What a few weeks it has been for F1. There seems like there is more action going on off track than on track. From Hulkenberg leaving Haas at the end of the season to join Sauber, it leaves us questioning who is Sauber planning on getting rid of to make room for him. We also have the latest news that Adrian Newey is leaving Redbull and it makes us think whatever next? In other news, Racing Bulls has revealed their Miami livery and wow it looks good! For now though with Miami kicking off, I thought it would be a good idea to have a recap of what happened previously in China.
Max claimed his fourth win of the season for Redbull despite a virtual safety car and two full safety cars, nothing could stop or challenge Max from being in first place. Perez on the other hand, had more of a challenging race from the start as Alonso swept around the outside of him and divided the two RedBulls apart on the first lap. Not long after though Perez managed to gain that place back using DRS to his advantage. A few pit stops later and it was Leclerc that was the next driver to be on Perez’s overtake list with them both battling it out for the last spot on the podium. Lap 39, turn 6 was the place to do this to gain that third position, however that’s where the gaining ended with him not being able to get close enough to Lando Norris and finished in third.
We move on to the McLarens where not much happened when they had left the starting grid until lap seven, where Norris used DRS on the back straight to get passed Alonso and showed good pace throughout. He was one of three drivers who opted for a one stop strategy, finishing second on the podium. A great victory for McLaren. Piastri from the start had to defend the likes of Leclerc and also Alonso. It was unclear if Piastri was going to finish the race though or lose places, due to asking his pit wall “How much damage do I have?” after also being caught in an incident between Stroll and Ricciardo. Despite having significant rear-end damage, he finished the race in 8th.
Other than Norris, both drivers for Ferrari were part of the one stop strategy. After falling back in the grid a few places, Sainz got past Hulkenberg on the first corner, whilst Leclerc also fought back clearing the Haas at the end of the first lap by a move into the final hairpin. He continued his rise by clearing Piastri for fifth position on lap twelve. When the virtual safety car was announced due to some back luck for Bottas, the Ferrari team took the opportunity to pit Leclerc’s only stop. Sainz on the other hand had a bit of luck towards the end of the race when Alonso ended up pitting, leaving the vulnerable driver to gain a place. Despite comments that the tyres were not great, and a bit of tension between the two drivers, Leclerc finished in fourth and Sainz finished in fifth.
Lewis’s disappointing qualifying position and some tyre related struggles to begin with, didn’t stop the multi championship winner from finishing in an impressive ninth place, and I honestly don’t think there was much more he could do, so I’m happy for him that he still finished with points. Russell didn’t have a bad race either, jumping straight into sixth, he defended Leclerc well, however Leclerc got him in turn one, lap nine in the end. Towards the back end of the race, Russel gained his sixth position back and kept his nerve in the face of knowing Alonso was behind him with newer tyres.
It was an interesting strategy chosen by Aston Martin for Alonso. To start off with he was pitted for softs rather than hards and then under the mid-race safety car, he was forced into a late stop for mediums, leaving him to do some hard grafting to climb his way through the grid. Challenge accepted though as he went from twelfth to seventh, but I can’t help and wonder if maybe the team could have done him better. I guess that leaves us having to talk about Stroll. Stroll ran into the back of Ricciardo just before the first safety car restart, and was slapped with a well deserved 10 second penalty. Is there anything this man can’t achieve? He finished in fifteenth.
Next we talk about Team Haas. I’ve said this before, but Nico was definitely a great decision by the team to get him back. Kevin Magnussen however is questionable at times, but not as much as others. Kevin didn’t have the best race, as along with Stroll, he also picked up a ten second penalty. This was for tipping Racing Bulls driver Yuki into a spin which unfortunately ended in a retirement for the driver full of rage. Hulkenberg was the last driver to complete the top 10, whilst Kevin finished second to last in sixteenth.
Alpine are really struggling this season with yet pretty much another forgettable race and no points gained for them. Both Ocon and Gasly sandwiched Williams driver Albon and I think that’s the team’s focus this season, to beat the Williams. Ocon did the better of the two finishing in eleventh, whereas Gasly finished in thirteenth.
Speaking of Albon, as previously mentioned he had the pressures from Alpine on him and couldn’t get himself into the top 10. Meanwhile Sargeant was another driver to gain a time penalty over a safety car infringement. I don’t know what it is about Logan but he always seems to make an improvement at the beginning of a race, and then when I next look to see where he is on the grid, he’s right at the back again. Finishing seventeenth would be an improvement if it wasn’t for the fact that three cars didn’t finish the race. Albon did better, with a twelfth place finish.
We move on to Sauber where the crowd were cheering an emotional Zhou. He made history by becoming the first Chinese driver to compete on home soil. He had a challenging race stuck in a train behind Magnussen and Hamilton and after making a quick stop for new tyres, him and Tsunoda nearly made contact coming out of the pit lane. Not having much luck with pit stops, the home favourite suffered a particular slow one when coming in for the second time. Zhou finished in fourteenth. Bottas had a race I imagine he wants to forget as he became one of the first of three drivers to not finish. A virtual safety car was required when on Turn eleven his car came to a halt reporting to his team that the engine “had gone”. A short and disappointing end for the Finnish racing driver.
Not as disappointing as Racing Bulls though. The team had a disastrous race with both cars not finishing. Ricciardo was forced to retire when he suffered significant damage to the car after Stroll ran into the back of him before a safety car restart. Later on at the exit of the Turn six, Tsunoda was taken out by Magnussen when he went into a spin and also had to retire. Whilst you can argue that it wasn’t both drivers at fault, you have to have a look at previous races and revaluate whether these are the right drivers for the team. I like Ricciardo, however if you look at other drivers who are around the same age and experience, you do wonder if maybe he is past it now. I would love for him to do well, but at the moment his performance is quite underwhelming.
Here are the race results for China:
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 56 | 1:40:52.554 | 25 |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 56 | +13.773s | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 56 | +19.160s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 56 | +23.623s | 12 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 56 | +33.983s | 10 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 56 | +38.724s | 8 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 56 | +43.414s | 7 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 56 | +56.198s | 4 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 56 | +57.986s | 2 |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 56 | +60.476s | 1 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 56 | +62.812s | 0 |
| 12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 56 | +65.506s | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 56 | +69.223s | 0 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 56 | +71.689s | 0 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 56 | +82.786s | 0 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 56 | +87.533s | 0 |
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 56 | +95.110s | 0 |
| NC | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 33 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 26 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 19 | DNF | 0 |
What are your predictions for Miami?
Amy x
littlemissminor.com 