MorrisF1

  Hungary has thrown up its share of rubbish races over the years but also some very good ones, and this time around it was sort of in between, being interesting rather than fascinating. Having overestimated passing potential last time I overestimated the difficulty of it this time. Not sure why the French circuit made it so much harder than almost everywhere else. Oh well. Mixed bag of soft and medium tyres at the start, with Russell soft and Hamilton medium, the Ferraris medium, both Red Bulls soft.  Off the line Leclerc had a great run at Russell who defended firmly but fairly to retain his lead. After a slightly ropey start Verstappen set about carving his way through the field. Norris soon got passed by various drivers, unable to reproduce the qualifying pace in the race. The race settled into a Russell-Leclerc-Sainz mode as the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen sought to close the gap. All switched to the medium for the second stint, which meant Russell did not ha...

  Well, I’m glad I didn’t bet because the pole-sitter wasn’t on my radar at all and most other things I had vague notions of also didn’t happen. Nicely set up grid for tomorrow.  Vettel worked with his mechanics to mend his Aston Martin ahead of qualifying but he narrowly missed out and joined the AlphaTauri and Williams drivers departing at this stage. Q2 had something of a shock as Perez simply wasn’t fast enough (he alleges blocking, not seen footage either way so I don’t know if that’s the case or not). Zhou Guanyu also failed to progress, as did Stroll and both Haas drivers.  At this stage both Alonso and Norris had shown some tasty pace but the likelihood seemed Ferrari would get it. After the first runs in Q3 Sainz was top dog, two places ahead of his team mate, with Russell second to the Spaniard and two places ahead of Hamilton. The Ferraris seemed set fair for 1-2 after Leclerc improved his time and Verstappen’s Red Bull suffered a power failure, condemnin...

  Vettel is retiring at the end of the season. Aston Martin, suddenly worse at development now they have more money, will miss his expertise and getting a good replacement will be hard as the car is slow and the other driver is the son’s owner. Names already mentioned include Alonso and Schumacher, but we shall see. First practice had Sainz ahead of Verstappen by a tenth, with Leclerc just another tenth further back. Norris was next, three-tenths ahead of Russell, with Perez, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Ocon, and Alonso rounding out the top 10. Second practice was slightly odd, as Leclerc was fastest but the next man, two-tenths down the road, was Norris, a hundredth up on Sainz. The McLaren is looking surprisingly good. Verstappen was half a tenth further back, followed by Ricciardo. Alonso, Vettel, and Russell followed, with Perez only 9 th (ahead of Bottas). At this stage my betting thoughts drifted to Norris for a podium. Which might sound far-fetched but he was ahead, narrow...

France has typically provided boring races and with the new regulations and this year was much the same, with a few moments of interest and some bad luck for my bets, alas.  Off the line the top two held their places and Perez started badly, but managed to only lose one spot to Hamilton. That still defined his race.  Sainz was a rare hard starter and made slower progress than Magnussen, with both Haas cars enjoying flying starts. However, both the Dane and Schumacher pitted early for a planned two stop strategy. This was utterly kiboshed when Leclerc made an error and crashed out from the lead, a few seconds ahead of title rival Verstappen.  The Dutchman was a mile ahead of Hamilton, and despite running very close for a few laps Perez had not been able to pass (this French circuit was the worst of its type for passing under new regulations, and many drivers got held up this way).  Cue the safety car, which buggered Haas’ strategy but was very handy for pret...

  An intriguing qualifying session. Not only is Sainz on the back row due to changing bits, so is Magnussen, and both are looking rather fast (as was Schumacher who got a lap time eliminated for narrowly exceeding track limits, which caused him to be eliminated). In Q1 Latifi was slowest, and we also said goodbye to Gasly, Stroll, Zhou Guanyu, and Schumacher, although everyone does get bumped up two places due to the Sainz-Magnussen penalties. The competitiveness of the lap times was highlighted by every driver ousted in Q2 coming from a different team. Ricciardo was fastest of those eliminated, ahead of Ocon, Bottas, Vettel and Albon (NB Williams has an update package that seems to be working pretty well).  So far, Ferrari had looked probably fast. Annoyingly for them, Sainz was looking the quicker of the pair, but come Q3 he helped Leclerc out with a tow on the straights. Leclerc duly got pole, three-tenths ahead of Verstappen. Perez leads the second row alongside Ha...

  And so to France, where recent races have been a bit like India (although not quite that bad). However, this year’s regulations have worked very well to improve racing closeness so perhaps it’ll be a better race this time around.  Sainz has a minimum 10 place grid penalty and may yet start from the back if he changes more parts (it turns out setting fire to a Ferrari engine does not improve its performance). In practice to date (first two sessions as I write this) the Red Bull has apparently been chewing its tyres, a bit like last time. McLaren, I think, has some new bits and pieces. In first practice Leclerc edged Verstappen by less than a tenth, with Sainz a quarter of a second further back. Russell was next but six-tenths off the Spaniard and a tenth ahead of Gasly. Perez, Norris, Albon, De Vries (for Mercedes), and Ricciardo rounded out the top 10. Second practice had a Ferrari 1-2 at the top, Sainz a tenth up on his team mate, and Verstappen four-tenths further ba...

