IMOLA GRAND PRIX 2022

Imola was a wild card because, A) it was one of three "experimental format" weekends we had this year (which we've had the last year or two), and B) it was raining on and off all weekend, and C), it was the first race of the year in Europe.

It was another Max win! But it was a terrible weekend for Ferrari. Sainz crashed in qualifying and on the first lap of the race and had a DNF for the second race in a row. Charles did everything right but lost the sprint to Max and didn't get a good start in the race, then had a little spin near the end of the race while trying to maximize his opportunity to pass Perez. He finished in the points, but not on the podium. It was awful to think how mad he must have been at himself.

Also of note is that there were FIVE red flags this qualifying cause everyone kept getting on the paint at the same corner and because it was wet, it just sent everyone into the gravel or wall.

Also, Hamilton got lapped by Max in this race which I loved. And Nico Rosberg's commentary was totally roasting Hamilton's performance in 14th compared to George Russell, who was in the top 5.

So here's how the season has been so far: Charles wins, Max DNFs. Max wins, Charles in second. Charles wins, Max DNFs. Max wins, Charles finished in the top 6. They keep trading off.

Here are my notes from the weekend:

Free Practice 1

• it’s an experimental weekend again

• It’s raining and has been raining all day!!

• Red flag when they thought Lando was beached but he was fine and they immediately restarted

• Bottas goes into the gravel and is like inches from hitting the wall but avoids it

Qualifying

• RED FLAG in Q1 when Alex Albon’s rear right tire is on fire and has a small but significant explosion and he somehow manages to get it back to the pit

• Out in Q1: Albon, ocon, Latifi, Gasly, Tsunoda

• Hamilton was ALMOST out in Q1 but made it in by the skin of his teeth. If Ocon had gone out then he would have improved and gotten Hamilton

• RAIN IS COMING in q2 so everyone has like one times lap

• RED FLAG for SAINZ into the wall again and this has happened a few times now

• By the time Carlos car is cleaned up, it’s raining so no one goes out in Q2 cause they won’t be able to beat their times, until Seb and a couple others goes out which we love

• DRAMA as the camera catch an unfriendly exchange between Hamilton and Toto in the back of the garage with toto yelling at him

• Out in Q2: Russell, little Schu, Hamilton, Zhou, Stroll

• First time both Mercedes’ have been out in Q2 since like 2012!

• RED FLAG for Kevin going almost into the wall but he kept it out of it and even brought it back to the garage and everyone was impressed that Kevin thought to throw some acceleration on as he was going into the gravel so he wouldn’t get beached

• ANOTHER RED FLAG for Bottas pulling over

• THE FIFTH RED FLAG of the session for Lando in the barrier in the same spot as everyone else and the session is over and won’t be restarted with 30seconds left

• Max on pole!! Then Charles, then Lando even though he crashed, then Kevin and Alonso

Free practice 2

• nothing to report here

Sprint

• Charles passes max for the lead and the crowd ROARS

• Pierre hits Zhou and Zhou hits the wall and it pulls SAFETY CAR

• Kevin and Perez under investigation for weaving on the straight

• Black and white flag for Kevin for weaving on the straight

• Alonso has a scary moment almost flying into the gravel but saves it

• Alonso has a black and white flag for weaving on the straights

• ON LIKE THE SECOND TO LAST LAP MAX passes Charles for the lead!!

• MAX WINS the sprint, then Charles and Perez!! Hamilton down in 14th hahaha and Russell in 11th

Race

• RAIN!! The track is wet! Ahhh!

• The tifosi are there un impressive force

• Max has a great start and Perez gets into second and Lando into third as Charles falls back in the wet track and doesn’t get away

• Bottas hits Ricciardo who hits Sainz and SAINZ MADE IT TWO CORNERS BEFORE HE IS IN THE GRAVEL BEACHED AGAIN and his race is over!! Brutal in front of the tifosi. Daniel also went through the gravel but is able to keep going but Carlos is beached and it’s over

• Nervy restart but okay

• Alonso has damage and the side pod just broke off all by itself just like in testing and Alonso has to retire

• 8/63 Charles gets past Lando for third and the tifosi roars

• Some very stressful racing of George trying to pass Kevin and then Bottas also getting past Kevin

• Charles has track limits at two corners

• 16/63 Max reports more sliding

• Daniel pits for slicks and is the first of the field to do so

• Bottas has a terrible pit stop

• OCON HITS HAMILTON in the PITS lane and I LOVE it, even though it was not a bad hit and so Hamilton is now in 14th while George is in fifth

• Drivers being told the rain is moving away, rather than before they said rain expected

