BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX #2

Original race weekend dates: December 4 - 6, 2020

In summary: Hamilton is out of the car this weekend because he got Covid! They decide to put George Russell in Hamilton's car. He drove PERFECTLY, but Mercedes messed up his pit stop so badly that he didn't even get a podium. It was beyond HEARTBREAKING. Also, Max and Charles tangled early in the race and both crashed out and I seriously thought they were going to fight each other but they didn't. In the end, Perez got his first win (yay!) and then a weird podium of Ocon in second and Stroll in third (ha). But I just really wanted this one for George.

My notes from the weekend:

FP1

• it’s been a week full of F1 news including recovering Grosjean updates, Grosjean returning to Bahrain track to thank people that helped him in last week’s accident, them announcing Mick Schumacher and Mazepin for Haas next year, Hamilton got covid so they have George Russell in the Mercedes this weekend, Jack Aitken in at Williams for George, Grosjean replaced while he recovers by Fittipaldi

• They’ve even replaced the pictures over the garages to be updated with who is there this week, so George is over the Mercedes garage!

• The worlds eyes are on George as he goes out in Hamilton’s car

• George is at the top of the charts in P1! Which further proves that Hamilton’s championships have been won by the car and not necessarily the driver oh my gosh

• Alex and Charles have offs but are fine

FP2

• Seb has a dramatic spin but he doesn’t go into the wall and keeps going

• Charles radios in that something broke and doesn’t think he will make it back to the pit with no drive at all but he does make it back to the pit lane and they have to push him the rest of the way

• Probably no more charles this session because he would need an entire new gearbox

• Lando went over a curb and got quite a lot of damage to the bottom of the car

• Gasly hurt his hand on flying gravel

• Bottas was having a really bad session and we don’t know why but he was all over the curbs and corners

• George finished at the top of the charts for both FP1 and FP2

• Max has a spin

• They have to change Seb’s entire engine before qualifying

• Charles spins but is fine

Qualifying

• in q1, they are all sitting in garages waiting for clear track in anticipation of all the traffic

• Lando has his time deleted in q1 so he has to go again

• Aiken is beating Latifi in Q1 even though this is Aikens first session! Ouch for Latifi

• Out in Q1: Mags, Latifi, Aiken, Raikkonen and Fittipaldi

• Aiken didn’t end up out qualifying Latifi in the end but it was fun while it lasted

• Alex Albon was nearly out in Q1 when Red Bull didn’t send him out again but fortunately he stayed in 15th

• Out in q2: Ocon, Albon, Seb, Gio and Lando

• Lando had some problems and it was messy and he just didn’t get through

• Ooooo Albon isnt through, this is bad

• Charles did get into Q3 though!

• Charles pulled an AMAZING lap in Q3 out of nowhere which was so incredible that Charles just got out of the car and went to the pit wall to watch it

• In the end, Bot gets pole but George is behind him only by .022 of a second! Then Max and then CHARLES which really just came out of nowhere and it’s so awesome

Race

• Lando and Fittipaldi got engine changes so they start at the back from penalties

• Grosjean announced earlier today that he won’t be returning for the last race

• George retains the lead!!

• First lap incident at the back of the pack with Alex maybe hitting Kimi and Kimi goes spinning, which looked like it was going to be the big opening lap incident UNTIL

• Max Perez and Bottas going three wide and Max backed out of it to be safe and wise but then Charles locked up in a corner and Perez didn’t leave enough room and Charles went into Perez when he lost control of the car and Maxy tried to avoid it but he ended up in the wall next to Charles and I was SO terrified Max was gonna get out of the car and start a fight with Charles but instead Max just kicked the wall and then later they were talking so I think they’re okay

• Bot had lap times deleted for track limits

• Ocon finally did a good pass and Martin Brundle was like oh wow this is the best thing he’s done all season

• After Russell pits HE REPORTS NO POWER but then it turns out it was a default setting he had to turn off and now it’s fine but it scared me so much

• Seb has had two slow stops so far, what is wrong with Ferrari

• Latifi pulled over to the side and yellow flag and it triggers a virtual safety car and thank goodness it was only virtual because if he got a full safety car then it could have allowed Bot to catch

• Stroll passed by Perez and then he immediately passed Ocon

• At that point, everything became INSANITY and I am going to let the F1.com summary do the rest of the recap from this point: "Sergio Perez is still waiting to hear whether he will even be racing in Formula 1 next year, but on Sunday evening he put those concerns to one side to drive to a brilliant first F1 victory in the Sakhir Grand Prix. The Mexican dropped to stone dead last on the first lap after tangling with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc – who both crashed out as as result – but then began fighting his way back through the field on the short Outer Loop track in Bahrain. Perez's win was aided by a nightmare race for Mercedes, who had George Russell leading Valtteri Bottas in the first half of the race, only for a pit stop to ruin both of their races, with Russell's made even worse by a late puncture. That left the track clear for Perez to take Racing Point's first ever win, with his team mate Lance Stroll in third, and Renault's Esteban Ocon scoring his first career podium finish in second."

