out on dry tyres, which made it almost obligatory for his team to bring him in.  Having been reasonably polite over the radio so far, this was his most pointed barb at the time, that they pitted him at the wrong time.

Whilst the camera was trained on drivers overtaking Gasly and pushing him out of the top 10, Antonelli was pushing Albon for 4th place.  With 2 laps to go, the world was watching Norris and Verstappen battle for 1st place but behind them Anontelli took Albon.  It was announced that the rookie was going to be investigated for an unsafe release at the same time.    He was given 5 seconds., all Albon needed to do was stay within that parameter.  It was close but they finished Norris, Verstappen, Russell, Albon, Antonelli, Stroll (a quiet points finish), Hulkenberg (a great climb from the back of the grid), LeClerc, Piastri and Hamilton to finish the points.  Outside were Gasly, Tsunoda (who deserved points for that race), Ocon and Bearman.

Russell had a very quiet race for 3rd place and a podium; it almost fell into his hands although he must have handled the wet conditions well.  It's tough having your first Formula 1 race in the wet.  There were 6 retirements with 14 cars finishing, including 2 rookies, 1 in the points and 1 not. Antontelli started 16th and finished 5th, which was outstanding.  With the point for fastest lap now gone, I think the FIA should now bring in my old scoring system of giving a point to the driver who makes up the most places from their starting grid place.

4 different teams in the top 4 also holds promise for the season.

In other news, Mick Schumacher has been replaced standing next to Toto Wolff by Valteri Bottas, who is also trying to look very serious during the job.

Australia GP Qualifying Report

There are several drivers in contention for World Champion before they start racing in earnest this season.  Piastri has it the toughest this week, not only being the driver who needs to step it up the most to stake his claim within his own team, it is also his home track.  There is already extra demand for time from the media as it is the first race of the year but he will be needed to comment on racing in Australia too.

My son asked me who I thought would take pole for this first race of the season and I honestly had no idea.  Someone from Ferrari?  Someone from McLaren?  Someone from Mercedes?  There's also Williams in contention for two top ten places.

With so many rookies, it would be well to get a first lap in before anyone crashed and brought out any flagged restrictions on pace.  One of them, Bearman, immediately reported a broken gear box.  Lawson also had a poor Qualifying and went out with him, putting in a weak performance and going wide after aborting the lap.  Something went wrong, whether driver or mechanic fault, on Antonelli's car and he the car was very low sending up sparks and he went out too.  He had broken the bib of the car.  Along with the three rookies, was Ocon, newly driving for Haas and Hulkenberg, newly driving for Sauber.  Norris put in the quickest lap.

Nothing much happened in the second session, Bortoleto had a big off but saved it, still ending up in 15th in his Haas, still beating his team mate Ocon.  Doohan was next, then Stroll, with his team mate Alonso ahead of him.  In 11th was the best rookie, Hadjar for the Racing Bulls.  The end of the session was dicey as Hamilton spun his Ferrari on track.  With less than half a minute to go, he got going, which allowed some drivers to put in a quicker lap.  Norris took 1st place from his team mate at the last gasp, putting him in pole position to take pole position.

In the final session, it was busy at the top to start.  Norris's second hot lap time was deleted for veering off the track with all four tyres.  Halfway through Verstappen held pole position, followed by Russell, LeClerc, Piastri, Albon and Tsunoda, six different teams.   With four minutes left, everyone piled out of their garages.  Piastri took pole, then Norris snatched it off him.  Nobody could take if off them; it was a papaya front row.  Behind them was Verstappen, Russell, Tsunoda in his Racing Bull, Albon in his Williams, LeClerc beating Hamilton, Gasly then Sainz in his first outing for Williams.  Most improved definitely goes to Williams.  Everyone seemed very happy for them.  The range of different constructors in the top ten promises a great season.

There was a strong forecast for rain for race day, which no one was looking forward to.  A nice clean race to get a feel for each cars' strengths and weaknesses would have been preferable.  Hamilton was going to go home and study the rain settings for the Ferrari that evening.  It will be a big challenge for the rookies.