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.

Belgian GP / Qualifying: Fifth pole of the season for Hamilton, whilst both Ferraris got knocked out of Q3!

The Belgian GP weekend starts the third triple-header of the season. Naturally Mercedes arrived at famous Spa Francorchamps as the favourites in terms of both qualifying and the race. Ferrari's situation had even worsened coming to chilly Belgium. The last free practice session had seen Charles in P17 and Sebastian at the very back of the pack in P20! The starting point to the qualifying couldn't have been any more difficult. 

Mercedes continued living their fairy-tale. Hamilton went fastest, with teammate Bottas only two tenths off the pace. Ricciardo at the wheel of his Renault brought a refreshing change, as the Australian jumped third on his first run. However, Mercedes proved untouchable, as Ricciardo was nine tenths off Hamilton's benchmark already. Sainz in his McLaren was fourth, followed by the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Albon. Things seemed miserable for the Red Team after their first flyers; Charles made it only 14th and Sebastian 18th. Only the Haas duo of Grosjean and Magnussen was slower than the struggling German. Verstappen made a second run on his first set of soft Pirellis, jumping third. However, not even the flying Dutchman was able to make it closer than 0.8s from the pace-setting Briton. At the very end of the session the traffic at the last corner was horrendous, as both Ferraris, both AlphaTauris and both Williams were trying to find an optimal position for their decisive last attempt. Luckily both Charles and Sebastian were able to extract a little more out of their challengers, and they both made it among the fifteen fastest. Charles made it just barely though, as his margin to safety was 0.087s only! The first driver to be knocked out of Q2 was unfortunately Kimi, the King of Spa. Alongside with the Iceman, eliminated were his teammate Giovinazzi, Williams' Latifi and the Haas duo of Grosjean and Magnussen. The comet of the first session was definitely AlphaTauri's Gasly, who jumped fourth at the closing stages of the first session.

Expectedly, the Mercedes duo came out on the medium Pirellis in Q2. So did Red Bull's Verstappen and a bit surprisingly both Racing Points as well. In spite of the harder rubber, once again Hamilton made it on top. This time Bottas got close, as he was only a tenth down on his teammate. Max got a little bit closer, too, as he was 0.4s down on Hamilton. Renault continued their awesome performance, as Ricciardo was fourth and Ocon fifth. Racing Point's tyre choice didn't prove successful, as the pink-suited drivers were only in P10 (Stroll) and P11 (Perez) after their first runs. It was obvious, that they had to opt for the soft compound at the end of the session. Ferrari's struggle continued, as Sebastian was in poor P13, followed by his teammate. Spa Francorchamps, which required high straight line speed, proved the worst-suiting track for the Red Team so far. There was no chance for Sebastian and Charles to make it among the top ten. Having opted for the soft compound, Stroll jumped fifth and Perez 7th. Sainz made an excellent job by moving fourth at the end of the session. AlphaTauri's Kvyat was the first driver to miss out on Q3, and by such a minimal margin as 0.008s! His teammate Gasly was out, too. The Ferrari duo of Charles (P13) and Sebastian (P14) was separated by three tenths in favor of the Monegasque. Williams' Russell was left in P15. 

Q3 threw no surprises. Like predicted, Hamilton laid his hands on provisional pole. This time he pulled a significant gap to his teammate, as Bottas was half a second down already. Ricciardo was magnificent third after his first run, but Verstappen in fourth was a hundredth of a second off the Australian only. Teammate Albon had found promising pace as well, and the Thai driver was in P5. Although Hamilton had set a flawless lap at the beginning of the final segment, the Briton saw a chance for improvement. On his final flyer, he cut two tenths off from his benchmark, making it his fifth pole of the season and 93rd of his career. Bottas was truly left half a second down on his teammate. Actually Verstappen got extremely close to a front row grid slot, as the Dutch Red Bull ace was only 0.015s down on the Finn. Ricciardo made it on the second row alongside Verstappen. The third row was locked down by Albon and Ocon. The top ten was rounded out by McLaren's Sainz, the Racing Point duo of Perez and Stroll and Norris in his sister McLaren. 

I definitely hope there will be some rain tomorrow! Otherwise it will be another boring race, with Hamilton disappearing into the horizon. Ricciardo is the first driver on the grid on the soft compound, as the top three will start to the race on the medium rubber. Will the Ferraris be able to make it in the points even? My heart bleeds to see Sebastian struggle like this. This might be the worst season for Ferrari in those 25 years, that I've been following the sport!

Spanish GP: Hamilton broke Schumacher's record of most podium finishes!

