Tag: ferrari

Watching the midfield

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

I had my alarm set for 5.30am this morning. On a Sunday, a day I am not working. It was because the City of Las Vegas was hosting the 22nd Formula 1 race of the 2024 season. This was only the second F1 race at this track in Vegas, well I say track, it’s a street circuit. It was a dream for a long time, the flashiest cars racing down past the flashiest hotels in the world. It felt like ultimate optulence.

Spoiler alert: the race was pretty interesting. I felt there was action everywhere. I am a Lando Norris and McLaren fan, and it was an okay race. Like, both Lando and Oscar Piastri got in the points, it was a solid performance at a track where the car struggled. George Russell won his second race of the season, third in his career. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was second, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third. And Max Verstappen won his 4th world title. There was a lot of quality overtaking during the race, with Sergio Perez doing a wonderful overtake of Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnussen. All three were wheel to wheel, and Checo came out in front. It was so so good.

Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez taking over Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnusson (f1.com)

Lando and McLaren, had a relatively uninteresting race, so I do what I have always done. I look towards the lower half of the grid to find someone to watch. Kick Sauber driver, Zhou Guanyu is out of contract at the end of the season, with nothing decided on his future. He has struggled all season, and when he reached q2 during yesterday’s qualifying, I decided to follow him for this race. I was manifesting points for him, for the first time this season. He started 13th. A fantastic start. He battled really hard, and did some great overtaking. He got himself into the top 10, and was maintaining his place, and matching the pace of the cars around him. I was so happy. He was one of the last drivers to pit for a second time, and that pulled him right down the ranks. And he ended up 13th, overtaking Franco Colapinto on the last lap. Not quite a points finish, but a rather magnificent effort. He obviously has a point to prove, and did brilliant. Showed what he is capable of.

Zhou Guanyu in Vegas (https://www.zhou-guanyu.com/en/news/detail/274)

Watching Zhou really made the race super exciting for me, even though my favourite didn’t have the greatest day. I think a lot of fans only follow what is shown on the cameras, the top teams, the winners. But, over half the grid don’t feature in any coverage, they simply drive away in the background. To see how these drivers are doing, you have to watch the timing screen, watch the seconds of gaps between other drivers. It can be so exciting. Because, big things happen, and if it is to a lower placed driver, it is ignored. For example, Sky Sports reported (Ted Kravtiz notebook) that Lance Stroll had driven the race without his radio. Which is the first time I’ve heard of the radio failing all race this season. It wasn’t reported on any of the main reporting, in fact, Ted is the only media person I’ve heard mention it.

In summary, the mid-to-lower field is great. If you are bored watching the front runner, there is always something going on further back. I grew up doing this, and think more fans should, it gives you more appreciation on the work all the drivers do. Also, well done Zhou Guanyu.

Distraction

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

Since I came back from my holiday, last month, I have been having a flair-up with my arthritis. Which, is making it hard to do a lot. Even working is taking it out of me, like I need all my time off from my work to recover. I would like to be able to blame the warmer weather, but the Scottish summer is being the typical Scottish summer, and the weather is not being particularly warm. So, all I can do is take my medication, do my stretches, and hope that it goes away. I’ve left a message with the rheumatologist and hopefully they get back in contact soon. It is a headache not being able to hold things properly.

The only thing that has been keeping me going at the moment is Formula 1. The weekend just passed was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Lewis Hamilton won his 9th win at the circuit, and 104th win overall. It was really nice to see Lewis at the top of the podium on his final home race with Mercedes. And it was such an exciting race, with 5 different race leaders during the race, which shows how exciting formula 1 2024 is this year. It’s been so much fun, seeing different drivers do well this season, including teams who have maybe not been so successful in recent seasons. I was a little upset for Lando Norris, as he did lead the race for a large chunk of the race, and poor strategy and mistakes lead to him coming in third. And wee Oscar Piastri recovered to 4th.

I did look at tickets for Silverstone, to actually attend the Grand Prix, as I have never been before. They were actually affordable. I could have actually went, but I applied for the time from work and it was rejected. So, no Grand Prix for me and I had to watch it on the TV instead. Which was fine. My Dad watched with me, and it was the first time he had watched the whole race, and he said he enjoyed it. So, that was good. Me and my Dad often go to watch the stock car racing, which is so much fun. Where I live in Fife, there are two stock car tracks nearby, one in Racewall in Cowdenbeath, and Lochgelly Raceway.

There is now a break before the next race, and I don’t really know what will keep me occupied. Lots of F1 focused blogs would simply focus on gossip, and I don’t really have much of a tolerance for that kind of thing. Never have been. I don’t like the idea of spreading around lies, just for the sake of content. But mostly, I don’t have the focus. Yes, I have different interests, but I duck and dive around them sometimes like I am a rugby player trying to make it up the pitch. It is why this blog kind of bops around a bit. But that is just how my brain is.