Russian GP: Bottas took self-confident victory!

Several races have come up with pre-race drama this season, and that was up for the championship leader Hamilton at Sochi. On their way to the grid, the drivers tend to take practice starts to prepare themselves for the lights out. This time, however, Hamilton took a practice start out of the designated area, and he did it twice. The Briton's action was taken into investigation by the stewards.

The lights went out for the seventh time at Sochi Autodrom. Hamilton took a convincing start from pole, but teammate Bottas attacked like a hyena. The Finn first moved past Verstappen and then dived into the slipstream behind Hamilton. Going into Turn 1, half of his W11 was already ahead of the Briton, but braking a bit too late made Valtteri end up on the sausage kerb, and Hamilton managed, just barely, to stay ahead of his teammate. One of the best starts was taken by Renault's Ocon, who had jumped three positions and was now fourth in the race, followed by his teammate Ricciardo. 

Sochi is well-known for first-lap safety car episodes, and this year proved no exception to the rule. In Turn 1 there was contact between Charles and Racing Point's Stroll. The Monegasque hit the rear of Stroll's "pink Mercedes", which threw the Canadian into the barriers and out of the race. Charles was able to continue with no significant damage to his SF1000. There was also another bizarre event in Turn 1. McLaren's Sainz failed to brake in time for Turn 1, and he ended up on the run-off area. That wouldn't have been a problem, had the Spaniard rejoined the track following the instructions, which meant getting around the orange blocks. However, Sainz was driving way too fast, and he ended up hitting the edge of the wall and almost every block on his way back to the track! In addition to his own race, Sainz ruined his teammate's race as well, as Norris inevitably hit the debris on the track. Safety car was deployed.

Safety car came in on lap 5, and the race was back on. Hamilton's preparation for the restart was perfect, and his lead wasn't jeopardised. However, a couple of laps later the stewards gave their verdict; Hamilton was handed two 5-second time penalties, one for each practice start out of the designated area.

It was inevitable, that the Briton was going to run out of tyres before his closest rivals Bottas and Verstappen, who had started to the race on the yellow-walled medium compound. Hamilton banged the fastest lap time, and then pitted on lap 16. He suffered his penalty first, 10 long seconds, before switching to the hard Pirellis. The Briton rejoined the track in P11, right ahead of Kimi, who had started to the race on the hard rubber and was driving a long first stint. 

Bottas was absolutely flying in the lead. He was banging superb lap times one after another, and his margin to teammate Hamilton had increased into almost 40 seconds. The Finn was perfectly safe in terms of his upcoming pit stop, as the delta time at Sochi was about 25 seconds. Verstappen pitted on lap 25, switching to the hardest compound. The Dutchman rejoined the track in P4. Home hero Kvyat, who had also started to the race on the hard rubber, hadn't pitted yet, and the Russian was third in the race. Bottas pitted from the lead on the sequential lap, opting for a similar tyre choice. The storming Finn rejoined the track in the lead. 

Kimi was driving a consistent race in P10, until he pitted on lap 36. Unfortunately the Iceman's pit stop didn't go as planned, as the mechanics had problems with attaching his front-left tyre. A 6-second delay was costly for Kimi, and the Iceman dropped down to P16. Sebastian, too was driving a modest race at the back of the pack. On lap 40 he attacked Haas' Grosjean, who was adamant to hold on to his position. There was even contact between the two, luckily tyres only. Sebastian made his way past the Frenchman, who ended up going wide, hitting the colourful blocks. Virtual safety car was brought out, but for a short moment only, as the Russian marshals had quickly replaced the damaged blocks with new ones.

Bottas was controlling the race perfectly. Runner-up Verstappen was 10 seconds down on the Finn already. Hamilton in third was almost 10 seconds off the Dutchman, so the pecking order was very straightforward. The most thrilling battle seemed to be going on for P9 between Norris, Albon and Gasly. Albon in his RB16 made a small mistake, and Gasly used his opportunity right away, snatching P10. Norris seemed to be in trouble with his dying hard tyres, and both Albon and Gasly passed the struggling Briton. Norris had no choice but to pit for the second time, which dropped the young McLaren pilot out of points. 

It was an awkward moment to see race leader Bottas behind Sebastian, lapping the struggling quadruple world champion, who was shown blue flags. It hurt my heart to see Sebastian out of the points and struggling with a badly-behaving car.

On the second last lap Bottas set the fastest lap time, which brought the Finn the extra point, too. The day was perfect for Valtteri, who deserved his second win of the season undoubtedly. Verstappen managed to split the Silver Arrows, which was the maximum result for the Red Bull ace. Hamilton completed the podium in spite of his penalty, but equalling Schumacher's record of most wins is still to await. Perez finished fourth for Racing Point, which underlined the strong potential of the Mexican. The Renault duo of Ricciardo and Ocon was split by Charles, who managed to extract the maximum out of the performance-lacking Ferrari. Home hero Kvyat finished impressive 8th, followed by Gasly in the sister AlphaTauri and Albon in his RB16. To my deep disappointment, Sebastian finished 13th and Kimi 14th. 

