Hungary: pre-qualifying 2018


Sergio Marchionne, who was until a few days ago the leader of the entire Ferrari group (Fiat-Chrysler), has died rather suddenly. He had just been replaced on health grounds, when complications from shoulder surgery caused his death. Naturally, my thoughts go out to his friends and family.

His replacement as chief executive may also alter the lineup of drivers next year, as he was (apparently) a big supporter of Leclerc replacing Raikkonen. However, it is now possible that the Finn will stay on another year. Where the talented Monegasque ends up, who can say?

Speaking of talent, James Key, designing chap, has moved from Toro Rosso to McLaren. Which is interesting. He must’ve been in line to succeed Newey at Red Bull. This does show McLaren is serious about turning things around, but they need a sea change in their fortunes.

In shock news, on Saturday morning I read that Force India are in administration. The team has been very successful recently, leading the midfield and performing consistently well on a budget some way off the top dogs. If a team can do well enough to finish 4th yet end up in administration, that is at least somewhat indicative of just how lopsided and unreasonable the sport’s pay structure is. I hope the team can make it through this, they’ve been around for a while, do a great job, and the grid’s already too damned small.

Ricciardo topped the times in first practice, just under a tenth ahead of Vettel. However, the Red Bull time was on the soft tyre, the Ferrari on ultrasoft (medium being the other tyre). Given Horner reckons there’s a half second off-set due to engine modes in qualifying, that could be useful for indicating race pace. Verstappen was nine-thousandths off Vettel. Raikkonen was a quarter of a second further back, ahead of Hamilton, Bottas, Grosjean, Hulkenberg (who had some technical problems), Sainz and Magnussen.

Vettel was fastest in second practice, under a tenth ahead of Verstappen (both on the ultrasoft). Ricciardo was a little further back, narrowly ahead of Raikkonen. Hamilton and Bottas were some way off, followed by Grosjean, Sainz, Gasly, and Ocon.

In third practice, Vettel was quickest again, half a tenth ahead of Bottas. Raikkonen and Hamilton were a bit further back with Ricciardo and Verstappen not too far off the pace. Sainz and Hulkenberg were best of the rest (but a long way off the top six) with Grosjean and Gasly rounding out the top ten.

Incidentally, if you’re thinking of backing a Red Bull, may be better with Verstappen as I believe Ricciardo has an inferior power unit.

Raikkonen and Bottas may be the chaps to back, in value terms. Their odds were 10 and 11, which *might* be value but the each way only covers the top 2, so it’s a bit iffy. Decided not to back them.

Anyway, qualifying looks intriguingly poised. I think Verstappen could be a prospect for the race, but expect him to have his odds lengthen after qualifying.

Morris Dancer

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

F1 2014 - Second and Third Tests

Image
Bit of a whopper of an article, but it didn’t make sense to write two for the Bahrain tests, as they were so close together. Many of the rule changes are helpfully outlined here: http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/22058/9077826/gearing-up-for-2014-the-rule-changes-uncovered-and-explained-part-one This is one more reason why reliability is to critical. Losing a whole power unit (exceeding the 5 per season limit) means starting the next race from the pit lane. Losing a component, such as the turbo, means a 10 place grid penalty. On day one of the first test in Bahrain it appeared the Renault/Red Bull woe might continue. However, both Red Bull and Toro Rosso got in good running on the second day. Any remaining issues seem more to do with the car rather than the power unit. It’s been suggested the Renault requires significantly more cooling than rival engines, but apparently there are upsides. If the horsepower rumours were true (Mercedes being mighty and Ferrari better
Read more

Japan: early discussion

Image
As we enter the latter stages of the season we have multiple pairs of back-to-back races, hence this discussion starting a day after the Korean Grand Prix (which may be the last, incidentally. The circuit’s too isolated, surrounding developments haven’t been built and the organisers are annoyed by the high cost of staging the race which is the only use of the circuit all year). The Suzuka circuit is a proper one, with lots of elevation changes, a very fast flowing section (similar to Silverstone) and some very high speed corners. Sadly, I expect this will mean it’ll suit Red Bull. However, given their resurgence, it’s worth mentioning that last year Sauber had a strong result at Suzuka, when Kobayashi got third. Perhaps Hulkenberg will be able to get good points again (thanks to him Sauber are now tied on points but ahead of Toro Rosso in the Constructors’) and Gutierrez could nab his first point or two. Lotus benefited from some fortune with the safety car timing in Kore
Read more

America: pre-race

Image
Q1 saw the pointless teams ditched as usual, but there was a stark divergence between the Williams’ drivers. Bottas was 1st (in Q1 only), and Maldonado 18th. Turns out money can only buy seats, not speed. Surprising to see such a difference between the two drivers, though. Sutil went out in 17th, and may have suffered some sort of technical problem as he peeled off after his final lap. During Q2 it was confirmed Sutil had a problem, namely a slow puncture. Q2 saw the surprise departure of Rosberg. The Mercedes seemed to be the best of the rest, so that’s quite a shock. Not only that, he’s 14th, behind Ricciardo, Di Resta and Button (although Button suffers a 3 place grid penalty for ignoring red flags during practice). Massa is behind Rosberg, followed by Vergne. Impressively, Sauber got both of their cars into the top 10. Q3 was surprisingly close, but Vettel narrowly got pole ahead of Webber. Grosjean continues his strong form with 3rd, followed by Hulkenberg, who is
Read more