So after a lengthy delay due to COVID-19 F1 got back under way and the first race, in Austria rather than Australia, was eventful. Only eleven of the 20 cars finished and I'm sure George Russell was watching those retirements with interest hoping his new team mate wasn't going to score Williams first point of the season and thus reflecting last season where he was by far their better driver but finished with nothing to show for it (apart from driving their rather slow car again this year, maybe Kubica had the right idea in going back to being a test driver?).
Anyway, the big talking point Albon v Hamilton.
For me the penalty was harsh. I think I understand why it was given (though there was alot of this Red Bull bias in regards to penalties this weekend) and I feel for Albon, but, and this is key for me, he chose to stick his car there and his lack of experience showed, he'd have had better drive out of any of the corners and would have been in front if he'd waited. But, I'm also glad he did go for it, there's a few drivers on the grid now who are willing to go for a move, Albon, Verstappen, Norris, Sainz Jr, Riccardo, LeClerc and most of the time they manage to make them stick, unlike a certain former finger waving German who's looking like he'd be lucky to be in that Ferrari by the time we reach the next race (next weekend, in Austria again).
Anyway, well chuffed for Lando!
It was a good race. I was struggling to keep up with what was going on for the last five laps. I agree that the 5 second penalty to Hamilton was harsh, Albon took a chance and it didn't pay off, that's all. Great to see Lando on the podium.
The second Austrian Styrian Grand Prix was pretty dull until Lando went into Scenario 7 at which point Perez hit Albon, Norris overtook Riccardo, then Stroll then caught and passed the damaged car of Perez which then led to the two W10's painted pink RP20's and Danny Ric's Renault finishing within a few hundredths, if not thousandths, of each other.
This has now led to Renault filing a complaint about the design of the RP20, which Racing Point say definitely isn't the W10, they just took alot of photos of it and traced over them as best as they could. The FIA have now seized their brake ducts and asked for the CAD files and Mercedes' 2019 brake ducts because Renault believe these parts would be impossible to be copied and current rules mean teams should be designing them themselves, though there's a grey area where teams used to be able to buy them and Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin did once buy their brake ducts from Mercedes GP…
It's all a bit handbags at dawn really, you can tell that's the case when Christian Horner decides to say something as he loves getting in on the drama.
There's definitely one bit difference between the RP20 and the W10 (other than the fact one was at the front end of every race and qualifying session) and that's that the Racing Point seems to cope well with following other cars and keeping its tyre temperatures where they need to be
Hungaroring was, predictably, dull. There was some moments that promised to make the midfield battle exciting but they never really developed. Red Bull got away with drying the track in front of Albons car before the lights went out, Verstappen got driver of the day but mostly because his mechanics had to do some emergency work on his car after he binned it into a wall whilst making his way to the grid and then everyone in front of him bar Hamilton basically went backwards in the first few corners. The Haas cars were punished for talking to their pit crew about changing tyres before the race had started and Hamilton, quite rightfully, called out the FIA and Liberty Media to do more to show they do support the "End Racism" and "We Race As One" slogans they've got everywhere.
Now there's a two week break before we have two races at Silverstone.
The biggest development is that there's going to be a race at Mugello this year. F1 have never been there, it's a pretty fast track and the drivers necks are going to get a bit of a workout due to the corners being fair high in lateral G forces, though it doesn't lend itself well to overtaking as there's only one heavy braking point, though the likes of Verstappen, LeClerc, Albon and Norris may try to go round outside at the first and final corners.
On the subject of Albon, there's alot of unfair rumblings around his performances, his coming together with Hamilton in the first race was just one of those things, but if Verstappen had had a performance like that then you just know Horner would have been fellating him rather than saying he got lucky with the strategy. He came in fourth in race 2 and then finished fifth yesterday after starting well done the grid due to Red Bull sending him out in traffic. He's currently fifth in the championship behind Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen and Norris, not sure what more he could be doing.
Yeah it wasn't much of a race. And I agree that Albon is doing fine. So bored of Mercedes being unassailable though.
I was falling asleep during the first of two (potentially three) Silverstone Grand Prix (sorry, next week's is actually called something like "70th Anniversary Grand Prix" as the FIA have some sort of rule about there not being two races with the same name), until the last two laps when ALL THE TYRES EXPLODED!
I enjoyed that one. A nice tactical two-stopper.
Yeah that was another good race for very different reasons. So far, despite Hamilton being so dominant, there's been a bit of everything this season
Wow. Just wow.
I actually cried for Gasly, after seeing how Red Bull treated him last year, I'm so really happy for him, he deserves a good car but I hope he tells Christian Horner to go fuck himself
Another week another crazy race in Wacky Races, that restart after the safety car was ridiculous. Bottas is blaming the safety car for not turning it's lights out till late but that start/finish straight is so long and it had pulled off into the pits, Bottas was bunching them all up so much that Hamilton and some others were struggling to stay behind.
Ironic that Grosjean of all people was complaining about how dangerous it was.
I don't know, if anyone is an expert on dangerous driving it's Grosjean.
I really couldn't see anyone to blame for the restart incident, Bottas want doing anything unusual. I think it was just the fact that it was on the straight.
Fun race though.
Have to say, I've never seen an accident like Grosjeans apart from in documentary footage from the 70s, genuinely feared we'd lost Grosjean, it just shows how amazing these current cars are.
Yep. Kinda proved the need for all the firesuits everyone wears and the halo too. Incredible that he came out so well.
I ended up watching Drive to Survive. I have no interest in F1 generally, so it was surprising how gripping (lol) it was. I know it's basically an attempt by F1 to engage people like me, but it works. I'd certainly watch a race now, knowing the personalities and angst behind the scenes.
I just want to give the poor Haas team principle a hug :(
Lewis Hamilton is s smug insincere prick.
Drive to Survive is great for exactly the reasons you say. As you watch the races you get to know all the characters and the drama but it takes a while DTS gets you right in there.
Hamilton used to piss me off but I have more sympathy for him now. No matter what he says it how he acts he is constantly being told he's doing it wrong. And he's a seven times world champion, he can do whatever the fuck her likes (as long as he isn't actively harming anyone obv.)
Drive to Survive S3 is up. I'll post impressions here as we know what's happened in the 2020 season, but episode 1 is mostly pre-season filler plus the aborted Melbourne race, episode 2 was better but
Spoiler - click to showthey didn't show Landos full lap :(
The Netflix camera team were with McLaren for their one two. That’s going to be hell of an ep.
Anyone else watching F1 this year? It's been great so far. Three teams up front with different levels of speed and reliability. Older drivers being outshone by younger drivers. The new ground effect aero is certainly working to allow drivers to battle for position.
Silverstone was certainly dramatic yesterday.
