It’s been quiet since Monza two weeks ago, or maybe I was too distracted to notice. The only thing I noticed was that Williams’ request for a review of the decision to give SAI a 10second penalty (which he served during the race) as well as 2 penalty points in the Netherlands GP resulted in partial success: “The Stewards agree with Williams’ characterisation of the collision as a racing incident.” … but … “The Stewards have no power to remedy that served time penalty by amending the Classifications”.
Free Practice
- FP1: NOR (1:42.704), PIA, LEC, RUS, ALB
PIA skimmed a wall, but then so did many others including HAM
VER locked up, took to the escape road but spun it around and rejoined; a few others took similar action
The Williams duo left their mark on the track – the glass fell out of ALB’s wing mirror, and SAI managed to pull up a rubber strip at Turn 6 but the session had to be suspended while the rest of the rubber could be removed
HAD felt SAI impeded him - FP2: HAM (1:41.293), LEC, RUS, ANT, BEA
LEC rubbed his rear left wheel against a wall
NOR made heavier contact, damaging his McLaren and ending his session
PIA hit both his front right and rear right on the TecPro barrier at Turn 15; STR and COL both hit their rear wheel there too
RUS had a slide out of Turn 12 but kept the Mercedes out of the wall - FP3: NOR (1:41.223), VER, PIA, HAM, ANT
Overnight rain and strong wind made the track quite challenging
LAW spun in Turn 16 and continued
NOR described his McLaren as “sketchy everywhere”
PIA was held up by traffic but also ran wide in Turn 1
RUS complained his Mercedes was “locking up everywhere”
Qualifying
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
ALB clipped the wall into Turn 1, breaking his front left suspension
HUL went nose first into the TecPro barrier at Turn 4 – he didn’t decide soon enough to use the escape road, so instead he ran his Sauber into the barrier, bringing out the red flag
Yellow flag 20 seconds before the chequered flag
Q1 ends; bottom 5 are COL, HUL, OCO, GAS, ALB
Red flag – COL has slammed into the barrier at Turn 4
Back of the grid: COL, HUL, OCO, GAS, ALB
Qualifying session 2
BEA hit the wall coming out of Turn 2, breaking his Haas’ right rear suspension
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are TSU, HAM, BOR, STR, BEA
HAM P12
STR P14
TSU P10, relegating ALO to P11
Middle of the grid: ALO, HAM, BOR, STR, BEA
Top 10 shootout is between NOR, PIA, VER, RUS, ANT, LEC, LAW, HAD, SAI, TSU
Qualifying session 3
Radio from VER saying it’s raining
LAW 1:42.560
SAI 1:41.595
HAD P3
Yellow flag – LEC slid wide into the wall at Turn 15 – red flag
Another yellow flag – PIA also slide wide, into the TecPro at T15 – another red flag
NOR slides a little wide in T15, grazes the wall but gets away with it; goes P2
RUS P2
Chequered flag; order is SAI, RUS, NOR, LAW, HAD; the others haven’t set a time
LAW P2
ANT P3
HAD P6
VER 1:41.117
Front of the grid: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, RUS, TSU, NOR, HAD, PIA, LEC
Provisional grid: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, RUS, TSU, NOR, HAD, PIA, LEC, ALO, HAM, BOR, STR, BEA, COL, HUL, OCO, GAS, ALB
Penalties
PIA failed to slow under yellow flags (FP2) – Reprimand
HUL overtaking under yellow flags (Q1) – no penalty
ANT overtaking two cars under yellow flags – Reprimand
OCO’s Haas failed the rear wing main plane tip deflection test – disqualified from the Qualifying classifications; the team were granted permission to start the race in P20
Race
Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Grid: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, RUS, TSU, NOR, HAD, PIA, LEC, ALO, HAM, BOR, STR, BEA, COL, HUL, GAS, ALB, OCO
It’s windy and there’s some rain forecast for about mid-race, so this could be a challenging race
VER leads everyone away on the formation lap
VER, RUS, TSU, HAM, BOR, BEA, HUL, GAS and OCO starting on hard compound tyres; everyone else on mediums
The 1-stop strategy could be disrupted if there’s rain
There’s a lot of leaves on the track – that should be cleaned up after a lap or two, but getting them in an air intake could cause problems
01/51: VER leads into Turn 1
PIA has dropped right down the order
RUS dives inside TSU for P6
BOR cuts the chicane
Yellow flag – PIA is in the TecPro barrier at Turn 5; he locked up and slid into the tyres
Safety Car deployed
02[SC]: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, RUS, TSU, HAD, NOR, LEC, HAM, ALO, BOR, STR, COL, BEA, OCO, GAS, HUL, ALB; out: PIA
OCO pits; mediums go on; rejoins P18
ALB pits; mediums; P19
Replay shows PIA jumped the start but then stopped and was swarmed by the middle of the grid
On-board with ALO looks like he reacted to PIA’s jump start and moved too
Just after PIA went into the wall there was contact between GAS and HUL
03[SC]: OCO pits again; hards go on
PIA and ALO noted for false start; that’s usually an automatic penalty
04[SC]: SC in at the end of this lap
VER slows to back everyone up before the restart
VER weaving out of the final turn
05/51: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, RUS, TSU, HAD, NOR, LEC, HAM, ALO, BOR, STR, COL, BEA, GAS, HUL, ALB, OCO
LEC steals P8 from NOR
TSU past RUS for P6
HUL takes P15 from GAS
5sec penalty for ALO for the false start
LEC easily past HAD for P7
06: NOR around HAD for P8
HAD now defending from HAM
07: TSU under pressure from RUS
Brief yellow flag
08: HAM inside HAD for P9
NOR harrying LEC for P7
09: RUS can’t find a way around TSU and is looking frustrated
10/51: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, TSU, RUS, LEC, NOR, HAM, HAD
RUS makes a move and takes P5 from TSU
Radio for BEA telling him there might be rain in about 20 minutes
11: VER is about 2.5sec clear of SAI
12: RUS closing on teammate ANT; will Mercedes tell them to swap?
