Matt 'Trumpets' Ragsdale
Ambient 27° Track 56° Humidity 39%
Wind 1.5 m/s
Prelude
Stunningly iconic skies ruled the
French Grand Prix paddock, cerulean blue dotted by puffs of high
clouds and the inevitable heat of Southern France torching the track
and old timers swore they could hear the Pirelli rubber screaming for
mercy as the cars were gently lowered to the scorching asphalt....
One stopper, Medium to Hard was the call from Pirelli as the quickest
way around the circuit, and with an extra slow pitlane, all teams
would be working hard to make that happen, helped by the fact that
only 2 of the top 10, Giovinazzi and Gasly, would be starting on the
Softs, the rest having made the Medium work for the passage to Q3.
McLaren and Renault seemed to be
playing a bit in their own sandbox, but after yesterday's results
perhaps the larger question was whether Macca could keep up with Red
Bull, or would be once again dicing with Ricciardo for best of the
rest. Much of that would be determined by the race to T1, plenty of
time for those with a better launch improve their odds significantly
and with T2 immediately after, plenty of chances for carnage as well,
though odds are that they will be a bit better behaved than the F2
drivers that made an utter hash of their feature race at the start.
Managing tyre temperatures will be the
order of the day, once the chaos of the start settles and it's worth
remembering that Red Bull have a new wheel rim combo whilst Ferrari
have had to change a number of parts on Vettel's car after problems
were discovered post qualifying, significantly the intercooler oil
pump, intercooler and radiators. With Vettel starting out of position
in P7, Ricciardo was very much planning to try and ride his coattails
up to a battle with the McLaren's and it would be a mistake to
overlook Hulkenberg, starting on the Hards along with Raikkonen,
Grosjean, Stroll and Kvyat, whose car is capable of more than his
starting position indicates. Also worth remembering just how much the
wind can affect the cars at this track, a fact attested to by not
only the drivers, but the rather large number of offs seen throughout
practice and qualifying....Of course at the front, it's all about who
gets the jump through T1 and as ever, Ferrari will be hoping that
Leclerc can at least get up amongst the Mercs at the start just to
complicate their day ever so slightly....
Summary
Lights Out!!!! Great Start by Hamilton
whilst Norris was balked by Verstappen as they were side by side.
Sainz went outside and Norris inside and when he was forced to give
way it was his teammate on the outside that gained the advantage.
Vettel too wasted no time and bu the end of the first lap was already
lining up Norris. Sainz hovered close to Verstappen but as they
entered their second go round he had backed off, his race to get in
front of the Red Bull effectively conceded as the team was clearly
chasing a massive haul of midfield points.
Further back, Gasly had utterly failed
to take any advantage of his Soft tyres at the start and still
languished in P8 whilst Perez had gone straight on. Ricciardo had
been, next to Albon, the biggest loser at the start and down to P10
with Albon down to P16, Ricciardo
Lap 5 and Vettel was still being held
up by the remarkable McLaren, lingering in DRS but still unable to
get by. The following lap he got the job done, though it took
remarkably longer than perhaps Ferrari would've expected. Ricciardo
dinged Giovinazzi for P9 and then Raikkonen was through as well, into
the last points position.
Lap 8 and Vettel was now through Sainz,
who had gradually been gapped from the lead group of 4, and that left
him with 8 seconds up the road to Verstappen. Gasy had been closing
in on Norris as well, about 2 seconds back as Giovinazzi was in to
ditch his Soft tyres, the first to pit.
On replay it appeared that Perez did
gain an advantage with his off, although it had yet to be announced
as an investigation and Stroll was just inside Magnussen, chasing P13
and a bit of redemption from his qualifying performance. 5 second
penalty for Perez for being naughty at the start and gaining an
advantage. It did gain him 2 places so probably worth it in the long
run.