It was scorching hot at Circuit de Catalunya, as the lights went out. Hamilton on pole took a rocket start, on the contrary to his teammate. Verstappen saw his chance and snatched the second place. Bottas got sandwiched by the "pink Mercedes", as Stroll, too had passed the Finn, and Perez was at the Finn's tail. It was crucial for Valtteri to pass Stroll to keep his dream of challenging his teammate alive. Circuit de Catalunya is known for only very few places for overtaking; on lap 5 Valtteri saw his chance and made a successful overtaking move at Turn 1.

Hamilton in the lead kept setting considerably slow lap times, in order to manage his soft tyres. It was easy for Verstappen to keep within 1.5 seconds from the Briton. Bottas, too was within a couple of seconds from the Dutchman. The top three was on a level of their own, as the Racing Points weren't able to match the top three's pace. Albon in his RB16 was the first top driver to pit on lap 17. The Thai driver opted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis, which seemed a bit questionable choice.

By lap 20 the gaps between the top three had increased. Hamilton had already built up a 6-second gap to Verstappen, and Bottas was now 8.5 seconds behind his teammate. It was a bit surprising to hear Verstappen complain about his out-worn tyres on the team radio. On the basis of last weekend's events at Silverstone, I had expected it to be Mercedes, who would be in trouble with tyre management. Meanwhile Kimi, who had started to the race on the medium compound, pitted for another set of mediums. Max pitted a lap later. The flying Dutchman switched to the medium rubber, and rejoined the track in P3, right ahead of the Racing Points. As both McLarens pitted, the Ferrari duo was now in P6 (Charles) and P7 (Sebastian). Hamilton and Bottas pitted from the lead -also for another set of mediums.

Perez in his RP20 and Charles in his SF1000 drove a 29-lap first stint on the softs, until they pitted for mediums. Sebastian had started to the race on the yellow-marked medium tyres, and he switched to softs on lap 29. In the halfway point of the race dark clouds had emerged in the sky, and even rain was predicted some ten laps before the chequered flag. It seemed almost as if the dark clouds were an omen for the Red Team. Suddenly on lap 37 Charles span without making a mistake of his own, and his SF1000 stopped at the second last corner. The Monegasque managed to continue, but in the end, he had to box and retire the car. Now it was all about Sebastian's performance.

During the Spanish GP Kimi in his Alfa Romeo broke a record. After completing lap 37, the Iceman had raced 83 846 km, which is further than any other driver in F1 history! In fact, that's more than twice the circumference of the Earth! The record breaker was now in P13 in the race. 

Red Bull reacted first and called Max in on lap 41. He rejoined the track in P3 on a fresh set of medium Pirellis. However, Bottas proved unable to open a gap big enough to the Dutchman. The Finn pitted for the second time on lap 48, for soft tyre wear. Race leader Hamilton, on the other hand, told on the team radio, that he didn't want to switch to the soft compound, but he was happy with his current tyres. The Briton boxed two laps after his teammate, for another set of mediums. 

Perez in P4 had been taken under investigation by the stewards for ignoring blue flags, when race leader Hamiltonnwas lapping him. Soon the Mexican was given a 5-second time penalty for his infringement. AlphaTauri's Kvyat was similarly penalised some laps later. 

The atmosphere between Sebastian and the Red Team seemed everything but warm. Sebastian's race engineer Adami asked on the team radio, what Sebastian thought about going till the end on the soft tyres. The German replied, that wasn't it what they had discussed earlier already. Thanks to the one-stop strategy, Sebastian was now fifth in the race. However, there were threats coming from behind. First of them was Racing Point's Stroll.

On lap 57 the Canadian had made it within striking distance from the German. Unfortunately there was only very little for Sebastian to do, when Stroll opened his DRS. Losing P5 to Stroll was unfortunately inevitable. Three laps later McLaren's Sainz had closed the gap to Sebastian, who was in trouble with his dying tyres. Thanks to DRS, also Sainz made it past Sebastian, who now dropped down to P7. 

Although Bottas had set the fastest lap time three laps before the chequered flag, he pitted on the second last lap for a fresh set of medium tyres. Due to screwing up at the start, the Finn wanted the extra point for the fastest lap time. Which he also nailed on the very final lap! 

It was win number 88 for imperious Hamilton. Runner-up Verstappen was massive 23 seconds off the world champion's pace. Bottas in third was another 20 seconds behind the Red Bull ace. Unbelievable but true, only those three cars were on the same lap! Perez crossed the finish line in P4, but teammate Stroll leapfrogged him after the penalty for the Mexican. Sainz finished sixth for McLaren and Sebastian scored his best result this season by finishing in seventh. Despite lack of car performance, he fought bravely on a differing pit stop strategy. I was touched to see him voted as the Driver of the Day. Albon finished eighth in the sister Red Bull, with AlphaTauri's Gasly and McLaren's Norris completing the top ten. Unfortunately Kimi didn't make it in points, but was left in P13. 

