Mercedes have left Hamilton high and dry. If Verstappen can win this 17 lap race quite easily, which he has, then Hamilton won’t be winning the title this year, his car isn’t fast enough.
Well...not sure what to think about it. Pole should be awarded on Friday, then the sprint race decide the feature race, rather than it being sprint qualifying. In reality though, it's just probably going to end a championship earlier in the season for dominant teams. Fun watch tho.
Odd question, George is apparently under investigation for the lap 1 incident with Sainz. How do they penalise him if he's "guilty"? This is quali, so is it a 5 place grid penalty? Or because it's a racing incident, does that mean it's 5 seconds? And is a 5 second penalty fair when the field is much closer because the race is only 1/3rd distance? Should it be a 1.7 second penalty?
It’s going to take some getting used to this. Feels like a very elaborate, time consuming and unnecessary gimmick right now. If you have to do quali for the sprint, what’s the sprint for?
Plus Perez! What is that they are driving round in???? Talk about sell out!!! I know they make money out of sponsors but a closed in vehicle on such a great day!
It achieved max pole?...... Yeah I don't know if it will work long term once the novelty has warn off
Really make it a cluster by having qualifying determine the grid for Sunday, and the sprint race being a reverse grid race.
Dear F1 - golden rule, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The only way this sprint format will work is if they exclude the top three from qualifying - there places on the grid would be set in stone. Without them the rest of the lower order can rip it up during the sprint, none of them too concerned about anything much other than racing..
I agree with Lewis . pack it into 2 days . Practice 1 and 2 on Saturday morning , then qualifying and race on Sunday . That will NEVER HAPPEN THOUGH . 1 day less tv /sponsorship and as we all know the Is king !
Prob with cramming it on to two days would be if you damage your car in the sprint...but no reason they couldn't have qualifying and the sprint on one day. So long as you don't crunch it in qualy.
The one interesting thing I took from it was how much more like a race it looked and felt on lighter fuel loads. The cars looked so much more agile, I had flashes of 2005-2008!!
I did think they were going for it more than pacing themselves. There were not the tyre worries they normally have or lift and coast.
