Race 2 - Pirelli Gran Premio Del.. err, Imola GP!

If this race weekend has taught people anything - and if you have been around and watched close enough you didn’t need the lesson - you never count Lewis Hamilton out. You'd think people would have learnt this by now!

Saturday

But before all that - let's talk about qualifying! Both Williams cars made it to Q2 for the first time since forever, and the Alfa Romeos not. Checo and Lando topping Q2 charts with their soft tires. And then so much drama in Q3! Lance getting multiple laps deleted. Lando with that absolute boss lap and getting to P2 only to get it deleted for exceeding Turn 9 track limits. Checo going to P2 above Max, who pulled up in 3rd place despite a botched lap, showing exactly what was to come on Sunday. Bottas only qualifying P8 despite topping both practices on Friday. And then Lewis pulling out the most amazing lap out of his arse(nal) to get his 99th pole position in the 30th circuit. It all set up the stage nicely for race day, and the promise of rain added to that as well. 

Lights out and away we go!

Not going to lie, race starts in general, and rainy race starts like the one here makes me incredibly nervous. I admit I was expecting a lot more damage than what transpired. It didn’t help that there were cars spinning and aquaplaning on the way to the grid already. I also admit that when Latifi crashed, my first thought was for my fantasy team going down the drain! (In my defense, it was very low speed and he looked alright.)

But, what a move that was from Max Verstappen! It is so amazing to see how much he has grown as a driver, and the rightful leader of the charge for the driver championship this year. He grabbed the start right at the first corner, and didn’t give it up until the chequered flag, and I am so glad to see both he and the car have improved since the disaster performance in Turkey last year.

Some other wet weather masters showing up in the first lap - Carlos Sainz gaining some nice positions, Kimi Raikkonen getting up the grid as well as Lance Stroll trying his best in what seems like a dog of a car that AM have got this year. (Shall we talk about Seb? Not yet, sorry.)

Unfortunately Latifi’s spin meant a yellow flag, and a few more cars spinning out in the meantime, keeping people entertained even during the yellow flag. Speaking of, Gary Gannon guiding Mick Schumacher after he spun has emerged as one of the highlights of the race, hasn’t it? I’ve heard that bit of radio several times now, and it makes me wish I had a Gary talking me through life at all times! 

Red flag

All was going well for a while after the restart after that yellow flag. Or rather, well enough. Pierre was compromised by a horrible tyre strategy that saw him slipping waaay back, Checo got a 10s stop and go penalty for overtaking behind the yellow flag but it didn’t really do much damage, the Red Bull not losing out too many positions in the process. And then on Lap 32, all the Mercedes drivers collectively lost their heads. First Lewis makes a rare mistake and spins out at Tosa and almost takes out George in the process. And then George tries to overtake Valtteri and goes too far into the wet patches, hitting the Mercedes quite hard and at very high speed. The state of that Mercedes car made me cringe so hard. But this caused the red flag to come out, around the same time that Lewis was thankfully able to pull his car back onto the track, and also minimising the time he had lost. 

The debate of the week has been whose fault was it, and I think I will agree with George’s apology post that it wasn’t Valtteri’s fault. He was ahead at the time of the incident, and hence was entitled to take the racing line. George got impatient - plain and simple. And given how much Valtteri was struggling with his new tires, George probably would have eventually got him, like Lance got him the previous lap. It was quite strange listening to George after the race, as I have never known Valtteri to be disrespectful on track ever, and didn’t think he was this time as well.

Hammer-time

Would I have been absolutely thrilled to have a VER-LEC-NOR podium? Absolutely - it’s basically what dreams are made of. But then, you cannot become Sir Lewis Hamilton without having the bucket loads of talent that he has. Lewis showed as much class on the track coming back from P9 to P2 as he did all weekend buoying the spirits of his younger colleagues on Instagram, and at the end of the day, I just couldn’t argue against how much he deserved the podium this weekend. 

Shout outs to Carlos Sainz for the excellent race (P11 to P5) when the rest of the team-changers are struggling to keep it in the points, to Charles Leclerc for driving without bloody radio comms for the whole way after the red flag and I am sure he would have finished higher, or at least given it a much better fight if he had had comms, to Lando Norris for maximizing every opportunity he got after the disappointing qualifying he had and getting a well deserved second podium, and if the only person you lost out to is Lewis Hamilton, that’s a good race indeed, and most of all to Max Verstappen, who had just the best race I have seen him drive in recent times. I was skeptical after Turkey, but he reminded me of way back in 2016 when he showed us flashes of his talent in a wet Brazilian GP. 

Teams

This piece has already gone on too long, so I’ll try to do this briefly:

Mercedes - is in trouble! Valtteri needs to step it up soon, and hope some of Lewis’s luck rubs off on him as well. It looks like Lewis is hanging on to the WDC with pure stubbornness for now but once Checo settles in better, the WCC is going to be in more trouble. 

Red Bull - is the team to beat this season, isn’t it? Unless something like Ferrari 2019 happens, the WCC is theirs to lose, and I expect to see Max giving Lewis a very tight challenge this year. 

McLaren - is looking strong again! After Friday practice I had my doubts about them being good on all tracks but Lando proved their speed this year and all it needs is for Daniel to get settled, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

Ferrari - is in 4th place now! Who would have imagined at the end of last year! Team Charlie showing up and scoring good points! Ferrari vs Mclaren is on! Charles was robbed of his podium here, but it makes me so much more hopeful for the rest of this season.

Alpha Tauri - is damn fast, and Bahrain was clearly not a fluke with Pierre posting a P5 quali, and Yuki would have been up in Q3 if not for the unfortunate crash. Still, Yuki was up in P8, ahead of Lewis by the restart before he had that unfortunate spin. I’m expecting results from them this year, and both these guys have it in them.

Aston Martin - is hurting me right now. They have two of my favourite drivers on the grid, and all they need to do is give them a good car. Please Racing Gods, I cannot watch the light fading in Seb’s eyes over the season for the third year running. 

Alpine - is showing improvements, but not fast enough. They had two cars in the points this time around but they need to bring the fight to the midfield now. Fernando admitted he still needs improving, and I am eager to see what he still has in him.

Alfa Romeo - it was a disappointing show wasn’t it? I say disappointing, because I believe they have a much better car this year compared to what the results showed this weekend. Kimi was almost in the points, and both him and Antonio seemed disappointed as well. Hope they have a better show in Portimao.

Williams, Haas - well I’m happy both the Haas rookies finished the race and that is about all we can hope for at this stage. Williams had a brilliant quali and a rubbish race, so I guess that puts them exactly where they were at the start of the weekend. 

Final thoughts

And that was the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made In Italy e Dell’Emilia Romagna 2021 GP! Now we go forth to Portimao for the Portuguese GP. I’m so glad there isn’t a horribly big break between the races. Portimao was one of my favourite tracks last year, not gonna lie. It is so beautiful! And that blind crest just makes for some beautiful wallpapers in addition to good racing. Hoping for a return of Race Leader Carlos Sainz Jr! There miiiiight be some rain around the weekend, although as of now Sunday seems clear. Looking forward to another cracker of a race. Until then - Adeus!

(I might come back for FE this weekend though - no promises!)