Hamilton now broke Schumacher's record of most podium finishes, as this was the 156th podium finish for the sweeping Mercedes ace. His dominance made today's race very boring. Not even the rain came to mix things up. Hamilton now has 132 points to Verstappen's 95. Teammate Bottas is 43 points off the Briton already. Hamilton keeps breaking Schumacher's records one after another.

After a two-week break the F1 circus will move to Spa, Belgium. With high hopes I'm looking forward to more success from Sebastian and the Red Team. Forza Ferrari!

Spanish GP / Qualifying: Hamilton predictably on pole!

After a two-race break Perez had finally been tested negative for Covid-19, and the Mexican was back at the wheel of his RP20. In the previous years the Spanish GP has taken place in May, so today's conditions were different to the usual ones. Barcelona is currently under a heat wave, so air temperature was +30 degrees Celsius. The track temperature was as high as +50 degrees Celsius.

Q1 unravelled the usual way. Hamilton set the benchmark, which teammate Bottas proved unable to match. Verstappen in third, on the other hand, was only two thousandths of a second shy of Bottas. "The pink Mercedes" showed excellent performance as well, as Stroll jumped second, splitting the Silver Arrows. Only a moment later teammate Perez deprived his teammate of the second place. Ferrari's pace was still modest, especially in terms of Sebastian. Charles was 7th and Sebastian 11th. Both Racing Points sat out the second runs at the end of the session, but everyone else rushed out. It was a positive surprise to see Kimi's perky performance at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo. The Iceman made it into Q2 for the first time this season! Opposite to his teammate Giovinazzi, who was left at the very back of the pack. The pecking order of the backmarkers was quite straightforward; both Haas drivers and both Williams drivers were knocked out of the second session as well. 

For the first time this season, everyone opted for the soft compound at the beginning of Q2. The pecking order remained the same; Hamilton kept his teammate under control, but this time by one tenth of a second only. Again Verstappen was third, half a second off the pace. Sainz in his McLaren was fourth and Perez in his "pink Mercedes" fifth. However, Charles jumped fifth, dropping Perez down to sixth. Sebastian was only 11th after his first attempt, massive 1.3s down on pace-setting Hamilton. Kimi was the only driver to come out on medium Pirellis at the end of the session. I was slightly amazed, how competitive the Iceman turned out. The Finn managed to out-qualify Renault's Ocon, qualifying in P14 on the grid. P14 can be seen as an excellent achievement, considering Alfa Romeo's lack of power and performance in general. The top three sat out the second runs, as the Mercedes duo and Red Bull's Verstappen had no need to go out for the second time. Sebastian again faced cruel destiny; he was knocked out of the last segment by two thousandths of a second, whilst teammate Charles made it among the top ten (P8). Sebastian was accompanied by AlphaTauri's Kvyat, the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Ocon and Alfa Romeo's Räikkönen. At the very end of the session Stroll jumped fourth and Gasly in his AlphaTauri fifth.

To my disappointment Q3 saw no changes in terms of the predicted pattern, which made the shootout for pole quite boring actually. Once again Hamilton laid his hands on provisional pole, but not as easily as in the first two sessions. Bottas had set the screens purple in first two sectors, but Turns 10 and 12 in the last sector proved difficult for the Finn, and he was 0.059s down on his teammate. Verstappen's gap to Hamilton had increased into seven tenths, and Perez in fourth was a second down on the Briton already. Charles in P7 was incredible 1.7s down on the Mercedes ace! Against the odds, the top five made no improvements on their last flyers. Predictably, Hamilton made it on pole again, with teammate Bottas making it another front row lockout for the Silver Arrows. Verstappen familiarly stood out of the crowd as "the best of the rest", with Perz fourth and teammate Stroll fifth. Albon in his RB16 made it 6th on the grid, leaving the McLaren duo of Sainz and Norris in P7 and P8. Charles and AlphaTauri's Gasly rounded out the top ten. Worth noting is the fact, that Albon's gap to teammate Verstappen, once again, was massive eight tenths. There are two drivers, who are in serious trouble with their teammates, and those are Albon and Sebastian.

I have to be honest and say, that I don't have high expectations for tomorrow's race. My prediction is, that Hamilton wins the race, Bottas finishes as the runner-up, and Max completes the podium. That, however, sounds as a very boring race. I hope to see some surprises and unexpected turns, excitement at least!

70th anniversary GP: Superb victory for Max Verstappen!

70 years of Formula 1 history was celebrated today at Silverstone. The reigning world champion was hunting one piece of the F1 history; by finishing on the podium Hamilton was to equal Schumacher's record of most podium finishes (155). 

