F2 starts in a couple hours.
Then Q1 at 5pm GMT.
Should be a belter, even if the cars were all evenly spaced out there will be only 2secs between each one so setting a lap will have to involve overtaking.
An excellent F2 race won by Tsunoda... although having said that while he was being interviewed about his win the banner at the top of the screen said "Turn 1 incident involving Tsunoda to be investigated after race".... Brundle reckons it was for going off track but reckons he'll get away with it because he was forced off by another car.
Mick Schumi was raging around again, sending a trackside marker flying as he weaved all over the track trying to gain a place.
He goes into the final race of the season tomorrow with the same 14 point lead he entered this one with.
Alex Albon has two options for 2021 – retain his seat at Red Bull or face a year on the bench, according to Christian Horner, with the Thai driver’s team boss ruling out a route back to AlphaTauri.
Red Bull have put their arm around Albon this year, as he’s struggled to get on par with team mate Max Verstappen, and are giving him until the end of the season to prove he deserves to stay at the team.
Albon’s form has picked up in the last couple of races, the Red Bull driver scoring his second podium last time out in Bahrain – and he looked quick in first practice for the Sakhir Grand Prix, too.
When Pierre Gasly lost his seat at Red Bull, with Albon replacing him, the Frenchman was sent back to AlphaTauri and has since excelled, but Horner ruled out that option.
“I don’t believe he forms part of [AlphaTauri team boss] Franz’s [Tost] plans for next year, so it’s very much a Red Bull seat or a year on the bench,” said Horner in Bahrain on Friday.
It's a Red Bull seat or a year on the bench for Alex Albon in 2021, says Christian Horner | Formula 1(R)
Five minutes ago Ferrari and Grumpy were discussing whether or not to do another lap.
Now they are going to do a complete engine change (if they can) before Quali in a couple of hours.
Now they've upped the pace and the braking zones are earlier, George is 0.6 off the top. Mad Max might break 54 secs if he goes again. Oh, and there are now two rows of tyres in front of the barrier that Grosjean clouted on Sunday.
Well Mercedes pulled a fast one and went out in Q3 with used tyres, and for a moment it looked like Mad Max and Pepe were going to take the front row. But (and presumably to give George an extra go at Q3 driving) the Mercs did three runs in the end and George was the tiniest sliver off beating Bottas to Pole.
It's going to be like a sprint race tomorrow and the Mercs are starting on Mediums unlike the rest.
Looking forward to a great race!
Here's young Mick Schumacher keeping up the family tradition at 4'12"
You have to feel for young George. Even after that fuck up he was probably going to catch Perez, and then gets a puncture, which the commentators intimated probably came from bits of his Williams teams' car.....
I wonder how long it is since there has been a podium without a Merc, Red Bull or Ferrari on it?
Well at least George gets to keep his trio of points.
Formula 1 champions Mercedes were fined 20,000 euros on Sunday after they fitted the wrong front tyres to George Russell’s leading car at a bungled Sakhir Grand Prix pitstop.
The mistake meant stand-in Russell, replacing Lewis Hamilton after the seven times world champion tested positive for COVID-19 in Bahrain, lost position and risked a post-race disqualification.
Mercedes mistakenly put tyres reserved for team mate Valtteri Bottas onto Russell’s car after both pitted when the safety car was deployed, forcing the Briton to make another stop that dropped him to fifth.
Russell eventually finished ninth after a late slow puncture dealt another blow just as he had moved back up to second and was reeling in Racing Points’s Mexican winner Sergio Perez.
Mercedes were summoned by stewards post-race for the infringement.
The team explained that a radio communications technical issue was to blame, with the pit wall’s message to the pit crew going unheard because Russell had transmitted over it.
“We knew immediately when Valtteri didn’t have his tyres, we knew that Valtteri’s tyres were on George’s car,” said team boss Toto Wolff.
The stewards found mitigating circumstances, with Mercedes rectifying the problem within one lap and losing further time. Russell was allowed to keep the points.
Cracking race. Russell is excellent.
Bottas 'unlucky' again. I have lost faith in him. Where is the leaner, meaner Bottas who started the season?
Last week Bottas started second to Lewis. It was the dirty side of the track, we were told, that disadvantaged him down to T1. This time it was Russell on the dirty side and Russell got away brilliantly to leave Bottas struggling again at T1.
The unlucky one in this race was surely Max. Nil points. Difficult but not impossible for him to overtake Bottas in the championship.
Meanwhile, what about Perez? A great drive and he has no team next year.
The F2 race was punchy too. I might make a point of watching F2 next season.
Can anyone else here imagine Perez to replace Albon at Red Bull next season?
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