  Not the first time I’ve backed Sainz/Perez to finish top 2 this year, and on this occasion both aspects were subject to horrendous luck. My judgement, on at least one part, was sound, which is a small consolation. Off the line it was as you were and Perez soon got alongside and ahead of Russell. The Briton was clumsy and clonked the Mexican’s rear, ruining his bodywork, punting him into the gravel, necessitating an early pit stop, and causing sufficient loss of pace that Perez ultimately had to retire. For this, Russell got a 5s time penalty. Verstappen kept the lead but tyre degradation meant the Ferraris reeled him and passed with ease, and even when they emerged behind after first one and then two pit stops the Prancing Horse was simply faster than the Red Bull and passed with little difficulty. Except that Sainz’s engine blew up right as he was about to pass Verstappen, allowing the Dutchman to be behind only Leclerc. The Spaniard did his best to park well but his eng...

  The start of the nonsense race was weird. Alonso had a problem and had to be wheeled back into the pit (he suffered a DNS in the end). It seemed an extra formation lap had been averted, but then Zhou Guanyu’s engine died on him. This was revived but a second formation lap and a pit lane start was necessary for the Chinese driver.  When we did get going Verstappen had to fend off Sainz, who made a great getaway to get past Leclerc. The two tussled a bit but when Sainz locked up the order of the top three was settled, with the Spaniard last.  Further down the order, Gasly and Hamilton had made contact putting them both further back (especially the Frenchman) while Perez had made up a lot of ground. The Mexican got stuck for a while behind the two swift (and formation flying) Haas cars but eventually pulled off a splendid overtake to get Schumacher then Magnussen, before passing a slightly lonely Ocon (although he was unable to get close to Russell, also very much runn...

  Yep, we’re cursed with sprint race bullshit this time. Thanks, F1. I think this will help out Mercedes (we’re unsure of their upgraded dry qualifying pace but they seemed competitive in the race last time out) and Alonso, who is not great at qualifying but who tends to excel at lap 1 passing.  Bottas has new engine bits and will start back of the grid.  Verstappen was fastest in first practice, a quarter of a second ahead of Leclerc with Russell a tenth and a half further back. Perez, Hamilton, and Magnussen followed, with Sainz, Alonso, Schumacher, and Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.  In qualifying we had an odd thing in the first session as the McLaren was just slow. Ricciardo’s woes continued as he couldn’t even escape Q1, but Norris’ difficulties just staying on track in Q2 make it plain the car is both slow and tricky to drive. In the first session we also said goodbye to both Aston Martins, Latifi and, surprisingly, Zhou Guanyu. In Q2, Norris was slo...

  I’d had my eye on Perez’s odds even before the weekend started, and as things turned out it came good, through a very exciting end. Ahead of the start most had opted for medium tyres except Verstappen who was on the soft. Off the line, this gambit paid off and he snaffled pole. Hamilton and Alonso made up places while Perez went backwards. One driver (AlphaTauri, I think, forget whom) was unlucky to be the meat in a sandwich which caused a massive incident at the start and collected multiple drivers, causing multiple DNFs. Among these were Albon, Russell, and Zhou Guanyu, whose Alfa Romeo ended up upside down, careering through a gravel trap then over the crash barrier. Thankfully, the promising Chinese driver appears to be totally ok. This caused a red flag and an hour long wait for the restart. Because not everyone had passed a certain point the grid was to reformed as it started, which was lucky for Perez and not so lucky for Verstappen (who had switched to medium tyres,...

 After dry practice, the qualifying was wet and every session saw improvements throughout as displaced water exceeded rainfall and everyone got quicker as time wore on. The race is expected to be dry. The first session was not a happy time for Aston Martin which saw both chaps eliminated. Unusually, Albon was the Williams departing at this stage while Latifi (perhaps still celebrating Canada Day) escaped for the first time this season. Both Haas cars also failed to progress. In the second session we waved goodbye to both AlphaTauris and Bottas, outqualified again by the increasingly impressive Zhou Guanyu. Ricciardo could only manage 14 th and Ocon 15 th while their team mates made it to Q3. Verstappen looked nailed on for pole… and yet it was not to be. Sainz finally got his first ever pole, less than a tenth ahead of the Dutchman. Leclerc and Perez line up on row two. Mercedes had threatened to spoil the party but at the critical moment they weren’t quite there. Row thr...

  Kudos to anyone who had money on Bottas to top FP1. The session was wet, which always opens up some good potential. Hamilton, who was second, was backable each way at 17. The Finn was half a second ahead of ex-team mate Hamilton, with Sainz and Leclerc following but separated by a big gap. Schumacher and Zhou came next, then Magnussen, Stroll, Tsunoda, and Vettel, but the conditions mean this isn’t terribly useful as a guide to pace (and whether or not Mercedes upgrades will work or even eliminate the gap to the leaders, though I’d be surprised if that’s the case given the general pace difference this season). The second session was more standard but still had a weird top three. Sainz fastest isn’t too odd but that was ahead of Hamilton and Norris, both a tenth and a half off the Spaniard. Verstappen followed closely, then came Leclerc (who never managed to quite string together a proper lap). Three-tenths further back was Alonso, Perez and Russell (six and seven-tenths off t...