Bottas took the start with self-confidence, although Hamilton tried his very best to challenge his Finnish teammate for the lead. Verstappen took a magnificent start on the hard tyres, making it past Hulkenberg's "pink Mercedes" immediately. Also Stroll gained a position at the start, as the Canadian managed to pass Renault's Ricciardo. Unfortunately the driver to face drama on the opening lap was Vettel, who had started to the race on the white-walled hard Pirellis. Going into the first corners, hitting a kerb, Sebastian peculiarly lost the rear of his SF1000, spinning and dropping down to the back of the pack. The circle of difficulties seemed endless for Sebastian! The start to the race wasn't easy for Charles, either. The Monegasque lost two positions at the start, dropping down to P10.

It was a bit surprising, how huge the tyre degradation turned out. Having completed six laps only, both Mercedes drivers complained about their overheated left-side tyres. Albon in his RB16 pitted on lap six already, opting for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. By lap 9 Verstappen had made it within 1.2 seconds from Hamilton. The team told Max to keep the distance to the Briton, but Max completely disagreed. He didn't want to "drive like a grandma", but to use every opportunity to challenge the Mercedes ace, who was in serious trouble with his blistered tyres.

The leading Mercedes drivers pitted on the sequential laps, with Bottas boxing first on lap 13. The Finn rejoined the track ahead of Charles in P6. Both drivers switched to the hard compound. Against all odds, Verstappen in the lead didn't have any issues with his tyres. He still hadn't pitted on lap 22, and unbelievable but true, his lap times were 1.5s faster than those of Valtteri, who was on much fresher tyres! Tyre management proved Max's secret weapon against the Mercedes drivers. Max had already opened a 16-second gap to Bottas in P2. Meanwhile, Sebastian pitted for the first time on lap 22. He switched to another set of hard tyres. 

Verstappen pitted not until at the halfway point of the race, on lap 26. The "tyre whisperer" opted for a fresh set of medium Pirellis and rejoined the track right at Bottas' tail. However, overtaking didn't prove difficult for Max, who was absolutely flying on his fresh tyres. Verstappen inevitably snatched the lead from the Finn.

Further down in the midfield, Kimi had also pitted for the first and only time. The Iceman had started to the race on the hardest compound, and opted for the mediums for his second stint. Kimi did everything he could at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo, but after pitting, the Finn was in tame P13. Haas' Magnussen, on the other hand, was given a 5-second time penalty for rejoining the track in dangerous manner, which led into contact with Williams' Latifi. 

Lap 32 saw both Verstappen and Bottas pitting for the second time. Both drivers' pit stops went smoothly, and only two seconds were separating the rivals, as they rejoined the track on hard Pirellis. Now it was all about battle for victory! Meanwhile, Hamilton stayed out, although his tyres were critically out-worn. It was amazing, how the Briton was still able to bang competitive lap times. Not until on lap 42, with ten laps to go, Hamilton pitted for the second time. He locked up his tyres when braking heavily at the pit entry. It almost seemed like speeding at the pit lane. The Briton had aimed for a one-stop strategy, but with the tyre degradation that Mercedes had, it proved mission impossible. Hamilton opted for another set of hard Pirellis. He rejoined the track four seconds behind Charles, who was confident to make one-stop strategy work. 

However, Charles proved unable to match Hamilton's storming pace. In just three laps Hamilton had made it within DRS distance from the Ferrari ace. The speed difference at the straight was so remarkable, that in spite of a desperate defensive move, Charles had no chance to keep Hamilton behind. After passing Charles, the Briton smelled his teammate's blood. Both Mercedes aces were told on the team radio, that they were free to race, but they had to keep it clean. Tenth by tenth Hamilton closed the gap to Valtteri, who was struggling heavily with grip on his blistered hard tyres. With only two laps to go, Hamilton moved ahead of his teammate. Pole had turned into a bitter P3 for the Finn. 

"Tyre whisperer" Max Verstappen was not only the hero of the day, but also the Driver of the Day -once again. He crossed the finish line as the  race winner for the 9th time in his career. This was the first time, that Red Bull won at Silverstone since 2012! Max's margin to the runner-up Hamilton was impressive 11 seconds. Pole-sitter Bottas was cruelly left on the lowest step of the podium. Once again Charles managed to maximise his performance at the wheel of his pace-lacking SF1000, thanks to the Red Team's genius strategy. Albon, too finally delivered, crossing the finish line in fifth. The Thai driver was followed by the Racing Point duo of Stroll and Hulkenberg. The German ended up doing three pit stops in the race. The top ten was rounded out by Renault's Ocon, McLaren's Norris and AlphaTauri's Kvyat. Sad but true, Sebastian could only make it P12 in the end. It also broke my heart to see Kimi in P15.

