by SIMONE PELUSO (BARCELONA)
Return from exile
An intense Friday full of themes, both on and off the track, which ended here in Barcelona. The alarm clock came very early and she spoke Italian, because theannouncement of the return of Flavio Briatore as a consultant for Alpine he stirred up – quite a bit – the spirits within the paddock.
The news was not a real bolt from the blue – it had already been widely discussed in recent days – but the presence of the Piedmontese manager as an effective protagonist of Formula 1 was felt. The factions are clear: there are those who do not forgive Flavio for his stormy past, which first led to his definitive expulsion after the crash gate (Singapore 2008, ed) and then to “grazia”, and who recognizes his management skills capable of helping Alpine rediscover the spirit of the best times.
The responses from team principal Bruno Famin, however, were cynical: “I don’t care about Flavio’s past, even if he never apologized for it. I look forward, not back. I look at what we can do to improve our team“.
For or against, Briatore has already shown that he has the right weapons to still be able to make a difference in this Formula 1.
Anonymous emails are back
Anyone who thought that the soap opera of anonymous emails had ended with the Horner case was sadly mistaken. The “Crow” has struck again, this time at Mercedes, alluding to an alleged sabotage against Lewis Hamilton after the “betrayal” and signing with Ferrari.
A reality to which frankly it’s hard to believe, above all because – as Toto Wolff also explained – it would go against the very interests of the Brackley team, but which rode the wave of the mistakes made between Monaco and Montreal which effectively influenced Lewis’ results. And Hamilton himself took it upon himself to fuel conspiracy and imaginative theories.
Balance on the track
Mercedes and Alpine they were also protagonists in the first free practices, almost as if they wanted to give a real response to the paddock talk on the track – where it counts. Lewis Hamilton is in front of everyone in FP2, as if to confirm the good progress that had been highlighted in Canada by Russell’s pole.
One swallow, in this case two, does not make a summer: we will have to wait for the qualification to have a definitive answer, but the new bottom – not in the design, but in the reduced weight – represents a further step in what seems to be the right direction of development of this machine.
Similar discussion regarding Alpine, which placed Gasly even in fourth position and Ocon in the ninth: it’s definitely not Briatore’s hand (“I don’t have a magic wand”), but after the initial disaster Enstone is also starting to see glimmers of light.
The real news, for now, is that we have five different cars in the top five positions, all enclosed in a handkerchief. Carlos Sainz is second at 22 thousandths, a sign that the updates seem to be effective with the Spaniard, then Lando Norris at 55 thousandths with a McLaren that is very strong on race pace.
The surprise is seeing the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in fifth position two and a half tenths behind Hamilton (Perez still missing in 13th). Despite some radio team complaints during the sessions, the Dutchman downplayed the difficulties, judging his day to be business as usual.
Some more suffering for Charles Leclerc, who sacrificed the attack to the tempo to find a setup that would make him more comfortable. It should be remembered, however, that the Monegasque did not run with the updates (only for Sainz today), precisely to carry out comparative tests and help the team in acquiring useful information.
High degradation
In addition to the risk of rain, the tire degradation it will be the key to Sunday’s race. If conditions were to be similar to those on Friday, two-stop strategies could be considered, but it is not excluded that we could go around three.
In short, a good mix of elements for a weekend worth following.
#Tense #balance #cars #top #degradation #key