The sad news is that Red Bull have ended their childish strop boycott of Sky Sports so unfortunately we’ll have to put up with Whiny Spice and Verstappen telling us how they’re the victims of budget overspending. Ugh.
There hasn’t been much in the way of news since the Mexico GP. HAM was made an honourary citizen of Brazil; GAS is two penalty points away from a one-race ban, so there’s talk of changing the rules; and NOR had food poisoning on Thursday but is ok now.
Given this is a Sprint format weekend, Free Practice 1 is the only chance the team have to tweak setups before Quali.
FP1 result: PER (1:11.853), LEC, VER, SAI, HAM
Not long after FP1 it started to rain, just drizzle at first but an hour before Quali the weather is setting in – there’s fog as well as heavier rain, so will Quali be delayed?
SAI will have a 5-place penalty (for Sunday’s race, not Saturday’s sprint) after taking some engine changes
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
Air temperature 19°C; track 26°C; humidity 94%
There’s a queue at the end of the pit lane, waiting for the session to start – everyone’s on intermediate tyres
Radio from SAI, “Track looks quite dry”
MAG 1:19.881
LEC 1:19.191
(GAS P2)
LEC 1:18.723
(SAI P2)
VER 1:18.495
(PER P2)
ALO 1:18.412
Radio from NOR, “Still inters”
GAS switches to soft (dry) tyres
VER 1:18.198
MAG P3 but then his lap time is deleted
HAM 1:18.051
ALB, LAT and now RIC all on softs too
5mins left; bottom 5 are GAS, RIC, MAG, ALB, LAT
GAS 1:17.626, relegating BOT to P16
LEC in the pits, waiting for his team to decide which tyres to put on
GAS 1:16.557
(ALB P2) VET P16
(RUS P2)
(RIC P5) ZHO P16
ALO 1:16.177
LAT 1:15.969
NOR 1:14.381
LEC held up by TSU (LEC P18)
ALB 1:14.324
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are BOT, SCH, TSU, LEC, ZHO
ZHO P7, HAM P16
ALO 1:13.542
LEC P5, TSU P16
VET P2, STR P16
HAM 1:13.403, LAT P16
ZHO P16, VER P16
VER P4, ZHO P16
BOT P17
NOR 1:13.106
Back of the grid: LAT, ZHO, BOT, TSU, SCH
Qualifying session 2
DRS is now enabled as the track has dried up a lot and no rain falling
VER 1:11.670
NOR 1:11.571
OCO and RUS report spots of rain
ALO 1:11.394
VER 1:11.318
5mins left; bottom 5 are OCO, ALB, VET, RIC, STR
SAI reports “it’s raining a lot”
VET P9, SAI P11
VER 1:10.881
OCO P8, MAG P11
SAI P2, GAS P11
MAG P7, ALB P11
ALB and VER in the pits
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are ALB, GAS, VET, RIC, STR
RIC P14
GAS P12
VET P13
Middle of the grid: ALB, GAS, VET, RIC, STR
Top 10 shootout is between VER, SAI, LEC, RUS, NOR, ALO, MAG, PER, HAM, OCO
Qualifying session 3
MAG heads the queue at the pit exit
Radio for VER, “Rain is incoming”
LEC is the only one on inters; the rest of the queue are on softs
Green light; Q3 is under way
Radio for HAM, “Weather is inbound”
Even the TV coverage is looking dark, and cameras always make it look brighter than it really is
MAG 1:11.674
SAI P2
VER P2
PER P4
LEC pits
ALO P4
VER P2
RUS P3
OCO P5
HAM P7
Order after the first run: MAG, VER, RUS, NOR, SAI, OCO, ALO, HAM, PER, LEC
RUS is in the gravel at Turn 4 – red flag
LEC didn’t set a time because he pitted to switch tyres; he’s pretty unhappy with the team
Replay shows RUS looked up under braking, bounced across the gravel, came out onto the access road, tried to spin the Mercedes around but overdid it and ended up back in the gravel
Q3 will restart in a couple of minutes
Green light; pit lane is empty
PER is first out; he’s on inters
PER returns to the garage
LEC is out of his car and being consoled on the pit wall
VER is out of his car too
Q3 is ticking down – no-one’s going to beat MAG’s time while it’s raining like this
HAM going out on inters – is that just to wave to the crowd?