By winning the race, Max jumped second in the drivers' championship standings. Hamilton has 107 points to Max's 77. Bottas was dropped down to third with 73 points. Charles is now in P4, but 28 points down on the Finn already. Sebastian still has 10 points only, which doesn't provide a truthful image of his talent and skills. 

After reading a deep interview of Vettel at f1.com last weekend, many thoughts have crossed through my mind. Does Sebastian get any support from his fans this season, which is driven in front of empty grandstands? No fans are allowed to attend races, and Sebastian is the only driver on the grid, who doesn't have any social media. Meanwhile, other drivers get massive support on social media. I guess some drivers need it more than the others, but in my opinion everyone benefits from encouraging messages and words of support, especially in a challenging situation, like where Sebastian stands in right now. I wish there was a way, that us fans, could show how much we support him and cheer for him, no matter how many difficulties he faces on or off track! I wish he knew, that there are so many people, who believe in him from all their hearts!

It was a refreshing change to see Verstappen win the race! Hopefully going to Barcelona next week, will offer more refreshing winds of change!

70th anniversary GP / Qualifying: Second pole of the season for Bottas!

Pirelli had brought a step softer tyres for the second race at Silverstone. This change caused welcome variations in terms of teams' tyre strategies. Conditions at Silverstone were also significantly warmer than in last week's qualifying.

Q1 already saw medium tyres, as both Haas drivers came out on the yellow-marked compound. Williams' Russell opted for this compound as well. The Silver Arrows set the pace, with Bottas having an edge of 56 thousandths of a second over his teammate. Hulkenberg continued his services for Racing Point, as Perez had again been tested positive for Covid-19 after his 10-day quarantine. The German showed impressive pace right away, jumping third and being only a tenth off the pace. A moment later Verstappen went fastest, but the flying Dutchman was only 0.021s faster than Bottas. Albon in the sister Red Bull hadn't been able to overcome his difficulties; he ended up going wide, which produced tame P13 for the Thai driver. A 1.3-second gap to your teammate is an unforgiving performance. It wasn't easy for the red-suited drivers, either. Charles was in decent P7, but Sebastian was only in P10. It was difficult to understand, that Sebastian was six tenths slower than his teammate! He hadn't made any visible mistakes during his flyer; it seemed, that he just couldn't extract any more pace out of his SF1000. With 5 minutes remaining, Sebastian was as low as in P13. Albon, too was in poor P16. However, the Red Bull driver managed to jump third in the closing stages of the first session. This time there was only a thousandth of a second separating the Red Bull drivers, surprisingly in favor of Albon! Two drivers to stand out of the crowd were AlphaTauri's Gasly and Williams' Russell, who made P5 and P8 respectively. Sebastian was left in P14 in the end, just barely making his way into Q2. Eliminated from the second session were AlphaTauri's Kvyat, Haas' Magnussen, Williams' Latifi and the Alfa Romeo duo of Giovinazzi and Räikkönen. What a poor start to the season Alfa Romeo have had! Neither one of the drivers has made it into Q2 this season! It really hurts me to see Kimi in such a poorly-powered car, as the Iceman would have potential for so much more!

Q2 saw all three tyre compounds in use. Mercedes sent both cars out on the medium tyre wear, whilst Red Bull opted for a risky call, sending Verstappen out on the white-walled hard rubber. Once again it was Bottas, who set the benchmark, which was four tenths quicker than his teammate's lap. In spite of the hard tyres, Max made it fourth in the time sheets. The Scuderia opted for the medium compound, similar to Racing Point, Renault and McLaren. Charles set a competitive lap time, which entitled the Monegasque to P4. Sebastian, on the other hand, failed to make it among the top ten. Russell in his Williams set his first lap time on the soft Pirellis, still unable to break into the top ten. To maximise his chances to make it among the top ten, Sebastian was forced to switch to the softs at the end of the session. But not even the fastest tyre compound guaranteed the German a place in the final session! The badly-struggling German had to settle for disappointing P12! Renault's Ricciardo and Red Bull's Verstappen sat out the second runs. Hulkenberg was absolutely on flames at the wheel of his "pink Mercedes", jumping second in the standings. Gasly, too kept up his impressive work, making it 4th. This time the biggest name casualty in Q2 was McLaren's Sainz, who was knocked out of Q3 together with Renault's Ocon, Haas' Grosjean and Williams' Russell. Charles prevented the Scuderia's day from turning into a completely shameful one by securing his place among the top ten.