• Ocon gets a five second penalty for hitting Hamilton in the unsafe release

• Still no DRS in this race and it’s a little damp but there’s no reason not to have it

• Hahaha Nico points out that George is doing great in 5th and Hamilton is in 14th

• Quick yellow for Mick Schumacher getting in a little spin but fortunately keeps going only in last

• Little Schu has a black and white flag for track limits

• 30/63 Perez has an off going straight through the corner but still keeps ahead of Charles

• 35/63 DRS finally enabled

• MAX LAPS HAMILTON HAHAHAHAH THIS IS THE BEST

• Every lap Hamilton tries to get past Pierre but he just can’t and it’s a huge joke

• Nico Rosberg just roasted Hamilton’s performance and it’s great

• Pierre is just totally keeping Hamilton behind and it’s amazing

• 50/63 Charles pits for the second time to get new tires and he’s the only one who has done that so then they also put Perez so he can stay on fast tires too

• LESS THAN TEN LAPS LEFT, CHARLES SPINS AND TAPS THE WALL because he was trying to get towards Perez into second BUT HE NEARLY CRASHED and it only took off part of the wing and they could have left him out but they pitted him and now he’s back in 8th instead of third

• Bottas on 5th is right behind George Russell in 4th and may get him with a few laps let

• MAX WINSSSSSS

• Perez in second!!

• Lando on third!

• Charles was able to get up to finish in 6th

• George finished in fourth but Bottas sent a message and nearly passed him

• Hamilton finished 13th hahaha

• Oh woah COOLDOWN ROOM for the first time in forever! Perez Max and Lando talking about Charles spin which they show

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2022

Weekend overview is as follows: Charles won again! And Max had a second DNF.

There's only been 3 races so far, Max has won one of them, and the other two he has had to DNF for mechanical issues. I am so upset for him.

But the good news is that, of the 3 races, 2/3 have been won by Charles.

Other major stories from the weekend include: scooter Seb, Seb later being reprimanded for using the scooter, and the best wipe out of a marshal I've ever seen.

Other on track stories include: Alex Albon had a great race for Williams and actually got him a point. Charles and Max did great racing while Max's car was working.

Okay, let's dive deeper into these HILARIOUS and ICONIC Free Practice moments of Seb riding a moped around the track with his helmet perched on his head and later getting reprimanded by the stewards for unauthorized use of scooter. By far my favorite thing I've seen in a long time.

Here is a video so we can always remember these important scenes of Scooter Seb:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7e48cf_e2e23aa8b76a40e5a02f87dfffad492b/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

My other favorite television moment was when the marshal had the best wipe out ever during Free Practice 2. I loved it so much that I got videos of both the international and F1 TV commentary and they're both amazing.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7e48cf_a5bc1f2489dd423d992bcbbf38dea919/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7e48cf_f22d11a556214d1fa140b7bfec8cfd20/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Nothing can compete with that footage, but here are the rest of my notes.

Free Practice 1

- they made the Alpine cars much less pink and focused on the blue more which is much better

- Someone impeded Hamilton or Hamilton impeded someone, I’m not sure

- Seb is back for the first time! First race of 2022

- Sergio loses a front wing end plate and they have a super short red flag

- Red flag for Seb’s car smoking and it was another situation where he grabbed his own fire extinguisher and did everything him self and helped the marshals wheel it away. Classic Seb

- Hilarious footage of Seb riding back on the moped alone with his helmet up on top of his head and waving at everybody and that’s the seb they love

Free Practice 2

- risk of rain for this session

- Potential for Porsche to take over the Red Bull power trains and collaborate with Red Bull

- SEB GOT CALLED TO THE STEWARDS FOR UNAUTHORIZED USE OF A SCOOTER HAHAHAHAHH best day ever

- Red flag so someone can go get Lance Stroll’s piece of body work

- HAHAH THE MARSHAL WIPES OUT when running back with ten minutes left of the session and it’s the FUNNIEST thing because he really wiped out badly and then the crowd cheered. It’s with 9:37 minutes left of the session

- Now a discussion that Hamilton has been breaking the rules about wearing jewelry in the car and no one ever said anything about it when he was number one but now that he’s midfield at best they bring it up and I love it

- Charles has a LOT of porpoising

Free Practice 3

- this underwear meeting discussion is hilarious

- HA Seb got a 5000 euro fine for the scooter incident hahahahah

- Aw Oscar Piastri is in the commentary box!

