Can Max make up for it tomorrow?
I honestly thought we had seen it all by now in 2021, but I was so wrong, this was meant to be a Mercedes track, however, by the end of practice both teams were pretty close on pace, if anything Red Bull were slightly ahead. Then, Hamilton had a disastrous FP3, with two runs to the stewards for separate offences, both of which he got away with, which was probably the right call, as a reprimand did it justice.
Now we had qualifying itself, with both teams trading blows through the session, but Red Bull still looking more comfortable on the softs. When Verstappen ended the first run over 3 tenths ahead of the rest in Q3, it looked over for pole, yet Mercedes had fuelled up for many runs, and when the fuel burned down, they were probably on a par with Red Bull. It was Max’s turn to bring the final hammer blow, and for almost the whole lap it was perfect, right to the limit but not over it, and could have been the lap to win him the title, however instead, it could end up being the lap that costs him the title!
I don’t really know what to say about the lap, we saw from the start he was right on the edge, so maybe what happened at the last corner was inevitable, but you have to respect the fact he gave it his all in the pursuit of glory! The other point is, after he locked up, if he had handled the situation better in the moment, was a front row or maybe even still pole possible. It may have been unlikely; however, it was clearly a hot headed Max that put it in the wall, and could cost him more before the race starts!
Mercedes was lucky today, no doubt about it, they didn’t have the pace expected so far this weekend, maybe due to the new engines starting to lose performance. On the other hand, though, you have to be there to get lucky, and staying on one tyre for the whole of Q3 seemed to work best for them. Tomorrow could be another great day for them, but Red Bull will throw everything at them, and Max will be aggressive off the start. Perez looked so promising today right up until Q3, which is becoming a theme sadly, he needed to be there when Max dropped the ball. From 5th he can still have an impact on the race if he gets past Leclerc quickly. Red Bull as a whole need to attack the whole race, and make Mercedes feel uncomfortable.
Ferrari had another mixed day, Leclerc in 4th is brilliant, and could allow them to seal their position in 3rd mathematically, and depending what happens in front, a podium could even be on the cards. Sainz meanwhile did not like his rear end one bit, losing it twice at the same corner in Q3. I don’t think it was helped by him taking the kerb very hard, which will unsettle the car at high speed. Points won’t be easy for him from 15th.
AlphaTauri had a solid day, with both cars in the top 8, good points are for the taking from there, although catching Alpine is a long shot. Of all the tracks for Tsunoda to do well, this might be the hardest, given his lack of confidence in the car, so fair play to him for his drive so far this weekend. McLaren have really dropped back in the 2nd half of the year, I know that Lando didn’t have a perfect Q3, yet they just don’t seem totally happy right now.
It wasn’t a bad day for Alpine, with Ocon in 9th, but it will surely be tense times for them, as they see AlphaTauri away in the distance. Alfa Romeo came from nowhere really to almost get both cars in Q3, Giovinazzi wants to show why he shouldn’t have been dropped, and he did just that, whilst Kimi wants to leave on a high too! Williams did all they could, but will need luck to get points tomorrow. Aston Martin had a woeful day, miles away from the pace over one lap, and surely too far back to make an impact in the race, I bet they can’t wait for 2022!
The drama keeps on coming in this season, and it would be foolish to think it has finished now, I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow, on a track as crazy as this!
-M
Meaning of Motorsport 