Russia: pre-qualifying 2019
The big off-track news
is that from 2021 to at least 2024 McLaren will once more be taking
their engines from Mercedes. Slightly surprised given the advances
made by Renault, but this is a step forward for the team, who are
already topping the midfield. Good news for Sainz and Norris too,
with not much movement expected at the big three, and a significant
rule change coming in 2021 which might see McLaren on the podium once
more.
In unexpected news,
Toro Rosso wants to be called Alpha Tauri from next season (unsure if
it’s with or without a space). With approval from other teams, it
can happen (although two Alpha/Alfa teams is a little odd. Reminds
one of the Lotus/Lotus times).
In first practice it
wasn’t necessarily flabbergasting to see Leclerc top of the time
sheet. Verstappen was within a tenth, with Vettel half a second off
his team mate. Two-tenths back was Bottas, a similar margin ahead of
his team mate, Hamilton closely followed by Albon (nearly a second
off Verstappen). Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Perez, and Grosjean rounded
out the top 10.
Second practice had
Verstappen a third of a second ahead of Leclerc, with Bottas a
similar margin further back and Hamilton close behind his team mate.
Vettel and Gasly were next, followed by Perez, Hulkenberg, Stroll,
and Albon.
Historically, Bottas
has been pretty tasty around this track. But the unexpected Ferrari
pace last time out has made me wonder if Mercedes will be the third
fastest team.
Third practice had
Leclerc fastest again, three-tenths up on Vettel, with Hamilton very
close behind. Bottas was a few tenths down the road, but eight-tenths
ahead of Verstappen. Grosjean was next, weirdly, ahead of Albon
(although the Thai was just two-tenths off his team mate).
Hulkenberg, Norris, and Magnussen complete the top half of the time
sheet.
At the moment it’s
looking good for Ferrari again, with Leclerc once more the pick of
the field. Lucky for Mercedes this Ferrari upgrade didn’t come
earlier in the season.
For the sake of
completeness I perused the markets.
Leclerc is 1.57 for
fastest qualifier. Hard to say that’s undeserved. Vettel is 4.33,
and Hamilton 6.5. Annoyingly, the each way aspect is for top two
only. There was less than a tenth separating Vettel and Hamilton in
third practice.
Given that, I’m not
tempted by the odds.
Qualifying starts at
1pm UK time. The race, tomorrow, will kick off at 12.10pm. (Due to
reasons that are strange and mysterious, I’m likely to be
interrupted halfway through the race for a while so we’ll see if I
miss anything exciting...).
Morris Dancer
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