As a result of all the other sport that has been happening recently (Euro 2020, Wimbledon etc) and me being a bit slack with my writing I haven’t posted since the Monaco Grand Prix so it is time to catch up. So today’s post is both a look at the drama from the British Grand Prix and a look at we things are in the championship.
There are a number of things from Silverstone that are worthy of discussion but we have to start I think with the incident between Hamilton and Verstappen on lap 1 pf the race. There are many differing opinions out there about what actually happened and both teams and drivers are predictably offering contrasting views. I like everyone have seen the replays countless times now and have spent some time considering my view. My opinion is that it was a racing incident between two massively talented and hard chargers who both know that they cannot give the other anything in this title fight.
If you were to apportion blame you would probably give more of the responsibility to Lewis seeing as he made contact with the rear wheel of the RedBull and he wasn’t at that point completely alongside. That is why the ten second time penalty was to be expected. At the same time though Max knew Lewis was there and could have backed out of it at such a fast corner. The fact is neither man wanted to give an inch and that is because they are both racers and are prepared to put it all on the line.
I am so glad that Max is okay because a 51g impact is huge and as most people mentioned yesterday the main thing is that there were no serious injuries. I know some are unhappy with the Mercedes celebrations while Max was at the hospital but Lewis didn’t actually find out that Max had gone there until later on and the hospital visit was for precautionary checks only.
Lewis’s drive back to take the win a couple laps from home was superb and puts the championship battle in a very good place for us fans as we move forward to the second half of the season. I also believe that the coming together has added some spice and tension to the the battle. There was plenty of respect shown between the title protagonists early on but that has gone now and I think we may be about to see a more edgy fight between the two. I certainly don’t want to see collisions and non finishes for anyone but we can expect a very hot championship run in from now on in my opinion.
One more thing I would say about the incident is the lobbying from the teams to Michael Masi while they were awaiting news on Lewis’s penalty came across as a bit pathetic and whiney, I thought Masi handled it well given the circumstances and the fact that he was in the middle of doing his job of being race director. I’m sure what both teams were doing happens all the time and is part of “the game” but it did not come across that well to me.
It was very sad to see that Hamilton received online racist abuse after the race. Last week it was members of the England football team and now this. I wish society could be better than this and many people are trying but there remains some people who just don’t want to understand the idea of diversity and inclusion and respect. This is a discussion for a different forum but I hope one day these people can drag themselves out of the Victorian era.
Back to the race and while as a Hamilton fan I was pleased to see him take win at home for the eighth time I have to say I felt for LeClerc after he drove such a good race and led the whole thing until Lewis managed to pass him. Second is still a great result for him after not being on the podium in the first part of the year and the team should be pleased with that but it must of been painful for Charles to see it slip away.
The two McLaren boys also impressed with a fourth and fifth, Ricciardo having a good weekend after so fat not managing to match the ever improving form of Norris. The team is fighting Ferrari for third in the constructors title so that double points finish will have done them no harm at all.
Another who impressed was Fernando Alonso who had good speed and showed some brilliant race craft all weekend. It was by far his best showing of his comeback in my view.
Right then that is the race out of the way but we cannot talk about Silverstone without discussing the first ever sprint qualifying race. what was it like? How did it go? Well actually as someone who was against the idea from the beginning I thought it was ok. It needs some work but it was good to have a race on Saturday and I personally really enjoyed Friday as practice had more intensity to it and normal qualifying gave the day the competitive element that it needed.
There are some things that need working out if it is to become the norm. I don’t like the fact that pole position comes from the sprint race as for me pole is a sign of being the fastest over a lap and nailing that lap perfectly. It seems to nullify all the pole records of the past it it is now suddenly decided in a different way. So maybe normal qauli could decide the grid and the sprint could be a stand alone race with some minor points available.
Also for me the sprint race was too long as after ten laps most drivers just settled down and brought home what they had. A ten lap race could have worked better as the short distance may have made the drivers that bit more eagerness to move forward quickly and also there would be virtually no need to worry about managing the life of the tyres.
So maybe we will see tweaks at the future trials later in the year and they may work better. I wouldn’t call myself a full sprint race convert just yet but I am certainly a bit more open to the idea now. Lets see where the sport decides to go with that in future.
Lets look a bit more broadly at the championship then. RedBull came into Silverstone off the back off five consecutive wins, and it would have been five on the bounce for Mx himself but for an exploding Pirelli in Baku. Merc really looked on the ropes during that time. The only one of those races that they really could have won was France where they have been rock solid in recent years, but they got beaten on strategy that afternoon. Max was unstoppable over the Austrian double header and that would really have sucker punched Merc. Hamilton was telling his team to find more pace after that because he knew that another bad points drop to Max would make things very hard moving forwards.
What really will have worried Merc so far this year is the fact that RedBull have been fast at every type of track. Tracks like Paul Ricard as mentioned above and Silverstone would have been pretty safe wins for the Brackley based team in the past but now they turn up to any track knowing that they will not have that kind of advantage. More than that they know that they will more than likely have the second best car. It is a new situation for them and they are having to dig deeper than ever before at a time hen the are also getting used to new budget restrictions and preparing oft a whole new concept of car next year.
How both teams manage that split in resources will be pivotal to the outcome of the title race. And both drivers must not make any errors from now on in. We have seen before with Vettel how a mod season mistake can completely ruin a title charge. The added intensity of the fight after the Silverstone event will add so much to the rest of this year, it was inevitable that two drivers who will race as hard and close as Max and Lewis would eventually come together on track at some stage and as I have already alluded to neither will be pulling any punches from now on.
Hungary will be the last race before the summer break and with only eight points between them at the head of the standings both teams will be eager to head into the break with the momentum. Every race will be important from now till the end, even more so as we don’t know for sure how many races we will end up having because of the ongoing Covid situation.
All I can say is buckle yourself in tight because this title fight will be epic and I think we will witness one of the greatest battles the sport has seen. Bring it on!!!!!!
My F1 talk 