• OH MY GOSH POOR GEORGE!! THIS WAS THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL BY MERCEDES. MERCEDES CONSPIRACY EVERYWHERE

• Really happy for Perez, but just wish it could have been George who did absolutely nothing wrong all weekend and the only reason he didn't win was because Mercedes - in a HIGHLY UNUSUAL move - messed up both of their pitstops. They have never messed up a pit stop, and I'm supposed to just accept that BOTH pit stops just happened to be messed up in one go at the same time hat George was racing Hamilton's car and making it look easy??????

• What a disgrace

• Perez wins, Ocon in Second, Stroll in third. Huh???

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX #1

I am adding the posts for the last three races of the 2020 season now in March 2021, just before the 2021 season is about to start.

I lost major motivation to update the blog notes after Hamilton won his whatever-th number championship in Turkey and I was just disgusted.

But what really shook me was the Grosjean crash at the first Bahrain Grand Prix. I mean, I have never seen something like that happen and it really scared me. I took some time away from writing about the races after that, but am happy to be back now to record my notes from watching the last three races live at the end of 2020.

So a recap of Bahrain #1: Original Bahrain #1 race dates: November 27 - 29, 2020. It was the inner circuit they were racing. Nothing happened all weekend UNTIL THE RACE when Grosjean had the most dramatic crash in recent F1 history and it was a huge miracle that he survived and with only minor burns. It was like the whole weekend's drama was saving up for that one moment. It was truly terrifying and I hope we never see something like that again in F1.

Here are my notes for the weekend:

FP1

• Kubica in for Kimi

• Roy Nissani is in for George Russell

• Replayed Charles angry radio at the end of Turkish Grand Prix being really mad at himself

• Grosjean goes off and yellow flag

• Max had a spin but does a 360 and keeps going

• Charles has a little off

FP2

• about forty minutes left and there’s a red flag for Alex Albon who has a very hard crash into the wall which is going to take a big rebuild

• Another red flag immediately because there’s a wild dog on the track!

• Seb on the radio singing who let the dogs out

FP3

• absolutely nothing happens

Qualifying

• out in Q1: gio, Kimi, Kevin, Grosjean, Latifi

• Really good lap for George Russell and he makes it into Q2!

• In Q2, everybody goes out and then Carlos Sainz spins because of a problem with the back brakes and it is right in the first turn so they red flagged it to clear it

• Out in Q2: Vettel, Charles, Stroll, Russell and Sainz

• Hamilton on pole, Bottas in second and Max in third, then Albon and Perez and Daniel and Ocon

Race

• on the first lap, Stroll goes ride and then Grosjean has a HUGE FIREBALL CRASH and it’s a complete miracle he survived. He could have been decapitated, burned alive, or killed by impact but he went through the metal barrier and it shot the tub he was in through it so the halo saved his life and it took him 18 seconds to get out of the fire. He has minor burns and a suspected broken rib and was taken away in the medical helicopter. An almost 2 hour delay. The medical car guys were heroes

• At race restart, Lance Stroll makes contact with Kvyat and is a tossed in the air and overturned and now safety car to clear it. Kevin Magnussen loses his front wing in this. Seb and Sainz have drama contact.

• Bottas ran over debris and now he’s back behind seb in 16th

• Report investigation on Leclerc and Kvyat but they think it is an investigation on Stroll and Kvyat actually? No one saw Leclerc involved in any incident

• They correct it and the investigation is on Kvyat and Stroll. This is the worst Kvyat race

• Kvyat has a ten second time penalty for hitting Stroll

• Kevin’s car is overheating and lost a wing in the Stroll incident

• Seb calls the Ferrari undrivable

• Lap 55/58 Back of Perez’s car is smoking a ton but he keeps racing hard until he’s finally shooting fire out the back and like why is everyone on fire this race and he retires and Otmar has his head into his hands

• So this is really bad for Force India

• Lando reports a man running across the track to get to the Perez car but still a man tuning across track!

• Bottas apparently has a back right puncture but he is okay because he’s behind the safety car

• Finish under Perez safety car

• Hamilton wins, Max in second and Alex in third! Max and Alex finally on the same podium!

• Now they’re shooting off fireworks ironically

TURKISH GRAND PRIX

This entire weekend was a circus. Another disappointing race where all the pins were set up right for an exciting, surprising end to the race, but it became abundantly clear that - again - Mercedes would somehow reshuffle the board mid-race and come out on top. This was also the weekend that Hamilton won his world championship. I don't even remember if this was number seven or eight and I don't care, either.

The major points of this weekend were: this was the championship winning race. This track's new surface made it like ice. The surface was made worse by a ton of rain. Stroll got pole. And a whole bunch of other nonsense.

