Sunday Musings, and Formula one thoughts

 

Another week another F1 race as we enter the second week of a triple header.  But before the race one must have coffee.  This weeks coffee comes from Houston roaster Ten Fold which I have talked about before.  I have really enjoyed all their coffees and this one was no different.  This coffee is a single estate from Burundi, and is absolutely beautiful in a pour over.  Vibrant, bright, acidity, white grapes, fruity, almost floral notes.  Not quite tea like, but nuanced and layered.  Just lovely.

No real recommendations this week, so let's jump into the race.

Formula One

This week the paddock traveled to Austria and the Red Bull Ring.  The home race for the two Red Bull owned teams.  It was a good start to the weekend, as the McLaren team did very well the first couple of days, finishing 2 and 3 in the sprint race getting them much needed points, but unfortunately Max finished in P1 extending his lead at the top of the championship.  For qualifying both McLarens looked like they were in P2 and 3, but Piastri had a track limits violation so fell to P7.

As for the race itself, it was a hell of a race by the time the checkered flag flew.  Initially all cars were on Medium tires and it started without incident. Max in the lead with Norris chasing him.  Although the LeClerc Ferrari sustained some front wing damage on the first lap and had to pit for a quick change out and he fell to P19.

After about lap 20 drivers started to pit switching to hard tires, Norris and Verstappen both pitted in lap 24 going to Hard tires.

Piastri moved into P1 since he hadn’t pitted, but ended up being called to Box Box at last 25 allowing Max and Lando back into P1 and P2 respectfully.  Oscar came out in P6.

Both Perez and Hamilton were given 5 second penalties for separate pit lane incidents, but that ended up not playing much a role in the race itself. 

Even though Norris has gotten fasted lap, Verstappen continues to open a gap leading by almost 8 seconds by lap 34.  However, by around lap 45 Norris seemed to start gaining on Max, whether this is a tire wear issue or something else was unclear, but Norris had narrowed the gap to 6.4 seconds.

Another round of pits happened at this time as well, Sainz pitting at lap 48 Piastri moving up to P3 as Hamilton complained about tire wear. Verstappen and Norris both pit again at lap 52.

McLaren had a much much better pit than Red Bull as they struggled with a tire change.  A large pit different  of 2.9 seconds to 6.5.  Now Norris is now only 2 seconds behind the leader

Even after pitting Verstappen complains about no grip, Norris is well within DRS zone at lap 57, and starts to make some moves, he made an attempt to pass but went off track so Max remained in the lead.

Norris did try another pass at lap 63, Verstappen goes off track and kept his lead, but I don't think he should have.  He should concede the position back just like Norris did earlier in the race.

For sure Norris is right at the line of exceeding track limits, but Verstappen is reverting to his old self, being overly aggressive and swerving, not maintaining his line which isn't legal either.

At lap 64 it all came to a head as Norris and Max collide each puncturing a tire, but Norris sustains some significant damage to his underside.  Russell takes the lead while both damaged cars limp back to the pits.  Verstappen is able to change out his tire, but Lando unfortunately has to retire his McLaren car.

Oscar moves up to P2 trying to make a move on Russell, Max is back in P5, and gets penalized for 10s, but that has no impact as he has a 15 second gap.

George Russel wins, Piastri gets P2 and Carols gets P3.  Norris for the first time this season gets a DNF.

The race was super frustrating as a McLaren fan.  Happy for Oscar, but dissapointed for Norris.  As stated earlier Norris was aggressively driving and you could mark him for exceeding track limits at times, but there is no question that Max was the cause for the incident.  There is a reason why Max was called Crashstappen in his early career, this is what he does.  We haven't seen it for a while since he has had such a lead on other teams, but once the pressure is on, he will crash other drivers, and make illegal moves on track.  It will be interesting to see if F1 does anything, but I won't hold my breath.

The Drivers Championship remains mostly the same: Verstappen 237l Norris 156; LeClerc 150; Sainz 135; Perez 118; Of note Oscar is right on Perez's heels with 112 points and I expect him to pass the Red Bull Driver next week.

The Constructors Championship standings: Red Bull 355; Ferrari 291; McLaren 268; Mercedes 196.