Where penalties are more a thing than racing

I apparently wasn’t as full of creative flourish when writing this as I was for last year’s round in Saudi Arabia, so if you want to read F2 meets some kind of Lord of the Rings/Star Wars hybrid mash-up then go read that post, or if you just want to know what happened this weekend then continue…

Practice: Red flags

Practice was busy from the start, with times tumbling and even a plastic bag getting involved in the action, which I’m sure Red Bull junior Liam Lawson was super happy about. Clément Novalak didn’t seem too happy either, as he spun, ending up facing the wrong way in the middle of the track. Thankfully for everyone, including the marshals, Novalak managed to keep the engine running and headed back to the pits. The relief didn’t last long, however, as esports pro Cem Bölükbasi was in the wall. Red flag. Thankfully Cem wasn’t seriously injured, but he was concussed and therefore unable to take part in the rest of the weekend. Feel better soon Cem!

With the clock still counting down under the red flag, there were only 13 minutes left when it was finally safe to go back out. The session resumed for a whole five minutes before Sauber Academy driver Théo Pourchaire was also in the wall. Another red flag and since it takes hours for cars to be removed from the track, it was decided that practice was over. Who needs more than a few minutes to get to know a terrifyingly fast, walled in, blind corners track anyway?

The final timings showed Felipe Drugovich was fastest, Lawson was second and Marcus Armstrong was third.

Qualifying: Red flags, red flags, red flags

There was a missile strike and huge oil fire happening in the background, but I’m sure that was no problem.

Only 20 cars were out on track at the start, as Bölükbasi was in the hospital and Drugovich was just hanging in the pits, waiting for everyone else to do their warm-up laps. Ralph Boschung set the early pace, with the others trading lap times behind him. Until Drugovich took to the track. Looking super fast and good, Drugovich set a really fast lap just after everyone else had done theirs, so then they all did more laps. Boschung retook provisional pole position and Armstrong also got in the mix along with Jüri Vips, and Jake Hughes.

Pourchaire, however, was not in the mix. His car was on fire and there was a red flag.

With just over half of Qualifying left, they all headed out again and Boschung was on a super fast lap. He was definitely going to get provisional pole, except that Williams junior driver Logan Sargeant crashed. Red flag.

Boschung was back out again as soon as he could and was fast, that is until he came across Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti. The two nearly crashed into each other. They managed not to, but Boschung’s lap was compromised and it was Armstrong who was now fastest.

Red flag. Who even knows what this one was all about. The Medical Car literally drove a lap around and then went back in. Then green flag again.

With five minutes still on the clock, it would have been prime time for a last lap shoot down between Armstrong and Boschung, except due to a secret new rule that no one would even know about without paying a lot of attention, teams aren’t allowed to refuel the cars during Qualifying anymore. This basically means that because of all the stop-start red-flag-green-flag ridiculousness, many drivers had no fuel left to do a final run. Cut to Armstrong looking sad on the pit wall.

With a nice clear track and having saved some fuel from his pit lane chilling earlier, Drugovich was free (and also very happy) to take pole. Richard Verschoor was second and Jack Doohan took a last-minute third.

At the press conference, Drugovich was very happy about his excellent lap, Verschoor said he basically hadn’t had a chance to learn the track so had to switch off his mind completely and just go for it (sounds safe), while Doohan looked unhappy as he said he “had to be happy” with his position.

Doohan, however, would’ve been right not to be too happy, because he was then disqualified for not having enough fuel to do the mandatory fuel test at the end of the session. He would therefore be starting both races from the back, courtesy of the kind stewards who decided to allow him to join in. Also getting surprise post-Qualifying penalties were Cordeel, Vesti, Novalak, Caldwell and Vips.

Amaury Cordeel was given a ten-place grid drop for the Sprint Race for failing to slow down enough under the yellow flag/red flag situation. Vesti was given a three-place grid drop for the Sprint Race because he blocked Boschung on his super speedy quali lap. Novalak got a five-place grid drop for blocking Olli Caldwell, while Caldwell was served a three-place grid drop for blocking Vips, and Vips was given a three-place grid drop for blocking Enzo Fittipaldi. What the fuck was happening there?

Why not just throw everyone’s name in a hat to determine the Qualifying positions?

Sprint Race: Yellow flags (the kind that come with Safety Cars)

After Qualifying and all the penalties, Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger qualified tenth, meaning he had reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race. Behind him were Jake Hughes and Calan Williams. No one was expecting a full race without Safety Cars, least of all those who decided to chance it on the soft tyres, or Williams who anticipated “a race of attrition.”

The start was tense, as viewers braced themselves for carnage, while the drivers were all tiptoeing round and being very careful. The only drama was Hughes dropping from second to fourth behind Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa, although Hughes and his soft tyres soon made it past again to at least claw back third place behind Hauger and Williams. Everyone took a breath for a lap until Cordeel spun into the wall causing a Safety Car and the saddest sounding radio message ever heard to man.

