It’s only been a week since the Bahrain Grand Prix but the news continues to be full of stories about the allegations against Christian Horner (the latest is that Red Bull have suspend the woman who accused him) and that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem interfered in the result of an F1 race (no, not the one that immediately springs to mind) and telling officials not to certify the Las Vegas circuit for its race last year. What a classy bunch!
- Christian Horner: Red Bull team principal under investigation following allegations
- Christian Horner: Hearing into Red Bull team boss ends without resolution
- Christian Horner: Red Bull team boss says allegations are ‘distraction’
- Christian Horner: Red Bull principal’s investigation ‘an issue for all of Formula 1’ – Toto Wolff
- Christian Horner allegations: Red Bull team principal cleared of inappropriate behaviour
- Christian Horner: Red Bull team boss refuses to comment on leaked messages
- Mohammed Ben Sulayem: FIA president under investigation for alleged attempt to interfere over F1 race
- Mohammed Ben Sulayem: FIA president allegedly told officials not to certify Las Vegas GP
- Red Bull suspend woman who accused Christian Horner of inappropriate behaviour
- Max Verstappen backs Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko amid possible suspension
If Bernie was still in charge there would have been serious repercussions for bringing F1’s name into disrepute. If you’re going to cheat & lie, do it quietly!
Qualifying
Unfortunately SAI was diagnosed with appendicitis so 18 year old Brit Oliver Bearman (I’ll use BEA in my notes) was called up to drive car 55 (now car 38) at short notice. [BBC]
Stake (or are they being called Sauber again?) mechanics are busy rebuilding ZHO’s car after he hit the wall in FP3
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
Air temperature 25°C; track 31°C; humidity 56%
Green lights; Q1 has started
The first cars crawl out of the pit lane – so the stewards have not dealt with this, despite saying they’d fixed it
HUL 1:29.173
On-board with NOR; the McLaren seems to be bottoming out a lot
ALO 1:28.876
(BEA P10, ahead of both Alpine drivers)
SAR blocked HUL; expect a penalty for the Williams driver
PIA taps the wall on his second fast lap; goes P1, 1:28.755
(BEA goes P4 – well done!)
RUS shown black and white for crossing the line at pit entry
VER 1:28.491
STR has lap time deleted for exceeding track limits
(HAM P8, just behind BEA!)
5mins left; bottom 5 are GAS, SAR, BOT, OCO, ZHO*; *ZHO has yet to leave the garage
LEC 1:28.318
3mins left; only ZHO in the pits
2mins left; ZHO is being sent out of the garage
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are BOT, GAS, SAR, OCO, ZHO
(STR P2)
OCO P17
Back of the grid: BOT, OCO, GAS, SAR, ZHO
Good first Quali session from BEA – he’s P9
Qualifying session 2
HUL reports he’s lost power in the Haas; he’s parked well off track in Turn 8 but there’s no yellow flag!?
HAM 1:28.680
RUS 1:28.608
Red flag – Q2 suspended with 10:58 left on the clock
It’s weird that there was no yellow for HUL’s car being parked on T8, and then a red – is there a problem with communication between the flag marshals?
Cars are being sent to wait at pit exit
Green light; BEA leads them out of the pit lane
PER 1:28.539
VER 1:28.078
5mins left; bottom 5 are MAG, RIC, ALB, BEA, HUL
BEA taps the wall again but goes P11
ALB P12
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are BEA, ALB, MAG, RIC, HUL
VER 1:28.033
Middle of the grid: BEA, ALB, MAG, RIC, HUL
Top 10 shootout is between VER, LEC, ALO, PIA, RUS, PER, NOR, TSU, STR, HAM
BEA has been summoned by the stewards for going too slowly on his out lap
Qualifying session 3
HAM 1:28.807
RUS 1:28.316
PIA P2
NOR P3
PER 1:27.807
ALO P2
VER 1:27.472
LEC P4
Order after the first run: VER, PER, ALO, LEC, RUS, PIA, NOR, STR, HAM, TSU
4mins left; everyone heading out for a final flying lap on new soft tyres
VER crawling in the pit lane – funny, I thought he always gets annoyed when others do that
HAM P7; ALO gets a tow to start his lap
NOR P4
PIA P4
TSU P9
PER P2
LEC P2
ALO P4
STR P10
Front of the grid: VER, LEC, PER, ALO, PIA, NOR, RUS, HAM, TSU, STR
Provisional grid: VER, LEC, PER, ALO, PIA, NOR, RUS, HAM, TSU, STR, BEA, ALB, MAG, RIC, HUL, BOT, OCO, GAS, SAR, ZHO
Race
More rumours rattling around the Red Bull camp; VER has basically said if Helmut Marko gets the elbow then he (VER) will go to Mercedes (which assumes they’ll have him!)
