Hungarian Grand Prix

No update to the bingo card, because although Ferrari didn't do well, there was no grand idiocy worthy of blotting the card.  

Actually, despite Verstappen's best efforts to add excitement, was it me, or was that a terribly boring race?  

After the initial tyre flurry, nothing much happened.  When most of the racing that did occur was for positions outside the points, it's not a good sign.  I wasn't joking when I suggested that the Red Bull pit crew deserved Driver of the Day.

Ferrari Foul-Up Bingo - Two races gone and four foul-up bingo squares filled

There's a chance I might get to call "bingo" this season.  That is literally the only positive to be taken from the Styrian Grand Prix.

I am only blotting two spots, because I don't think the timing of Leclerc's tyre change in Q2 counts as "strategy decision is made, it is wrong".  Even the TV commentators said it was a tricky choice and the right one was only obvious with hindsight.

I am not forgiving Leclerc the "hey, let's get a penalty for nearly taking out Kvyat" moment or the "hey, let's take Vettel out" moment.

After two races, the card looks like this:

Or at least I thought it did. But then I made the foolish choice to look at the Constructor's Title standings.

Somehow, within two races, Mercedes already have a more than 25 point lead over Ferrari so 5 squares can actually be dabbed.

Please ignore any screaming!

Ferrari Foul Up Bingo

Being a Ferrari fan can be a frustrating experience.  The general feeling is probably best expressed in this brief clip (https://twitter.com/awaitingseason/status/1253540619781373953).  Yes, that is a Packers fan complaining about a draft choice but it feels familiar, and L swears he has actually heard me make this exact noise because of Ferrari.

I should be more calm about this - most of my early memories of Ferrari are of the great absence of 1990-1994. I am used to Ferrari not winning.  But at least with that car, you knew what would happen - about halfway through the race, the engine would go "splut" and that would be the end of it.  And oh what a beautiful noise it made.  That sound, right at the max, on the forest straight at Hockenheim - I will forgive a lot for that sound.

Yet I can't be calm about it.  In this recent disastrous patch, something different goes wrong each time, almost always something stupid, suggesting a deeper malaise.

Think about last year - if a strategy decision can be made, at any point in the race weekend, it will be the wrong one. If they go too defensive in one race, they will be too aggressive the next. If hard tyres are better, they'll go soft, and vice versa. The pitstop strategy, the actual pitstop, when to change to and from wet weather tyres, all of these went wrong at one point or another. Some of them went wrong several times, each time in a subtly different but equally annoying way. And it's not that these things can't be done right. Red Bull seem to get it right most of the time, even more so that Mercedes. (I am in awe of the Red Bull strategy team.)

And when the team get it right, the drivers decide to start smashing into other cars, each other, random kerbs ... Ferrari have moved me to beyond swearing a few times.

Due to all of that, in a fit of more than usual pessimism, possibly brought about by winter testing, I came up with a Ferrari Foul Up bingo card, mostly based on 2019's incidents.

 

For those playing along at home, by the time the season started, one square in the bingo was already filled.

 

Vettel and Ferrari is not working out, in much the same way as Alonso and Ferrari didn't work out.  I don't think Vettel's the problem here, and I don't blame him for leaving.  Then again, I don't blame Ferrari for changing the driver.  Vettel is making some odd driving decisions, and I think it's the pressure of driving for Ferrari, and of driving for this version of Ferrari.  Hopefully, the change will be good for both parties.

On Friday, before the race but after free practise, L and I had a conversation:

L: Would you like further F1 news, even if you don't like it? (You won't like it.) 

Me: Ferrari are setting their cars on fire in advance?

I said this in the spirit of flippant despondency, but got "good guess" and a link to a BBC article titled Ferrari forced to make a major redesign of their car as a reply.

I don't actually have a square for "this car is so bad that they're going back to the drawing-board." Somehow, despite everything, I hadn't expected this year to be that bad.

By the end of the first race out of who knows how many, because of course F1 hasn't decided yet, the bingo card has two filled squares.

Nope, no-one knows what Vettel was trying there.

I am going to try to take the positives from the Austrian Grand Prix.  It was lovely weather and an exciting race.  Somehow both Ferraris got points, somehow Leclerc dragged that car round to second place.  It could have been worse (it will be worse).  But for now, there was a second place. I can be happy about that.