MorrisF1

In racing terms, not a classic, though there were a few interesting moments. Of the three bets I contemplated, only the one I actually backed ended up coming off, so that was pleasing (short odds, mind). The start took a while to get going. Hulkenberg was giving a hokey-cokey instruction by his team (pit/do not pit) and ended up signalling from the grid that his car had failed, necessitating a second formation lap. At the end of that lap Sainz also went into the pits (he didn’t start, but did later emerge only to be retired as he was two laps down). There had been much talk of how the revised start procedure might affect things. Hamilton started well but Rosberg (and, further down the field, Raikkonen) started badly, getting passed by perhaps 3 cars early on. Perez had a storming start, was up to 2 nd immediately and very nearly passed Hamilton on lap 1, although subsequently the Briton simply drove off. Early on Maldonado retired. No exciting crash or comedy cock-up,

Qualifying went rather differently to my expectations. Well, I got the top two right (not exactly difficult this season), but Ferrari were a mile and a half away from competitiveness. The first session went to script, with the Marussias exiting the stage followed (due to grid penalties) by the McLarens. Nasr may well be disappointed to have failed to escape this stage of qualifying. In Q2, Raikkonen’s car broke down with engine trouble, so he starts 14 th (assuming there’s no grid penalty, which there might well be if parts need replacing). Verstappen, who also has a penalty, didn’t set a time and ‘qualified’ 15 th . It was very tight ahead of them, with Hulkenberg and Kvyat just missing out, and Ericsson the slowest man to set a time in Q2. Q3 saw the status quo maintained as Hamilton got pole by a day and a half and Rosberg had to settle for 2 nd . However, Bottas did well to get 3 rd , and Grosjean and Perez were surprisingly quick in 4 th and 5 th (the top 5 all

Before the race weekend began it was confirmed Raikkonen will stay at Ferrari in 2016. Must say I’m quite surprised. Bottas, Hulkenberg, Grosjean are all fast and would be keen to race for the reds. However, Raikkonen has a great relationship with Vettel (they appear to have a genuine friendship which is very rare for team mates) and that will add a harmony to the team which will make things a lot easier. The tyres are medium and soft. In P1 Rosberg was a quarter of a second up on Hamilton, who was narrowly in front of Ricciardo. Raikkonen, Vettel and Kvyat followed, with Verstappen, Sainz, Perez and Bottas rounding out the top 10. In P2, Rosberg was again faster than Hamilton by a clear margin (three-tenths). Ricciardo was next, half a second down the road but a fair bit ahead of Kvyat, Raikkonen and Hulkenberg. Grosjean, Ericsson, Nasr and Vettel were next up. Whilst watching the P2 summary video I heard that the Sauber now has the 2015 Ferrari engine for the fir

It’s been a bit of an odd first half of a season. Counter-intuitively, I’m actually slightly ahead on every measure (going by race weekends to date). Qualifying and race days are all slightly green. Given the first six races were red (often marginally, but still) that’s quite pleasing. I think I suffered a little misfortune early on, which turned results (that might’ve otherwise been green) red, although I judged some things wrong too. The three races before Hungary were a delightful patch of sound judgement and good fortune which meant I got 7/8 bets correct, including the best race weekend since Monza 2009 (on a hedged basis). Hungary was a double red weekend, one bet failing due to ill judgement, the other to ill fortune. Things feel like they’re on a fairly even keel now. Although the pattern’s been extreme, H1 2015 has followed the traditional route of me being rubbish early on and then starting to get things right around the middle of the year. In perf