TOPS
It almost feels like the perfect weekend when you’re driving a Williams. On Saturday, the Thai had already achieved a feat by hoisting his single-seater in Q3 with the tenth fastest time. He did it again on Sunday. Ninth on the grid, Albon perfectly managed his one-stop strategy, held on to his hard tires for more than 50 laps and offered himself a magnificent 7th place after a fine defense against Esteban Ocon. Six points scored bringing Williams’ total to 7.
Another almost perfect weekend for Max Verstappen who crushes the competition with six victories in eight races. Sunday, he also equaled Ayrton Senna by slamming his 41st career success and above all offered Red Bull its 100th victory in Formula 1. A highly symbolic mark for the Austrian team just before its national Grand Prix in two weeks. Everything is fine with them.
We are not going to lie to each other. When everyone returned to the pits following the safety car triggered by George Russell on lap 11 and the red cars remained on the track, we were afraid of the strategic choice made by the Italians. But no. The shot was very good in the end. Starting in mediums, 10th and 11th, the two Scuderia came back thanks to a one-stop strategy and scored big points with fourth place for Leclerc and fifth for Sainz.
FLOPS
He is generally very safe and rarely makes mistakes, but in Canada George Russell made a mistake. Very expensive. In the race for the podium with Alonso and Hamilton, the young Brit hit the wall on lap 11 damaging his car. This incident pushed Russell to the back of the field and caused the safety car to exit. Then the Mercedes number 2 tried to come back up but was forced to retire at the end of the race. A Sunday to forget.
Out of the points in Monaco, fourth in Spain and only sixth in Canada, Sergio Perez is struggling as his rival, Max Verstappen, slams success after success. Since Miami, the Mexican has lost track and has a tendency to drown in qualifying, which obviously complicates his races. Result ? Perez, second in the world championship, is already relegated to 69 points from Verstappen. A hole.
It was the beautiful story of Saturday. Nico Hulkenberg had slammed the second lap in Q3 at the wheel of a Haas but the German had not lowered his speed enough under red flag. Result ? Three penalty places. Fifth on the grid, the Haas driver held on at the start of the race, really jamming the peloton, but his second part of the race was painful with a big loss of pace. 15th at the finish, Hulkenberg dreamed of a better Sunday.