- They didn’t put a new part on Charles car because they didn’t also have the new part for Sainz so they are waiting til next race when they can have it equally…

- Yellow flag for Hamilton in gravel and brushing the wall

- Red flag for Seb going in gravel and hitting the wall, but he’s okay. Goodness Seb, what a year HES having so far

- Mick Schumacher slowed down to a stop to see if Seb was okay in his crash as he was going by, WHAT A SWEETHEART

- Lots of spinning for everyone, no one is happy

- Red flag with three minutes left for Lance Stroll crashing so now both Aston Martin’s crashed this session and it could not have gone worse for them

- Kevin apparently had tummy issues earlier in the day

- Lando has a power unit issue but still finishes top of the session

Qualifying

- They may not get Seb’s car repaired before the end of Q1

- HUGE CRASH of STUPIDITY between Latifi and Stroll and it’s like how many times has Latifi already crashed this year. Truly any necessary incident which is representative of how dangerous stupidity can be

- They just get Seb out in time to be in Q1 because they have extra time to work on the car

- out in Q1: Albon, mag, Vettel, Latifi and stroll

- Stewards noted that Perez may not have slowed enough for the yellow flags

- Max may have impeded Hamilton on a fast lap a little bit

- There’s a rainbow over Melbourne!

- Out in Q2: Gasly, Bottas, Tsunoda, Zhou and Lil Schu

- This is the first time Bottas has not made it to Q3 in like 100 races

- It is SO SUNNY because of the delays and how they scheduled it later in the day and everyone gets on the radio at the end of Q2 complaining they can’t see and it’s super dangerous

- Max has a piece of tape on his helmet as a little visor

- Red flag for Alonso crashing on a really good lap

- The red flag ruined Sainz’s lap and we think Charles lap still counts though

- CHARLES ON POLE!! Then Max in second and Perez

- Sainz got unlucky and made a mistake so he’s starting ninth hahahah

Race

- this had over 400,000 people weekend attendance and is the largest sporting event in Australian history

- Worried about reliability issues for Red Bull and last minute changes for Max

- 2/58 SAINZ SPINS AND BEACHES HIS CAR IN THE GRAVEL and his race is over on lap 2. Apparently his hard tires just were awful starting. SCARY when he went into the gravel because he just overdid it trying to get ahead as he was dropping back and went straight across traffic as he spun into the gravel

- 10/58 Sergio passes Hamilton into third!! WOOOO

- 11/58 Seb into the gravel from not braking early enough but he keeps going so that’s good

- 12/58 Max reports front left graining

- 17/58 Kevin was trying to get past Yuki and has a scary off track excursion in the same place as Carlos but handles it way better

- 19/58 Max pits first and a good stop

- 20/58 Sergio is really struggling with its tires and Hamilton is catching

- 24/58 SAFETY CAR FOR SEB WHO CRASHED AGAIN after the worst weekend of his life and now he’s back on the scooter like earlier in the weekend

- George benefited from the safety car and managed to pit at the same time and pop up into third

- Yuki was driving erratically under the safety car and almost caused Lil Schu to crash into him

- Charles has a problem on restart and Max NEARLY gets past him but Charles retains the lead

- This is a wild restart with everyone all bunched up

- 36/58 Perez gets past George for third

- 39/58 NOOOOOOO MAXY’S CAR OVERHEATED AND STARTED ON FIRE AND HE HAD TO PULL OVER AND RETIRE NOOOOOOOOOOOOO 2 DNFS in the first 3 races

- Stroll pushes Bottas off track but no further action

- 5 second time penalty for Stroll for weaving on the straight

- A couple of excursions into the grass for Perez and Schumacher but they’re ok

- Charles trying to plan his run for fastest lap but Ferrari says no not to do it even though Martin says Charles is right to be thinking about that

- Typical Hamilton complaining on the radio

- Concern that they haven’t pitted Albon yet who has had a great race but pits on the last lap

- CHARLES WINS! This is his fourth win!!!! WOOOOOO

- Sergio in second and Russell in third! Hamilton is only fourth hahaha

- Charles also got fastest lap after Ferrari almost lost it for him by telling him not to and when they told him he got fastest lap, he said "I wanted to do it :)"

- Alex Albon actually got 10th even after the pit stop so one point for him in the Williams! Latifi is like last so

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2022

Could this be the year I've been waiting for (and simultaneously terrified of)? Could this finally be the year that's Max vs. Charles??

Because that's what it looks like so far. This race was FULL of fantastic moments of Charles and Max racing each other for the lead and leaving all the other contenders in the dust. Max won, but it was the closest winning margin in a long time and Charles was that close second.

I loved how much respect there is between Max and Charles, especially from Charles who waved and gave a thumbs up to Max on the lap after the win and Max waved back. Charles also got on the radio after and congratulated Max and said how great that racing was. He also spoke about it after the race about the respect always being there. I LOVE IT.

