Knowing day 1 that you're out after Yas Marina, has to be a bit freeing to just send it a bit more often.
Get some solid aggressive moves done & good results, make yourself look as appealing to the other teams as you can.

It'll be interesting to see if that form continues with CS. Sounded like Leclerc was dealing with some brake issues that were giving some odd handling results.
On more level ground, we'll see how the CL/CS fight goes & who comes out on top.

F1? They should drop all the pretense and rename it Max1. As usual. IF you can call it suspense, that would be whether or not Verstappen can win every race this season.

With how reliable the cars are now, it's not too farfetched to imagine. But, it's a long calendar & the competition is a bit closer than last year [except to Max].

Like last year, I'm looking forward more to the midfield battles.

Daylight session not overly indicative of race pace/conditions, but surprised the Alpines look decent in Saudi FP1.
Haas back at the bottom, about as expected.
Williams midfield, which bodes well for them.

Lots of changes in the top 10 over the session. Track evolution & drivers getting their eye in, I'm assuming.
We'll see how FP2 shakes out.

Christian Horner’s accuser suspended

Interesting development in that saga. From outside, this seems like either she's been suspended for completely fabricating her story, or the leaks of data were accurate but traced back to her and this was a violation of employment agreement. I guess a third is she leaked inaccurate data. Either way, more noise they don't need or want.

What I don't think is this is part of a "coverup" by RB. There is no way they thought this would go under radar, and they know such a decision will be subject to immense scrutiny. IOW, they and their attorneys aren't idiots and have solid footing for this, not just emotional vengeance or coverup objectives.

You only get one chance to take out the King. It's either wreckers or checkers.

FYI

P3 is over and Bearman looks pretty good so far.
He made an error on his fast lap and still put it in tenth place, within the same tenth of a second as Hamilton.
The rest of the session he went through a very abbreviated version of what is normally p1-3, some early driving around just to get a feel, then some race pace running. At the end he got a quick lap attempt but went over a curb and that cost him several tenths at least.
Next up, qualifying.

It'll also be fun to see if Kick Sauber can get Zhou's car rebuilt and out of Q1.

Going to be a hefty rebuild in a short time for Sauber. Wouldn't be surprised to see a pitlane start for Zhou.
Hoping Bottas can get some pace for quali & the race.

Bearman did really well for a first competitive session, we'll see how quali goes for him.

It's going to be a Max race tomorrow. Looking forward to IndyCar in St. Petersburg, but at least the Saudi race will be on while I'm at work.

Hulk doing his best Alonso impression in Q3

All that was missing was "....GP2 Engine" in Q2. Pit lane might be busy tomorrow.

Surprised that huge tow didn't give Alonso more improvement.

Bearman was impressive!

Hopefully Bearman will avoid any early dramas at the start tomorrow and we can see how he does in the race.

He had to step out of his F2 ride to do this and he had the pole for that race. That will no doubt hurt his F2 season points but I'm sure the team bosses will take that into account if he does well in the Ferrari.

Nice to see another name added to the mix for all the potential seat openings for next year.

Ollie was fantastic! From eleventh to seventh in his first race..
It’s a shame that Ferrari has their dance card filled for next year.. Where will this kid go?

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Ollie was fantastic! From eleventh to seventh in his first race..
It’s a shame that Ferrari has their dance card filled for next year.. Where will this kid go?

My guess is to one of the engine-customer teams. I wouldn't think they would take a chance that he'd get poached by another manufacturer.

quote:

Originally posted by radinski:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Ollie was fantastic! From eleventh to seventh in his first race..
It’s a shame that Ferrari has their dance card filled for next year.. Where will this kid go?

My guess is to one of the engine-customer teams. I wouldn't think they would take a chance that he'd get poached by another manufacturer.

Supposedly going to Haas.