MorrisF1

An interesting race, and an interesting result. After the rather good Spanish race, back into the red for this weekend (although only marginally). It was wet at the start, which necessitated a safety car (as Mr. Sandpit said elsewhere, the VSC was used a lot, and but for the soggy start we would not have seen a safety car, an event which had odds of 8). As usual, the safety car stayed out too long. A few cars dove into the pits for intermediate tyres immediately, but most stayed out. Kvyat had problems with his speed limiter being stuck on. He tried to resolve it by pitting and left for the circuit (down over a lap) but it couldn’t be mended. Ricciardo streaked away from Rosberg, who looked a bit out of sorts. When the gap was about 13s, the team made a call and the German gave way to his British team mate (it later emerged Rosberg’s car had brake issues. These were later resolved, but did screw his race). Hamilton set off in hot pursuit of Ricciardo. He was f

Well, qualifying was a cracker. The hedge for Rosberg got matched, so the tip’s green or redness depends on whether you hedged or not. Whilst I thought (and, indeed, said) Ricciardo had a chance of pole I didn’t expect the confident dominance in Q3. Clever tactics in Q2 as well. Q1 wasn’t two minutes old when Nasr’s engine started smoking like Cruella de Vil. Once the Sauber was winched away, the session restarted. Verstappen introduced his front right to the wall, which broke the suspension and meant he had no choice but to collide head-on with barriers, littering the track with carbon fibre and bringing out a second red flag. After that was tidied away, the two Manors were slowest (Haryanto ahead of Wehrlein), under pressure Palmer was 18 th and Ericsson was 17 th . Q2 saw cunning tactical shenanigans from Ricciardo. The Aussie set a perfectly fast lap on the purple ultrasofts, but then went out on supersofts and set a faster time. This means he starts the race on the mor

There have been some mutterings of the driver markets for next year. An entertaining but unlikely suggestion was that Rosberg could get Raikkonen’s seat at Ferrari, with Alonso moving to Mercedes. Perhaps likelier is Vandoorne taking Button’s place at McLaren, Button going to Williams, and Massa retiring. Palmer’s seat seems under threat already. In more serious news, the family of Jules Bianchi are suing multiple organisations for the driver’s death, citing it as ‘avoidable’. The story is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36386227 This race is the first where we see the purple ultra-softs. It also sees an upgraded Renault engine (worth 0.5s on a normal circuit, bit less at the slow Monaco), but limited supply means only Ricciardo and Magnussen get it. The final bit of news is that an idiotic new rule banning visor-strips from being thrown away (they’re torn off when they get dirty, so the driver can still see) has been axed, presumably because the bigwigs

Today was quite good. The race was thrilling, up there with the likes of Canada 2011 and Bahrain 2014. It was also a profitable race, the first this year, as the Ricciardo bet came off (the Ferrari one did not, but as the former was 8, it was still very green). The Verstappen bet I mentioned earlier in another place, which was not available by the time I wrote my race weekend pieces, will not count in my records. It was, however, nice to get a 250/1 winner, even though I put on only a tiny sum. The start, which even at 3.12pm feels like a year ago, was dramatic. Vettel started well, Raikkonen poorly, slipping down a few places. Rosberg passed Hamilton very early on but when the Briton tried to come back, Rosberg moved across the track [or held the racing line, as you like], Hamilton went onto the grass, lost control and struck his team mate. Both cars were out on lap one. The safety car emerged, guaranteeing Ricciardo the lead of the first lap. At this stage the

Qualifying was quite interesting. No staggering shocks, but a number of surprises which add up to an intriguing grid for the race tomorrow (although worth noting hardly anyone wins from anywhere but the front row). As expected, the Saubers and Manors exited in Q1 (Ericsson and Wehrlein beating their team mates), and it wasn’t a shock for Palmer to fail to progress in this year’s lacklustre Renault. What was a shock was Massa being only 18 th , over half a second slower than his team mate. A Williams’ technical chap (on the radio speaking to Channel 4) effectively blamed Massa for being slow. In an interview, Massa blamed the team for sending him out into traffic. A good mix of cars failed to escape Q2. Both Haas drivers (the car’s looked rickety again this race) were slow, with Magnussen between them in 15 th . Hulkenberg, Button and Kvyat were all outqualified by their team mates. Not good for the Russian, in particular. Perez seems generally better than Hulkenberg at stree

Fireworks on the 5 th . Kvyat, after a very bad race in Russia, was demoted to the Toro Rosso team, with Verstappen promoted to Red Bull. Must say I’m shocked. Yes, Kvyat had a horrendous Russian race. He also got a podium in China at the preceding event. Everyone has bad races, and whilst Kvyat damaged his own race, Ricciardo’s and (most blatantly) Vettel’s, his offences were ill-judgement rather than being outright dangerous (as per Grosjean at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix). Red Bull’s drastic reaction, many calling it over the top, may be more about Verstappen than Kvyat. The Wunderkind is at contract with Red Bull until 2017. However, he’s very highly rated and the team may well fear the likes of Ferrari or Mercedes tempting him away. Promotion to the main Red Bull team could be a way of trying to sink hooks into Verstappen. However, that doesn’t mean Kvyat’s getting fair treatment. He was 100% at fault in Russia, but one bad race leading to immediate, in-season demo

A bit frustrating to have another red weekend. Shades of Murphy’s Law about the start of the season for my betting, but these bad patches do happen. Rosberg got away cleanly and retained the lead not only for the first lap, but all the laps. The start was dramatic. Vettel got away well. Hamilton also had a nice start. Very early on the first lap, Kvyat struck Vettel from behind (just ran into him), possibly giving the German a puncture. To make things worse, the Russian then hit Vettel again, this time putting him into a barrier and ending his race. Vettel’s radio transmission, replete with words with which I shall not sully your pure and innocent ears, accurately summed up the rightful anger he felt towards the situation. In China it was a 50/50 racing incident. In Russia, Kvyat was 100% to blame, twice [he subsequently got a 10s stop and go penalty]. Hulkenberg was also involved in carnage and knocked out on the first lap, although I’m not sure who was responsible.