Charles with a 10 place penalty by race #2. Ouch! They must have absolutely cooked some ECUs in Bahrain. Little to close to a header or turbo maybe?
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So after FP2 things looking fairly similar to Bahrain. Pecking order hasnāt changed much, though Ferrari doesnāt look that competitive at all so far. Iām just wondering if all Ferrari cars are on some sort of low-power run plan because none of them looked particularly good, except for Hulkenberg who was consistently pretty good! Faster than both Ferraris almost every lap they turned.
Alonso and Stroll consistently putting up times that are close to Red Bull. It looks like RB vs AM at the moment, but Max always seems to have a little in-hand. Iām sure come race day, RB will crank it up and gap as needed.
Hamilton once again seems to struggle at this track. He had issues last year here and again this year he is not matching Russell.
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Albon looked respectable with Medium tires.
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In FP1 especially he looked good. I think Williams isnāt bad around this track. Sargeant was a little out to lunch in FP2, but I think the car is okay.
*Scratch that, Sargeant was only a tenth off Albon, times were just pretty close.
De Vries not performing how I expected him to, also what happened to Alfa 
Good stuff from Hulkenburg. My guy Gasly seems to be fitting in nicely at Alpine, needs to qualify better than last race though. Walk in the park for RB (Max) of course, interest will be the other two podium spots.
I donāt get the hype around De Vries. There was a reason he didnāt ever get a real shake at F1 and it was because heās good but no stand-out superstar. He will be a decent midfielder but I doubt he really has the chops for a top-tier F1 team. His one-off last year was impressive and he is a likable guy, but if he was ever going to be a great F1 driver I would imagine he wouldāve gotten his opportunity like 5 years ago.
I think Alfa focused on long runs, though it seems tire deg is really low so maybe they are overthinking it and didnāt need to do that.
The Alpine seems better suited here where the pavement is smoother. I think their aero depends on running the car quite low, so on bumpier tracks they canāt do that. Here, they can run it lower and extract more. But that car looks a bit more difficult to dial in. The Aston appears to be super easy to drive and Alonso can get on it from the drop of the green, but the Alpine seems to take a while to set it up right.
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I thought De Vries would at least be the equal of Tsunoda but may be Iām being a little harsh as it is only the second race of the season!
Hope you are right about Alpha.
Hoping Gasly kicks Ocons arse this weekend tbh:) Alonso in an easy car to drive will be a beast no doubt about it. Hoping that AM and Merc are very even this weekend and we can see a good fight between the two teams.
2x FIA World Karting Champion
F2 Champion
Formula E FIA World Champion (I donāt think spec chassis classes should have world championship status, but it is what it is)
De Vries didnāt get to F1 because of finances oddly enough (he was always considered minted back in his karting days). He was more than qualified, but thatās the F1 game.
Whether he can produce in F1 is another matter because itās riddled with politics and AT at the moment donāt have a great car. But thereās reason for high expectations.
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I know his resume and I agree heās good, I just think heās only āgoodā, and it seemed people were expecting him to be some revelation. I actually like him a lot.
His titles are great but letās not forget he only won F2 in his third season and his main completion was Latifi. None of the rest of that grid has made a dent in F1.
I think he will match Yuki, but I think Yuki is out if he doesnāt beat De Vries.
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Redbull has everyone covered like the Merc years of past which isnāt exciting, but a part of this sport. I do love that Aston doesnāt seem to be a fluke and is regularly up front.
Another thing Iām enjoying is that right now there isnāt a defined back of the field team. Both Williams and Haas are in the mix and thereās lots of variability in the remainder of the field.
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Pretty impressed by Sargeant staying within about 0.05 sec of Albon in FP3 on a concrete canyon track (dislike these in general).
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That first lap from Sargeant was so promisingā¦
Then mistake after mistake. Spins, then he loses it in one in his only chance, and drifts it back into the track and bonks the wall and breaks the carā¦ sloppy.
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From the onboard it almost looked like he didnāt get on the pink area, but he must have. Sucky mistake to do, but speed is good. Hopefully can race forward tomorrow.
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If Max is out, Alonso has a good chance at Pole.
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Wow interesting scene out of Red Bull
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How the fck do you get track limits at T27? Sar would need to have been riding on top of the fence!
He had track limits on the straight by the pit entry by touching the pink area which was in the race directorās notes. Close Q2 at the elimination zone.
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Aston front row lockout 
game on
Come on Fernando hereās your shot!
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Kudos to Perez for a mighty lap under pressure.
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