I'm listening to sprint qualifying and the sprint race on replay because I have the time. I still don't get what they're meant to add to the season. I understand people like seeing more racing, but if it's the same sort of racing as the longer race, what's the sporting aim? I understand the financial gain, more people attending on Saturday but for its sporting aim, I don't understand.
Kimi Antonelli, he's so cute!!
It also adds financial risks for the smaller teams. I know Audi aren't a smaller team but I dread to think how much putting Perez's car back together cost. Now imagine if that was Haas or Williams.
By the way, do we think engine vibrations are why Perez's car fell apart?
Discussing Williams, I love Sainz jnr so much. He understands that engineers respond better to gentle encouragement than shouting.
Main race:
Concerning McLaren - has there been a worse start to a constructor's title defence? There being two different problems leading to the cars being out might actually be worse than there just being a single problem hitting both because that's two problems they need to understand, fix and prevent from reoccurring.
Audi have a better excuse for cars that don't start given they are new to this F1 engine making business, and at least they now have a 50% average start rate, rather than McLaren's 25%.
For once, it's not Ferrari whose strategy is ruined by the timing of the safety car. It had to happen one day. I suspect Vasseur would prefer it if they didn't keep racing each other but it's definitely adding to the glory of Ferrari as a concept. And I love Leclerc's radio message saying how much he enjoyed the racing. Fun still has a place in F1.
Not saying they have form but when I saw a Haas and an Alpine hitting each other, I presumed Ocon and Gasly. I was wrong, but only partly ;)
That Red Bull is a problem that even Verstappen cannot overcome. BBC Radio said that he only had 4 DNFs in 4 years before this, which underscores the importance of having a solid car if you want to win the driver's World title.
Truly, nothing says F1 like those moments where they have to use "normal" tech on advanced technology, like gaffer tape, or this time, clippers to tidy up Ocon's bodywork.
The Shanghai circuit really is hard on tyres. My Mum, not an F1 fan and watching under sufferance, even she was going "look at that tire wear!"
I am very happy for Colapinto - my occasional snarky comments about his performance in last year's Alpine was never directed at him personally, just at how badly Alpine handled swapping him in for Jack Doohan, so I'm happy for him to finally get some points.
I, and Toto and Bono, could all have done without the lock up towards the end. There's nothing like a little mistake to liven things up.
(I am sharing the following links so that everyone can see them (and for cheering up purposes if I ever need them)
He's so adorable.
New regulations - 2 and a bit races in:
It is too soon to decide whether the new regs are good or bad.
So why am I talking about it? Mostly because this is the first break the F1 season has had.
The reason these regs were introduced was to improve racing. It was necessary. The last set of cars were too broad and the tracks were too narrow to allow over taking. The circuits can't be broadened, so the cars had to narrow.
Similarly, there was no way to defend from DRS overtakes (the DRS button killed joy). The new system at least allows some way of defending.
As a viewer/listener, the first two races this year have been more interesting than most races last year.
When the drivers and team owners are interviewed, the ones whose cars were not so good with the last set of regulations but are good now like it, the ones whose cars were good and now they're not hate it. What a surprise!
I'm more interested in the views of say Haas who were middling before and are middling now. Their views are less likely to be tainted by the effect of relative results.
