MorrisF1

The Perez bet didn’t come off almost entirely due to bad luck. He had one-stopped, as had those around him, was behind Hulkenberg but ahead of Leclerc, so the each way part of the bet would’ve come off. However, a very rare Force India reliability failure forced him to box and retire. Ocon also suffered misfortune, with an early entanglement forcing a lap one pit stop, the two stops relegating him into the pointless positions. I had to admit, I wasn’t sure if Ricciardo’s bet came off or not. I think the definition is anyone finishing within the last 10% of laps counts as classified, so my thought was he probably counts as not classified, but I had to log on to find out (it’d irk me not knowing overnight). Off the line, Verstappen started perfectly, aided by Ricciardo starting dreadfully. Ricciardo dropped a few places, and Vettel’s early braking into the first corner compromised Raikkonen, who had to do likewise and got passed by a Renault (though the Finn soon passed in re

Qualifying was close and exciting, but, alas, not profitable. I really thought Red Bull would be out of it, given the narrow gap in final practice and the other engines’ swanky modes, but that shows what I know. Kudos to Mr. Sandpit, who correctly suggested Ricciardo for pole (at around 7.6). In the first part of qualifying both Williams and Vandoorne failed to progress. No great surprise. But both Haas cars dropped out at this stage too (apparently, similar happened last year). Not sure why, but sometimes certain circuits suit, or not, certain cars (McLaren tend to do well in Australia, for example). Gasly didn’t bother running in Q2 due to his many penalties. Alonso failed to progress and Hartley was last of those who set a time, albeit fourteen thousandths off Perez. However, it looks like the Force Indias tried something clever (or too clever by half, we’ll see tomorrow), setting their times on the supersoft (hardest compound) so they’d be just outside the top 10 and ha

We have just three races left, and it’s thought this one is the best chance for Red Bull to do well. But first, a couple of comments on the last race. Mercedes had excessive tyre wear, something that they’ve attributed to a last minute change to water pumps, with the cars effectively being incorrectly put back together and a 50kg imbalance. That seems quite high, but there we are. There’s also a wheel story, with the team, facing a potential challenge from Ferrari, closing up holes in the wheels which some say constitute a moveable aerodynamic part (and therefore one that is illegal). It’s unclear if they’ll be present in Mexico, but the change may well have cost Mercedes a little pace. Also worth noting the massive Mercedes/Ferrari to Red Bull performance gap in qualifying and the practically zero difference between all three teams in the race. From my 2016 post-race analysis: Notes to self for future: Very hard to pass in Mexico. Thinner air reduces the effe

A rather good race, although my Bottas bet was an utter misjudgement. Slightly annoyed to return to the early season form of good judgement meeting bad luck for some bets, and plain bad judgement for others. Still, the race was good and Red Bull’s odd return to form puts them in good shape for Mexico (but hedge. The DNF rate remains atrocious). Off the line a miracle happened. Raikkonen passed someone, and that someone was Lewis Hamilton. Bottas very nearly got passed by Ricciardo but managed to retain his place. Sainz got a flyer, and Ocon went backwards. The first lap had a number of crashes. Grosjean piled into Leclerc. The Frenchman retired, and, later on, so did his Monegasque victim. Alonso was shunted into by Stroll, taking out the Spaniard (the Canadian continued). Vettel was racy and looking to pass Ricciardo, but he was clumsy, again. Wheels knocked, the Aussie survived whilst the German pirouetted and undid all his previous good work. Had that not happened,