It’s a one-stop race (unless there are red flags, etc.) but the question is which compound to use at the start?
Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
TSU is release right into the path of NOR; the McLaren driver has to brake hard and stop to avoid hitting the RB
Race control have noted the TSU/NOR pit lane incident
All the cars are on the grid now; final tinkering before the start
Seems like a lot of work on HAM’s car
Air temperature 26°C; track 32°C; humidity 58%
Grid: VER, LEC, PER, ALO, PIA, NOR, RUS, HAM, TSU, STR, BEA, ALB, MAG, RIC, HUL, BOT, OCO, GAS, SAR, ZHO
VER leads everyone away on the formation lap
Everyone on medium tyres except BEA and BOT on softs
Radio from GAS reporting a gearbox problem
01/50: PER alongside LEC through Turn 1 but the Ferrari holds on to P2
PIA ahead of NOR
BEA challenging TSU for P10
Radio for GAS telling him to box – “We have to retire the car”
02: DRS now enabled
PIA takes P4 from ALO into Turn 1
03: VER, LEC, PER, PIA, ALO, NOR, RUS, HAM, STR, TSU, BEA, MAG, ALB, HUL, RIC, OCO, BOT, SAR, ZHO; out: GAS
LEC fastest lap 1:34.179
Replay shows NOR might have jumped the start
04: VER f/lap 1:34.043
PER takes P2 from LEC
05/50: VER, PER, LEC, PIA, ALO, NOR, RUS, HAM, STR, TSU, BEA, MAG, ALB, HUL, RIC, OCO, BOT, SAR, ZHO
TSU has DRS behind STR, as do BEA, MAG and ALB
07: VER 1:33.676
Yellow flag – STR in the barrier at Turn 23
Safety Car deployed
STR is walking away from his broken Aston Martin
Replay shows STR tagged the wall, breaking his front left suspension
08[SC]: VER pits, followed by PER and LEC… everyone except NOR, HAM, HUL and ZHO
Replay of PER being released into the path of ALO
09[SC]: STR’s car is being removed
SC in at the end of this lap
Radio for NOR telling him to take care of his tyres, but NOR has VER right on his tail
10/50: NOR, VER, HAM, PER, LEC, PIA, ALO, HUL, RUS, ZHO, TSU, BEA, MAG, ALB, OCO, BOT, SAR, RIC; out: STR, GAS
11: NOR has opened a 1sec gap so VER won’t have DRS
MAG and ALB bump wheels
Race control: PER’s unsafe release noted
12: VER f/lap 1:33.610
VER starting to close on NOR
13: VER takes P1
PER past HAM for P3
14: VER f/lap 1:33.144
BEA takes P10 from ZHO
RUS past HUL for P8
Stewards: no action re: NOR jump start
15/50: VER, NOR, PER, LEC, HAM, PIA, ALO, RUS, HUL, BEA
PER given 5-sec penalty for unsafe release – that’ll to about P7
16: MAG given 10-sec penalty for causing the collision with ALB
Radio from HAM, “They’re killing us in high speed”; Bono says the GPS agrees
17: PIA attacks HAM but runs wide, cuts Turn 1 and has to fall in behind HAM
PER right on NOR’s tail
18: VER f/lap 1:33.059
PER takes P2 into Turn 1
20/50: VER, PER*, NOR, LEC, HAM, PIA, ALO, RUS, HUL, BEA, ZHO, MAG*, TSU, OCO, ALB, SAR, BOT, RIC; out: STR, GAS (*Time penalties to be applied: PER +5sec, MAG +10sec)
Radio from BEA complaining that HUL is “so slow” 🙂
21: BEA glides past HUL to take P9
22: VER f/lap 1:32.933
MAG gets another 10-sec penalty, this time for leaving the track and gaining an advantage (when he passed TSU)
23: PIA still has DRS behind HAM but can’t pass the Mercedes (HAM is still on medium tyres but PIA went to hards under the SC)
25/50: VER, PER*, NOR, LEC, HAM, PIA, ALO, RUS, BEA, HUL, ZHO, MAG, TSU, OCO, ALB, SAR, RIC, BOT (*Time penalties to be applied: PER +5sec, MAG +20sec)
VER 1:32.683
Radio for PIA telling him they’re reporting HAM for moving under braking – that’s a big desperate
26: LEC has DRS and is right on NOR’s tail
MAG has a train behind him, TSU, OCO, ALB and SAR
27: LEC past NOR for P3
Radio for MAG telling him to go slower, keep everyone behind, and let HUL open a bigger gap
28: ALB almost rear-ends OCO
ALB looks outside OCO but the Alpine slams the door
29: MAG has a little lock up and TSU steals P12
MAG defends but was he off the track?