Other tyres than the softs have rarely been seen in the last segment. Against the odds, this time both Red Bull drivers and Renault's Ricciardo rushed out on the medium tyres. Silverstone is known to be extremely hard on the tyres, and the soft compound lasts the entire flying lap only barely. Hamilton took provisional pole by a tenth to his teammate, whose first sector left a little to hope for. Ricciardo was making a superb job, making it third on his first flyer. However, the gap to pace-setting Hamilton was a massive second. Hulkenberg was fourth in his pink car, leaving Verstappen fifth and Albon sixth. P7 was the maximum, that Charles was able to reach. Although a 1.5-second gap to Hamilton was pretty catastrophic! Both Hamilton and Bottas came out on the mediums at the end of the session. The Red Bull drivers had an opposite strategy, as they switched to the soft compound for their final flyers. Ricciardo, on the other hand, decided to stick to the mediums. Hamilton managed to snatch some hundredths of a second off his lap time, but teammate Bottas robbed his teammate of the pole! The Finn's lap time was six hundredths faster than that of his teammate's! After the devastating race result last week, Bottas was absolutely determined to take what was his. Hulkenberg out-qualified his teammate Stroll by four tenths, which made Hulk third on the grid! That was an impressive result indeed. Verstappen completed the second row, with Ricciardo and Stroll on the third row. Gasly qualified 7th for AlphaTauri and Leclerc 8th for the Scuderia. Red Bull's Albon and McLaren's Norris will line up on the fifth row. 

Verstappen will have the advantage in terms of tyre strategy, as he will start to the race on the hardest tyres. Although the required tyre pressures have been raised by the FIA, it's interesting to see, if there will be punctures in tomorrow's race. One thing is for sure: no team will try to make a one-stop strategy work! In spite of Hulkenberg's stunning P3, I consider Max as the strongest contender to fight for the last spot on the podium. Unfortunately my hopes are not high in terms of the Red Team's performance. At least I'm hoping to see an action-packed and eventful race! 

British GP: Hamilton took victory in spite of last-lap puncture!

Similar to the Hungarian GP two weeks ago, there was drama already before the race start. Hulkenberg, who had replaced Perez in "the pink Mercedes", hit trouble already when leaving garage. Unfortunately the issue turned out to be so severe, that Hulkenberg was unable to start to the race.

It was partly cloudy and 21 degrees Celsius, as the lights went out. Bottas took a superb start from P2, and the Finn dived into Turn 1 alongside Hamilton. Nevertheless, he wasn't quite able to challenge the Briton for the lead. Behind the Mercedes duo, Verstappen and Leclerc had a wheel-banging battle of their own. Charles made it past the Red Bull pilot, but lost the position right away. Sainz in his McLaren had taken a stunning start as well, having gained two positions right away. Teammate Norris, on the other hand, had lost two places. There was drama at the last corner on the opening lap. Magnussen in his Haas had hit the kerb at the previous corner, which had made the car jump and slide a bit. Albon in his RB16 saw his chance and went into the inside of the Dane. However, Albon placed himself right at the blind spot, so Magnussen couldn't see him. The collision made the Dane crash into the barriers, ruining the Haas pilot's race. Safety car was deployed already on the second lap!

Safety car came in on lap 5, and the race was back on. The order of the top five remained unchanged. Mercedes' race pace was on a different level compared to their rivals. Hamilton had a firm lead, but Bottas controlled the gap, keeping it within 1.5 seconds. Verstappen was in secured third place, as Leclerc in fourth proved unable to match the Dutchman's pace. Sainz in his McLaren was fifth, with Ricciardo sixth and Norris seventh.

The race saw the second safety car episode on lap 12. All of a sudden Kvyat's AlphaTauri was hit with a rear-right puncture, which threw the Russian into the barriers. The deployment of the safety car opened the pit stop roulette. Everyone rushed in for a fresh set of white-walled Pirellis, except for Haas' Grosjean, who stayed out. The Frenchman was now fifth in the race.

The second restart took place on lap 18. Once again the Mercedes duo quickly vanished into the horizon. Further down in the midfield, Sainz was challenging Grosjean for P5. In the heat of the battle, the Haas driver made questionable defensive moves. He changed his line twice, which meant changing the line at the braking. Rules define this as unsportsmanlike behaviour. The Frenchman's move was risky and dangerous, but Sainz took the upper hand, moving fifth. Grosjean was showed a black and white flag due to his unsportsmanlike behaviour. The Frenchman was struggling heavily on his out-worn medium tyres, and also Norris squeezed him past Grosjean, dropping the Haas driver down to P7.

Albon pitted for the second time on lap 31. He had been given a 5-second time penalty for causing the collision. The Thai driver switched to a fresh set of medium tyres and rejoined the track at the back of the pack. What a difficult race Albon was facing! His teammate was cruising to the podium, whilst Albon was fighting with the backmarkers! This is definitely the only major weakness, that Red Bull have; they have an outstanding driver in Max Verstappen, but no matter who they put in the sister Red Bull, he seems to be doomed to fail! Talking about difficulties, Sebastian, too had hard time fighting for P10. Not to mention Kimi in his Alfa Romeo, who was at the very back of the pack trying to keep the Williams cars behind.

