MorrisF1

Before qualifying (and, indeed, third practice) it looked like Verstappen remained likeliest to get pole but that it could be close, with Leclerc, Antonelli, and Norris all looking pretty good. The short lap made qualifying very close throughout, and in Q1 we waved goodbye to Bortoleto, Albon, Gasly, Stroll, and Colapinto. Given Sainz got through to Q3 bit of a weaker showing from Albon, though it might be fairer to say Sainz is very good around this track. In Q2 Tsunoda was the fastest man eliminated, followed by Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Lawson. Going into Q3 I had thought it was Verstappen’s to lose but his car was sliding a bit which was not only bad for pace but also won’t help his tyre wear over the long runs. In a tight session, Norris’ pole margin of around three-tenths was very impressive and if he can retain the lead on the opening lap he’s very likely to win. But, and it’s a big but, there’s a very long run into the first corner and a great opportunity to screw up. ...

And so we come to the annual tradition of me trying to remember what impact the higher altitude and thinner atmosphere of Mexico has on the race… (Less air, less slipstream effect, so overtaking’s harder). As before, this is up early due to the late FP3/qualifying times being inconvenient for me. Quick note for FP1: there were nine young (mostly) drivers taking regulars’ places and neither Verstappen nor Norris were driving. Anyway, Leclerc was quickest, ahead of Antonelli by a tenth. Two-tenths later came Hulkenberg, who was narrowly ahead of Piastri. Bortoleto followed, making this rather good for Sauber, with Lindblad (Red Bull), Ocon, Tsunoda, Colapinto, and Albon following. Verstappen topped second practice, a tenth and a half ahead of Leclerc, who was again followed closely by Antonelli. Norris was next, then came Hamilton, with Russell, Tsunoda, Alonso, Sainz, and Stroll completing the top 10. Piastri was 12th, six-tenths off Norris. I would be tempted by the 9 on Leclerc f...

The sprint race was marked by two events. On lap 1, a collision had knock-on effects which caused both McLarens and Alonso to DNF, and shunted Hulkenberg way down the order, out of the points. After the safety car came out, and left again, things were fairly sedate, with passing proving tricky, although Hamilton did manage to get ahead of Leclerc. Later, Stroll clumsily smashed into Ocon with an ill-considered overtake attempt which took out both men, and brought out the safety car for the second time. Under this finish the race would finish. Verstappen had a lovely time, getting all 8 points while McLaren scored 0. Russell got 2nd place with Sainz in 3rd. Behind the Spaniard, Ferrari recovered from woeful qualifying to 4th and 5th, Hamilton leading Leclerc, with Albon, Tsunoda (who made up 11 places), and Antonelli finishing the points positions. Bearman had been in 8th but continued his one-man mission to disprove British bias by getting a 10s penalty for defending against Antonell...

Ah, sprints. The pre-digested food of a Formula 1 weekend. Not a fan of late start times either, but at least we’re at the best of the (ridiculous) three circuits in the USA. In first and only practice Norris was fastest, a quarter of a second of… Hulkenberg. Hmm. Piastri was two-hundredths behind the Sauber. Alonso was next, and only then came Verstappen, with Albon, Russell, Hamilton, Hadjar, and Bearman completing the top 10. In pretend qualifying for the pretend race Verstappen decided it would be better to go faster and thus got pole. Norris was a tenth off, one place and three-tenths quicker than Piastri. Hulkenberg starts 4th, and was just one-tenth behind the Aussie. Russell and Alonso start on row three, then we have Sainz ahead of Hamilton (ironically), and Albon ahead of Leclerc. NB several drivers failed to put in a final time, which meant Bortoleto had none on the board and was last. Would’ve been interesting to see where he would’ve come, given he was 12th and almost a...

I’d expected qualifying to be a five horse race but instead it ended up with rather bigger gaps than we’ve come to expect this year. Q1 featured a red flag from Gasly suffering what appears to be a hydraulic failure. Bortoleto, Stroll, Colapinto, Ocon and Gasly were eliminated at this stage. Not too unexpected, save for Bortoleto being outqualified by Hulkenberg for the first time in a long while. Q2 was a little delayed but when it was done we said goodbye to Hulkenberg, Albon, Sainz, Lawson, and Tsunoda. I think Hulkenberg did well to get so far up the grid, and the Williams was pushed to its potential but simply doesn’t gel with this circuit. Lawson and Tsunoda could’ve done better given how their team mates did. And so to Q3, which was feeling like it might be a Verstappen versus Mercedes battle. And so it was, with Russell putting in a cracking first lap to secure provisional pole. Verstappen could only get within a couple of tenths but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Pi...

In first practice Alonso was quickest, a tenth and a half ahead of Leclerc. Verstappen was a similar margin further back, a tenth ahead of Hamilton. Piastri was a thousandths off the Briton but two-tenths ahead of Norris, with Hadjar, Sainz, Tsunoda, and Ocon rounding out the top 10. Second practice was disrupted by two red flags caused by Russell and Lawson crashing out. Fastest in FP2 was Piastri, a tenth up on Hadjar. Verstappen and Alonso were one- and three-hundredths respectively behind the Frenchman. Then there was a huge three-tenths gap to Norris, who was followed by Stroll, Ocon, Sainz, Leclerc, and Hamilton. Practice also saw a pit lane crash when Ferrari sent out Leclerc directly into the path of Norris. Very much a case of incompetence from the pit crew. The penalty was just a fine, but if that had happened in qualifying or the race then a grid penalty would’ve been on the cards. In third practice we had another red flag courtesy of Liam Lawson crashing, again. Hamilto...