Qatar GP Race Report

After the Sprint, Russell said that the twenty people in the cars enjoy the Qatar race and the track but it's boring for everyone on the sofa at home.  Verstappen said it would be "a long race and anything could happen."  This was a possibility but also a long procession of drivers with no ability to overtake was possible: whoever has been in the lead at the end of lap 1 has gone on to win the race.  Even so, I was looking out for awkward double-stacks for a Safety Car, the Safety Car coming out for gravel on track, punctures from gravel on track, Verstappen doing something dangerous to try and get the win, drivers exceeding track limits and how teams would work with the mandated twenty-five lap maximum run on the tyres.

All the English footballers were out in Qatar for the race; it's amazing what money can buy.  There was so many sportspeople, it's like they can do laundry well.

And straight off the line, Norris lost second place to Verstappen, whilst Piastri made a golden start.  Russell was another big loser, falling to seventh; Hamilton was up to 13th.  By Lap 5, Verstappen was complaining about his tyres.  Then, on the critical Lap 7 (important for the tyre mandate), Hulkenberg had a coming together with Gasly and was beached in the gravel without one of his tyres (it was deemed a racing incident and looked pretty 50/50).  The McLarens stayed out with Ocon but all other drivers came in for new tyres; there were slow stacks for Mercedes and Ferrari.  It seemed like a crazy move for McLaren.  The releases worked in Williams' favour with Sainz ending up in fourth.  Ocon did come in for a pit stop and had to serve a five second penalty, that was announced at the perfect time, for a jump start.

Piastri backed them right up, going very slowly at the restart but it worked out for him.  It didn't take long for the sixth place driver, Alonso, to have a train of cars behind him, all following nose to tail.  Albon was the first driver to be shown the black and white flag for exceeding track limits.

McLaren pitted when they had to, with Piastri coming in first for a three second stop.  He came out ahead of Alonso.  Norris came in the next lap and had a better stop, two seconds and was also out in front of Alonso.  The relief for the team must have been huge.

On L32 there was chaos in pit lane as most drivers needed new tyres as they were up to the 25 lap limit.  Russell almost went into Lawson and Bearman ran over something in his pit and was then given an extra unsafe release penalty as well as losing all the time.  He slammed his steering wheel in frustration.

Piastri was casually discussing what his best strategy would be over the radio but Norris was having a wobble.  He couldn't get the pace back that he had and went off, believing the car sustained damage as he did so.  Verstappen looked like he was going to get a comfortable win because the McLarens were not quick enough and a Safety Car hadn't been needed.  What we needed was Stroll to Latifi things up.  Piastri came in for a stop that nearly surprised his mechanics.  It was a 1.8 second stop by McLaren, which was what was needed.  Norris didn't stay out and push but came in soon after and got a 2.7 second stop.  He came out after Sainz and Antonelli.  Whilst I wanted Norris to do well, I would take a Williams podium over that.  

Alonso had a big spin but didn't manage to bring out the Safety Car, it was too late anyway for him to help out his old team.  With two laps to go, Hadjar tried to help everyone by getting a puncture, it wasn't Safety Car worthy though.  On the last lap, Antonelli went wide and Norris got past him for fourth place. Sainz held Norris off to get the podium; where's Carlando now?

The top ten were Verstappen (who didn't put a foot wrong), Piastri, Sainz (starting from seventh), Norris, Antonelli (making that rookie error in the dying seconds of the race but still ahead of his team mate), Russell, Alonso, LeClerc, Lawson and Tsunoda (in the points at least).  McLaren's strategy let them down.  Piastri was "speechless" and not in a good way.

We head to next weekend and the final race with Norris still leading the championship by twelve points over Verstappen.  Piastri has dropped back to third place, four points behind the Red Bull.  Will McLaren ask Piastri to help if it looks like Verstappen will take the Driver's Championship? Having a baby mid-season has done nothing but spur Max on.

