Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Good points for Williams though!

Bloody hell what a race!

Yep – fantastic race.

Norris and McLaren must be utterly thrilled with that result. Would love to be a fly on the wall in the Red Bull debrief. Actually, maybe on the ceiling, not on the wall, there’ll probably be a couple of Verstappens punching holes in the walls  right now.

Amazing drive by Oscar.
Inspired move to take the lead and then soaked up the pressure until Charles tyres ran out.

Strong recovery drive by Lando to chip away at Max’s lead
Colapinto delivered on Williams faith to score points along with Bearman

Need to see the Perez/Sainz incident again to see what happened

I think Perez taps Saint rear wheel.

Bearman scored points in his first two races with two different teams. Doing it with Ferrari isn’t a huge surprise, doing it with Haas ahead of his teammate deserves credit.

Colapinto managing more points in 2 races than Sargent managed in 2 seasons :’D

doing it with Haas ahead of his teammate deserves credit

I missed what happened to Hulk as he was clear of Colapinto just before Perez & Sainz crashed.

Ah, he hit debris from the crash.

Norris and McLaren must be utterly thrilled with that result.

Norris’s expression says otherwise.

You can always rely on Perez to make a balls of a good race.

Looks like the majority of the blame is with Sainz.
He was drifting into the middle of the track, crowding out Perez.
Also worth noting that with the sunset, the visibility wouldn’t have been great in that section of the circuit.

Ah, he hit debris from the crash.

looks more like he was mugged by Hamilton and Bearman immediately after the crash, but before the VSC

Norris’s expression says otherwise.

He seems to have gotten over it.
https://x.com/McLarenF1/status/1835327617576079625

He was drifting into the middle of the track, crowding out Perez.

There you go – I saw it the other way, Perez squeezing Sainz despite there being a wall on the other side of him.

We’ll see what the stewards think – they usually fall on the side of RB

You can see Sainz drifting over, Perez maintains his line. Neither are innocent, but sainz is more to blame

The stewards seem to disagree – a 50:50 – no major blame for either.

Both sides likely pissed off, but that’s showbiz.

Where is Bearman from?

Born in London, but suspect he’s had a very international childhood.

Yeah…weird accent.   Weirder than Lando’s even

I’ve a feeling Bearman is from Chelmsford! Doesn’t sound like it though…

Is his mother Italian? Hence the non engerlish accent

He’s been a Ferrari junior for the last few years, which may have had an effect

Best race for an age. Great to see actual close racing and passes. Though the commentator saying F1 is closer than it’s ever been made me think “you’re a lot younger than me”.

I feel old, I’m watching Sainz and Verstappen and Magnussen and thinking ‘I used to watch your dads racing’ And Alex Brundell and Mick Schumacher too when they pop up.

Not quite old enough to remember Nico Rosberg’s dad, or Damon Hill’s or Jaques Villeneurve’s, but I’ve seen two generations of Nakajima

Though the commentator saying F1 is closer than it’s ever been made me think “you’re a lot younger than me”.

You used to be able to measure the gaps between teams with a sundial in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s. What era are you remembering?

You can see Sainz drifting over, Perez maintains his line. Neither are innocent, but sainz is more to blame

But Sainz was taking the normal racing line and Perez was the one who had forward visibility of the other car and had the opportunity to react, but he didn’t. Sainz never made a sudden move, and depending on which angle you watch the incident from it looks like either they both drift equally into each other or Perez is just napping and lets Sainz drift into him—it’s not as if drivers don’t squeeze each other on straights, so Perez really shouldn’t have been caught out there. The 50/50 call from the stewards seems pretty reasonable to me.

Sainz’s real mistake was in thinking he could have a pop at Leclerc: that move was never on and was only going to push him back towards Perez. So the last few hundred yards were certainly not the smartest bit of driving from Sainz, but I don’t see him as having significantly greater responsibility for the crash.

Great drive from Piastri though—another ruthless pass, and a supreme defence. Thought Leclerc’s defence from Perez at turn 1 was pretty stunning too. And a cracking job from Colapinto, emphatically vindicating Vowles’ decision in no time.