Well, that was close. But red. Raikkonen was nine-thousandths off being a green bet, and seven-hundredths off being a very green bet, but, in the end, he was not quite fast enough. Frustrating, although it is at least good that my basic sentiment (it’s close, his odds are too long) proved accurate. The first session of qualifying had the usual suspects, mostly, departing but a few interesting incidents. Both McLarens and Williams failed to progress. More surprisingly, Ericsson didn’t escape (his team mate would go on to Q3). Both Toro Rossos went out despite penalties meaning they’ll start at the back, and looked rather competitive. Verstappen did enough to make Q2 but a seemingly innocuous encounter with a sausage kerb buggered his suspension and he played no further part in qualifying. So, Q2 had the odd situation of both Toro Rossos (by choice) and Verstappen not running again, meaning we’d lose 2 of 12 racers rather than 5 of 15. It was extremely close. Hulkenberg beat

George Russell has been named as a Williams driver for next year. The youngster has had an impressive record in lower motorsport categories, and had been previously mentioned as a potential Force India driver, though there are a billion reasons why he didn’t end up going there. Let’s hope Williams can provide him with a rather more competitive car than this year’s effort. Just as an aside, if Force India had been allowed to keep their pre-takeover points, they’d be best of the rest, again. Staggering and depressing that such a successful midfield team can struggle to survive financially. WSeries is a new motorsport category, recently announced and due to start next year. It’s also women-only and has drawn much comment, with opinion split (a majority against but a sizeable minority for). I’ve got to say I think it’s a bad idea. Women can, and should, compete directly against men in motorsport. Intended or not, the underlying message of a women-only formula is that they can

Quite an eventful race. The Leclerc tip didn’t remotely come off, but for reasons that will become clear he was the unluckiest man since Thorstein Mirrorsmasher. I maintain that the value was there but a catalogue of woe, some self-inflicted but mostly bad luck, cost him. The silly 901 bet didn’t come off, but the 3.75 on Ericsson to win his group (Sirotkin, Vandoorne, and Stroll being the other members) mentioned on PB did. Off the line Hartley left the handbrake on, Stroll, unusually, lost places, Vettel gained great ground and Leclerc went backwards. At the sharp end it was formation flying. Vettel continued to make significant gains, passing after the initial getaway. However, Magnussen’s idiotic habit of weaving, this time on a straight in front of Leclerc, caused a collision between the two. This led to an early pit stop (and very slow nose changed) for the Sauber, which switched onto medium tyres, and eventually destroyed Magnussen’s tyre, bringing out a belated safe

With changing conditions, the result could’ve gone a bit wonky (and did, for Red Bull and Ferrari). Happily the bet’s each way aspect came off, with Bottas qualifying in 2 nd , making it a small winner. Qualifying began with the threat of rain in the air (not unexpectedly). The first session had a couple of surprises, but neither was weather-related. Ericsson, whose Sauber had been looking good, went for an excursion in a gravel trap and ended up with three wheels on his wagon. Further up, the fastest to be ejected at this stage was Hulkenberg. The German had spun in third practice and Renault had done well to repair his car, but his running was limited and he failed to improve on his final lap (unlike many others, including his team mate). That said, he wasn’t miles off the pace so it suggests the Renault just isn’t all that quick here. Sirotkin and both McLarens also failed to progress, with Stroll doing well to make Q2. Q2 also saw an upset. Early on, Ricciardo’s Red Bul

Despite the approaching typhoon, the weather forecast improved and practice on Friday was dry. In first practice, Hamilton was top, about half a second ahead of Bottas and Ricciardo. Raikkonen and Vettel were three-tenths off the Aussie, with Verstappen a little further back. Ocon, Grosjean, Leclerc, and Ericsson rounded out the top 10. In second practice, Hamilton again led Bottas by about half a second. Vettel was next, albeit four-tenths off, with two-tenths between him and Verstappen, then Verstappen and Raikkonen. Ricciardo was only a tiny margin off the Finn. Ocon, Grosjean, Ericsson, and Hartley followed. At this stage, it seems that Ocon, Grosjean, and Sauber are in good shape. Hamilton seems to have a tidy edge over everyone, and Bottas an edge over everyone except his team mate. However, practice can be misleading and rain is a strong, although just outside, possibility for qualifying. Because third practice is at 4am, I’m putting this post up now rather than