China: pre-qualifying 2024

 

It’s been a while, but finally we return to Hell. I do not refer to China, which is back on the calendar after several years, but the nonsense of the sprint race which has been inflicted on this event. The schedule has been rejigged for the cashgrabsprint this time around, with Fridays featuring the only practice and sprint qualifying, Saturdays hosting the sprint race and qualifying for the actual race, and Sundays seeing the race proper.

A notable feature of the Chinese circuit is that it has an enormous straight, and another pretty long one. Williams may be happy. I suspect Mercedes will not be. This will also make the challenge for overcoming Red Bull that much harder for the chasing pack.

Stroll was quickest in practice, ahead of Piastri by a third of a second. The Aussie was barely ahead of Verstappen, with a similarly tight margin to Perez meaning Piastri to Perez were covered by a tenth. Hulkenberg was next, albeit four-tenths down the road, and two-hundredths ahead of team mate Magnussen. Ocon, Albon, Ricciardo, and Bottas rounded out the top 10.

In the sprint qualifying the elements arrived and I was glad I hadn’t even considered betting on the outcome. The Alpines, Williams, and Tsunoda (!) were eliminated in the first session, with both the Haas chaps, Ricciardo, Stroll, and Russell failing to reach the final stage. This saw Norris claim pole by over a second, Hamilton set to line up alongside him on a British front row. Alonso and Verstappen will form the second row, with Sainz and Perez behind them. Leclerc starts a lowly 7th, with Piastri alongside, while Bottas and Zhou Guanyu delivered a solid result for Sauber.

 

Given the lack of essential pit stops in the sprint, Sauber will be hopeful of a chance to snaffle a point or two, though if it’s dry the drivers may well end up going backwards.

Rain is also possible for the sprint tomorrow, which puts me off betting. If it were dry, the 1.9 (Betfair) on Verstappen to win is something I’d likely back.

The sprint starts at 4am, so I’ll be skipping it, and qualifying at 8am.

 

Morris Dancer

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