In spite of the glorious win at Sochi, Bottas is still 44 points down on his teammate in the championship standings. However, the Finn managed to increase his lead to Verstappen into 33 points. The battle for P4 is absolutely hair-raising, as Norris has 65 points to Albon's 64 and Ricciardo's 63. In the constructors' standings the top two teams are very obvious; Mercedes are the leading team, and Red Bull are their closest contender. But who will be "the best of the rest" at the end of the season? Currently McLaren are third with 106 points. Racing Point in fourth are only two points down on McLaren, and Renault in fifth are five points down on "the pink Mercedes". Ferrari are currently in modest P6 with 74 points.

In a fortnight the F1 circus moves to Nurburgring Germany, which hasn't hosted an F1 race for seven years. The autumn weather in Germany may throw up some interesting challenges for the teams.

Russian GP / Qualifying: Verstappen made it on the front row alongside Hamilton!

Formula 1 definitely brings joy into my weekend. I have been on a sick leave since Monday; I have found myself in a situation, where I have completely run out of energy and strength and where I don't feel well either physically or mentally. I still don't know, whether this is about burn out or depression or a combination of those two. It has been 1.5 years only since I lost my 16-year-old son Samuel, so instead of judging myself I'm trying to feel compassion for myself. I have tried to focus on things, that bring me joy, such as walking in the forest and swimming in the lake, which gets colder and colder every week. When I don't feel well, I tend to isolate myself from the outside world, but now I have consciously tried to see people and not to leave myself outside alone. I'm so happy, that it's Formula 1 weekend, which gives me other things to think about in this difficult time.

Russian GP weekend couldn't have come at a better time. Sochi brings back so many memories from 2017! In April 2017 life was perfect! I lived a four-day fairy-tale at the coast of the Black Sea. Those days and all those experiences and wonderful memories give me so much strength.

Qualifying was expected to be a Mercedes show, as Mercedes have won every race at Sochi. Bottas had shown top form in the free practice sessions, and the Finn went fastest at the beginning of the first session. Teammate Hamilton's lap time, on the other hand, was deleted due to exceeding the track limits at Turn 1. Perez in his "pink Mercedes" was second, followed by teammate Stroll and Red Bull's Verstappen. Against the odds, the Dutchman had set his lap time on the medium compound. Meanwhile, Leclerc jumped third, whilst teammate Sebastian was down in 7th, massive two seconds off the pace. Having completed a cool-down lap, Hamilton headed for another flyer, which saw him jump second in the standings. At the closing stages of Q1, everyone rushed out, trying to find an optimal track position for their last flyer. Kimi at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo made a mistake in Turn 1, spinning and losing the lap. Unfortunately the Iceman was out of Q2. There was a close fight for P3 in the end. First Renault's Ocon jumped third, but a short moment later AlphaTauri's Kvyat deprived the Frenchman of the third place. Charles, who didn't even come out at the end of the session, ended up 14th fastest. In spite of his second run, Sebastian was only able to make it P15, being the last driver to make it into Q2. In addition to both Alfa Romeos and both Haas, also Williams' Latifi got knocked out of the second session.

It was no surprise to see the Silver Arrows come out on the yellow-marked medium rubber. Expectedly, Verstappen opted for similar tyre strategy. This time it was Hamilton, who set the pace. McLaren's Sainz was a surprise second, as especially Bottas' middle sector had left a lot to hope for, and the Finn was nine tenths down on his teammate. At this point Norris in the sister McLaren was fourth and Ocon fifth. However, once again Hamilton's lap time was deleted due to not respecting the track limits -this time at Turn 18. Now there was Renault's Daniel Ricciardo on top of the standings! Ferrari's pace was everything but competitive, Charles being 9th and Sebastian 13th only. Verstappen, who had set his lap time on the mediums, was now in P7. It seemed, that the flying Dutchman was forced to switch to the softs for his second run. Bottas, on the other hand, made another flyer on the mediums, moving up to second. But last-minute drama brought a new twist to the otherwise predictable second session. On his second run, Sebastian lost the rear of his SF1000 in Turn 4, spinning and hitting the barriers. His front wing was smashed, and there was debris all over. Charles, who had been following his teammate closely, hit the debris and was about to hit his teammate's car! Red flags came out, with 2:15 remaining in the clock. At this point Hamilton had no time, and the reigning world champion was down in P15. With that little time left, it was surprising, how Hamilton stayed in the pit garage, whilst all his rival queued on the pit lane, waiting for the light to turn green. As the session was resumed, Hamilton was the last driver to head out! The Briton managed just barely to start his flyer in time. On the contrary to Sainz and Perez, who didn't reach the start line in time. On the soft Pirellis Hamilton had it easy to jump 4th, making his way into the final segment. Verstappen made a bold call to abort his last run on the soft tyres, to get the tyre advantage for tomorrow's race. His first run on the mediums entitled him to P9. It turned out to be another difficult day in the office for the Red Team, as in addition to Sebastian's shunt, Charles was the first driver to be eliminated from Q3. AlphaTauri's Kvyat and Williams' Russell were also out, accompanied by Racing Point's Stroll, whose "pink Mercedes" had been hit with a technical issue and who therefore had been unable to go for a second run. 

