Was it a better day for Red Bull or Mercedes?
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the race we were treated to on Sunday, as we got plenty of overtakes, drama and tension right down to the last lap. Plus, the title fights for both championships have closed in once again.
Another bittersweet day for Mercedes, as Hamilton stormed off into the distance in the lead, whereas Bottas was caught out by an aggressive strategy, and ended up retiring. That car is clearly the fastest now, and Lewis is extremely motivated to secure his eighth title. If Max had started from 2nd and beaten Hamilton to Turn 1, I do think it would have been a close race though, as the Mercedes wasn’t that much faster. The team was a bit too greedy though, as they left Bottas out until Lap 32 on the mediums, and they suffered a puncture as a result of it. There was no reason to do this, as Max had a pit stop margin over him, and they had the advantage on Perez, they just screwed any chance of an easy podium. Lessons will be learnt I am sure, but the team surely goes to Saudi Arabia as the favourites.
At what point should Red Bull start to be really concerned about Mercedes? In some ways that time may have passed, but by Abu Dhabi, Mercedes may be out of good engines for Lewis which could really help Max. The fact is though that baring a disaster at Jeddah, this title is going down to the wire. Verstappen did everything he could in the race, with a perfect start and first lap, and cleared Gasly and Alonso easily. He had nothing for Lewis, but could match his pace pretty well, although we don’t know how much each was pushing. Perez was given that bad end of the stick by the team, as he was put on the 2 stop strategy, which meant he had so much traffic to pass, and therefore cost him a podium. Given how on edge the 1 stop was, you can’t blame Red Bull much, although if anyone could do it, it would be Checo.
Where have Alpine come from in the last few races? They were stuck in the midfield since Hungary, barely scoring points, apart from at the crazy Russian Grand Prix, and here they are now with two great weekends in a row. Alonso especially had excellent race pace, and drove like the Fernando we know, as he saved his tyres as much as possible. It was a well deserved podium, given how great his return to the sport has been. Ocon deserves credit too, as he fought up from a much lower grid spot to get 5th, and tried valiantly to stop Perez getting to Alonso. That could be 5th in the constructors sorted now!
Ferrari were too conservative it seems, as they still had plenty of pace in their tyres at the end of the race. You would expect more than 7th and 8th from them after their previous form, but given the woes at McLaren, they have almost sealed 3rd for the team. Both were also right on the edge of what is allowed in defending, as we have seen in the past too.
With Lando starting 4th, there was much promise for McLaren in the race, and indeed for most of it, it went as planned, until a late puncture cost them valuable points. Their luck seems to nowhere at this part of the season, although given how good the first part was for Lando especially, they can’t complain much. Ricciardo was mired too, as they seemingly miscalculated the fuel in his car, which left him fuel saving for most of the race, and by the time he was let loose, any hopes of points were dashed.
Gasly had the best seat in the house to attack Lewis into Turn 1, but all he did was go backwards through the race, as a mixture of a 2 stop and a lack of pace left him just outside the points. This is a very weird phenomena, where a car can be so good over one lap, but have nothing in the race, and will likely keep the team up at night over the coming days. Tsunoda was probably in a similar boat, and you cannot blame him really in that case.
Aston Martin were able to have a pretty good day too, as Stroll climbed up to 6th, just fending off the Ferrari’s, and Vettel got the last point in 10th. Alfa Romeo were well away from the points in this race, I imagine they just missed the set up on a new track. Williams was blighted with punctures, but didn’t really lose anything as a result of it. Finally, Haas were in their usual position, but Mick did well to only be 1 lap down, and not far off the rest
There were concerns that this track would be rubbish for F1, me included, and the 10 year contract seemed rather premature, even if we change venue, and I still believe it is. However, I would welcome a return to this track, as the cars look incredible on this fast flowing circuit, and the racing is good too. There are definitely worse tracks on the calendar!
-M
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