Can Bottas bring home the win tomorrow?
He may not end up on pole, however Hamilton did all he could today, to limit his losses for the grid tomorrow! There really was no stopping him, as that car was much better than the rest all weekend so far. From 11th, a top 3 or 4 result is definitely possible, and if anything crazy happens, I wouldn’t even rule out the win. He just needs to be careful early on, as he is around loads of drivers who will want to make up a lot of places on the first few laps. Bottas did what he needed to do as well, by being close to Lewis, and well ahead of Max. I honestly thought that Max could beat him today, so fair play to Valtteri for that. His job for the race is simple, if he can pull away and win, that is perfect for Mercedes, if not, then he needs to hold up Max as much as possible. As other people have said, this could be Bottas’ best chance for his last ever victory!
Red Bull may have hoped for slightly more from qualifying, but they just didn’t make a huge gain overnight. Verstappen did look happier with the car compared to yesterday, and could be better on race pace compared to Bottas. If he can get the Mercedes off the start, it would be perfect, however, if not, I don’t think it will be that easy for Max to get past him. He needs to remember that his battle is with Lewis, not Valtteri, so do not take any unnecessary risks. Perez looked promising once again, up until the last lap of Q3, when it matters most. 7th isn’t terrible, however, if Red Bull want to close the gap to Mercedes in the constructors, they need more from Checo. In the race he should make his way forwards, to at least a top 5, and ought to beat Hamilton if he can.
At one point it looked as though both Ferrari’s could be out early on in qualifying, however Leclerc brought it back to secure 3rd on the grid for the race tomorrow. This is a great result, especially given how McLaren did. He has a very good chance of a top 5 at least tomorrow. McLaren, as I just mentioned, struggled all day, and it sounds as though Norris was lucky to reach Q3 even, as they just couldn’t get the softs to work. Ricciardo, you have to say is still not on top of the car, despite the whole team having issues, although I don’t understand why he didn’t do a final flying lap in Q1.
Alpine and Aston Martin both had similar days, with 1 car in Q3 and the other not. Alonso really has the better of Ocon it seems this year, which is not good for the young Frenchman, who at one point was seen to be the future of the sport. Watch out for Alonso tomorrow, if the weather gets tricky. Stroll continues to be a master of difficult conditions, as he navigated his way to 9th, if they have strong race pace, it could be a great day for them tomorrow!
On the weekend where Red Bull thanked Honda for their support, it was nice to have all their cars in Q3. This was thanks to an excellent day for AlphaTauri, who managed to help Tsunoda get to 10th! It wasn’t a flawless session for him, with a spin early on, but you do have to commend him for how he did today. Gasly meanwhile did amazingly again, and has every chance of staying about where he is in the race, the only major threat being Lewis!
What could have been for Russell! It looked as though he was on a lap good enough to reach Q3, yet he made a mistake on the final corner, which cost him a few positions! They still have to be pleased with how it went though, as rain tomorrow could spell another chance of points! Russell was not the driver of qualifying today though, instead it was the man who qualified right behind him, Mick Schumacher, who reached Q2 for the 2nd time this year, but could actually take part this time! Plus, if he had got in the final lap, he could have gained another position or two! These are the sessions where you show your talent, and he did just that!
We could be in for a cracker of a race tomorrow, with a possible battle for the win between Verstappen and Bottas, the charge of Hamilton, and some other cars out of position, and we haven’t even talked about rain yet!
-M
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