MAG reclaims P12, and then OCO passes TSU too
Radio from TSU claiming MAG is “dangerous”
30/50: VER, PER*, LEC, NOR, HAM, PIA, ALO, RUS, BEA, HUL, ZHO, MAG*, OCO, TSU, ALB, SAR, RIC, BOT; out: STR, GAS (*Time penalties to be applied: PER +5sec, MAG +20sec)
31: Yet to pit are NOR, HAM, HUL and ZHO
MAG continues opening the gap to let teammate HUL pit and rejoin in front – could be worthy of Driver of the Day… except he caused a collision
32: VER f/lap 1:32.454
33: ALB squeezes inside TSU to steal P14
34: VER f/lap 1:32.309
HUL pits from P10; rejoins P11 – MAG did enough
35/50: VER, PER*, LEC, NOR, HAM, PIA, ALO, RUS, BEA, ZHO, HUL, MAG*, OCO, ALB, TSU, SAR, RIC, BOT
PIA passes HAM but runs wide across Turn 1; he lets HAM reclaim P5
When will HAM pit?
36: SkySports say NOR and HAM will rejoin behind BEA when they pit
BOT pits from P18
37: HAM pits; softs go on; rejoins P9, about 7.5sec behind BEA
38: PER f/lap 1:32.273
NOR pits from P4; softs; rear-right was a bit slow; rejoins P8
39: HAM f/lap 1:31.746
HAM is on NOR’s tail; they’re both on new softs
40/50: VER, PER*, LEC, PIA, ALO, RUS, BEA, NOR, HAM, ZHO, HUL, MAG*, OCO, ALB, TSU, SAR, RIC, BOT; out: STR, GAS (*Time penalties to be applied: PER +5sec, MAG +20sec)
Race control: weaving under braking – noted
41: ALO says he’s “in qualifying mode now”
Black and white flag for NOR
42: Radio from BEA asking if NOR is going to catch him
43: ZHO pits; problems with the front-right
… so now the 4 Brits are P6-P9
44: ALB takes P12 from OCO
HAM has DRS behind NOR again… no, NOR’s broken it again
45/50: VER, PER*, LEC, PIA, ALO, RUS, BEA, NOR, HAM, HUL, MAG*, ALB, OCO, TSU, SAR, RIC, BOT, ZHO; out: STR, GAS (*Time penalties to be applied: PER +5sec, MAG +20sec)
HAM in and out of DRS range of NOR
RUS closing on ALO, but ALO is picking up his pace
47: NOR slowly closing on HAM but defending P8 is probably more concerned with the Mercedes in his mirrors
48: VER laps OCO (P13)
49: LEC is 11.5sec behind PER, so PER’s penalty means nothing
RIC spins, recovers
50/50: NOR runs wide but carries on in P8
VER takes the chequered flag
PER P2
LEC P3 and sets f/lap 1:31.632
Provisional result: VER, PER*, LEC, PIA, ALO, RUS, BEA, NOR, HAM, HUL; ALB, MAG*, OCO, TSU, SAR, RIC, BOT, ZHO; out: STR, GAS
*Time penalties to be applied: PER +5sec, MAG +20sec
Driver of the Day (as voted by the fans): BEA with 48% of the votes
[2024 calendar and driver line-up]
