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This is the year of the change to regulations and a new look for F1 cars. According to the FIA, 'it's to level the playing field'. I'm not happy with that, it's killing innovation and turning an elite sport into F2.
I may be wrong but that needs to be proved.
Anyway the 'confirmed' calendar is here.
In other news, various sports articles are showing concern that Lewis Hamilton has maintained a social media blackout since the fiasco of Abu Dhabi.
Depending on your point of view, this race was 'nearly' won by Hamilton who was 12 seconds ahead of Verstappen until 5 laps from the end when a crash by Latifi brought out a safety car. The race director who was being harangued by Toto Wolff (Mercedes manager) and Christian Horner (Red Bull manager), made some very controversial decisions in order to 'get one lap of racing'.
The outcome was, Verstappen won the race and his first championship.
Hamilton who was within 5 laps of an historical 8th WDC, behaved with utmost dignity at race end. Congratulated Verstappen and Horner. Was interviewed by Jenson Button and refused to be drawn on any comment regarding the controversy. Stood on the podium and continued to go through the motions of the celebration.
Since then nothing has been heard from him.
According to his brother Nicholas 'Lewis is fine. He's having a break Social Media can be a very toxic place'.
Further rumour is Hamilton was the one who stopped Mercedes from taking this case to the F1 Court of Appeal, which was their intention after their appeal was dismissed by the FIA in Abu Dhabi.
Anyway roll on February when the cars are revealed and March when testing begins.
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What a great race. Sadly Russell knocked Sainz out of the race on the first corner. He was given a 5 second penalty for that. Leclerc and Perez had grid penalties but made up a lot of time. The best news for Hamilton fans (like me) is he made his way up to the lead of the race and after a terrible pit stop for Verstappen, he looked as if, for the first time all season, Lewis would win. However, Max driving a rocket caught him on the 5th lap from the end. Never mind, 2nd is his best position yet. Not bad for the 3rd fastest car on the grid.
RACE
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Looking good, finally 👍
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This weekend we are in Mexico. Hope from Perez that he wins his home GP.
Many rookies having their final F1 practice sessions
Practice 1
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Practice 2
Leclerc crashed, so his engineers will be working overnight. Guanyu had hydraulic failure.
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Practice 3
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This is Qualifying. Not bad for the 3rd fastest car on the grid. This is a track where the driver on pole rarely wins. Fingers crossed.
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Maybe if Mercedes had their strategy right they may have had a chance. Red Bull started on Soft tyres and then switched to to mediums. Mercedes started on Mediums and then changed to Hards. Unfortunately the hard tyres did NOT work well on this track. So at the opening stages on mediums, Hamilton overtook George for 2nd and Perez got past him as well. Lewis was on Max's tail until they changed tyres (I think Merc were banking on Red Bull having to stop again. They didn't.)
So the results were predictable.
Verstappen 1st with Lewis in 2nd. (although 15 seconds behind Max 🙄) Perez 3rd. With no chance of a podium, George pitted for softs and managed to get a point for the fastest lap and stayed 4th.
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This weekend is the penultimate race of the season in Brazil.
It's also a Sprint race (which I dislike)
So we had Practice One and Qualifying today.
The results of Qualifying set the grid for 24 laps of the Sprint tomorrow.
The results of the Sprint sets the grid for the race on Sunday.. (Confusing? Hell yeah) 😂
No point posting P1, it's irrelevant.
Then we come to Qualifying tonight and the weather!! It was humid and raining. Then the rain stopped and the track was warm and slippy. Bottom line fortune favoured the brave and having the right tyres on at the right time.
Down to the last 8 minutes and Magnussen went fastest. (a shock for him and Haas). Russell went 3rd. Then beached his car in the gravel. The race was red flagged and whilst they removed his car the rain came down again, stopping anyone else having any type of run which could beat the times already set.
Qualifying
