Seeing as 2023 seems to be the year for come backs, here, by absolutely no demand what-so-ever sees the unwelcome return of the good things / bad things thread. For those of you who have never seen this thread before, welcome (copyright Martin Brundle). It's a bit like Ted's Notebook where we run through the good and bad things from the GP. The major difference is that I mostly make this up and I don't wander around the paddock with a smug grin and pretend that every team in F1 loves me and thinks I'm great.
So, off we go then:
Good Things:
Well, if you're a Red Bull fan then this was certainly a good weekend for you. It was an unusually quiet one in some respects because Zak Brown got to have a go on the mic during the Sky coverage, so we didn't get to hear the thoughts of Christian Horner. There was one touching moment going into the final lap of the race where the camera panned across the Red Bull pit wall and caught Christian looking lovingly at Adrian with the sort of glimmer in his eyes that suggested without the finest car designer of the last 30 years sat next to him he would have been out of a job a long time ago. Verstappen grabbed pole, led into the first corner after the lights went out and that was pretty much it. A flawless weekend for the team.
Like ripping the plaster from an old wound, yes, I'll say it even though it hurts, Alonso had a great weekend. During the race he drove the nuts off the Aston and gained a well-deserved 3rd place. Some of his overtaking looked brilliant and, by the way the car washed around, was clearly on the edge of adhesion to the road surface. If this was 40 years ago, the back end of that Aston would have been sliding out around the corners Ronnie Peterson style. The only bizarre thing was this strange new love affair between Alonso and his teammate. Normally Alonso wouldn't cross the road to spit on a teammate if they were on fire but somehow, he seems to have a new found respect for Lance. Even though Lance clearly touched Fernando on the bottom at the start it didn't stop Fernando getting on the radio in the last few laps to enquire how his teammate was getting on. All very lovely.
For the first time in a while, we had a group of rookies who look like they belong in F1 for their ability and not the size of their, or their daddy's bank balance. While all three were eliminated in Q1, the closeness of that session suggests that many of those laps could have gone either way. Logan Sargaent was the pick of the weekend (see, what the hell do I know!!!). His Q1 lap time only saw him dip out of Q2 because he matched Lando Norris's time which Norris had set first and therefore put Lando into the next session. In the race he drove well to finish ahead of Magnusson and within touching distance of his teammate Albon. Oscar Piastri struggled in what is clearly a very poor McLaren while De Vries made up a few spots to finish 14th but really wasn't helped when his team failed to bring him in for fresh tyres under the virtual safety car. It will be interesting to see how all 3 go on to develop as the season moves on.
Bad Things:
It’s tempting to start with the dominance of Red Bull because when it really mattered (Q3 onwards) they were simply untouchable. The winding up of the hype to 11 carried over from testing into the early stages of the weekend meant that people were expecting far too much from qualifying and the race. That said though, there is a glimmer of hope that Red Bull can be pushed a bit harder in the early races of this season compared to how they finished at the end of 2022. So, we'll move off that subject and into some really bad things.
Ocon, Ocon, Ocon, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. a 5 second penalty for not lining up in his grid spot properly which he then went on to fail to serve correctly in the pits. This led to a 10 second penalty which he also managed to add another 5 second penalty to for speeding in the pit lane. After dragging his Alpine to a decent 9th on the grid in qualifying, the way he set fire to his race weekend was outstanding. The mechanical failure that sent him out on lap 41 was like putting a wounded animal out of its misery. The weekend got worse when his teammate Pierre Gasly had a solid race from the back of the grid to finish 9th and bring home 2 points.
McLaren. The car is clearly junk. Any momentum from last year has been lost with Aston clearly picking up the best of the rest slot for now. Piastri parked the car after an electrical failure and Lando pounded around near the rear of the pack having to pit every dozen laps to have his air pressure topped up. Neither car made it out of Q2 and Norris only just managed to scrape the car out of Q1 thanks to the equal times rule. They need to develop that car rapidly otherwise they'll get swallowed up among the also rans. Who would have bet on Williams outscoring McLaren at Race 1?
Tough call for the last pick on the bad side of things but I'll have to go with Ferrari. The car clearly has pace because in qually trim it wasn't too far off the front. Sainz set the fastest time in Q1 and Leclerc in Q2. In the race though, things began to slide away. Leclerc couldn't stay with the two Red Bull’s and it was clear they were gone a few laps in to the race and the gap only grew until his engine let go on lap 31. Meanwhile Sainz was told to defend his position to Alonso and managed to lose that position within 2 laps of that radio call. Alonso making much better use of his fresher tyres. Sainz was lucky to hold off Hamilton whose own tyres were one lap older than Carlos's and, in the Mercedes, had a car that was clearly a 10th or two slower than the Ferrari.