Hamilton and Bottas in the double lead kept playing "cat and mouse game". Once the Finn had banged the fastest lap time, race leader Hamilton set the sectors purple on the sequential lap. Verstappen in third was already some ten seconds behind. Charles in P4 was massive 20 seconds down on the flying Dutchman already. The race seemed so boring, as there were no intense and hot battles for positions, not even in the midfield. It really seemed like Sunday driving for the Mercedes teammates and Verstappen! Further down in the midfield, Grosjean continued his unsportsmanlike manoeuvres. This time the victim was Racing Point's Stroll. In spite of Grosjean's dirty moves, the Canadian managed to get past. The Frenchman then pitted, which dropped him to the very back of the pack. In spite of repeating the dirty manoeuvre after the black and white flag, the stewards didn't take any further action in this matter.

Sebastian had it challenging to even finish in the points. For some reason, the German had no pace at all. AlphaTauri's Gasly was putting serious pressure on the struggling German, and managed to make a successful overtaking move, taking P10 from Sebastian. 

With ten laps to go, Bottas reported about vibration on the team radio. At the same time, the gap to Hamilton had increased into three seconds and kept increasing. However, there was no warning about what was to come a few laps later. With only three laps remaining, Bottas suddenly suffered a front-left puncture in Turn 3! He had to limp into the pits on three wheels, which turned the Finn's race into a complete catastrophe! The Finn's name kept dropping down in the standings... Motor sports sometimes has a cruel face, and Valtteri saw that face today. This definitely wasn't the Finns' day at all, as Kimi in his Alfa Romeo suffered a front wing failure at the Becketts, which ruined the race for the less talkative Finn! 

Bottas rejoined the track in disappointing P12. Meanwhile, Verstappen pitted for the second time for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. The Dutchman was to hunt the extra point for the fastest lap time. But had the energy drink team had a crystal ball, they wouldn't have called their hero in! Unbelievable but true, Hamilton faced a similar front-left puncture to his teammate! The only difference was, that the race leader was hit with the puncture on the very final lap! Against the odds, Hamilton was able to bring his three-wheeled W11 to the chequered flag and win the race! Sainz, too in P5 faced a similar front-left puncture on the penultimate lap, so Pirelli have a lot of research and work to do before next week's race at Silverstone. Verstappen would have won the race, had he not pitted for the second time! Once again Charles benefitted from his rivals' misfortune, completing the podium. Ricciardo was impressive fourth for Renault, with Norris fifth for McLaren and Ocon sixth in the sister Renault. In the end, Albon made it 8th in the sister Red Bull, leaving Stroll 9th in his RP20. Sebastian was just barely able to keep Bottas behind, scoring the last point and leaving the Finn out of points. 

Due to Bottas' crucial puncture, Hamilton suddenly has a 30-point lead in the drivers' championship standings. Verstappen is only 6 points down on Bottas, seriously challenging the Finn for the second place. Many people say, that such thing as luck doesn't exist in Formula 1. However, it is so interesting, how both success and misfortune tend to gather upon certain drivers. Hamilton always seems to have "luck" on his side; even when facing a puncture, he manages to cross the line as the race winner! Same goes for Charles in his SF1000. The Monegasque always seems to be "in the right place at the right time", gaining the success, when others fail. Bottas and Sebastian, on the other hand, are surrounded by a different kind of circle -the negative one. Setbacks seem to follow them one after another. I would definitely want to understand better, why this happens! I think this phenomenon is even more powerful now, when the season is more intense than ever before, with triple headers after triple headers.

Next weekend everything is wide open again -at least in theory! Somebody needs to challenge Hamilton for real, otherwise it will be another terribly boring race at Silverstone!

British GP / Qualifying: 7th pole for Hamilton on his home turf!

After a 2-week break it was time for another triple header! This weekend the F1 circus moved to iconic Silverstone, which will host two consecutive races in two weeks. Coming to this weekend, the breaking news had been the fact, that Racing Point's Perez had been tested positive for Covid-19 following his trip to his home country Mexico. The team announced, that Perez was replaced by Nico Hulkenberg during the Mexican's 10-day quarantine, which includes both races at Silverstone.

