Yuki out before the race start. Not an auspicious beginning.

IN AUSTRIA SAINZ WAS INTIMIDATED BY PEREZ

IN BELGIUM SAINZ WAS INTIMIDATED BY PIASTRI

I SEE A PATTERN OF DRIVERS WHOSE NAMES START WITH P WHO WILL KEEP INTIMIDATING SAINZ.

VER having a fantastic start and dominated the race from then on. PER managing another recovery drive in a decent way. Why he got DotD baffles me but it is what it is. VER is going to wrap up the championship so quickly they are going to have to come up with side quests for him so that he shows up for the remaining races. We can start by making him drive on 3 tyres for the first post championship race. More ideas welcome.

McLaren doing very well and cementing themselves as the 2nd best car on the grid. What a turnaround! NOR getting a favored pitstop call might have compromised PIA’s race. There will be questions asked and let’s hope we get good answers. (They did it to protect both drivers after HAM tried to undercut them not give NOR an advantage. Just happened to work out that way. Maybe they should have swapped places in the middle stint but that would have been tricky to negotiate.)

Mercedes having a mixed bag. HAM sliding back in the beginning and doing a decent job of recovery. Another 4-5 laps and he might have snatched the podium away from PER. RUS was all forward momentum throughout the race. Might have even pulled off a 1 stopper given that RIC did 40 laps on the mediums. RUS/RIC/PIA were definitely better DotD choices for me.

Ferrari and AM brought up the bottom of the top ten today and that’s where they will probably stay without changes to team+car for the former and to the car for the latter. Ferrari need to stop sabotaging themselves and AM got unlucky with the tyre compound change. But McLaren have shown other teams that positive change is possible and will yield results. Can the classic colours emulate modern papaya?

ALB easily the best of the rest today, albeit with a bit of help from other people’s failures, but there is no denying he’s found his groove. Unfortunately for the team SAR has not and it does not look likely that he will. At this point it’s clear SAR is only there in F1 because he is an American driver and F1 wants to penetrate that market. Frankly, he’s not good enough and needs to be let go. There are other drivers who deserve a shot.

Alfa were so exciting in quali and it turned to shit so quickly for them in the race. Threw away their best opportunity this season so far and ruined other drivers races to boot. More bad luck than bad judgement but then you make your own luck in this sport. Fix the idiotic clutch issue with the car. The team will be bitterly ruing not making hay while they could.

Alpha had incidents too: shunt for RIC and bad pitstop for TSU. Not a perfect race for either driver but not a bad recovery either. The car has potential and so do the drivers. RIC finished ahead of TSU but I don’t think this race should be seen as a final indication of their relative talents. Will be interesting to see a real fight between them. The comeback kid vs the intrepid agonist.

Haas are nowhere. I doubt the team has a clear plan for going forward currently. Hopefully they can figure something out over the summer break. HUL really has the best bad luck of any F1 driver ever doesn’t he?

And what can I say about Alpine? A double DNF. This team is easily the most mercurial one on the grid. Goes from huge highs to crazy lows, some of it their fault and some of it not. If they can find some consistency in the future they can be real contenders for a top team slot. The ultimate dark horse.

Race seemed to have a lot of potential based on the grid. The start was exciting at the front and the back for different reasons. But then it turned into a snooze fest as the cars stratified into expected layers. At one point of the race the top 10 was all pairs of teammates. We might even see that with all 20 one day. Can the FIA act to make things closer? Time will tell. 5/10

PS: When did they scrap the rule about pitstops being a 2s minimum? Was surprised with a sub 2s pitstop today.

Yup. ALO has pretty much confirmed it.

A very incident filled race start. Alfa literally threw away the best thing to happen to them all season and ruined other drivers races to boot. RUS must be chuffed that it created a massive opportunity for him and he took full advantage of it. I think we are going to see Zhou in a PSA about texting and driving.

Emotional damage from his teammate getting the preferred pitstop?

Update: Apparently there was a broken floor issue. Don’t know how, didn’t see him make any contacts. PIA better hope he does not inherit HUL luck.

