BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

Well. This has been an emotional rollercoaster, hasn't it? All I wanted from this weekend was to see Charles Leclerc get his maiden win at Ferrari and little did I know that a cruel fate awaited me. Here are all my thoughts from this weekend.

FP1

- there was some kind of problem with Max’s car that meant he didn’t get into fp1 right away

- Super dusty around this track 

- Currently ranks in top 5 tracks for overtaking possibilities in the turbo hybrid era 

- Stroll had a needless spin into a wall ofc 

- Pierre has an engine braking issue apparently which is why he’s so low

- Hamilton goes wayyyy wide trying to beat Bottas time in first

- Albon got into Kimi’s way continuing Albon’s dangerous driving pattern from last race cause he clearly didn’t see kimi there this time 

- George Russell ended up backwards going through a turn 

- Charles #1 for last half hour of race 

- Grosjean ran over a kerb and knocked his front wing

- Uhhh Gio ran into the side of Hulkenburg, another rookie moment of recklessness #recklessrookies

FP2

- FP2 is at night like the race will be! FP1 was at day 

- Lol @ Martin Brundle really hates that matte red on the Ferrari and I really like it but to each his own

- People running wide including Gasly 

- No news on Daniel cause it’s early days but Hulk is way faster rn 

- The Ferraris are using each other for slipstream and they’re real strong anyway 

FP3

- Stroll got into the way of Hanilton’s fast lap. He got STROLLED

- Kimi’s kids watching from the Sauber (I mean Alpha Romeo) garage and it’s so relatable

- These guys they have running into the track are hauling and it cracks me up 

- Charles did a perfect lap

- I’m already at a point where I’m going “what has Lance Stroll done now” and it’s only been one race 

- Red Bull didn’t improve at the end and Gasly only improved from 18 to 12 or something I mean what the heck 

Qualifying

- Grosjean blocked Norris’s fast lap and you’re not allowed to do that or you could so get a penalty. They’re looking into it and it turns out they gave him a grid spot penalty. This was the major incident of quali

- Hulk out in Q1 after doing so well the rest of the weekend

- Ok what the heck, Gasly gets into Q2 but only in 14th place?? They should have sent Max out again just to be safe but someone said they might be saving his tires

- Stroll out in Q1

- Daniel came in 11th 

- Nice Nico (Rosberg) is there! I love that he is so impartial 

- CHARLES WAS SO FAST -- like a half a second faster than anyone else 

- Ok Ferrari put Seb out on a bad time and it ruined his lap so he has to go again on those tires he’s trying to save 

- Nice Nico says they put Seb out at a bad time and defended and agreed with him 

- ok LBP is out on Q2 again UMM like there are Mclarens and Saubers ahead of him

- uhhhhh it’s freaking me out that Seb is getting in and out of his car between q2 and 3

- CHARLES ON POLE CHARLES ON POLE THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR OH MY GOSH CRYING 

- The quote I would use to explain Charles Leclerc this weekend is: "History has its eyes on youuuuuu" - Hamilton (the musical, not the driver)

A little watercolor I did of that lovely moment after Charles Leclerc secured his first pole position in F1.

Pre-Race

- the whole pre-race was essentially a Charles feature which I was completely taken with

- an especially stressful and non eventful grid walk

Race

- ok it's fair to say that this was one of those races that was *non-stop action*. NON-STOP.

- ugh it’s so windy 

- the start of this race was so stressful that I didn't have time to process anything and by the time it calmed down for a second, it was already lap 15 or something

- Charles had a bad start and Seb got away faster, then the Mercedes started charging and I thought they were going to get Charles at one point or another, but they didn't. Charles was having huge problems with cold tires which gave him half a lap at the start of painful fighting with the car, then he got it back and even passed Vettel again for the lead and it was so triumphant and I *couldn't be prouder*

- Meanwhile, Max and Saint had a bit of a collision, which they said no further action on, but Sainz acted like Max had run into him like "I don't believe this guy" and it made me think there's bad blood between them which I wish there was not, I just want everybody to be best friends

- all the usual suspects were hitting things, and each other, this race: Grosjean and Stroll, Kvyat and Giovinazzi, Albon was pretty steady I think. But overall, not too surprising who was getting into scrapes

- for a while, it seemed like they were totally using Bottas to hold back Max in fifth while Bottas was in fourth, so that Hamilton, in third, could get the charge on Vettel in second and Charles in first.

