Formula 1 report Nº 3
2020 Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij – Sunday 19th July
Hungaroring round 3.
Lap record 1m 19.071s held by M. Schumacher Ferrari (2004).
This would normally be the final race before the long summer break but the pandemic has changed that.
There were 2 DRS zones but only one detection point located just before turn 14, the first activation zone along the start/finish straight and the second between turns 1 & 2. The drivers were warned about exceeding the track limits at turns 4, 11 & 12. Doing so in the practice & qualifying sessions meant their lap time would be deleted and in the race it could lead to penalties.
FP at only 17C after overnight rain and with heavy clouds and light drizzle caused most of the drivers to get out early. Gas spent a lot of time in the garage with a PU anomaly and there a lot of spins and minor offs. Bot, Ham, Per, Lec & Str made up the top five.
Q1 Gas was still suffering with his PU problem and there were some more spins & minor offs. Haas & Alfa Romeo cars went out along with Kvy
Q2 was a fairly calm session with a few more minor offs. Out went both Williams & Renault drivers along with Alb.
Q3 The fast and furious 12 minute shoot out was a good clean session. Ham got his 7th pole position at this circuit and 90th of his career and a new circuit record of 1m 13.447s. Bot, Str, Per & Vet completed the top five.
Another wet day at 21ºC (very cool for Hungary) and a damp track after more overnight rain. More rain as the cars went out to form the grid all on inters. Ver crashed into the wall on his way out losing his front wing giving his crew a lot of work to do on the grid. Both Haas drivers went in for slick tyres during the formation lap therefore having to start from the pit lane as well as a 10 second time penalty.
Ham had a good start, but Bot dropped down to 6th place. Pit stops started early, changing the inters for slicks. Lat was released into the path of Sai. As they touched, Lat got a puncture and had to crawl back a complete lap. He was also handed a five second penalty. Another mess-up from Ferrari as Vet had a very long stop. Gas pulled into the garage with smoke pouring out of his Honda engine at the end of lap 16. There was a lot of action and position changes during the many pit stops. After an action-packed 1h 36m 12.473s Ham, with the strategy genius by the team, took his 8th victory at this circuit with Ver & Bot joining him on the podium. After a late pit stop Ham posted the fastest lap on lap 70 with a 1m 16.627s 2.909s and making it a new lap record.
Formula 1 report No 4
Back 30 years to 1990 when round 4 was the Monaco GP on 27th May, the winner of the 78 lap 259.584km race which took 1h 52m 46.982s was A. Senna driving a McLaren – Honda V10t from pole position with and J. Alesi in Tyrrell Ford Cosworth V8 & G. Berger in the other McLaren joining him on the podium the. Senna also recorded the fastest lap clocking 1m 24.468s on lap 59.
Great News – 3 more races added to the calendar. First up is the fantastic & historic Nürburgring on 11th October – the Eifel GP, then for the first time to the brand new circuit at Portimao, Portugal on 25th October and finally back again to Italy to that wonderful Imola circuit for the Emilia Romagna GP on 1st November. The only other likely races are Bahrain & Abu Dhabi which will make up the 3 continents required.
2020 Formula Pirelli British GP Silverstone – Sunday 2nd August
Lap record 1m 27.639s held by L. Hamilton (2019).
For the first time since Australia in March an F1 person was tested positive for COVID-19. Sergio Perez immediately went into self-isolation. The team selected Hül who last raced for Renault last year, but also partnered Per at as it was then Force India.
Again the drivers were again warned about exceeding track limits; this time at (T9) and (T15).
This was the 54th race at this historic circuit and the first of the second triple headers of the season.
FP – Gro had an off. Safety car deployed. Vet was confined to the garage with a problem in the intercooler system. Quite a few spins and offs caused mainly by the wind changing direction.
Alb crashed heavily into the barrier. Another safety car period. Vet had more problems; this time with the brake pedal.
Ric had a chassis change overnight as they found a hairline fracture. Kvy had to have a new gearbox. Red Bull garage fixed Albon’s car getting him out with 12 minutes remaining. Bot, Ham, Ver, Str & Sai were the top five.
Q1 was a calm except out went both Alfa & Haas drivers along with Lat.
Q2 was cool and with some black clouds approaching. Ham had a big spin and went into the gravel causing a red flag situation. Dropping out with both Alpha Tauri drivers were Rus, Hül & Alb.
Q3 Ham got his 7th pole position at this circuit and recorded a new all-time track record with his pole time of 1m 24.303s. Bot, Ver, Lec, & Nor were the top five.
The weather on the Sunday was good at 21ºC. All got away well with some scraps going on; Lec & Ver as well as Str, Nor, Sai & Ric. Alb & Mag had a clash with the latter going off and hitting the barriers. Safety car deployed for 4 laps. Some good battles in the midfield. Kvy spun and went into the barrier on lap 12 bringing out the safety car. A flurry of cars in the pits and the race restarted on lap 19. Gro was shown the black & white flag for unsportsmanlike like behaviour. Alb was handed a 5 second penalty for causing an accident (Mag), Gio 5 seconds for a safety car infringement. It was a great race with lots of action and battles, then Räi had a front wing failure and had to pit. Sai had a burst tyre, then Bot had the same. Ham also had a burst tyre on the final lap taking the chequered flag on 3 wheels for his 7th win at this circuit & 87th of his career. Ver posted the fastest lap on lap 52 with a time of 1m 27.097 being a new lap record.
Racing Point were fined $400,000 and deducted 15 championship points for copying the Mercedes brake ducts, but are allowed to continue with them for this year. Now some of the teams are taking action against the steward’s decision so this saga will drag on for a while longer.