After the rhythm-braking second session, Hamilton was back on top form in Q3. And the margins were huge. The Briton took provisional pole by over seven tenths to his teammate! Valtteri told after qualifying, that he had had difficulties to get his tyres up to temperature on his first run. Verstappen was third and Ricciardo fourth. These ex teammates were separated by four thousandths of a second only. Perez was fifth for Racing Point, followed by Sainz (McLaren) and Ocon (Renault), who were also separated by a hundredth of a second only. It all came down to the second runs. Bottas managed to improve a little, but he still ended up half a second shy of his teammate's benchmark. And everyone, who follows F1 knows, that the end of Q3 means hammer time for Hamilton. The Briton absolutely nailed his second run, increasing the gap to Valtteri into over six tenths. Verstappen, too delivered at the end of the session, jumping second and making it on the front row for the first time in Sochi! Less than a tenth separated Max and Valtteri in the end. Perez completed the second row for Racing Point, which was an impressive result from the Mexican. The third row was conquered by Ricciardo and Sainz. Ocon qualified 7th in the sister Renault and Norris 8th in the sister McLaren. AlphaTauri's Gasly and Red Bull's Albon rounded out the top ten. Albon's result, P10 and 1.7s off the pace, is unacceptable, as Max has showed, what kind of potential the RB16 holds.

In Sochi if anywhere, pole is the most ungrateful place to start to the race. The straight into Turn 1 is the longest on the calendar, and the benefit from the tow has only increased this year. In addition to this, Hamilton is on more degradable tyre compound, as he starts to the race on the soft Pirellis, whilst Verstappen and Bottas are on more durable medium Pirellis. In 2017 Bottas had the most perfect acceleration from P3 into the lead. Will he be able to repeat it tomorrow? If Hamilton wins tomorrow, he'll equal Schumacher's record of most wins (91) in F1.

Tuscan GP: Maiden podium for Albon in a collision-filled race!

Dark clouds gathered upon Red Bull before the start already. Verstappen reported about an engine woe on his installation lap, and the mechanics were busy working on the car until the very last minute. 

The lights went out for the very first time under the Tuscan sun. Bottas took an incredible start from P2, snatching the lead from his teammate. Verstappen's reactions at the lights out had been outstanding, but there was something wrong with the ERS system of his RB16, which meant significant loss of power and losing positions. Turn 2 saw a major incident; AlphaTauri's Gasly crashed into Kimi's Alfa Romeo. This contact made the Iceman crash into the rear of Verstappen's Red Bull, throwing the Dutchman into the gravel. The race was over for both Verstappen and Gasly. Monza's glory had disappeared in a blink of an eye! Kimi was able to continue, but the Iceman had to pit to get himself a new front wing, which dropped him down to P17. Also McLaren's Sainz span between Turns 2 and 3. Sebastian proved unable to avoid contact with the Spaniard. The German's front wing took damage, and Sebastian had to pit for a new nose. Safety car was deployed on the opening lap already!

The greatest start to the race had been taken by Charles, who was now third in the race! He was followed by Red Bull's Albon, who was chasing his maiden podium finish. Safety car came in on lap 6. Bottas defended his lead superbly, keeping his contenders behind. But there was huge drama at the back of the pack right at the restart! Coming to the start straight, the back of the pack opened full throttle, expecting the top ten to do so. This led into a scary-looking collision involving four cars. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi crashed into the rear of Magnussen's Haas, with Latifi's Williams and Sainz' McLaren also taking a hit. All four drivers were out of the race, and there was debris all over the start straight! The race was red-flagged, and the cars were to return to the pit lane. At this point there were only 14 cars in the race. However, Renault's Ocon became the seventh driver to retire. The Frenchman had to retire due to brake overheating. Kimi, who had been able to avoid hitting anyone at the restart, was now in P11.

After a 20-minute delay the race saw a standing restart from the grid. Both Mercedes drivers opted for the medium tyre wear, whilst other top drivers had the red-walled soft compound on. Kimi, too opted for the medium compound. The restart was an eventful one. Thanks to the head wind, Hamilton benefitted from the tow and dived into Turn 1 as the race leader. Albon, who dropped down to P7, was the biggest loser at the restart. Kimi was able to pass Williams' Russell, moving up to P10.  

