MorrisF1

Been some news during the break. Bottas stays at Mercedes next year. Ocon is taking Hulkenberg’s seat at Renault next year. Currently the German is without a seat for 2020. I think Ocon’s talented but it’s a shame for Hulkenberg. We also saw the provisional calendar for 2020, which has 22 races. Vietnam is new, and an early race. The Netherlands make a return after quite some time. Hockenheim, as expected, isn’t on the calendar. Pre-practice I tipped, with tiny stakes, a couple of Red Bull focused things. Albon to top FP1 each way at 14, Verstappen for a podium at 2.8, and Verstappen to ‘win’ qualifying, each way, at 9. My thinking is that the car’s developed ferociously, and Mercedes may face overheating problems. On the grid front, Albon starts the second half of his début season in a top team, and the back of the grid. Upgrades/replacement parts means he’ll be at, or very close to, the back. This might not be a bad thing for him as it reduces the pressure on his fir...

An interesting race, not on a par with the recent three but certainly more entertaining than the average Hungarian outing. Betting-wise, bad. One bet didn’t come off, the other was right on judgement, wrong on luck. Not much can be done about the latter case. In addition to Giovinazzi’s three place penalty for impeding during qualifying, Ricciardo started from the back due to a new engine (he was the only man to start on the hard tyre). Off the line it was formation flying. Bottas got a good start but locked up, and from there the only way was backwards. Hamilton passed him, then so did Leclerc. The Finn and Monegasque had light contact with major consequences, compelling Bottas to box for a new nose and hard tyres, and pretty much ruining his race (and my bet, alas). Another chap with a terrible start was Gasly. Given what happened last race (and, for Bottas, the impending decision between him and Ocon for the second Mercedes seat) this is not good timing. The Frenchm...

Well, I utterly misjudged all three top teams. I thought Mercedes would have a slight edge but that Ferrari and Red Bull would be close enough for Vettel/Verstappen to stand a small chance. Instead, Verstappen scored his first pole position with an impressive performance, and Ferrari lagged some way behind. On top of that, Bottas beat Hamilton. Q3 had some interest. Yes, both Williams get eliminated, but Russell put in a fantastic lap and was only narrowly ejected. His time was better than both Racing Point cars and Ricciardo. Speaking of whom, Perez and Ricciardo kind of tripped over one another when trying to make find space for a final lap, compromising both of them. (Unlike some other circuits, following a car remains a bugger in Hungary. This will have implications for the race. Passing will be very hard, and getting caught in traffic due to mistimed a pit stop will be costly). In Q2, Magnussen, driving the up to date spec Haas, was the slowest (Grosjean, in the origin...

There was some afters following a very turbulent and exciting race in Germany. The two Alfa Romeos got disqualified over a technical infringement, meaning more points for the squabbling children of Haas. It also gave Hamilton some points, and Kubica one. Feels rough on Alfa, but it’s a nice little morale booster for Williams (and they need it). Alfa are appealing but the appeal will only be heard in September. In first practice Hamilton was a tenth and a half ahead of Verstappen, who was one-thousandth faster than Vettel. Gasly was a few tenths further back, followed by Magnussen, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Norris, Sainz, and Raikkonen. Second practice had some soggy weather. Gasly was fastest, half a tenth ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton and Bottas followed, with Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Giovinazzi, and podium chap Kvyat rounding out the top ten. Oil on the track ate up the first 10 minutes of third practice. Hamilton was top, a whole one-hundredth ahea...