USA: pre-qualifying 2021

F1 has released its race calendar for 2022, with the notable absence of China and Bahrain/Saudi Arabia taking the opening of the season from Australia (the third race).

Bit surprised Qatar isn’t on given it’s making an appearance this year, and irked that it seems we’ll have a second (first in calendar terms) F1 race in the USA, in Miami.

We’ve also seen the comedic release of the F1 fan survey:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.new-global-fan-survey-reveals-f1s-most-popular-team-and-driver.2evqTWEPsWYeBlw9vmSyBs.html

“There was also a net positive reaction to F1 Sprint…”


And yet it seems just 6.7% of fans surveyed agreed it had improved the show.

https://twitter.com/superlicense/status/1451430900441370624

 

Despite that, we might have them at eight sodding races next year:

https://twitter.com/wtf1official/status/1445029728927236105

 

Anyway, Bottas has a 5 place grid penalty for an engine change, with Russell and Vettel starting from the back for similar reasons. It’s uncertain if Hamilton will need another in the remaining races of the season.

Qualifying is at 10pm, and the race starts at 8pm

If first practice is any indication, Mercedes have this in the bag, with Bottas fastest and Hamilton half a tenth behind. But Verstappen was nearly a second further back, with a big gap to Leclerc and Sainz. Then came Gasly, Perez, Norris, Giovinazzi, and Raikkonen.

In the second session, it was weird. Perez was quickest, with Norris a quarter of a second back, and Hamilton/Bottas following closely. Then came Ricciardo, Stroll, Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, and Giovinazzi. It seems traffic is the reason for Verstappen being off the pace.

Prac 3 at 7pm but there’s a pretty high chance I’d simply forget to post this after that due to the significant change in routine (I’m a creature of habit) so this is going up early.

On the betting front, Verstappen at 4.5 each way to have the fastest time looks tempting. Hamilton is 1.6, Bottas 4.5. It may be that the Mercedes pace advantage holds true but slips away in hotter weather (we have seen this before) and it should be around 29C throughout. Also, Bottas, having an engine penalty may have a slightly compromised setup to better facilitate overtaking. I suspect the Mercedes will end up with the edge in qualifying.

Chose against having a qualifying bet. After P3 may have been a different matter but the picture right now is pretty unclear.

Anyway, don’t forget qualifying starts at 10pm, which is a bit later than normal.

 

Morris Dancer

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