In spite of the excellent start to the race, Charles was in serious trouble with his toothless SF1000. Racing Point's Stroll had rapidly closed the gap to the Ferrari ace, and using DRS made it extremely easy for the Canadian to move past the Monegasque. Next lurking behind Charles was Renault's Ricciardo, who also used his opportunity and passed Charles. Racing Point's Perez was also missing pace, and Albon made a successful overtaking move on the Mexican. Charles' race turned into worse and worse, as both Albon and Perez overtook him one by one. The SF1000 was simply just too slow! Charles' tyres were finished, and he pitted on lap 22 for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. The pit stop dropped the Monegasque down to P13.

The gap between the Mercedes duo maintained within two seconds. Stroll in third was 12 seconds down on Bottas already. On lap 27 Bottas said on the team radio, that he wanted to opt for an opposite tyre choice to Lewis for his last stint. He obviously didn't want to leave any stone unturned in the fight against his teammate. Meanwhile, both Ricciardo and Kimi pitted for a differing tyre choice. The Australian opted for a fresh set of medium Pirellis, whilst the Iceman rejoined the track on a fresh set of hard tyres. Unfortunately Kimi's pit stop didn't go as planned, and the Iceman was now at the back of the pack.

Bottas pitted on lap 32, as the Finn's front-right tyre was completely finished. Also Hamilton and Albon pitted on the sequential lap. Both Mercedes were on the hard compound, although Bottas would have wanted to opt for a differing tyre strategy to his teammate. Hamilton was still leading the race, with Bottas second. Albon dropped down to P5 after his pit stop. Ricciardo was now impressive third in the race. Meanwhile, it was Norris' turn to overtake Charles, moving up to P7. This definitely wasn't the way to celebrate Ferrari's 1000th GP! Charles pitted for the second time on lap 39, now switching to the mediums. Meanwhile, both Mercedes drivers were told on the team radio to stay away from the kerbs due to high tyre degradation. 

The battle for the last podium place seemed interesting. Stroll was only 1.2 seconds down on Ricciardo, and Albon in fifth had quite the same gap to Stroll. However, a dramatic turn on lap 44 ended the race for the Canadian! Going through the Turns of Arabiata 1 and 2, Stroll suddenly suffered a rear-left puncture, and the Racing Point pilot was thrown into the tyre wall. The race was red-flagged for the second time already! Bottas had the perfect track position, and the Finn pitted for the second time. However, teammate Hamilton still managed to hold on to the lead despite pitting for the second time as well.

The last time there were two red flags in the race was at the 2016 Brazilian GP. Kimi was now under investigation for crossing the line at the pit entry. Unfortunately the Iceman was given a 5-second time penalty.

After another 20-minute delay, the second standing restart took place. Unfortunately Bottas failed to take a dream start. He had every opportunity to take his lost lead back by using the tow and attack Hamilton in Turn 1, but the Finn ended up losing a position to Ricciardo and dropping down to third. However, the gutted Finn took his second place back a moment later. Further down in the pack, Kimi had taken an impressive restart, as the Iceman had made it up to P8. The first points of the season were at the Iceman's sight!

With eight laps to go, Albon made his move and passed Ricciardo. The Thai driver was on his way to the podium for the very first time in his career. For the 90th time in his career, Hamilton crossed the finish line as the race winner. He broke another record by finishing in the points for the 222nd time in his career! The gap to teammate Bottas had increased into over five seconds in the end. I was so happy for Albon, who finally scored his maiden podium! Ricciardo was left fourth, with Perez fifth, Norris sixth and Kvyat seventh. Due to Kimi's time penalty, Charles finished the race in P8, with Kimi 9th and Sebastian 10th. It definitely wasn't a glorious race for the Red Team, but at least they got both drivers in the points. 

Italy has seen two extremely action-packed and colourful races. Now the F1 circus moves to Sochi, Russia in a fortnight. Sochi has a very special place in my heart, as that's the venue, where I got to interview the quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel back in 2017. Those are such unforgettable, extraordinary and exceptional memories, which I will always cherish!

Tuscan GP / Qualifying: Hamilton conquered first Mugello pole!

There was breaking news in the build-up to the first-ever Tuscan GP. On Thursday Racing Point announced, that they had signed Sebastian Vettel for Aston Martin for 2021. Sebastian's contract is said to cover multiple seasons. Actually Sebastian's new seat has been a "public secret" since May, when Ferrari announced, that Sebastian and the Red Team were to part ways at the end of the season. Signing Sebastian means, that Perez has to leave the team at the end of the 2020 season. It hasn't been confirmed, but most probably it's Lance Stroll, who lines up with Sebastian for Aston Martin. It's not only the team's name but also its colour changes from pink to dark green. At the moment I don't have a single green garment in my wardrobe! But I guess I will pretty soon... ;)

This weekend marks the very first time, that Mugello hosts an F1 race. The Tuscan GP also marks Ferrari's 1000th GP in the history of Formula 1. The first-ever F1 GP took place in Monaco in 1950. To mark this impressive milestone the Red Team run their cars in retro burgundy colour scheme this weekend. 

