Imola Grand Prix Weekend Rundown
This blog is dedicated to the rabbit that Pierre killed during Free Practice. RIP.
This weekend was a long one for me personally, I finally was able to walk for graduation for my Master’s degree even though I have been done since August. Which is why this blog is late, so please forgive me for having a life for this one race weekend.
My lovely family came into town and it allowed me to yap about F1 to novices such as my older brother about the sport. Over the course of the weekend, I was able to explain the dumpster fire situation at Alpine (read that blog) and why I believe that Williams is my favorite “underdog” team this season. So Williams and specifically Mr. Smooth Operator himself have gained a new fan this weekend.
Preweekend Thoughts
As of 5/5: Franco really may be on the grid and to me thats crazy
Pre weekend: Ferrari is going to hurt my feelings I just know it
Track Specs
63 laps
Circuit length: 4.909 km
1 DRS Zone
19 turns
Qualifying
Live thoughts and reactions to qualifying
I’m sorry but if Ferrari get out qualified by an Aston Martin I’ll lose it
Red flag that Red Bull is done
I’m sorry (not really) but Alpine needs to take a lot of blame if Franco does bad in his “5 races”
Where is this Aston Martin coming from
They screwed Ollie over #justiceforollie
I’ve been saying this but WILLIAMS
What did Aston Martin put in their car?? Where has this car come from
Ferrari. Get a mf grip. 2nd in WCC championship and one of the most talented driver pairings on the grid and this is the car you’re putting on track. You need to be embarrassed and be the ones answering the media not the drivers
How dare you take this away from Kimi but he’s about to be a level of unhinged unseen before
Lando just had a messy quali (she says with massive amounts of delusion)
Sunday Strategy
One of my most favorite parts of this sport is tyre talk. Truly, some of the most fascinating conversations I hear in commentary or articles I read are about tyres. Also, yes I am from the U.S. and I fully refuse to spell tyres any other way when in the context of F1.
Looking into Sunday, the ideal strategy for teams will be to start on the Mediums and move onto the Hards. They are saying that the window for a pitstop will be a bit tighter this year than years past, so we are looking at a window between laps 19 through 25.
Though, that is the most ideal strategy, we know in this sport it may not always be the decision teams choose to start their race with. Another option we may see on the starting grid is to start on the medium but choose an earlier pit window, between laps 12 and 18 to move to the hard tyres. This would be committing to a 2 stop race with the second pit window being between laps 34 and 40.
So even though we should expect to see a sea of yellow rimmed tyres on the grid tomorrow, I wouldn’t doubt that someone chooses to switch it up to keep us on our toes.
Race
Live thoughts and reactions to the race
The most stressful part of the race is the start
Max I must admit - that move was so smooth amazing racing chefs kiss
We had Nico, Ollie, Yuki, Lewis, and Kimi on the hards to start
Pierre did we really think that battling Charles on a track on Italian soil was going to go your way? The car is bad but not that bad.
These Aston upgrades on Fernando are almost enough for the car to be decent
I need Lando to make this move now
update: he did thank god
Oh early stops for the medium tyre is about to cause chaos
Seeing the fastest lap icon next to Charles name makes my soul happy
oof McLaren what was that pit stop
if we stop the race now we get Alex on the podium and I think we all need that
seeing Isack in 4th place right now I feel like a proud mom
I am just now remembering we are in the first race of another triple header. Oh god
Oscar is going to have his tyres in shreds by the time hes done picking off these helpless cars
when there are so many laps where its rather quiet I get nervous
Isack being Red Bulls acting 2nd driver and them basing their entire pit stop strategy on him is hilarious to me and im not quite sure why
that was a very stressful pitstop run - way too many close calls in my opinion
The fact this is the first DNF for a Haas this year? Who would’ve thought? Not me.
Lance Stroll driving in front of an angry Charles is a dangerous place to be
lmao wait Sauber overtaking Aston Martin needs to be an eyeopening experience for them but it wont be
so Kimi DNF is my last reason really
omg him just waving as he walks away from the car
I forgot Imola hasn’t been extended on the calendar but we have Miami for over the next decade. Jail.
Charles saying as he’s in P4 that he may not finish in the points after this restart makes me want to get on a flight to Maranello right now
The best performance we see from an Aston Martin any given weekend is when the Safety Car is deployed
If I have said it once I have said it a million times - Safety Car restarts are the 2nd most stressful part of any race for me
Them not giving team orders makes me hate the fruit team right now.
The fruit team has made me quite upset right now with their strategy. He has the fresher tyres, let him through instead of letting Max get away.
Alex actively fighting Ferraris and holding his own is amazing to see because WILLIAMS
Honestly, I think I needed that result more than I realized
Post race thoughts:
Monaco is about to hurt my feelings in a way that is going to be concerning to those in my life
Imola you really never disappoint me and for that I say, thank you. There is nothing that I think screams F1 more than the two races they have in Italy which is why this is my official plea to extend this track as soon as possible.
With that, have a fantastic week and rest up because we are in Monaco next weekend for round 2 of our triple header.
