the way Max swept past Lewis and then put 2 seconds on him was breathtaking. I know Horner said he thought Lewis made a mistake that lap which was why the distance got so big but IDK man, Max clearly has a load of extra capacity in that car to fend off any challengers

the only argument against it was how much Checo struggled to get through midfield

Totally agree with this. Lots of real racing around the track instead of just a single long straight where you "might" be able to pass.

Alonso is 41yo. Prior to this season:

2014 - last time 3x consecutive top 6
2013 - last time 3x consecutive podiums
2006 - last time 3x consecutive podiums to start the season

Yes he is defying age. Just goes to show what he missed out on by leaving McLaren in 2007

Never noticed location is no longer showing. I live in Sydney so the F1 races I visit are normally Melbourne, China, Singapore, Japan although this season it is most likely just Melbourne.

Really annoying to not have F1 for 4 weeks (other than the Summer break), hopefully China is dropped for good. At a minimum, it should not be listed in the schedule unless China has returned to normal for a full 12 months and there is 90%+ certainty that the race will actually go ahead.

PS: is there a website that has more cookies than formula1.com? Have to scroll a long, long way to Reject All.

I like the track in China. You would think Turkey or someone would have been available on short notice.

It could be a contractual thing though with China - give them every opportunity right to the last minute then pull out due to the clause relating to things out of both the race organiser and F1's control meaning that the race cannot be held - I presume some portion of the hosting fee will still be paid even as a sort of holding fee for it to still be on the calendar. It must be one huge fee or even the manufacturers are happy to leave it on there with a chance F1 could return given the importance of the market to them both for sales and manufacturing

And no

Yeah with F1 being so hot now. They have leverage to go anywhere they want with a long waiting list of cities dying to host a race.

China probably happily ate all the costs and fees to keep a spot on the calendar. F1 probably says fine, these fish paid us and we didn’t have to send entire crew there. No loss for is.

China is the 2nd biggest growth market for F1 after USA. They are more likely to get a 2nd race than not be on the calendar.

Fun F1 last longer is Zhou vs Tsunoda.

Yuki the better driver but Zhou brings in more $. Zhou probably a favorite to maintain a seat.

Zhou gets a pretty bad wrap. People seem to forget somehow that last year was his rookie season.

His avg qualifying and race pace was closer to Bottas over the season than Tsunoda was to Gasly. For a rookie season, that is very impressive. Bottas has always been very complimentary of him - of course you can take that with a pinch of salt because of sponsorships etc, but I really don't think it's a cut and dry case that Tsunoda is a better driver.

looks like Max needs a cuddle

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/65417156

Seriously, the guy’s a 70yr old grumpy miserable old man in a 25yr old body.

I’m liking how Lewis is open minded and embracing change.

It’s hit or miss, F1 booming now. Don’t mind them making more dull days meaningful.

Think his Dad probably has a lot to do with his disdain for F1. He was literally thrust into the sport with what sounds like very little choice - no matter how cool the thing you're made to do is, there will always be an element of "it wasn't my choice".

Compare that to Lewis who always wanted to be an F1 driver and champion from an early age, and who's parents supported him rather than pushed him, then it's obvious that someone like Lewis will always have more passion for wanting to stay in the sport as long as possible.

I can certainly see where he's coming from. He was pushed into the sport, and then did what he was pushed into it to do. Also probably doesn't help your love for the sport when you win your first championship and people try and take it away from your for something that was entirely out of your control.

Best of luck to him. Would love to see him race LeMans and some other endurance series.

I completely agree with Max that this sprint format is stupid. It is basically two races in one weekend for no reason and no difference. There is no way Alonso or Lewis were still driving if their seasons had been like this.
He loves racing and will just move to WEC and have fun or maybe sim racing becomes bigger than the real thing.

I don't know how many starts/restarts F1 wants to have but it's super laughable to have 5+ laps of a 17 lap artificial sprint under safety car because of a driver who was fighting for P17 in a race that awards points to the top 8

Doesn't matter though, they got their views

Somebody make something happen because zzzzzzzzz

Well that was boring

Max didn’t win. That is excitement enough these days.

F1 boring, Checo too dominant

Mui Bueno Serg... Bravo.

I actually feel like the safety car robbed us of a fun Checo v Max battle. Checo looked quicker than Max in the first stint and I was excited to see some dogfighting.

otherwise, sorry but it's a great setting but a meh circuit.

Not sure if Perez would have been able to overtake on track as overtaking was difficult except for RedBull vs non RedBull. There is a decent chance he ends up ahead of Verstappen after the pitstops even without the safety car though as Perez was faster especially on the mediums.

while Max has more outright speed, Sergio has management skills... the longer into the stint they get, the delta between them begins to shift from outright speed toward the driver that can manage their tires better, and at that point Sergio's delta begins to overtake Max's outright speed.