At the high-speed circuit of Mugello, qualifying was kicked off in hot and sunny conditions. Bottas set the fastest lap time on his first run, but teammate Hamilton was only 0.029s off the pace. Red Bull had struggled heavily at Monza last week, but now they were back on top form. Verstappen in third, however, was six tenths down on the Finnish Mercedes ace. Racing Point showed excellent performance as well, on the contrary to the Scuderia drivers, who were still struggling with their missing pace. Even Williams' Latifi made it ahead of Sebastian, who was in poor P15. Charles managed to extract a little more out of his burgundy-coloured SF1000, but he, too was 1.2s off the pace. Kimi seemed to enjoy the challenge offered by the Mugello circuit; the Iceman jumped 9th at the end of Q1. Albon in his RB16 put together a smooth lap, moving up to P4. Sebastian was the last driver to make it into Q2, whilst teammate Charles made it in promising P6. Monza hero Gasly was unexpectedly the first driver to be knocked out of Q2! The Frenchman missed out on the second session by five hundredths of a second only. Kimi's teammate Giovinazzi was out, too, alongside with the Williams duo of Russell and Latifi and Haas' Magnussen.

Because the soft tyre provided for Mugello was the C3 compound instead of the softest C2 version, everyone opted for the above-mentioned compound in Q2. The tables turned in terms of the Mercedes teammates, as now it was Hamilton, who set the benchmark by 0.013 seconds. This time Verstappen managed to make it a little closer to the Silver Arrows, as the flying Dutchman was 0.162s down on Hamilton. The Mugello circuit really seemed to bring the best out in the RB16, as Albon was again fourth fastest. The first flyer saw Charles in P7 and Sebastian in P13. Kimi made his first run on the used set of soft Pirellis, and the Iceman was in P14. Sebastian did everything he could to improve his lap time on his last attempt, but he had no choice but to take P14 as the result, as Kimi managed to improve his lap time on his final run. The gap between the ex teammates was teeny tiny four thousandths of a second! P13 is the highest grid slot, that Kimi has reached this season, so there is some improvement in terms of Alfa Romeo's performance. Charles, on the other hand, made it among the top ten, being a second off Mercedes' pace. It was a bit surprising to see half a second separating the red-suited drivers. Out of the final segment were also McLaren's Norris, AlphaTauri's Kvyat and Haas' Grosjean. 

The only question ahead of the last session was, which one of the Mercedes drivers would take pole. Hamilton clocked an impressive banker lap, claiming provisional pole, again by some hundredths of a second only. The Red Bull drivers had a grab on the second row; Verstappen was third and teammate Albon fourth. Racing Point's Stroll in fifth was 1.2s down already. Charles made his first run on a used set of softs, ending up massive 2.5 seconds off the pace. Unfortunately the second runs turned into an anticlimax. At the closing stages of Q3 the wind had picked up, and Hamilton proved unable to improve his lap time. Thanks to a flying last sector, Verstappen managed to improve his lap time by a tenth. However, Renault's Ocon pushed too hard on his last run and span, bringing out the yellow flags. This forced Bottas to lift off, which meant no chance to challenge his teammate for pole. Charles was the driver to benefit most of Ocon's incident, and the Monegasque qualified as high as P5. In current circumstances it was a great way to mark the Red Team's significant milestone. The "pink Mercedes" by Perez and Stroll qualified sixth and seventh. However, they will start to the race in reversed order, as Perez has been given a 1-place grid penalty due to his collision with Kimi in FP2. McLaren's Sainz in P9 was sandwiched by the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Ocon.

I love the nature of the Mugello circuit; it's an old-school circuit with no run-off areas. It doesn't forgive you your mistakes; if you push too much to the limit, you will get stuck on the gravel. The G-forces are high and the tyre degradation is a key factor. I hope to see as eventful race tomorrow as last weekend! Always wishing the best for Sebastian (+ Max and Kimi)!

Italian GP: Phenomenal maiden win for Gasly in a red-flagged race!

Many people anticipated the Italian GP to be a predictable, probably even boring race. Against all odds it turned out to be the most thrilling, exciting and entertaining race for a long time!

Hamilton on pole took a stunning start, holding on to his lead. Bottas, on the other hand, failed to take a strong start. The Finn dropped down to P6 on the opening lap, and it seemed, as if there was something wrong with the Finn's W11. The McLarens had absolutely nailed the start, as Sainz was second and teammate Norris third. Perez in his "pink Mercedes" was fourth, followed by Renault's Ricciardo. Further down at the back of the pack, Sebastian had proved unable to gain any positions at the start. The German was driving in poor P17, as something dramatic suddenly happened on lap 6. Sebastian faced a brake failure, which meant cutting the corner and hitting the bollards in full speed! Sebastian nurtured his SF1000 into the pits, and retirement was inevitable. 

