I know exactly what you’re thinking! You’re thinking there’s less than 24 hours to go until we get to watch the next race weekend of this thrilling Formula 1 season and there is yet to be a PQR thread posted. Well worry no further for here it is.
Hold on to your hats race fans, it’s going to be another one of those awesome Sprint race weekends where we get to see the worlds best drivers complain they can’t push on maximum attack because of tyre wear. There has been a slight rule tweak for the tyres in sprint qualifying this weekend to enable drivers who make it into the final sprint qualifying session to use another set of new or used softs. This was due to Lando running out of fresh sets in the sprint qually session in Baku and therefore not being able to take part.
The Red Bull Ring once again hosts the Austrian GP and will no doubt also be win number 9 of the season for the Red Bull Racing Team. It’s very strange though, ever since the Miami GP where Sergio Perez in the second car. set pole and finished second, his form has gone mysteriously off the boil. Its as if the driver who won the Baku sprint race and GP and at that point was only 4 points behind Max in the championship, can no longer find the same level of speed to challenge his renowned teammate. I wonder what’s changed?
Alonso at Aston and Hamilton for Merc are locked in a battle for the scraps on the podium table with both having beamed their smiling chops down on the crowds from on high. Alonso has been the more consistent so far but after the Canada upgrades Lewis seems a lot more comfortable in his car. Both of their teammates however, in Stroll and Russell are letting the side down.
What that means is that Ferrari, are getting away with being utterly awful but are still not too far off the Merc powered motors in front of them. Let’s be honest, Ferrari are in deep doo doo unless they can work out what’s going wrong with their car. It was only by looking at the championship table on Wiki did I see just how off their performance has been. A single podium and 2 fourth places compared to multiple top four finishes for RBR, Aston and Mercedes.
Interestingly, from the start of the 2022 season until the Hungarian GP, Red Bull had taken 8 wins to Ferrari’s 4. From the Belgian GP where the ground effect anti-porpoising rules were introduced, Red Bull have won 15 out of the next 16 races, with Merc taking the only other win.
Williams will be hoping that Albon’s performance in Canada was not a one off and that the upgraded car is now genuinely among the middle of the pack and will go on to be a regular points finisher. What it did show however, was that while the cars can run closer together, overtaking with or without DRS remains as impossible as ever. While the commentators may guff on about the “DRS Train”, with all due respect to Albon’s drive, he didn’t have DRS at the head of that pack and had the oldest tyres in that group. The fact that at various times, Ocon and Stroll couldn’t even get close to passing the Williams shows how big the problems of racing still are.
Anyway, for those who wish to put themselves through yet another lights to flag Red Bull victory, the broadcast times are as follows:
Hold on to your hats race fans, it’s going to be another one of those awesome Sprint race weekends where we get to see the worlds best drivers complain they can’t push on maximum attack because of tyre wear. There has been a slight rule tweak for the tyres in sprint qualifying this weekend to enable drivers who make it into the final sprint qualifying session to use another set of new or used softs. This was due to Lando running out of fresh sets in the sprint qually session in Baku and therefore not being able to take part.
The Red Bull Ring once again hosts the Austrian GP and will no doubt also be win number 9 of the season for the Red Bull Racing Team. It’s very strange though, ever since the Miami GP where Sergio Perez in the second car. set pole and finished second, his form has gone mysteriously off the boil. Its as if the driver who won the Baku sprint race and GP and at that point was only 4 points behind Max in the championship, can no longer find the same level of speed to challenge his renowned teammate. I wonder what’s changed?
Alonso at Aston and Hamilton for Merc are locked in a battle for the scraps on the podium table with both having beamed their smiling chops down on the crowds from on high. Alonso has been the more consistent so far but after the Canada upgrades Lewis seems a lot more comfortable in his car. Both of their teammates however, in Stroll and Russell are letting the side down.
What that means is that Ferrari, are getting away with being utterly awful but are still not too far off the Merc powered motors in front of them. Let’s be honest, Ferrari are in deep doo doo unless they can work out what’s going wrong with their car. It was only by looking at the championship table on Wiki did I see just how off their performance has been. A single podium and 2 fourth places compared to multiple top four finishes for RBR, Aston and Mercedes.
Interestingly, from the start of the 2022 season until the Hungarian GP, Red Bull had taken 8 wins to Ferrari’s 4. From the Belgian GP where the ground effect anti-porpoising rules were introduced, Red Bull have won 15 out of the next 16 races, with Merc taking the only other win.
Williams will be hoping that Albon’s performance in Canada was not a one off and that the upgraded car is now genuinely among the middle of the pack and will go on to be a regular points finisher. What it did show however, was that while the cars can run closer together, overtaking with or without DRS remains as impossible as ever. While the commentators may guff on about the “DRS Train”, with all due respect to Albon’s drive, he didn’t have DRS at the head of that pack and had the oldest tyres in that group. The fact that at various times, Ocon and Stroll couldn’t even get close to passing the Williams shows how big the problems of racing still are.
Anyway, for those who wish to put themselves through yet another lights to flag Red Bull victory, the broadcast times are as follows:
| Session | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| First Practice | 30 June | 12:30 |
| Qualification | 30 June | 16:00 |
| Sprint Shootout | 1 July | 11:00 |
| Sprint | 1 July | 15:30 |
| Race | 2 July | 14:00 |
