MorrisF1

  Between second and third practice, Antonelli was confirmed as Hamilton’s replacement by Mercedes. Not too shocking, to be honest.   First practice saw new Williams driver Colapinto, and Kimi Antonelli took Russell’s Merc for a spin. The latter ended with a crash. Verstappen topped the time sheets, two-tenths up on Leclerc. Norris was a hundredth further back, and then two-tenths later came Sainz (a thousandth up on Bottas). Piastri, Hamilton, Albon, Perez, and Alonso rounded out the top 10. In second practice Hamilton was fastest, three-thousandths ahead of Norris. Sainz was exactly one-tenth further back, with Piastri a couple of hundredths slower, and Leclerc three-tenths off the Aussie (the top five were covered by one and a half-tenths). Russell, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Alonso, and Stroll were the other chaps in the top half of the time sheet. Colapinto was two-tenths off Albon, which is rather good given he’s brand new. Right now qualifying is looking very tasty and hard to call

Well, my early bet on Hamilton isn’t looking too clever right about now. In Q1 Sargeant never got going, the car was too damaged to be repaired in time. Unsurprisingly, the two Saubers were slowest, with Magnussen and Ocon also failing to progress. Q2 was interesting. Earlier in the session, Russell had seen his car all twitchy (perhaps due to wind) and Hamilton got it here but, unluckily for the elder Briton, it happened when he needed a fast lap. He wasn’t the only one unable to get through to Q3, as Sainz was also out at this stage. Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Magnussen were rather more predictable departures here. But Hamilton and Sainz’s pain was Aston Martin and Albon’s gain, as all three made it through to the final session. At the sharp end, Norris had a devastating pace, claiming pole by four-tenths over Verstappen. Piastri was a tenth off the Dutchman, and a tenth ahead of Russell, showing Hamilton could’ve been about 10 places higher. (NB Perez was bitching on the radio about H

  And so we return. Doohan has been named as Gasly’s team mate for 2025. Should be a little more harmonious than the previous pairing, but perhaps not as fast. First practice started out wet then dried, but the times are still less representative than they might be. Norris was top chap, two-tenths ahead of Verstappen, with Hamilton nearly half a second further back and around a tenth ahead of Sainz. The Spaniard was followed by Russell, Albon, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, and Zhou Guanyu. Second practice provided a better indication of pace, and had a tight McLaren-Mercedes-Verstappen battle. Russell was fastest, half a tenth up on Piastri, with Hamilton an equal distance further back. Norris was a tenth and a half behind, with Verstappen two-hundredths off the Briton. Alonso was next but over three-tenths slower. Tsunoda, Magnussen, Leclerc, and Albon were all pretty close (bigger gap from Leclerc to Albon). At the moment it looks very tasty at the top. Not a fan of this circuit, t