MorrisF1

Blimey. My bet failed but the race was ultra-exciting. Off the line, Verstappen had a very poor start, getting immediately passed by Hamilton and doing well to fend off Norris. That slowed the Briton who then got passed by Perez, who had started well. Norris ended up losing a few gears, getting them back, then having a slow puncture. At the sharp end, Verstappen stayed close to Hamilton and dove down the inside. Hamilton took evasive action and went off-track, cutting the corner and not merely retaining the lead but extending his advantage to 1.2s or so. Race control laughably claimed that he had ‘given back’ the time advantage gained. Red Bull, understandably, were not pleased.  Hamilton then slowly increased the gap, simply having the legs to get away from Verstappen and build an ever more comfortable lead. When they pitted, it was a case of rinse and repeat. The Dutchman was second and drifting backwards inexorably. Red Bull had Perez run long to try and hold up Hamilton,

Well, I’d thought Hamilton near certain for pole, but in the end he was out by quite a margin. Unexpected, and sets up the race nicely. Q1 was mostly to form, with the Haas drivers propping up the timesheet. Raikkonen was also eliminated as were both Williams, although, unusually, Latifi outqualified his team mate. Q2 saw a very aggravated Alonso as the fastest chap eliminated (he believed a McLaren got in his way, uncertain if this was the case or not). Gasly and Stroll were also out, as were Giovinazzi and Vettel. Perhaps of greater interest is that both Red Bulls initially set times on the mediums but were forced to the softs (Perez for pace, Verstappen because he had flat-spotted his medium set). So the Mercedes (and the impressively quick Tsunoda) are set to start the race on medium tyres, and the Red Bulls are on the softs. At this stage, Hamilton seemed to have the edge. But then Red Bull implemented their cunning plan. They put out Perez just ahead of Verstappen to give h

And so we head into the final race of the season, with defending champion Hamilton and title rival Verstappen equal on points. If they stay that way, Verstappen takes the title by virtue of more wins. It’s been exciting, very tight, and sometimes ill-tempered. I’ll be quite surprised if the race doesn’t feature at least one highly controversial move on track, or other shenanigans. In first practice Verstappen was fastest, two-tenths ahead of Bottas, who was almost that far ahead of Hamilton, with Perez following the Mercedes. Tsunoda, Alonso, and Gasly followed, with Leclerc, Sainz, and Vettel rounding out the top 10. Hamilton topped the times in second practice, a third of a second ahead of Ocon, who was half a tenth up on Bottas. Verstappen was a couple of tenths further back, then came Perez, Alonso, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Sainz, and Gasly. Third practice once more saw the Briton on top, two-tenths ahead of his title rival. Bottas was half a second down the road, two-hundredths a

Qualifying looked like it might be very close, but it exceeded expectations in that regard. Less brilliant was my internet deciding now would be an optimal time to stop functioning. *sighs* The odd ducks in Q1 were the Aston Martins, neither of whom were fast enough to escape. Slightly odd to see, as were the Alfa Romeos, both of whom (again, unusually) made it into Q2 fairly easily. The Haas drivers were eliminated too, Mazepin the slower, as was Latifi. In Q2, Alfa Romeo continued their weirdly good run of form, and while Raikkonen was eliminated in 12 th (just behind Ricciardo), Giovinazzi made it through to Q3. Alonso and Russell were also out. Slowest was Sainz, but that was because his car let go and while he almost escaped unscathed the rear wing was damaged and he couldn’t put in a real time. Heading into Q3, Verstappen looked to have a pace advantage, but a marginal one. He duly set the first time on the first run but Hamilton was faster when he had his second fast lap

First practice had Hamilton ahead of Verstappen by half a tenth. If that actually reflects race pace we’ll be in for a cracker. Bottas was a tenth and a half further back, with Gasly another quarter of a second adrift. Next was Giovinazzi (unusually high for an Alfa), then Sainz, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Alonso and Vettel (Perez in 11 th ). In second practice, Hamilton, Bottas, and Gasly were covered by less than a tenth. Verstappen was two-tenths off Hamilton but given Gasly’s pace I cannot believe that’s representative. It could be very tight. Next were the Alpines, Alonso leading Ocon, then Sainz, Tsunoda, Perez, and Leclerc. At this stage things looked ultra-competitive at the sharp end. Come third practice, Verstappen was the fastest man, two-tenths ahead of Hamilton. Perez was next but three-tenths further back, and closely followed by both AlphaTauris (Tsunoda leading Gasly). Bottas was nine-tenths off Verstappen, which may not necessarily indicate his actual pace, just ahead o