3mins left
HAM returns to the pits
2mins left; no-one on track so now it’s too late to go out & set a time, even if they could
MAG gets out of his car; he’s going to be black and blue as everyone slaps him on the back
It’s Gene Haas’ birthday tomorrow, so that’ll be a nice present for him
Provisional grid: MAG, VER, RUS, NOR, SAI*, OCO, ALO, HAM, PER, LEC, ALB, GAS, VET, RIC, STR, LAT, ZHO, BOT, TSU, SCH
*SAI will have a 5-place penalty (for Sunday’s race, not Saturday’s sprint) after taking some engine changes
Sprint race
Grid is as set yesterday -remember that SAI’s penalty is applied tomorrow
Everyone starting on soft tyres except VER and LAT on mediums
01/24: MAG leads into Turn 1
Contact between OCO and ALO but they both survive
02: MAG, VER, RUS, NOR, SAI, OCO, ALO, HAM, PER, LEC, GAS, STR, VET, RIC, ALB, SCH, LAT, TSU, ZHO, BOT
RUS challenging VER into Turn 1
HAM takes P7 from ALO
03: VER inside MAG to take P1
ALO pits for a new front wing
04: RUS has DRS as he dives inside MAG for P2
HAM fastest lap 1:14.317
SAI inside MAG for P3
05/24: VER, RUS, SAI, MAG, NOR, HAM, PER, OCO, LEC, GAS
RUS f/lap 1:14.233
HAM now past NOR for P5
06: HAM takes P4 from MAG
Incident involving RIC, ZHO and HAM – starting procedure infringement
07: ZHO takes P17 from LAT
08: PER inside NOR into Turn 1 for P6
09: VET and STR get close
STR squeezes VET onto the grass – that could be a penalty
10/24: VER, RUS, SAI, HAM, PER, MAG, NOR, LEC, GAS, OCO, STR, VET, RIC, SCH, ALB, ZHO, TSU, BOT, LAT, ALO
VET makes a clean pass on his teammate for P11
Incident involving STR and VET – noted by race control
11: VET passes OCO for P10
RIC passes STR for P12
LEC closing on NOR
12: RUS has a look but VER blocks it
RUS has another look but VER closes the door
13: VER covers the inside line
Yellow flag – ALB off at Turn 2
Green again
14: RUS has backed off a bit but still has DRS
LEC has taken P7 from NOR
15/24: RUS closes up; VER defends
RUS takes P1 and you can hear the crowd cheer
HAM now closing on SAI (remember SAI has a penalty so it’s not essential HAM passes, but also SAI shouldn’t fight too hard)
16: HAM has a look but SAI defends
10-sec penalty for STR for pushing ALO off the track
17: Radio for VER telling him he’s been warned about exceeding track limits at Turn 4
SCH has a look at STR but STR slams the door closed
19: SAI squeezes inside VER; contact but SAI takes P2
VER’s front wing is damaged – debris flies off
20/24: HAM takes P3 from VER – that’s a Mercedes front row for the race
NOR takes P7 from MAG
22: Not sure why HAM is trying to catch SAI, unless they’re concerned HAM may also get a penalty
23: Radio from PER asking if the team will tell VER to give PER the position because PER needs the points
Race control noted yet another STR incident – “driving erratically” as he defends from SCH
24/24: HAM still closing on SAI
RUS takes the chequered flag
SAI P2
HAM P3
VER P4
PER P5
LEC P6
Provisional result: RUS, SAI, HAM, VER, PER, LEC, NOR, MAG, VET, GAS, RIC, SCH, ZHO, BOT, ALO, TSU, STR, OCO, LAT; DNF: ALB
There are a few incidents to be investigated, including a “starting procedure infringement” for HAM
Interesting that VER didn’t let PER take P4 – the team would have P4 and P5, and VER doesn’t need the point whereas PER does
ALO was deemed to be wholly at fault for the collision with OCO so he was given a five-second time penalty and with two penalty points on his license. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.its-very-very-unfortunate-alpine-team-mates-alonso-and-ocon-at-odds-over.3PUybCWC2gFjYG5wnGgT1T.html
GAS was summoned by the race stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly during a reconnaissance lap before the start of the sprint. The stewards decided to issue him a formal warning but no penalty points (fortunately as he’ll have a 1-race ban if he collects 2 more points on his license). https://www.racefans.net/2022/11/12/relief-for-gasly-as-he-avoids-another-penalty-point-after-stewards-investigation/
In addition to the 10-sec penalty STR received during the sprint, he’s been given three points on his license for his dangerous move on (teammate!) VET. https://www.racefans.net/2022/11/12/stroll-given-three-penalty-points-for-dangerous-move-on-team-mate/
HAM, RIC and ZHO were investigated for starting procedure infringements but no action was taken. https://www.racefans.net/2022/11/12/hamilton-and-others-avoid-investigation-over-grid-infringements/