A second very exciting video (radio), in which I blather for just over three minutes about where Ricciardo might end up next year. For added comedy, turn on the closed captions.
Bit of a whopper of an article, but it didn’t make sense to write two for the Bahrain tests, as they were so close together. Many of the rule changes are helpfully outlined here: http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/22058/9077826/gearing-up-for-2014-the-rule-changes-uncovered-and-explained-part-one This is one more reason why reliability is to critical. Losing a whole power unit (exceeding the 5 per season limit) means starting the next race from the pit lane. Losing a component, such as the turbo, means a 10 place grid penalty. On day one of the first test in Bahrain it appeared the Renault/Red Bull woe might continue. However, both Red Bull and Toro Rosso got in good running on the second day. Any remaining issues seem more to do with the car rather than the power unit. It’s been suggested the Renault requires significantly more cooling than rival engines, but apparently there are upsides. If the horsepower rumours were true (Mercedes being mighty and Ferrari better...
Well, I’m glad I didn’t bet because, if I had, it probably would’ve been on Hamilton (or maybe Leclerc). There were spots of rain in parts of qualifying but nothing that affected times much. Qualifying as been fantastically competitive this year and this time was no exception. Colapinto dealt his prospects of keeping his Alpine seat a bit more damage when he went off, crashed into a barrier, was able to get going, but had to stop the car and brought out a red flag. Also out in Q1 were Lawson (bit of a surprise), Bortoleto, Stroll, and Hulkenberg. Q2 said goodbye to Sainz, Tsunoda, Hadjar, Albon, and Ocon. While it’s not ideal for Williams this does mark an improvement, assuming the cars finish the race. Tsunoda was also better than he has been, but it was a bit weak from Ocon to be slowest when Bearman made Q3 (but the Briton has a 10 place grid penalty for a practice red flag infringement, alas). In Q3 it was looking like McLaren versus Ferrari, with an outside chance of Verstappe...
Well, now I wish I’d tipped Russell to top FP3. Ending the season with a couple of good predictions I didn’t tip is a bit irksome. What isn’t irksome is how incredibly close qualifying was, which led to a pretty good grid and the prospect of an intriguing final race, both in itself and for the title. Q1 said goodbye to some big names, with Hamilton, Albon, Hulkenberg, Gasly, and Colapinto going out. Both Hamilton and Hulkenberg’s team mates made it through to Q3 and the German looked fast enough to escapebut didn’t quite hook things up. In Q2 Bearman, Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli, and Stroll exited the stage. Bearman and Antonelli were surprises, as the Briton has looked very good lately (including this weekend) and Antonelli is also on a run of good results. Every driver out in Q2 had a time of 1:23:0. And so to Q3 which I felt had become a probable McLaren duel. Not for the first time this season, I was wrong. Verstappen put in two great laps for pole, and didn’t need the tow he had ...
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