At the front, it was clear Mercedes had
the pace, with Leclerc now nearly 4.5 seconds back of Bottas who was
hanging around 2.5 seconds back of Hamilton. Stroll finally got the
job done at the end of lap 12 and Vettel was slowly eating into the
gap to Verstappen, 6.5 seconds back and around 0.2 seconds faster.
With the pit stop window lingering in the low 20s the next step for
the sharp end was to look out for the undercut and it was Verstappen
just a little more than 3 seconds back of Leclerc who looked best
placed to try and make that happen. Hamilton radioed in something
broke in his seat and there was much wild speculation about that, but
despite the issue, he continued to rock in fast laps, having added
another full second to his lead at the end of lap 15.
Albon rocked off a pass on Magnussen as
the HAAS continued to just be either brilliant or miserable, with
nothing in between. Today looked to be another miserable day and lap
17 and in he went, following, at some distance, Ricciardo. P16 for
Danny Ric on the way out with a set of Hards that would now have to
last him to the end. Magnussen was out dead last, also on the Hards,
and now chasing down the Williams for practice. Russell, despite
being faster, had been unable to get the job done on his teammate,
and that battle was going to be the first one that Kmag was going to
encounter.
Having cleared Ricciardo from his pit
window, Gasly was in and out, just 1.5 seconds ahead of the Renault,
who smelled blood in the water as Gasly tried to get his tyres up to
temperature. And after a short chase it was done, Ricciardo by with
ease and the rumour mill cranked up yet again. Sainz was in and out
lap 19, just back of Albon and maintaining his best of the rest
place, ahead of Kvyat who was on the hards and yet to pit. Norris had
been caught behind him, but after a lap was able to get by and it was
McLaren once again hurtling toward maximum midfield points....
Grosjean trailed Kvyat and they clearly
were both in it for the long haul, as Ricciardo was 3 seconds back of
the HAAS driver, who seemed to be doing a better job on the Hards.
Verstappen was in then lap 21 and out on a set of Hards and the
following lap Leclerc covered him off, which left Vettel now in P3,
with Leclerc P4 and Verstappen P5.
Mercedes still sailed on, Hamilton an
astonishing 8.5 seconds ahead of Bottas as it emerged that
Verstappen's pit stop had been pushed by fear of an undercut by
Vettel. Bang, with that gap Mercedes decided to pit Bottas first to
keep ahead of Leclerc as the fresh tyred Ferrari had begun to make
gains on the Mercedes. Lap 24 saw Lewis in, and it was serene, easily
out and remarkable for being both so fast and looking so unhurried.
Vettel locked up and was in lap 26,
with the freshest tyres of the lot and a long way to go. Given his
lap time he probably would've preferred to run longer, but he was out
5 seconds back of Verstappen and the chase was on. In the midfield,
Ricciardo had finally run up against the back of Grosjean and was
making no headway, the 2 long runners just creating a bigger and
bigger gap for the 2 McLarens on the other side of that barrier.
Lap 28 saw Ricciardo by Grosjean and
now with another 3 seconds to Kvyat to get back before he could
continue his chase of Norris. Kvyat would be a tougher nut to crack
though, as he was running within a couple of tenths of Norris' pace.
2 laps on, and Leclerc was asked to push, presumably to chase Bottas
who had about half a second on him. Mclaren were told to target
1:36.5 to get their tyres to last, 2 seconds off the pace being run
at the front, which tell you everything you need to know about the
difference between the midfield and the sharp end.
Lap 32 saw Grosjean and Raikkonen in
for their Medium tyres. Raikkonen was out P12 and that brought Kvyat
in. Hulkenberg, also running long knocked in a 1:35.611 in an attempt
to nick a place from Raikkonen with the overcut. Kvyat back out P16,
just ahead of the HAAS runners as he got to grips with the remainder
of his race, which consisted immediately of Giovinazzi just ahead.