So, that's my list of things. What's yours?
So, off we go then:
Good Things:
Well, if you're a Red Bull fan then this was certainly a good weekend for you. It was an unusually quiet one in some respects because Zak Brown got to have a go on the mic during the Sky coverage, so we didn't get to hear the thoughts of Christian Horner. There was one touching moment going into the final lap of the race where the camera panned across the Red Bull pit wall and caught Christian looking lovingly at Adrian with the sort of glimmer in his eyes that suggested without the finest car designer of the last 30 years sat next to him he would have been out of a job a long time ago. Verstappen grabbed pole, led into the first corner after the lights went out and that was pretty much it. A flawless weekend for the team.
Like ripping the plaster from an old wound, yes, I'll say it even though it hurts, Alonso had a great weekend. During the race he drove the nuts off the Aston and gained a well-deserved 3rd place. Some of his overtaking looked brilliant and, by the way the car washed around, was clearly on the edge of adhesion to the road surface. If this was 40 years ago, the back end of that Aston would have been sliding out around the corners Ronnie Peterson style. The only bizarre thing was this strange new love affair between Alonso and his teammate. Normally Alonso wouldn't cross the road to spit on a teammate if they were on fire but somehow, he seems to have a new found respect for Lance. Even though Lance clearly touched Fernando on the bottom at the start it didn't stop Fernando getting on the radio in the last few laps to enquire how his teammate was getting on. All very lovely.
For the first time in a while, we had a group of rookies who look like they belong in F1 for their ability and not the size of their, or their daddy's bank balance. While all three were eliminated in Q1, the closeness of that session suggests that many of those laps could have gone either way. Logan Sargaent was the pick of the weekend (see, what the hell do I know!!!). His Q1 lap time only saw him dip out of Q2 because he matched Lando Norris's time which Norris had set first and therefore put Lando into the next session. In the race he drove well to finish ahead of Magnusson and within touching distance of his teammate Albon. Oscar Piastri struggled in what is clearly a very poor McLaren while De Vries made up a few spots to finish 14th but really wasn't helped when his team failed to bring him in for fresh tyres under the virtual safety car. It will be interesting to see how all 3 go on to develop as the season moves on.
Bad Things:
It’s tempting to start with the dominance of Red Bull because when it really mattered (Q3 onwards) they were simply untouchable. The winding up of the hype to 11 carried over from testing into the early stages of the weekend meant that people were expecting far too much from qualifying and the race. That said though, there is a glimmer of hope that Red Bull can be pushed a bit harder in the early races of this season compared to how they finished at the end of 2022. So, we'll move off that subject and into some really bad things.
Ocon, Ocon, Ocon, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. a 5 second penalty for not lining up in his grid spot properly which he then went on to fail to serve correctly in the pits. This led to a 10 second penalty which he also managed to add another 5 second penalty to for speeding in the pit lane. After dragging his Alpine to a decent 9th on the grid in qualifying, the way he set fire to his race weekend was outstanding. The mechanical failure that sent him out on lap 41 was like putting a wounded animal out of its misery. The weekend got worse when his teammate Pierre Gasly had a solid race from the back of the grid to finish 9th and bring home 2 points.
McLaren. The car is clearly junk. Any momentum from last year has been lost with Aston clearly picking up the best of the rest slot for now. Piastri parked the car after an electrical failure and Lando pounded around near the rear of the pack having to pit every dozen laps to have his air pressure topped up. Neither car made it out of Q2 and Norris only just managed to scrape the car out of Q1 thanks to the equal times rule. They need to develop that car rapidly otherwise they'll get swallowed up among the also rans. Who would have bet on Williams outscoring McLaren at Race 1?
Tough call for the last pick on the bad side of things but I'll have to go with Ferrari. The car clearly has pace because in qually trim it wasn't too far off the front. Sainz set the fastest time in Q1 and Leclerc in Q2. In the race though, things began to slide away. Leclerc couldn't stay with the two Red Bull’s and it was clear they were gone a few laps in to the race and the gap only grew until his engine let go on lap 31. Meanwhile Sainz was told to defend his position to Alonso and managed to lose that position within 2 laps of that radio call. Alonso making much better use of his fresher tyres. Sainz was lucky to hold off Hamilton whose own tyres were one lap older than Carlos's and, in the Mercedes, had a car that was clearly a 10th or two slower than the Ferrari.
So, that's my list of things. What's yours?
