MorrisF1

  And so to the actually exciting bit of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend: qualifying. Things were extremely close in Q1 and the list of five eliminated drivers has some unusual names: Alonso, Sargeant, Perez, Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu is the full set. Alonso being outqualified, again, by Stroll is rather shocking. And Perez’s quest to retain his seat won’t be helped by qualifying 18 th  on a track where passing is nigh on impossible. To be fair, the margins were tighter than most of the time, but even so. I was mildly surprised (given past heroics) that Hulkenberg failed to escape Q2, as did his team mate. Ocon, Ricciardo, and Stroll also exited, and it was looking very close indeed at the sharp end. That said, at this moment Leclerc looked more of an outsider than heavy favourite for pole. But come Q3 the Monegasque put his Ferrari at the front of the grid for tomorrow’s race. An impressive Piastri, who had looked quick throughout, joins him on the first row. The second row is al...

And so to the worst circuit on the calendar: Monaco. Yep, slow speed and passing being almost impossible is just what you want on a racetrack. Anyway, the weather forecast is dry, so luckily it seems rain won’t get in the way of Sunday’s procession. Saturday is always annoying, because it can be competitive and unpredictable, and who wants that when you’re trying to sleep?   The top of the leaderboard was a bit unexpected in P1 with Hamilton leading Piastri and Russell. Norris, Leclerc, and Alonso followed, with Stroll, Tsunoda, Ricciardo, and Sainz completing the top 10. Second practice was more in line with expectations, and had Leclerc fastest ahead of Hamilton, with Alonso and Verstappen a few tenths further back. Norris was a hundredth ahead of Sainz (six-tenths off his team mate), with Stroll, Perez, Albon, and Russell following. At this stage Leclerc looks heavy favourite for pole and win with Verstappen potentially not getting on the podium. Unfortunately I don’t have time...

Apologies for the lack of pre-qualifying ramble, my time proved unexpectedly short. Upgrades galore this time round, excepting VCARB/RB/AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso. Important race as the Ferrari and McLaren teams will be hoping to take the fight to Red Bull. A lso, the circuit has been altered slightly with far more gravel traps. Qualifying was rather fun this time around. In the first session Alonso was a shock departure. The Aston Martin upgrades don’t look like they’re doing the job (a worrying situation as this was also the case last year). Less surprising were the exits of both Saubers, Magnussen, and Sargeant. Worth noting both Alpines escaped. Q2 also had a big name drop out: Perez. No gravel woe or suchlike, he simply was not fast enough. He was the fastest eliminated ahead of both Alpines, Stroll, and Albon. Heading into Q3 it seemed like a five way fight (McLarens, Ferraris, and Verstappen). And so it proved, but once more the Dutchman refused to cede pole position to anyone else a...