Having been ignored for entirely too long, Hamilton radioed in that
his tyres didn't feel as good as the previous set. Giovinazzi was in
and out as was Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg was out behind Raikkonen, as
despite his clever driving he was unable to clear the Alfa so they
decided to run him a few extra laps to give him a tyre offset
instead...
This left Stroll in P6 as the last
runner on track without a pitstop and with a gap of 7 seconds to
Sainz behind, they were probably going to run him until he was caught
so as to give him the freshest tyres at the end. Norris was getting
frustrated stuck behind his teammate and he formally requested that
Sainz pick up the pace as he could plainly see Ricciardo in the
mirrors, looming 4 seconds back.
Lap 39 and it was Gasly, with
Hulkenberg and then Raikkonen ahead, with all the hard work to do as
once Stroll pitted, he would be P11 and pointless, in the sense that
he would have no points in P11 unless he could take Hulkenberg.
Stroll was in and then drama, as Norris
was told he no longer had DRS as Macca was "managing a small
issue"..... begging the question of what exactly that issue was.
Enquiring minds and all that. Stroll was out P13 and off they went on
lap 42. Hmm a close up of Hamilton's tyres did show them looking a
bit gnarly, particularly the front left. That didn't stop him from
going fast and Norris complained of really aggressive upshifts, which
his engineer said was part of the issue. That sounded like a
potential hydraulic issue as Stroll with his fresh tyres was closing
down Perez in P12.
With little track action left the
calculators were out and Hamilton was told that Vettel would have a
free crack at fast lap, which was currently owned by the Mercedes'
driver. Lap 47 and Grosjean was told to retire the car, for
unspecified reasons. Norris was told the car would get unstable and
the steering heavier as the hydraulics continued to go... 6 laps to
manage and Ricciardo 2 seconds back.
Ricciardo was pushing, almost 0.3
seconds up on Norris but with little traffic up the road to get in
the way. Hulkenberg was having a serious go at Raikkonen, but was
unable to get close enough to overcome the Ferrari PU stuffed into
the back of the Alfa. Ricciardo had an off and lost 3 seconds, which
chucked him right back into the Raikkonen/Hulkenberg battle and a
completely different set of problems.
Lap 51 and a loose bollard on track
brought out a VSC, just long enough for a marshal to run on track and
retrieve it. Vettel was into the pits for a crack at fast lap, having
gotten within 4 seconds of Verstappen. But unbeknownst to the rest of
us, Leclerc was waging a sneak attack and as the last lap rolled into
view, he was within DRS, thanks to the VSC!!! Agonizingly close he
got through the last lap but as the checquers fell, it was too little
too late and across the line went Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc in
that order, as Vettel had managed to sneak a fast lap in right at the
end. Sainz nailed on best of the rest but Norris wound up P10 as
Ricciardo, trying to get round him, went off and came back on,
forcing Norris off and letting both Raikkonen and Hulkenberg by
Norris, and then Ricciardo was able to put it up the inside on
Raikkonen and scoop P7. And to the surprise of no one, that was
immediately flagged as being looked at by the stewards. Oh my.....
Brilliant race from Mercedes with
Hamilton just 0.024 seconds slower than Vettel when all was said and
done on old Hards versus brand new Softs. Magnificent from Sainz as
well P6 with little issue, save from an occasional hurry up from his
team and tragedy for Norris at the end, having done such a good job
managing his issues... Another execrable result for Gasly and the
whispers are growing ever louder as his continuing underperformance
gets harder and harder to ignore, especially when compared to his
teammate, who rocked off a P4 and generally got the best out of the
car... Still waiting on word from the stewards regarding Ricciardo
and there was much unhappiness from Racing Point, as Perez did go
round the bollards with his off but still managed to gain 2
positions...Despite appearances, it was a tiny step forward for
Ferrari and one can only hope that Austria next week offers them a
better circuit to properly challenge at the front....
Discuss!!!
And remember to play nice in the
comments!!
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