Russia: pre-qualifying
The main news in F1 is
that Bianchi, who had that horrendous crash in Japan, has suffered
diffuse axonal injury. It is an incredibly serious injury, and let’s
hope Bianchi can make the fullest recovery possible. Marussia are (as
a mark of respect) only running Chilton this week, and have not
replaced Bianchi.
As well as by all
accounts being a tremendously popular driver, Bianchi was also a real
talent. Like Grosjean and Hulkenberg, it was very easy to see him in
a top team, and the sport may have lost one of its great starts of
the future.
Lotus will have
Mercedes engines next year. A great coup for the beleaguered team,
who were reportedly struggling to find, essentially, the cash for a
deposit. Mercedes engines are cheapest, most efficient and fastest,
so that’s a nice plus for Lotus which hasn’t had much good news
of late.
First race in Russia.
My impression of the track isn’t great, to be honest. Anyway,
grip’s fairly low, medium and soft tyres appear to last forever so
a one-stop strategy could work (two might
be better, not due to degradation but pace difference between the
compounds).
In
P1 Rosberg was less than a tenth ahead of Hamilton, with Button only
a tenth or so further back. Alonso was fourth, then came Magnussen,
Perez, Kvyat, Raikkonen, Vergne and Bottas.
In
P2 Hamilton was eight-tenths up on Magnussen, with Alonso, Rosberg
and Bottas close behind the Dane. Button, Massa, Kvyat, Vettel and
Vergne round out the top 10.
The
McLarens looked good. Not good enough to challenge Mercedes but
certainly capable of troubling the top 6. Red Bull look a bit off the
pace, quite literally, and Ricciardo suffered some variety of power
unit failure in P2. I imagine they’ll improve their game, but the
question is: how much?
Entirely
a guess on my part, but I do think we’ll have a safety car.
In P3 Hamilton was
fastest by about three-tenths (see note below), with Rosberg and
Bottas very close to one another in second and third. A little
further back was Ricciardo, Massa, Kvyat, and Raikkonen, all close,
and then Alonso, Vergne and Vettel.
Hamilton had a spin
fairly late on in P3, and could’ve gone quicker. Magnussen had some
sort of failure during P3 and never got in anything like a fast lap.
The Williams was looking feisty, and the Red Bull a bit below par.
Ferrari seem off the pace and McLaren’s early promise appeared
diminished in P3. Not awful (I expect both Button and Magnussen to
make Q3) but they may struggle to make the top 6.
Overtaking should be
pretty difficult, so qualifying’s pretty important (in relative
terms), especially given there may well be a single pit stop per car.
All else being equal I
expect Hamilton to get pole relatively comfortably. Rosberg’s
really off the pace, which is a little surprising. Bottas could
challenge for second place.
Don’t bet on
qualifying at every race, but two potential bets whose odds I thought
worth checking were:
Lay Vettel Q3
Bottas top 3
The Vettel lay odds
were evens, which was far too long, but Bottas was a surprising 1.85
to be top 3. Bear in mind, he was seven-tenths ahead of the chap in
fourth. I think that’s worth a bet (with Betfair).
So, a qualifying tip:
Bottas to be top 3 in
qualifying at 1.85 (Betfair)
Morris Dancer
There is hope for Jules - Richard Hammond suffered a DAI in 2006 when he crashed at 288mph in a jet propelled dragster.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that. I do hope he can make a full recovery.
ReplyDelete