Great drive from Piastri though

Or is it another win he only got thanks to Norris helping him after the team messed up? If Norris hadn’t slowed the Mexican Defence Minister and Perez had come out ahead after his stop I reckon Piastri would’ve struggled to pass him.

Anyhow, Singapore next where RedBull have tended to struggle in recent years. Could liven up the title fight!

Or is it another win he only got thanks to Norris helping him after the team messed up?

Piastri made the most of the opportunities that came his way. He qualified well and put in two mega laps before his pitstop to get the overcut on Perez, then he ignored his engineer’s instructions to conserve his tyres and made a brilliant pass on Leclerc before the Ferrari had time to get its tyres up to temperature. That was the only real opportunity he was going to get to pass Leclerc and he seized it. He then defended brilliantly and managed to hold onto the lead. If that’s not a great drive, hard to image what would count.

Norris spoiled his own weekend in Qualifying. He was lucky that after such a poor show he’s closed on the leader.

Anyway, Singapore next. What’s the odds on a safety car?

Sainz’s real mistake was in thinking he could have a pop at Leclerc: that move was never on and was only going to push him back towards Perez.

Agreed. That was a move from someone frustrated at losing their seat, I think

There have been 26 safety cars in the 14 races since the race was first held in 2008. There has never been a race at Singapore without a safety car.  2022 had the most with 4

(Includes VSC)

You used to be able to measure the gaps between teams with a sundial in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s. What era are you remembering?

Monza ’71 – top 5 covered by six tenths of a second.

Jarama ’81 – top 5 covered by a second and a quarter.

Jerez ’86 – Senna beat Mansell by 0.014 of a second. Etc. 🙂

Sainz’s real mistake was in thinking he could have a pop at Leclerc:

To misquote Senna, when you stop aiming for the gap etc etc. Had he pulled it off, everyone would be praising him for his ballsy overtake, and wondering if Ferrari were replacing the wrong driver. Brilliant drives by both the McLarens, Perez and Sainz crash seemed avoidable with hindsight.

Great race though, just highlights that tyres really shouldn’t be limiting the racing. That they have to look after their tyres constantly is partly why we don’t get more of this

To misquote Senna, when you stop aiming for the gap etc etc.

I feel old, I’m watching Sainz and Verstappen and Magnussen and thinking ‘I used to watch your dads racing’ And Alex Brundell and Mick Schumacher too when they pop up.

Not quite old enough to remember Nico Rosberg’s dad, or Damon Hill’s or Jaques Villeneurve’s, but I’ve seen two generations of Nakajima

Also the Verstappens!

Great race, the Rookies certainly did well, usually a pay driver/rookie would have binned it long before Sainz and Perez got together. I wonder if the strategies of some teams were influenced by two new drivers on a street circuit.

Great drive by Oscar. Who knows what sainz and Perez were thinking. To crash in a straight line is more than a little careless from both of them.

What a great race.

What an absolutely stunning performance by Piastri.

Wonder how Lando feels, on the one hand he finally has a race winning car, on the other his team mate is easily the most talented new driver on the grid.

Singapore next, which is Red Bulls recent bogey track.  Mclaren must be genuine favourites now for the Constructors Championship.  Still can’t see Lando overhauling Max though 59 points is still a big margin

Just watched the Youtube highlights again,  absolutely sublime driving from Piastri.  He’s unbelievably cool under pressure and just perfect on the brakes. Not sure he has the outright pace to put it on pole every week but he’s a brilliant racer.

To misquote Senna, when you stop aiming for the gap etc etc. Had he pulled it off, everyone would be praising him for his ballsy overtake, and wondering if Ferrari were replacing the wrong driver.

There was absolutely nothing there to pull off. He wasn’t ahead and would have had to go around the outside at turn 2 against a car with fading grip. That’s just not a move: Leclerc couldn’t have left enough space on the exit if he’d tried. Had he gone for it they’d both have been into the outside wall in tangle of wheels. Sainz is normally an outstanding race day driver but in the last few races he’s looked pretty lacklustre.