FP1

• first time we’ve been back here in a really long time and most drivers haven’t driven here even in the sim

• This track has a lot of elevation changes

• It’s Lando’s 21st birthday and they gave him a cake!

• The track was resurfaced 10 days ago and oils can rise up from a new track for a few months even

• As soon as everyone goes out they say it’s like ice

• Charles collected the pit lane bollard because he was sliding around because it was so icy

• Red flag before even ten minutes have passed because they have to install the bollard again and there are bolts sticking up on track so that’s why the red flag

• Gasly has a spin on turn one but everyone has been spinning in this icy surface

• With a half hour left Sainz pulls over by the side of the track for an electrical issue with the power steering and it triggers the virtual safety car

• Bottas has a spin in turn 9 but he’s fine

• Kvyat has a spin

FP2

• George has a spin and Latifi has a spin back to back

• Charles has a little off

• Kimi has a spin

• The track did have some evolution so that times were getting faster

FP3

• it’s RAINING today and the whole thing is just nonsense and nobody can stay on this completely new track. I’m not even going to bother reporting all the spins and offs because it’s constant

• Charles got Ocon who was trying to get around Sainz and Charles couldn’t stop because it’s so wet out there

Qualifying

• it’s raining so hard and they’re still going to run on this super slick track

• Martin Brundle has never seen this little grip

• There is literally just the impression of ice on this track

• With six minutes left in Q1, they throw the red flag to wait out the rain

• People were spinning and going through the grass like crazy

• The red flag last soooo long ugh

• It finally starts again and when Kimi goes out of the pit lane second and he is aquaplaning off on a straight

• Charles has a big off but does well to keep the car in momentum and goes through gravel and grass and goes back through to keep going

• Grosjean loses it and gets beached in the gravel and it throws the red flag again but it’s very short

• They have enough time to go out and do one lap

• Max is in 15 and Charles in 16 when the session starts again

• Everyone keeps improving their times and Max and Charles put in good times in under pressure and make it into Q2!

• Somehow Latifi crashes at the last minute on Q1 and they bring out the trucks to clean up

• Out in Q1: Magnussen, Grosjean, kvyat and both Williams

• they start Q2 while still cleaning up the Williams is Latifi and no one knows why they started before the trucks were clear

• Sainz and Perez to see stewards about alleged impeding incident

• Out in Q2: Norris, Vettel, Sainz, Leclerc and Gasly

• this was just madness

• Looked like Max was going to get pole then Perez looked like he was going to get pole

• In the end it was STROLL on pole and then Max and then Perez

Race

• apparently George Russell and Gio crashed on the way to the grid so both have a pit lane start

• The track is SO WET even though it’s not raining

• Sainz and Lando also have penalties too

• The Red Bull’s just didn’t go anywhere on the first lap

• Stroll retains the lead and Perez in second and then VETTEL of all things

• Max is trying to catch Seb for third

• Bottas ans Ocon had two separate incidents on the first lap which were with both of them. Hamilton was going by Ocon and caused him to crash into Bot in the first few corners. So now Bot is in 16 and he needed to be in 6 or higher today to keep the championship battle alive with hamilton but wow who is surprised that something happened to take Bot out of that

• People are going in for early pit stops as the track dries out to change wets to inters

• Max’s pit stop is a little long but they keep him still ahead of Hamilton crucially

• 13/58 Gio pulls over for a mechanical problem and triggers virtual safety car

• Bottas has a third spin but keeps going and loses four places

• 18/58 MAX trying to pass Perez for second got into the spray and did a double spin all across the track but he keeps it going and pits and now he is in 8th. It totally looked like he was going to save it mid spin and he could have but he got out there on the paint

• Now max is under investigation for crossing the line at the pit exit NO

• Is that Bot spinning AGAIN??

• Now stewards are saying they’re going to investigate Max after the race

• 30/58 they finally enabled DRS now

• NOOO Seb has a slow pit stop

• ALEX SPINS and lets hamilton into 3rd and now Alex is in 4th

• Kevin stops after his pit stop on the grass, push him back into the pit and then put in the new tires and sent him back out

• Charles gets past Seb into 4th!

• Grosjean and Latifi came together and spun

• Bottas spins AGAIN

• Stroll is panicking and his entire lead fell apart after the pit stop and now he’s in 8th

• Latifi retires after the collision with Grosjean

• Now Hamilton is somehow in the lead again and is about to lap Bot

• Grosjean has another off

• Lando trying to get past Daniel and Daniel spins on his own but keeps going

• Spots of rain coming at lap 50/58

• Kimi had a spin and then Max has a spin where he does a 360 and keeps going but this one corner just looks so wet

• Perez went wide on the last few corners and Charles passed him into second but then he didn’t have enough traction to keep it so Seb gets past him and takes third at the last second

• Hamilton wins, and also the world championship, wow who is surprised, what is this, seven now? Ugh