Lol. If I had that kind of money I would hire better strategists for Ferrari. Injuries are temporary, stupidity is permanent.

de Vries has become debris very quickly eh?

Update: The stewards have said they had 1,200 reports of track limit infringements to review. They sound as frustrated about them as we do. At the end of their statement they said something like, "As we have in the past, we recommend this track add gravel or grass on turns 9 and 10."

Another VER win but he had to work for it a little. PER managing a very good damage limitation drive in ending up on the podium

Ferrari pulling off a double podium could have been a dream come true given where the team was a few weeks back. Alas, it was not to be. 2-4 is not a bad weekend though is it? If they can get strategy sorted out, the car seems to be getting there but tyre deg is still a touch too high.

NOR killing it today and putting that McLaren on the map yet again. PIA needs to step up or we will be talking about him getting replaced soon. I know he doesn’t have the upgrades this race but ending up rock bottom when your teammate rakes in points is not a good look.

ALO having a very lonely race but scoring some much needed points. STR just squeaking in a point was nice but he can and should be doing better.

HAM struggling quite a bit today while RUS seemed more comfortable with the car. But the car seemed to be genuinely struggling at this track. Let’s see what the British isles look like for this team next week.

GAS doing quite well to clock 2 points for the team. Too bad OCO could not be bullheaded enough to get some points today.

ALB and SAR having very good runs, a nice change for SAR huh? The Williams is easily the best if the rest at this point.

ZHO and BOT doing their usual thing. BOT getting squeezed at the start again and ZHO ending up ahead of him but not too far ahead.

DEV outperformed TSU today, a much needed performance but I am afraid it had more to do with TSU losing it rather than DEV rising to the occasion. Doubt it will cut much ice with Helmut.

MAG the lone Haas in the fight today and there’s not much good to tell. The car is a shitbox and there don’t seem to be signs of improvement.

Very thrilling race. 8.5/10.

Another VER win but he had to work for it a little. PER managing a very good damage limitation drive in ending up on the podium

Ferrari pulling off a double podium could have been a dream come true given where the team was a few weeks back. Alas, it was not to be. 2-4 is not a bad weekend though is it? If they can get strategy sorted out, the car seems to be getting there but tyre deg is still a touch too high.

NOR killing it today and putting that McLaren on the map yet again. PIA needs to step up or we will be talking about him getting replaced soon. I know he doesn’t have the upgrades this race but ending up rock bottom when your teammate rakes in points is not a good look.

ALO having a very lonely race but scoring some much needed points. STR just squeaking in a point was nice but he can and should be doing better.

HAM struggling quite a bit today while RUS seemed more comfortable with the car. But the car seemed to be genuinely struggling at this track. Let’s see what the British isles look like for this team next week.

GAS doing quite well to clock 2 points for the team. Too bad OCO could not be bullheaded enough to get some points today.

ALB and SAR having very good runs, a nice change for SAR huh? The Williams is easily the best if the rest at this point.

ZHO and BOT doing their usual thing. BOT getting squeezed at the start again and ZHO ending up ahead of him but not too far ahead.

DEV outperformed TSU today, a much needed performance but I am afraid it had more to do with TSU losing it rather than DEV rising to the occasion. Doubt it will cut much ice with Helmut.

MAG the lone Haas in the fight today and there’s not much good to tell. The car is a shitbox and there don’t seem to be signs of improvement.

Very thrilling race. 8.5/10.

Very interesting sprint race. Battles everywhere you look.

VER was comfortably ahead after an early scare, PER scraping through into 2nd.

RUS and HUL making good strategy calls salvaged their races for them.

LEC a touch unlucky in the pits messed up his attack. Getting tangled up with OCO didn’t help. SAI looked rock solid but unimaginative, just held on for dear life and drove to a podium.

STR really should have given ALO that place, every point counts if anyone is going to have even an outside chance of attacking VER for the championship.

OCO being his usual bullheaded self made him 7th, RUS raced him to the line and was 9 thousandths of a second behind.

Very entertaining. 8/10