Hamilton in the lead had opened up an 8-second gap to Sainz. Further down in P6 Bottas was struggling with the performance of his W11. There seemed to be an issue with the cooling system, as Valtteri was told not to use slipstream. Verstappen, who had also taken a tame start, was lurking right behind Valtteri. Did Bottas' problems come down to the renewed regulation in terms of the engine mapping? Bottas reported on the team radio, that he was unable to race on the current engine settings. One thing was sure: the Finn was lacking performance badly!

Charles had been overtaken by Kimi at the beginning of the race, and the Monegasque was struggling outside the top ten. He pitted on lap 18, for a fresh set of hard Pirellis, rejoining the track in P17. Kimi, who had started to the race on medium Pirellis, pitted for the hard compound as well. Right after Kimi's pit stop Magnussen's Haas came to a halt on the finish straight near the pit entry. First there were yellow flags, but soon safety car was deployed. Both Hamilton and Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi drove into the pits right away. Unfortunately it had gone unnoticed for both of them, that the pit entry had been closed. This meant a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for both of them! 

During the safety car most drivers made their compulsory pit stop. This roulette had an interesting effect on the pecking order; Hamilton was leading the race, with Racing Point's Stroll second, AlphaTauri's Gasly third and the Alfa Romeo duo of Giovinazzi and Räikkönen fourth and fifth. The race had just become extremely interesting. 

As the safety car came in on lap 24, Charles took a great restart, making his way past both Alfa Romeos, moving up to P4. There was thin hope in the air, that Ferrari could make it in the points after all. However, as soon as the hope had awaken, as soon it was all gone. On lap 25 Charles lost the rear of his SF1000 at Parabolica, and he was heavily thrown into the tyre wall. The shunt damaged the tyre wall so significantly, that the race was red-flagged! All cars were to return to the pit lane.

After quite a delay to the race a standing start was to take place. First the cars started to the formation lap, and then they lined up on the grid, and what an order the grid saw! Hamilton, who was to suffer the penalty, started on pole, but this time it was Racing Point's Stroll alongside the six-time world champion! Gasly was in P3, with Kimi alongside the Frenchman! It was such an unusual grid, as Bottas was down in P8, and Verstappen was as further down as in P11! What a thrilling restart it was going to be!

Hamilton maintained his lead, knowing, that he had to box to suffer his penalty. Gasly made his way past Stroll, who had had a poor restart due to wheel spin. Kimi, too, smelled his chance and passed the Canadian. What a delicious situation it seemed! Kimi in his Alfa Romeo fighting for a podium finish! As Hamilton pitted for the stop-and-go penalty, Kimi was second already! Part of me knew, that it wasn't going to happen for real, but I enjoyed the moment to the fullest. 

Verstappen, whose race had had a lot to hope for, got more setbacks on lap 31, as the Dutchman had to drive into the pits and retire the race. Zero points for Max was bad news in terms of the championship fight. Kimi, too had a setback-filled end of the race. Alfa Romeo were lacking performance so badly, that the Iceman had no chance to defend his position against the faster McLarens and the Racing Points. First Sainz made it past Kimi, then Stroll. One by one all top ten drivers had passed the Iceman, no matter how hard Kimi pushed. It was so sad, as Kimi's skills would have entitled him to a much better result! The penalty had dropped Hamilton down to the very back of the pack, but the Briton made an unbelievable recovery, gaining positions one by one. Actually it was Hamilton, who dropped Kimi out of points. 

The last five laps were such a thriller! Sainz in his McLaren had closed the gap to Gasly in the lead. AlphaTauri's pace was amazingly competitive, and Sainz had to push everything he got to make it within DRS distance from the Frenchman. It all came down to the very final lap. Sainz used DRS and attacked, but Gasly crossed the finish line as the race winner! It was the Frenchman's maiden win in F1; what a delightful moment! Sainz, too scored his best ever result by finishing the runner-up. Stroll completed the podium for Racing Point. So in the end I got, what I had hoped for, a non-Mercedes winner! Norris finished fourth in the sister McLaren, leaving Bottas in disappointing P5. Ricciardo finished the race sixth for Renault, and Hamilton managed to recover from his penalty and move up to P7 in the end. Ocon (Renault), Kvyat (AlphaTauri) and Perez (Racing Point) completed the top ten. Unfortunately Kimi was left in P13 with no points despite fighting like a lion.

Gasly became the 109th GP winner in the history of Formula 1. It was so touching to see the genuine joy of the winner himself and that of the team. In the end, the Italian GP saw a victory by an Italian team, and the Italian national anthem was played on the podium, in spite of the devastating difficulties of Ferrari! It was such a welcomed change to see a podium with no Mercedes drivers! F1 needs more races like this. Gasly making his way from P10 to victory was a much-needed fairy-tale.

Next week's race at iconic Mugello will mark Ferrari's 1000th GP in Formula 1. Scoring points would be a proper way to celebrate this great achievement! So upwards and onwards!

Italian GP / Qualifying: Mercedes still the team to beat, with or without party mode!