It seems amazing that Hamilton has over twice as many points as Sainz, who he pushed out to take the place in Ferrari.  Maybe that is the Brit's whinging that muddies the water?  Williams have secured fifth place in the Constructor's Championship and it feels unfair that they haven't beaten Ferrari.

 After a swift turnaround it was time for Qualifying proper.  Albon managed a little drama in the first session, getting lap times deleted and going on parts of the track he shouldn't.  In the end he knocked Hamilton out of running.  Gasly took his Alpine from the back of the grid in Sprint Qualifying to fifth.  Russell, Norris, Piastri and Verstappen.  Out went Tsunoda (another one who did well the day before), Ocon, Hamilton (bored of this now), Stroll and Colapinto.  The best Crofty fact of the year was also enthusiastically delivered: Stroll has the most Q1 exits of the season.

In Q2, the championship leader Norris put himself under pressure by not setting any early times as he went off the track.  He was out first for his final hot laps but the track was getting better all the time and Piastri had broken the Q2 lap record.  Piastri was strongest in this round, ahead of Norris and Verstappen.  The big shock of the session was Albon's exit in 15th, ahead of him but not going through was Hulkenberg, Lawson, Bearman and Bortoleto, all drivers he should have beat.

We went into the final session and LeClerc had a big but safe spin, completing a few turns and missing any obstacles.  Albon was released by Williams with a plastic sticker wrapped around his tyre.  He would be investigated for an unsafe release and the session had to be Red Flagged for it to be cleared up.

It wasn't long after the cars went out again that the end of the session came about.  Norris had held pole but this attempt was messy and nothing came of it.  Piastri took pole from him.  They lined up behind his thus: Norris (who was already ready to be interviewed as Piastri came in), Verstappen, Russell, Antonelli, Hadjar, Sainz, Alonso, Gasly and LeClerc.

If Piastri makes a good start in the Race then the win should be his.  Verstappen will be very punchy and Norris will have to watch out for him.  Verstappen could be Piastri's biggest ally.  

Qatar GP Sprint Report

It was yet another bright, sunny day in Doha.  Four drivers would be starting from the pit lane: Stroll, Hamilton (Ferrari admitted that the way they went with the rear wing was wrong) and both Alpines.

On the track, the McLarens got away quickly but Russell stayed between them.  Tsunoda let Verstappen past before the first lap was even completed, as his team mate made it past Alonso.  Further back, LeClerc fell back to 13th.

Verstappen was speaking a lot about how much his car was not only bouncing but jumping.  Brundle fleetingly mentioned that the teams were very worried about tyres getting punctured, why wasn't this brought up before?  By lap ten, the issue of track limits came into play, with Tsunoda getting the first black and white flag to let him know that he only had one chance left to stay on the black stuff.  Other drivers would soon see one too.  Tsunoda didn't manage it and got a five second penalty which was no good in a DRS train of a race.  In the end he only lost one place to Antonelli, who in got 5 seconds, so it made no difference to anyone  In the race though, with more laps to run, this could be real problem for some drivers if they are not careful.

The four pit lane starters could do nothing with the changes they made.  Stroll and the Alpines made a pit stop for soft tyres to have a little practice for Qualifying.  Overall, it was nineteen laps of not much happening, apart for LeClerc who was driving an off-road race.

There were several factors to note for the longer race: Qualifying places would be important, tyres would need to be managed, pit stops need to be sharp, gravel will need to avoided and track limits will need to be adhered to.

Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying Report

Sainz was asked his opinion on the current interpretations of the driving standards guidelines.  He said that there should be no guidelines and recent drivers, like those providing analysis, should make the judgement.  That boy always makes sense.

