An action packed race covered by a good television direction, so we actually got to see the action.
Red Bull grieved the loss of their owner, Dietrich Mateschitz in a celebratory way. Max Verstappen wins again, which is not a big surprise, but it definitely was not an easy straight forward win. The pitstop put him on his back foot, but had the car and determination to drive back to the front. Had hopes for a more difficult battle for the lead against Lewis, but they still raced hard and clean and inevitably the better car made quick work of the Mercedes. Perez drove pretty good, but its fair to assume his wing damage slowed his progress.
Mercedes brought what is presumed to be their final upgrades, which included an illegal front wing that they did not use. The car was very competitive in the race, and Lewis had spectacular drive as stayed close with Max the entire race. George Russell continues to give signs of being over rated. Throughout his career he has shown many examples of poor race craft, and got caught up once again. In all honesty, I felt the collision was more of a racing incident as Sainz did cut back across in a weird way. Something that can happen when you put 3 or 4 cars through the open turn 1 of COTA.
Ferrari maintains to be a rocket in qualifying, but fails to impressive in the race. Leclerc had a very solid drive with a brilliant pass on Perez. Some good fortune with the Safety Car, and tire wear seemed very reasonable as well. Ultimately, the car just doesn't have the pace on Sundays. Sainz, such a tough break after earning pole position. An unlucky water leak forced the DNF, which is sad because he likely could have driven back into a good points finish.
McLaren looked to be lacking a lot of speed in the start of the race, and then out of nowhere, Super Lando shows up and was on a mission in the end. He was flying and a 6th place result is excellent for the team. Ricciardo stayed in the back the entire race. His season can't end soon enough.
Alpine rode the back of Alonso to stay ahead of McLaren in the WCC. It could be easy to not see just how good he drove this race. Ocon got the latest upgrades, yet was still a good amount off Alonso's performance. Fernando had a very good first stint, got lucky with the Safety Car, and was making moves on his medium tires. Unfortunately he ran into Stroll which sent him airborne and he was extremely lucky not to retire the car. After the hard hit, and no Red Flag to properly check and repair the car, he gets back in the fight and instantly progresses back into the points. Very impressive.
Aston Martin had one of their best starting positions of the season. Some benefits from the Sainz retirement, but the cars were on the pace. Looking like a certain double points day, Stroll reminded everyone he still doesn't deserve to be in Formula 1. He has made these dangerous late defense moves several times before, and this time it sent Alonso in the air at 180 mph. Despite his careless driving, he continues to never claim responsibility. Aston Martin 2023 would be amazing with Alonso and Vettel as drivers, no? Seb Vettel had to get a roar of cheers around the world. He too was compromised badly by the team's horrendous pit stop, but was the rediscovered his race craft and masterclass in his final stint. The pass on Magnussen in the last lap was nothing short of incredible.
Haas needed a good result in their home GP. K Mag provided that with a points finish. For awhile, it appeared that Schumacher was in the better position for points, and then he pitted and stayed 15th or so for the remainder of the race. Given he is racing for his career, that was a poor result after a good opportunity was there. There could be more to his race that we did not get to see.
AlphaTauri also looked pretty strong. Gasly looked to have a shot at points, but a bag of mistakes from driver and team destroyed his chances. Fortunately for the team, Yuki was solid and able to scoop up the final point.
Williams had a fairly decent car around COTA. Albon was very strong in qualifying, and had good race pace as well. We saw some mistakes from Albon, but he still finished 12th with some good scraps. Latifi had a good battle Ricciardo to finish last of the running cars. Way to go.
Alfa Romeo probably had a shot at a good result. The car appeared much better than recent races, and Bottas finally looked back on form. Unfortunately Bottas spun himself out of the race. It was a very windy day and a lot of drivers complained, so perhaps that was the reason. Zhou just wasn't performing at the same level, and didn't really have the pace to move forward.
Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso. Started 14th with a grid penalty, got himself in a position to fight for 6th. Gets launched in the air, slammed on the ground, and put to of the back. Fights his way all the way back up to 6th, though eventually passed by Lando.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by SS454
Bookmarks