Mercedes continued, where they had left off at Hungaroring. Bottas set the benchmark in Q1, whilst teammate Hamilton made a small mistake on his first run, being three tenths off the pace. Verstappen showed excellent pace at the wheel of his RB16, jumping second. Charles was fourth, followed by Stroll in his pink Racing Point. Sebastian had had a very difficult start to the British GP weekend, as he had faced a series of techical issues in the free practice sessions, completing only a handful of laps. The woes continued in the qualifying, and Sebastian was in modest P10. The German was a second off the Finn's benchmark, which meant, that he had to go out again at the end of the session. Hamilton put together a competitive lap, making it second in the standings. Hulkenberg, who had been called to replace Perez on a very short notice, jumped fourth on his last run. However, teammate Stroll dropped him down to fifth only a short moment later. Sebastian ended up 8th in the standings. He was a tenth faster than his teammate, who had sit out the second runs. Both Haas drivers and both Alfa Romeos were knocked out of Q2 in addition to Williams' Latifi, who had spun at the closing stages of the first session. Teammate Russell, on the other hand, put together a superb lap, jumping 13th. However, the Briton is still under investigation due to improving his lap time under the yellow flags. 

Q2 was all about tyre strategy. Which teams would make it into Q3 setting their fastest lap time on the medium compound? The three leading teams -Mercedes, Red Bull and Racing Point- sent their drivers out on the yellow-marked medium Pirellis. Ferrari had a differing strategy for their drivers; Charles came out on the medium rubber, whilst Sebastian emerged on track on the softs. Hamilton hadn't found the flow yet; the reigning world champion span on his first attempt, which left him with no decent lap time. The home hero's spin brought so much gravel on the track, that the session was red-flagged with 8:51 in the clock. At this point Bottas was topping the time sheets. His closest rival Verstappen was massive 1.1s down on the Mercedes ace! Mercedes' edge was absolutely astronomical! Leclerc was third, Ocon fourth for Renault and Sainz fifth for McLaren. It was a bit surprising to see, that "the pink Mercedes" of Stroll and Hulkenberg were only in P8 and P10. When the session was resumed, Hamilton came out on a new set of medium Pirellis. This time the champion made no mistakes and jumped second, three tenths shy of his teammate. Sebastian's struggle continued, as he was only 8th, in spite of having set his lap time on the soft rubber. As there were three minutes left in the clock, everyone rushed out. Everyone else opted for the soft compound, except for Sebastian and Stroll, who opted for medium tyrewear. Neither of the drivers was able to improve his lap time. The battle behind Mercedes proved tight, and Sainz in his orange McLaren jumped fourth in the dying minutes of the second session. There were two surprise casualties in Q2; once again Albon failed to deliver for Red Bull, ending up in tame P12. Hulkenberg, too got eliminated from Q3 due to having failed to set a lap time competitive enough on the harder tyres. In addition to these surprise names, also the AlphaTauri duo of Gasly and Kvyat were out of the top ten, alongside Williams' Russell. Unbelievable but true, Stroll in crucial P10 and Gasly in P11 had set the exact same lap time! But because Stroll had set it first, he got into Q3 and Gasly didn't.

Bottas had set the pace in the first two segments, but as history had already shown, you mustn't ever write off Lewis Hamilton. Again the Briton rose from the ashes and clocked the fastest lap time, setting a new track record. Bottas was one and a half tenths down on his teammate. Verstappen in third was a light year down, as he was 1.1s slower than the pace-setting Mercedes ace! Stroll was fourth, Charles fifth and Sebastian sixth. I was quite worried to notice, that there were three tenths between the Ferrari teammates, in favor of the Monegasque. However, there was more to come from both Renault and McLaren. Both Ricciardo and Norris made it ahead of Sebastian. Charles showed promising performance, jumping third, but only temporarily. Verstappen rapidly took back his third place. Sebastian went wide on his last flyer, which had unforgiving consequences. The German was left in P10, astronomical two seconds down on the pole-setter! What a highly challenging weekend this has been for Sebastian! Hamilton took his 7th pole on his home turf! Bottas proved unable to match his teammate's time on his last flyer. In the end, the gap was significant three tenths in favor of the Briton. Expectedly, Verstappen was "the best behind Mercedes", qualifying third. Charles managed to extract the maximum out of his SF1000, making it P4. The third row was locked down by Norris in his McLaren and Stroll in his "pink Mercedes". McLaren's Sainz in P7 was followed by the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Ocon, leaving Sebastian at the back of the pack.

Norris is the first driver on the grid to start to the race on the soft Pirellis. It is interesting to see, how the tyre strategy will turn out. Strategy is probably Bottas' best chance to challenge his teammate for victory. I'm still uncertain, whether Sebastian actually managed to improve his lap time on the mediums in Q2. So whether he will start to the race on the soft or medium Pirellis, remains to be seen. The British weather may also throw up some surprises. A Mercedes victory is well predicted, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that in spite of a setback-filled start to the weekend, Sebastian will have a consistent and strong race tomorrow! I'm also confident, that Max will spice up the battle between the Silver Arrows! I'm definitely looking forward to an entertaining race.