Bortoleto went into SQ1 with a five place grid penalty hanging over him.   It was a fairly boring session until the last milliseconds when Antonelli knocked Hamilton out - thanks for the seat mate!  It looked like Aston Martin were going to be strong with Alonso hanging onto pole position but Stroll was out.  Verstappen took first place at the very end.  The five drivers leaving Sprint Qualifying were Stroll, Lawson, Hamilton, Gasly and Colapinto.  It was another dire session for Alpine.  Hamilton was as monosyllabic as former Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen, in the press pit.

Antonelli only just scraped through into SQ3 as Hadjar had a lap time deleted.  This session was even more boring than the last.  The two McLarens were fastest with Norris ahead and then Verstappen.  The five drivers out were predictable too: Hadjar, Bearman, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg and Ocon.  Normal order seemed to have been restored.

Alonso was very angry with the number of drivers on track (precisely on the same spot) at the end of SQ2 and Verstappen was very angry with his car and how much it was porpoising at the start of SQ3.  This time the track improved as the time ticked down and Verstappen's hold on pole tumbled away, perhaps his team should have listened to him?  Even Tsunoda beat him and I had assumed he was already out or perhaps forgotten on the baggage carousel at the airport.  The top ten were Piastri, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Tsunoda, Verstappen, Antonelli, Sainz, LeClerc and Albon.  Piastri needed some kind of strong racing event.  Albon seems to be falling into Sainz's shadow.

Piastri will go all out to get in the Sprint to get as many points as he can, the championship is all but lost to him unless he does.   It should be a great Sprint.

Las Vegas GP Race Report

It was all showbusiness and glitz in Vegas for the race.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse waved the drivers onto the truck for the parade, as each was announced American style.  The trophy was a neon rainbow cascade of colour and the Disney marching band accompanied the Star Spangled Banner.

This circuit is easy for overtaking, so nothing was guaranteed for any driver, wherever they qualified.  Norris pulled out an aggressive start and went straight into Verstappen's path and then off over a corner; he dropped to third behind Russell.  Luckily, Piastri had also lost places off the start, having collided with Lawson.  Bearman made up four places and is firmly in contention for rookie of the year, or at least was at that point in proceedings.  Bortoleto won't be, having tried to make up too many places off the grid and tagging Stroll, who spun into others. Gasly also lost seven places from a great starting position.  Hamilton on the hard tyre was in 12th by the second lap, having started at the back.  There were bits of Lawson's wing all over the track so Virtual Safety Car conditions were called for to clear the track.  It was hard to keep up with everything that happened.

Antonelli and Albon were both noted for starting infringements; it was a late call as the stewards were busy investigating things up and down the pack.  Suddenly, LeClerc came to life and started to overtake one car after another.  Russell was less happy as he was encountering problems with his steering.  Albon went into the back of Hamilton; the VSC edict came again to clear up the debris.  

There were very traditional mid-race stops (a few folk went early), Norris and Sainz (running in 4th) led the way.  Piastri got Sainz straight away.  Verstappen took a free stop and there would be little that could happen to stop him winning the race.

It was Lap 34 when Norris finally made a good move and got past Russell for second.  It was incredibly disappointing that Sainz had dropped back to 7th after the pit stops.  After his initial mistake, it was a good recovery race for Norris but it will always be "what could have been".  LeClerc's promise mid-race didn't amount to much.  Antonelli's drive really stood out and could help him overtake Bearman for Rookie of the Year.

There were three non-finishers: Albon, Bortoleto and Stroll, all of whom disappeared quite quietly and presumably went to try their luck elsewhere on the Strip.

Terry Cruz drove the pink Lego Cadillac around the track to chauffeur the drivers to the podium.  All in all it was a great show and, of all the races on the calendar, is the one that I'm most drawn to attending.  There was an epilogue to the show though hours later, when both McLaren cars were disqualified.  I'm slightly annoyed that such a teeny-weeny margin could hand Verstappen yet another championship, although I suppose he will really have to battle now and not just wait and see what happens.  Another ding-dong between Norris and Verstappen could be interesting.  I'm also pleased that it bumps Sainz right up in the points.