The F1 Sakhir GP 2020. With some news, such as the fact that Hamilton has not been in the car due to his positive for Covid-19, as we mentioned. In addition, neither has Romain Grosjean, due to his terrible accident in the last race. Although the Frenchman has been seen in the paddock, with the consequences still visible with the bandages. By the way, an accident that they repeated ad nauseam, something that has not sat well with the Frenchman's wife, and that Daniel Ricciardo has also criticized. It's not nice that they play such a serious accident over and over again. It is worth that the production put it sometime so that what has happened can be appreciated, but when it goes beyond a limit it is more morbid than information for the viewer...
Grosjean's replacement, you know, is Pietro Fittipaldi, and Hamilton's is George Russell, who leaves your Williams in the hands of Jack Aitken for this race, to take the controls of the Mercedes. And by the way, nothing has gone wrong. He has managed to be ahead in free practice, which looks good. We will see if in qualifying and in the race he also manages to beat Valtteri Bottas or not. Of course, it is a great opportunity that has been presented to him and he did not expect it, and I am sure that he wants to give his best to show off with the Mercedes...
As for the choice of Russell, it hasn't gone down well with everyone. Vandoorne, who is a reserve driver for Mercedes, has been upset that they have not chosen him and have preferred to bring Russell from Williams. But the leaders must have had some reason for that action, perhaps because they wanted to see Russell with the Mercedes to make future decisions, or perhaps because they considered that Vandoorne has been out of F1 long enough to be somewhat rusty.
Having said this, I also need to comment on another piece of news that has become known, and that is that Ferrari drops Simone Resta. The one in charge of the Maranello chassis engineering will leave for Haas from January 1 next year. He says goodbye to the Scudería, and we'll see if Haas can come back, or if Ferrari ends up missing him.
As for what was seen today, it is true that they are free practices and that everything can change tomorrow with respect to these FP1 and FP2. But being a so short track and that he turns around so quickly (under a minute), qualifying times will be extremely close. So it may be a matter of thousandths. Paints well…
Free practice results 1
| #8211; | #8211; | - | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Piloto | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 54 "546 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 54 "722 |
| 3 | Alexander albon | Red Bull | 54 "811 |
| 4 | Vatteri Bottas | Mercedes | 54 "868 |
| 5 | Daniil Kvyat | Alpha tauri | 55 "868 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpha tauri | 55 "166 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 55 "273 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 55 "281 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 55 "379 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 55 "449 |
| 11 | Lance stroll | Racing Point | 55 "558 |
| 12 | Sergio Pérez | Racing Point | 55 "716 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 55 "757 |
| 14 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | 55 "783 |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 55 "858 |
| 16 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 56 "078 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 56 "130 |
| 18 | Nicholas latifi | Williams | 56 "764 |
| 19 | Piertro Fittipaldi | Haas | 57 "077 |
| 20 | Jack aitken | Williams | 57 "187 |
Free practice results 2
| #8211; | #8211; | - | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Piloto | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 54 "713 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 54 "841 |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Racing Point | 54 "866 |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 54 "940 |
| 5 | Alexander albon | Red Bull | 55 "036 |
| 6 | Daniil Kvyat | Alpha tauri | 55 "068 |
| 7 | Lance stroll | Racing Point | 55 "104 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 55 "124 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpha tauri | 55 "133 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 55 "258 |
| 11 | Valtter Bottas | Mercedes | 55 "321 |
| 12 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | 55 "484 |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 55 "533 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 55 "738 |
| 15 | Nicholas latifi | Williams | 55 "784 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 55 "830 |
| 17 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 56 "031 |
| 18 | Piero Fittipaldi | Haas | 56 "110 |
| 19 | Jack aitken | Williams | 56 "260 |
| 20 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | — |
More tomorrow with the sessions of the free 3, and classification. I'm sure it will all be very tight, considering how short this new track is around the outer ring of the Sakhir GP. We will see that several cars are in the same tenth for sure, which will leave a very close classification. And taking into account that Hamilton is not there, it is likely that Verstappen can take pole from him if he does everything right... It is his chance, now or nothing...