WELCOME BACK! After an absolute banger of a season opener F1 addicts can finally turn on their TV’s and get their fix. While I personally found myself holding my season in anticipation in reserve, if the race is anything like qualifying was today, then holy shit balls Batman are we in for a fucking season!
The circuit at Imola took a 14 year hiatus from F1 to find itself (track renovations) and agreed to see other motorsports for a short time, but as the 2020 calendar season seemed in jeopardy, Imola returned in our time of need. We watched in awe as Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes claimed their 7th World Title that weekend and cheered as Daniel Ricciardo snagged Renault’s second 3rd place podium on the season. This year we return to Imola early in the season and while World Titles aren’t on the line, podiums sure are.
Q1 went a bit surprising for me and while I expected Nikita Mazespin to be out, I wasn’t expecting the Alfa Romeos. Even further, I wasn’t expecting a driver with the grace of Yuki Tsunoda to bin it into the wall and take himself out of the day entirely. With any luck the Alpha Tauri engineers can get that car back together in time for tomorrow’s race. That Alpha Tauri is going to be mean this year, and I think Yuki will surprise us by knicking a point by the end of the race. I fee bad for Schumacher as the Haas is an absolute dog of a car and Gunter has already said they won’t be developing it this year. It’ll be a tough year chugging along at the back for the American based team
Q2 saw Sainz, Russell, Vettel, Latifi, and Alonso all told to take a seat after the round came to an end. George Russell continues his teammate domination remaining undefeated in qualifying. At least the Williams is looking like a possible Q3 contender on a really good day this year and I wouldn’t be surprised if either driver gets it there. Alonso and Vettel both looked to struggle as their younger counterparts pushed past them to make it to Q3. Sainz sounded incredibly disappointed on his radio as he should be. Both Ferraris looked like solid Q3 contenders and even had potential to come in 3rd or 4th, so an 11th, is unacceptable.
YOUR LAP TIME GETS DELETED! YOUR LAP TIME GETS DELETED! AND YOUR LAP TIME GETS DELETED! Holy shit there had be no less than three lap times being deleted each round of qualifying as the drivers struggled to maintain traction through Piratella or Turn 9 as it’s called. There was an absolute heartbreaking moment as Lando Norris put his Mclaren into P2 only to be smacked back into P7 behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo as he exceeded track limits and received the dreaded deleted lap time call over the radio. Bottas struggled through Q3 landing in P8 and now leaves pole sitter Lewis Hamilton squarely in the sights of Redbull, who for once has two cars on the grid to work with! That’s right Perez secured P2 and Verstappen secured P3. Read that again and slowly, because you got that right. For the first time since 2018, Max Verstappen has been outqualified by his teammate. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think Perez is going to beat the golden boy Verstappen this year and I would go as far to say that Perez may the the title contender if his car can stay together.
A track that the cars are slightly too big for, combined with difficulty in overtaking means the run down to Turn 1 is going to make some buttholes tighten, especially ours watching at home. Who will put it flat out and make it through? Stay tuned, because Imola is not done yet, and anything can happen after Crofty yells “lights out and away we go”.
| Cla | # | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Time | Gap | km/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 1’14.411 | 237.497 | |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | Honda | 1’14.446 | 0.035 | 237.385 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Honda | 1’14.498 | 0.087 | 237.219 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | Ferrari | 1’14.740 | 0.329 | 236.451 |
| 5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | Honda | 1’14.790 | 0.379 | 236.293 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | Mercedes | 1’14.826 | 0.415 | 236.179 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | Mercedes | 1’14.875 | 0.464 | 236.025 |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Mercedes | 1’14.898 | 0.487 | 235.952 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | Renault | 1’15.210 | 0.799 | 234.974 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Mercedes | |||
| 11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | Ferrari | 1’15.199 | 0.788 | 235.008 |
| 12 | 63 | George Russell | Williams | Mercedes | 1’15.261 | 0.850 | 234.814 |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | Mercedes | 1’15.394 | 0.983 | 234.400 |
| 14 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | Mercedes | 1’15.593 | 1.182 | 233.783 |
| 15 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | Renault | 1’15.593 | 1.182 | 233.783 |
| 16 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 1’15.974 | 1.563 | 232.611 |
| 17 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 1’16.122 | 1.711 | 232.158 |
| 18 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | Ferrari | 1’16.279 | 1.868 | 231.681 |
| 19 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | Ferrari | 1’16.79 | ||
| 20 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | Honda |
Race Day Predictions:
1st- Perez
2nd – Verstappen
3rd – Leclerc
First DNF – Nikita Mazepin