From Belgium the F1 caravan moved to sunny and hot Italy, the home soil of the Red Team. The Temple of Speed wasn't expected to suit the Scuderia too well, so I didn't have high expectations for the qualifying.

The midfield teams, which unfortunately currently include Ferrari, came out first in Q1. Charles went fastest, but his lap time was deleted due to exceeding the track limits at Parabolica. This made Sebastian on top but  for a fleeting moment only. Surprisingly, Q1 saw both Mercedes drivers come out on medium Pirellis. In spite of the harder rubber, they were absolutely flying. Hamilton set the benchmark by 0.25s to his teammate. Perez in his pink Racing Point was third and Sainz in his McLaren was fourth. Red Bull were struggling with their straight line speed quite badly, and Verstappen was only in P7 after his first run. Charles wasn't the only driver to exceed the track limits at Turn 11; also AlphaTauri's Gasly had his lap time deleted for the same reason. Charles made it P11 on his second run. As there were six minutes left in the clock, Sebastian was in desperate P17, so the things didn't look good at all for the German. Albon in his RB16 had it difficult as well. The Thai driver had his lap time deleted as well, and he was only barely in safety in P15. There was a ridiculous traffic jam on track during the last three minutes,  when everyone tried to find the right track position to benefit from the tow. Renault's Ocon was clearly impeding Kimi, whose last flyer was ruined due to the Frenchman. Luckily Kimi was in P14 already, so Ocon's manoeuvre didn't jeopardise Kimi's Q2 entrance. At the closing stages of Q1, Gasly jumped fifth in his AlphaTauri. Cruel but true, Sebastian was out of Q2 for real! 0.047s separated the struggling German from the second session. P17 on the grid definitely wasn't where the tifosi wanted to see Sebastian on their home turf! Alongside with Sebastian, also Haas' Grosjean, Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi and the Williams duo of Russell and Latifi were knocked out of Q2.

It hit me as a surprise, that everyone opted for soft Pirellis in Q2, even the Silver Arrows. Mercedes' pace was in a league of their own, so dominant, that they didn't even need to use slip stream to put together a staggering lap fime. Verstappen, on the other hand, followed Hamilton very closely to benefit from the tow. Once again it was Hamilton, who set the benchmark. Bottas was three tenths down on his storming teammate, and Perez in third was six tenths off the pace already. Sainz was fourth, only five thousandths of a second down on the Mexican. Verstappen was fifth, whilst his teammate Albon was only in poor P10. Bottas nailed it on his second run, making it on top of the standings. Hamilton was a tenth down, with Sainz third and Perez fourth. Albon was the last driver to make it into Q3. Kvyat, on the other hand, was the first driver to be excluded from the final session, accompanied by Renault's Ocon, Charles in his SF1000, Kimi in his Alfa Romeo and Haas' Magnussen. 

At Monza a new technical regulation was introduced in terms of engine maps used in qualifying. This made Mercedes' famous "party mode" prohibited from now on. This, however, proved to have no impact whatsoever on Mercedes' dominance in terms of one-lap pace! Hamilton took provisional pole by 0.053s to his Finnish teammate. Perez in third was six tenths down and Verstappen in fourth was seven tenths down. Once again Albon's lap time was deleted due to not respecting the track limits at Parabolica. A bit unexpectedly, Mercedes rushed out for their second runs with still five minutes in the clock. Others rushed to follow the leading team. Bottas managed to make it on top by a tenth of a second, but Hamilton was running from behind frighteningly fast. The battle between the teammates was tense, but again Hamilton got the upper hand. The pole was the Briton's but by 0.069s only. This was the unbelievable 94th pole for the dominant Briton. It was a welcomed change to see Sainz in P3 and Perez in P4. At the Temple of Speed Verstappen had to settle for row three and P5. Sainz's teammate Norris made it alongside the Dutchman. Renault's Ricciardo and Racing Point's Stroll locked down the fourth row, with Albon and Gasly rounding out the top ten.

What to expect from tomorrow's race? Nothing but a sweeping victory for either one of the Mercedes aces, presumably for Hamilton. There might be a battle for the lowest step of the podium, but let's see. Unfortunately that battle won't include the red-suited drivers, that's pretty sure. A non-Mercedes victory would be so welcomed for a change! In spite of the poor starting point to the race, I always believe in Sebastian! Forza Ferrari!

Belgian GP: Totally predictable 89th victory for imperious Hamilton!

McLaren's Sainz faced drama before the race start already. The Spaniard was hit with an exhaust failure, which proved impossible to be fixed in time for the start. AlphaTauri's Gasly was the only driver to start to the race on the white-walled hard compound. The red-suited drivers had different tyre strategy, as Charles was on soft Pirellis and Sebastian on the medium rubber.