13: BEA takes P16 from GAS into Turn 1
RUS has DRS behind ANT
15/51: VER, SAI, LAW, ANT, RUS, TSU, LEC, NOR, HAM, HAD, BOR, ALO*, COL, STR, HUL, BEA, GAS, ALB, OCO (+5sec for ALO)
VER leads by 4secs
ALB inside GAS for P17
16: ALB pits; hards; P19
17: HAM locks up but keeps it out of the wall
ALB squeezes inside COL but there’s not room; contact; COL spins; ALB has front wing damage; COL rejoins
19: ANT pits from P4; hards; P12
Brief yellow flag
ALB/COL incident noted… under investigation
20/51: VER, SAI, LAW, RUS, TSU, LEC, NOR, HAM, HAD, BOR, ALO*, ANT, STR, HUL, BEA, OCO, GAS, ALB, COL (+5sec for ALO)
10sec penalty for ALB
LEC pits; hards; P12
21: LAW pits; hards; P10
ANT is all over LAW’s rear wing, with his tyres up to temp whereas LAW’s aren’t yet
22: ANT easily past LAW on the main straight
ALO pits; serves his 5sec penalty; P17
23: ALB past ALO for P17
24: VER’s lead now just over 7secs
25/51: VER, SAI, RUS, TSU, NOR, HAM, HAD, BOR, ANT, LAW, LEC, STR, HUL, BEA, OCO, GAS, ALB*, ALO, COL (+10sec for ALB)
26: ANT takes P8 from BOR
HUL looks for a way round STR but the Aston Martin hangs on to P12
27: Radio from SAI concerned about being undercut by RUS
BOR pits; softs; P16
28: SAI pits from P2; hards; P6
29: BOR takes P15 from GAS
BEA pits; mediums; P18
Radio from HAD concerned about pitting before ANT overtakes him; “We are looking after you”
30/51: VER, RUS, TSU, NOR, HAM, SAI, HAD, ANT, LAW, LEC
HAD pits from P7; hards; P10
ALB inside GAS to take P15
31: Radio from RUS, happy with his tyres and suggesting they keep delaying his stop
LEC has DRS behind LAW but isn’t close enough to attack yet
34: Haven’t heard any mention of approaching rain in a while
HAM grazes the TecPro with his rear right wheel
35/51: VER, RUS, TSU, NOR, HAM, SAI, ANT, LAW, LEC, HAD, STR, HUL, OCO, BOR, ALB*, GAS, ALO, BEA, COL; out: PIA (+10sec for ALB)
BOR around OCO for P13
36: HUL lets teammate BOR take P12
ALB inside HUL for P13
37: HAM pits from P5; mediums; P9
HUL pits; P17
38: NOR pits from P4; mediums; slow stop; P8 behind the LAW/LEC battle
Replay shows it was a problem with the front right wheel
39: TSU pits from P3; mediums; P5 just inches ahead of LAW
LAW takes P5 from TSU
40/51: VER, RUS, SAI, ANT, LAW, TSU, LEC, NOR, HAM, HAD
RUS pits from P2; mediums; still P2 just ahead of SAI
NOR right on LEC’s tail
41: VER pits; mediums; still P1
NOR takes P7 from LEC
Radio for OCO telling him to swap positions with teammate BEA
BEA takes P13 from OCO
42: VER is nearly 12sec clear of RUS who in turn is 3sec ahead of SAI
Radio for ALB warning him there’s reports of light rain at Turn 16
43: TSU closing on LAW
HAM has taken P8 from teammate LEC – that looked like team orders
44: LAW is holding off TSU, NOR and HAM
45/51: VER, RUS, SAI, ANT, LAW, TSU, NOR, HAM, LEC, HAD, BOR, ALB*, BEA, OCO, ALO, HUL, STR, COL, GAS (+10sec for ALB)
TSU has a look but LAW defends P5
46: ALB pitted before he got the penalty, so (unless they stop if it rains) the 10secs will be added to his time, dropping him behind BEA but just ahead of OCO at the moment
48: LAW continues to defend P5
50/51: VER, RUS, SAI, ANT, LAW, TSU, NOR, HAM, LEC, HAD
Will Red Bull tell their junior team that LAW should let TSU through?
51: TSU defends from NOR into Turn 1
VER takes the chequered flag
Provisional result: VER, RUS, SAI, ANT, LAW, TSU, NOR, HAM, LEC, HAD; ALB*, BOR, BEA, OCO, ALO, HUL, STR, GAS, COL
DNF: PIA
Penalties
PIA and ALO got 5sec penalties for their false start; ALO served his but PIA was out before the stewards investigated it, so what happens with his penalty?
[2025 calendar and driver line-up]
