Will the shocks continue tomorrow?
F1
The weekend looked as though it was set up perfectly for Red Bull, with them having a huge pace advantage over Mercedes in practice, yet when it counted, they couldn’t get it done. It seems that a mixture of changing track and weather conditions, combined with Max not liking the softs as much, plus whatever happened on the last run in Q3, led to the result we saw.
The result is that Bottas snatched another pole for himself, as he continues to drive superbly since signing for Alfa Romeo. He has had the measure of Lewis all weekend, and you have to commend how he is racing right now, I don’t think the team regret dropping him, as Russell would likely still do better, but it is nice to see an upturn in form for Valtteri. Hamilton has not been comfortable at all this weekend it seems, struggling with lock ups and oversteer. He may have beaten Max today, but starting on the dirty side of the grid, could be a problem for him tomorrow.
I suppose that is the major upside to P3 for Verstappen in qualifying, as he gets the clean side of the grid whilst also having a slipstream to Turn 1. I do think that Red Bull have slightly better overall pace, they just couldn’t turn it on in Q3, so it isn’t over for them yet. Perez would have wanted more that 4th today, although being right on pace with Max is good going, and is a great sign for the future with the team.
AlphaTauri are having another brilliant weekend, in fact, the gap to their senior team was very close, which shows how well they are doing. It isn’t just Gasly either, Tsunoda has been on fire all weekend, nearly matching Pierre, of course this is the weekend he takes penalties! He will be incurring the wrath of Helmut though, for what happened in Q3, which was a bit clumsy, but he could still have a good race tomorrow! Meanwhile for Gasly, there is the potential for a great race, especially if there is chaos in front of him, which on the first lap could very much happen.
I underestimated McLaren yesterday, as they brought it back massively compared to Ferrari overnight. They were still not quite able to beat them, but Ricciardo will be right in the mix for the race, and starting on the clean side of the grid. Norris could have a much harder time from 18th. It was a contrasting session for the Ferrari boys, as Leclerc looked good throughout the session, until the last run in Q3, whereas Sainz was the opposite, and managed to snatch P6 right at the death.
Alpine had no pace whatsoever this weekend, with Alonso being kicked out in Q1, which is a disaster for him frankly, especially as his teammate has the engine penalty. Vettel just missed out on Q3, although the free tyre choice could help him, and he will gain two spots through engine penalties. Stroll had a very clumsy crash to start qualifying, it wasn’t a rookie error, he was just unlucky to get a snap in the wrong place.
Alfa Romeo had a very promising session, and have a great chance to score points tomorrow, probably their last real chance of the season. Russell did his usual solid job of reaching Q2, which will be negated by the gearbox change.
MotoGP
It was another display of Ducati domination, as Bagnaia took his 5th pole in a row, followed up by his teammate Miller in 2nd. That bike looks very good here, despite the twisty nature of the track. If they nail the start, it could be hard for anyone to beat them. Martin and Bastianini will also be ones to watch out for, as they have shown great pace at points over the weekend. Their speed advantage on the straight could really come in useful here.
Mir, on the Suzuki, is the one most likely to spoil the Ducati party. The qualifying issues for that bike don’t seem to be as relevant here, as on other tracks, so Mir will be able to fully exploit the race pace of the bike, which could really hurt the red bikes late in the race. Suzuki need a win before the end of the year, to cover up the flop they have had this year in terms of pace. Rins was slightly underwhelming in Q2, despite being right with his teammate all weekend.
Pol Espargaro and Alex Marquez have been coming on strong recently, it would be a shame if they are finally getting used to the bike just before they get a new one for 2022. Lecuona has been on a mission since he was dropped by KTM, to prove they made the wrong decision, and this weekend could be another one to put in that file, as his pace both over one lap, and in race trim has been brilliant.
The shock of MotoGP qualifying was that Quartararo just didn’t have the pace to fight for pole despite being right up front all through practice. It is unclear if the conditions went against him, if they made a wrong set up change, or he just lost confidence, but the fact is that it will make the race much harder for him tomorrow! It can be seen as a positive day for the other side of the garage, as Morbidelli is on a steady scale of improvement on that bike, and to be 2 tenths off of Fabio is pretty good going.
-M
Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1
Also, if you want to support me, I have a Patreon Page at: https://www.patreon.com/meaningofmotorsport
Meaning of Motorsport 