Tuscany: pre-qualifying 2020

Italy again, for the second of three races this season.

In not especially shocking but still significant news, Vettel has signed for Aston Martin next year which means that Perez is likely out of the sport unless he can find safe harbour somewhere soon. Rather sad to see as he’s a talented chap (reminds me a bit of Hulkenberg not being around any more).

Having watched a bit of practice, the circuit looks narrow and fairly twisty, excepting one long straight. That makes me think overtaking will be hard almost all race, the main place being the straight but only early on as following another car through the twisty stuff is hard. In addition, it sounds like the heat and the track are making tyres, especially the soft, churn badly, so this may be like the second British or Belgian races. There also isn’t much forgiveness, so going a few feet off track meant hitting gravel and/or the wall in many places.

Ricciardo’s tyres were great towards the end of Spa, whereas the Mercedes and Red Bull were finding things tough. Likewise, in the 70th anniversary race the Mercedes and McLaren had a rough time of things, and Verstappen had to have an extra stop.

In first practice Bottas topped the timesheets ahead of Verstappen by half a tenth. Leclerc was a quarter of a second behind the Briton, with Hamilton two-tenths further back. Then came Gasly, Ocon, Kvyat, Norris, Albon, and Ricciardo.

Second practice had Bottas fastest again, this time two-tenths up on Hamilton. Verstappen was half a tenth off Hamilton, perhaps suggesting the Red Bull stands a chance in the race. Albon was next, but seven-tenths down the road, narrowly ahead of Ricciardo and Ocon. Perez, Gasly, Raikkonen, and Leclerc rounded out the top 10.

It also looks like the soft tyre is good for one qualifying lap only.

Pushed for time, hence posting this earlier than usual. I browsed the market briefly but nothing caught my eye.

I do think Ricciardo and Perez may do well in the race.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to post the pre-race stuff at the normal time tomorrow.

Morris Dancer

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Monaco: pre-race 2023

F1 2014 - Second and Third Tests

Japan: early discussion