This was also the weekend that Mick Schumacher had his (second) terrifying crash at Jeddah, but this time it was in qualifying. That's why the session was about 2.5 hours long. But thank God he's okay and was back at the track the next day. That was absolutely awful waiting to hear if he was alright and not having any information.

Here are my race notes:

Free Practice 1, 2 & 3

• Kevin has some problems with the car

• Lando runs over a sign that shatters all over the track and the have to red flag to clean it up
  

Qualifying

• Latifi has a high speed crash and red flags the session but they clean it up quickly

• The best part of this is that Hamilton just got out and didn’t make it to Q2 on PURE LACK OF PACE, no crashes or other excuses, just purely not good and George made it in and everyone is so shocked but I love it

• Kevin and Daniel under investigation for a potential unsafe release

• Daniel impedes Ocon and they think Daniel will get a penalty for it

• MICK SCHUMACHER HAS A HUGE HIGH SPEED CRASH into turn 12 and they show it live but then didn’t show more of it because it was very high speed and they know they have to send an ambulance right away and he isn’t getting out of the car but is talking to the doctor but they still don’t show it and put him in the ambulance right away and everyone is VERY worried

• As they are cleaning up little Schumacher’s Haas, they lift it with the crane and THE HAAS BREAKS IN HALF ON THE CRANE and I have never seen that before and Jenson says he’s never seen that before and that tells us how hard the car has hit

• They finally resume Q2 with five minutes to go

• Out in Q2: Norris, Ricciardo, Zhou, lil Schu, Stroll

• The Ferraris put in great laps

• PEREZ ON POLE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! He stole pole from the Ferraris at the last minute!!

• Not sure why Max qualified in fourth but there was also an incident with him noted that no one explained. It seemed like it was related to him having no grip on those tires

• Perez on pole, Charles in second, Sainz in third

• They were so classy congratulating Checo and he was so adorable and happy, it was such a rollercoaster qualifying from that horrifying crash to the insane top 3 at the end to the Maxy thing and the thing where George Russell qualified 6th and Hamilton qualified 16th, I LOVE THAT
  

Race

• Yuki won’t start because his engine cut out in the formation lap

• Daniel got his penalty for impeding Ocon

• Mick Schumacher won’t start of course because of such a big impact and if they crash again today they won’t be able to race again in Australia for lack of parts

• They show the onboard of lil Schumacher’s crash for the first time

• Hulk still in for Vettel in the Aston Martin

• After race start Max got Carlos and he is into third and Perez maintains lead and Charles in second

• Zhou has the same problem as Bot has starting in Bahrain and had like an anti stall thing and then got a little pushed around but is still going in 17th and is still ahead of Latifi

• 4/50 HA GEORGE gets past Ocon for 5th and I LOVE IT

• Ocon cut off Alo trying to do a move on him and it was very late

• Max reports that the Ferrari harvesting lights aren’t working

• Ocon and Alonso constantly

• Zhou a five second penalty for gaining an advantage off track

• They can’t stop showing Hamilton replays

• Charles bluffs going in to have Perez pit and it worked

• 16/50 Latifi crashes and safety car

• Carlos and Perez pit and Carlos claims he was out ahead of Perez at the safety car line so they have the Gia investigate it before the restart so Perez gives the place back on restart

• Zhou under investigation for not serving penalty because they forgot to stop their front jack man from touching the car so now Zhou has a drive through penalty, brutal

• 37/50 Alonso has an overheating issue and he was having an amazing race but now Alonso is going to have to retire

• 37/50 now DANIEL has no drive in the McLaren and car is skiing so yellow flag and not able to make it into the pits and he’s blocking the pit lane entrance and no safety car yet, only yellow flag, and there’s confusion and now it’s virtual safety car

• Pit lane entry now closed

• Somewhere in all this Bottas has to retire but makes it into the pits

• Hamilton wants to pit but they tell him too late and now he’s the only one who hasn’t pitted hahahah and he totally gets

• So basically three dropped at once on lap 37

• Then there are TEN INSANE LAPS OF MAX AND CHARLES FIGHTING FOR THE LEAD

• 49/50 Albon and Stroll collide and there is a yellow that blocks Charles from getting ahead

• MAX AND CHARLES GO TO THE LINE ON THE LAST LAP

• MAX WINS AND CHARLES IS SECOND WOWWWWW

• Charles gets on the radio on the way into the pits to say well done to max, that was nice, and he’s so classy

• Closet winning margin in a really long time between Max and Charles

• Possible breach of double yellow for Perez and Carlos but it’s just usual confusion

• Man on the podium max and Charles both look absolutely exhausted from all that amazing racing

• They show a replay of Charles waving and giving a thumbs up to Max after the line and Max doing the same thing back RESPECTTTTT