- Grosjean retires from the damage with the collision with Stroll. Not surprising that Grosjean is the first out tho.

- Kvyat got a 5 second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane (of all things... I thought it would be because of that scrap and contact with Giovinazzi, but honestly, it was Gio who did the hitting in that situation imo)

- My nerves are shot and it's only lap 22/57

- Hamilton radioed in complaining that "he's in big trouble, man" cause of his tire degradation right after he drove off the track into the gravel

- I really, really, really wanted Seb to get Hamilton out of second place so it would be Ferrari in 1 and 2

- Seb passed Hamilton!!!!

- Then Hamilton got back on the radio complaining about it...

- Lando Norris challenging Kimi is so crazy to watch. They were saying how Kimi is literally 2x the age of Lando. Can you imagine being Lando Norris and having to think about challenging Kimi? That's the most intimidating thing I have ever thought of. The whole fight between them made me feel like Carl from Up was whacking Russell with his cane.

- SO ANYWAYS this whole deja vu moment where Lance Stroll in the pink Force India was trying to unlap himself past Max gave me the worst memories of when the exact same thing happened in Brazil last year. And we shall never forget what happened to Max in Brazil 2018 when Esteban Ocon tried to Dunlap himself past Max and then sabotaged his entire lead of the race. It was all just too familiar for comfort to see a Force India doing that again.

- SEB SPUN IN HIS FIGHT WITH HAMILTON AND NOW HE HAS TO WORK HIS WAY BACK UP AND TH EONLY POSSIBLE POSITION HE CAN GET BACK TO IS 5th PLACE. SEB. SEB, WHY??? WHY, SEB? And on top of all that, he lost his front wing and ran over it which created a huge fan of sparks and it was so extreme.

- The Renaults touch. Hulk ran over Daniel's front wing.

- CHARLES LECLERC REPORTS A PROBLEM WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

- FERRARI, WHY? WHY, FERRARI, WHY???? THIS IS JUST CRUEL BLOW

- So I spent the rest of the race (about 10 laps) b being absolutely soul-crushingly distraught over Ferrari's mechanical issue which caused the car not to be able to harvest energy they needed to keep up the speed, which meant that Charles was going way slow, so Hamilton passed him as well as Bottas and all would have been lost for Charles' first F1 podium if not for -

- BOTH RENAULTS FAILED AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. Hulk then Daniel just go right off as if they simply ran out of fuel. It could have been electrical or just total engine failure or something else, but whatever it was, it was completely unacceptable. Yes, can I just say: Renault is screwed.

- Because of the DOUBLE WHAMMY RENAULT FAILURE - as if anyone is surprised given their reliability history - the race ends under a safety car, securing 3rd place for Charles

Post-Race

- This was the most miserable, most crushing, most heinous moment of disappointment I've had in F1, just about equal, if not worse, than the time in Baku last year when the Red Bull boys ran into each other. I mean, it was that level of I-am-so-enraged-that-it-feels-like-I-need-to-run-four-miles-to-deal-with-this-anger-and-emotional-trauma kind of emotion. Because all weekend, Charles has been dominating and got his first pole which I am so proud of, but then it really looked like the race was going to be his. He lead most of it except that last few laps. I feel so devastated by the lack of foresight and reliability here. By no fault of his own, this entire race was completely stolen from Charles. And guess who got to stand on the top step of the podium instead? Just that same guy who is always on the podium's top step. Ferrari, please - just get it together so that you actually deliver a car that gets your two very talented drivers to that top step - NOT JUST CLOSE.

- Yes. And to everybody - and they know who they are - that shared patronizing "hard luck" messages (especially in-car radio messages) about Charles, I would just like to say that Charles is the champion of the future and I do not appreciate other drivers trying to appear magnanimous by saying how much they sympathize with him. You know what, it's fine if you mean it, but it's not fine if you're just saying it so you can appear to be the patron saint of F1. I do not appreciate that. I do not appreciate that one bit.

- At least Charles seemed in pretty good spirits after they got out of the cars. I mean, for the crushing blow that all of this has been, anyway, he was in good spirits. The maturity and positivity he showed in the face of all of this just further convinces me of his incredibly bright future.

- I know we are going to be hearing the national anthem of Monaco very soon.

Well. I guess I'll just go wallow in crushing disappointment and thank God nothing worse happened.

What a painful evening.