After many hours, the racing resumed for a few of the drivers, while the rest got into an accident before even crossing the line. The Safety Car was re-called while Doohan and Sargeant were cleared away. Race Control initially told drivers to divert down the pit lane, but shortly after said that the pit lane entrance was, in fact, closed. Dennis Hauger was the de facto Safety Car, as the pack had yet to catch up to the real Safety Car, and he had a decision to make. His team, Prema, apparently clarified with Race Control that Hauger should go down the pit lane, however the pit lane was clearly closed, with a big sign. Hauger did what his team told him to do, while everyone took a look at the pit closed sign and thought “Nah.” As a result, Hauger was the only one to take the long way round and came out of the pits in 12th place. He was fuming. Prema were fuming. The stewards were investigating. After much radio ranting and steward investigation, Hauger was awarded a ten-second stop/go penalty for entering the pit lane when it was closed. From first to last in just a few Race Control messages.

Several laps later, the Safety Car was finally recalled and the racing could begin. New race leader Williams did his best to hold onto his inherited spot, but alas, Hughes and Lawson were just too fast and he was soon in third, for a while, before Vips overtook pretty much everyone including Williams to claim third for himself. The new top-three were Hughes, Lawson and Vips.

In the closing laps, Hughes was struggling with his soft tyres, whereas Lawson had lovely medium tyres and a really fast car. It wasn’t long before Lawson closed on Hughes and DRS’d him for the lead, just before seventh-place Armstrong spun, causing Boschung to nearly crash into him and a Virtual Safety Car to be called. As the VSC ended, everyone had had enough of the race and it was suddenly the last lap. Vips was charging, now battling Hughes for second place. As Lawson crossed the line to win, Hughes and Vips were side-by-side after the final corner, Vips stealing second-place by less than a tenth of a second.

Reflecting afterwards, Lawson said the first 70% of the race was just staying alive and that he was surprised that Hughes’s tyres didn’t last given “so few racing laps”, which is Lawson’s professional racing driver speak for lots and lots of Safety Car time. Vips looked actually happy, genuinely happy. It was such a lovely event I didn’t want to get dragged down by any potential negative comments and stopped watching the press conference.

The negativity was soon to come however, at least for Hughes, who was disqualified for having worn too much off the plank on the bottom of the car. Boschung, who had finished eight (or seventh after Hughes’s’ disqualification depending on which penalty came first) was given a 20-second time penalty for being out of position at the start, a thing which they apparently only noticed after the race, despite it being horrifically clear to all who watched and/or have Twitter. Finally, Doohan was given a three-place grid drop for the Feature Race after causing a collision with Sargeant. Something which he probably gave no fucks about given that he’d already been disqualified from Qualifying and was starting from the back anyway.

Oh and Prema contested the whole race result because they were so pissed off. They surprisingly did not win that either.

Feature Race: No flags!?

Drugovich was on pole for the Feature Race, which was surprising because it meant he hadn’t got any penalties or anything. Verschoor was second and Armstrong was third. After Cordeel’s accident in the Sprint Race, his car was too broken and his team withdrew him from the race.

Following an aborted first start, for whatever reason, maybe the Medical Car fancied a lap, it was a very non-frantic start, with Drugovich keeping his lead comfortably, Verschoor holding onto second and Armstrong and Lawson battling over third. Armstrong lost that battle and was quickly relegated to fourth place, while behind them, Boschung was desperately trying (unsuccessfully) not to get relegated himself. He eventually ended up losing three places (to Iwasa, Vips and Hauger) and getting a five-second time penalty for his pretty dodgy defence.

As the first lot of mandatory pits stops begun, Pourchaire, who started near the back, was dropping even further back as his car gave up. Thankfully he made it back to the pits (albeit very slowly) and there was no need for a looooong Safety Car to be called.

It was soon leader Drugovich’s turn to pit, while second-place Verschoor stayed out, being told by his team to push, push, push, push and then push, push, although it did no good as he still came out behind Drugovich when he took his pit stop a lap later. At least he came out of the pits again, however, as Lawson didn’t have such luck. In a repeat of scenes from last round, one of Lawson’s tyres wasn’t fitted correctly and he had to stop at the end of the pit lane. His race was over. Williams had a similar close call during his pit stop when he locked up on the way out and nearly ran into the wall. Something that Hauger repeated a few laps later on his pit stop.

After the pit stop trials had all been won and lost, Drugovich regained his lead, with Verschoor still in second. However, behind them was suddenly Daruvala. Where did he even come from!? He started 14th.

Despite Verschoor’s best efforts, Drugovich had it comfortably covered and took the win. At the opposite end of the field, Vesti ended his race by spinning and stopping on track.

In the press conference, everyone was pretty happy and then it was time for them to go home.

Championship standings at the chequered flag

After his strong weekend, Drugovich now leads the championship with 45 points. Consistency from Lawson means he’s still in second place (34 points), and Verschoor has launched himself up to third (32 points). Pourchaire’s Vips-levels of bad luck means he dropped all the way to fifth (25 points), even behind Vips actually, who is fourth (28 points).