Hamilton took a self-confident start. Going into Turn 1, Bottas was right at his teammate's tail, hungry to rob him of the lead. However, the Finn had to lift his foot off the throttle only for a fleeting moment, which meant, that he wasn't close enough to make an overtaking move in the Kemmel straight. Renault's Ricciardo, who had started to the race on the softs, was passionate to challenge Verstappen for P3; the Honey Badger even made it ahead of his ex teammate for a short moment, but Max stubbornly took back, what he thought was his. Teammate Ocon had had an impressive start as well, as the Frenchman had overtaken Albon at the start.

Charles had a promising start to his race in spite of the tame grid slot. By lap 5 the Monegasque had made his way up to P10 already. However, he sounded quite frustrated when complaining on the team radio about imminent lack of straight line speed. The SF1000 was going absolutely nowhere in the straights! McLaren's Norris saw his chance and attacked "crawling" Charles, snatching P10 from the struggling Ferrari ace.

There was dangerous-looking drama on lap 11. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi, who was driving out of the top ten, right ahead of his Finnish teammate, pushed a bit too hard, losing the rear of his car and hitting the wall. The rear-left tyre was ripped off, which shouldn't have happened. The loose tyre hit Russell's Williams, although the Briton did everything to avoid it. Russell, too ended up into the wall, with his car wrecked as well. The track was covered with debris, and safety car was deployed. Everyone else rushed into the pits, except for AlphaTauri's Gasly and Racing Point's Perez, who stayed out. Mercedes' double stop was quite risky, as Bottas was just barely able to keep his second place ahead of Verstappen. The top three had predictably opted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Hamilton was still leading the race, with teammate Bottas second and Verstappen third. Due to not stopping yet, Gasly was fourth and Perez fifth.

The restart took place on lap 14. It offered Valtteri a second chance to challenge Hamilton for the lead, but the Briton was not to be surprised by any means. The restart didn't change the order of the top five. Lap 16 saw an event, which told everything about Ferrari's agonising current situation. Kimi in his Alfa Romeo saw his chance and made a move on Sebastian in the Kemmel straight. It seemed easy for the Iceman to move past the German and take P12. Who could have predicted, that Kimi in his Alfa Romeo would be the best performing Ferrari powered car at Spa Francorchamps? At Spa Francorchamps, where Ferrari were invincible last year, as Charles took his maiden win in F1! I felt utterly flabbergasted, totally out of words. On lap 19 teammate Charles tried to challenge Sebastian for P13, and the two even slightly made contact, but Sebastian firmly kept Charles behind. Such a battle for P13! It was so sad to watch!

Gasly was deeply in trouble with his out-worn hard tyres. Ricciardo attacked the Frenchman first, moving up to P4. Ricciardo showed excellent pace, but unfortunately his pace wasn't quite competitive enough to challenge Verstappen for P3. Also Ocon in the sister Renault and Stroll in his "pink Mercedes" smelled Gasly's blood and passed the struggling Frenchman. Gasly pitted not until on lap 27, for a fresh set of medium Pirellis. It was refreshing to see someone try different tyre strategy. 

Hamilton controlled the race from the start till the chequered flag. There was no battle for the podium places, which made the race quite boring. But just because the race is boring, you can't take anything away from Hamilton, who is just simply on another planet compared to his rivals. He is simply unstoppable at the moment, doesn't put a foot wrong. Valtteri had no chance to challenge him at any point of the race. Verstappen, who finished third, complained about a boring race, too. He had to look after his tyres, and there was no real chance for him to challenge either one of the Silver Arrows. Verstappen's statistics of finishing on the podium in the last six races is convincing as well. Ricciardo definitely was "the black horse" of the race today; the ever-smiling Australian took P4 and the extra point for the fastest lap time. Teammate Ocon finished fifth, having overtaken Red Bull's Albon on the very final lap! Norris crossed the finish line in P7, followed by Gasly, who had been voted as the Driver of the Day by fans. "The pink Mercedes'" pace proved quite mediocre, as Stroll and Perez finished in P9 and P10 respectively. Kimi had driven a strong race, but unfortunately the Iceman wasn't rewarded with any points this time (P12). Sebastian and Charles were left in P13 and P14! This was a catastrophic result for the Red Team, totally unacceptable.

Hamilton's lead in the drivers' championship standings keeps growing. The imperious Briton has now 157 points to Verstappen's 110. Bottas is still third with 107 points. Albon has now dropped Charles down to P5 in the standings (Albon 48-Charles 45). Norris, too has 45 points thanks to his solid P7 today. 

The F1 circus will move to Monza, Italy already next week. Monza is known not only as a true power circuit but also as the Red Team's home track. It's difficult to see, that the Red Team would be any more competitive on their home soil. Actually both upcoming back-to-back races will be held in Italy, so there might be two humiliating weekends on the way for Ferrari. It might be a good thing, that the races will be driven in front of empty grandstands, as the current situation hits hard fans' emotions and hearts as well. 

My heart bleeds to see Sebastian fight for P12. He has potential for so much more. The current situation is absolutely unbearable.