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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