Styria: pre-qualifying 2021

Styria’s lovely to look at, but will it finally break my season-long betting curse? We shall see.

After off-track whining from unknown teams (Mercedes), pit stops will be slowed down. This is nonsense. The complaints about Red Bull’s flexi-wing were a bit silly but also in line with similar complaints over double diffusers, the FRIC system, and the fancy tyre warm up thing Mercedes had last year. But pit stops have been the same for everyone for years, and everybody was cool with it. But now someone who can only be described as Toto Wolff is upset because Red Bull are better at pit stops than Mercedes, so the Silver Arrows whined about it and now the pit stops will be slowed to try and stop those pesky Red Bull types from doing better. It’s a bit pathetic.

In first practice Verstappen was quickest, a quarter of a second ahead of Gasly. Hamilton and Bottas were close to one another but two-tenths off the Frenchman, with Tsunoda right behind. Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Giovinazzi, and Leclerc were likewise very close, but a tenth off the Japanese. (Perez was 13th).

Second practice once again saw a certain Dutchman topping the timesheet, this time a third of a second ahead of Ricciardo. Ocon, Hamilton, and Alonso were all separated by fine margins, with Vettel a tenth further back. Norris, Stroll, Perez, and Giovinazzi rounded out the top 10, and between the two sessions it seems almost every team other than Haas or Williams is relatively close in the midfield.

Things changed in the final practice session, in which Hamilton was two-tenths ahead of Verstappen, with Bottas the same margin further back. However, the Dutchman had some traffic so his real pace is better than the lap time on the board. Perez was two-tenths off Bottas, ahead of Tsunoda and Gasly. Leclerc was half a tenth off the Frenchman, and followed by Alonso, Stroll, and Vettel.

Verstappen for pole? Gasly to be winner without the big four?

Well, the Dutchman has odds of 1.61 which do not tempt me given lack of clarity over real pace and Mercedes, especially Hamilton, exceeding expectations in both Baku and Marseille. The winner without the big four market wasn’t up when I check, so no bet there.

Qualifying is at 2pm UK time.

Morris Dancer

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