by VALERIO BARRETTA
F1 China, the report cards of those promoted
1. Lando Norris, when it doesn't count. Because let's face it, Lando is strong, strong, strong, but he exhibits a worrying tendency to miss decisive moments. Whether it's the last corner of a qualifying, a start or the management of the last km (Sochi 2021 still cries out for revenge), Norris scores 99 and never 100. But don't we want to reject him for having missed a start against Hamilton? He would be crazy, and in fact he is the best. A second to everyone in Sprint Qualifying when the handle counts more than the car, Sprint to forget. But what a race! It seemed that he was driving the Red Bull, not Perez. Somewhat ungenerously, the podiums without victories and the number of second places are overemphasized, as if we were really talking about Heidfeld (with all due respect to a good driver). Which are statistics to which a negative meaning is given, but they represent the consistency of a driver at the top even without the winning car. Long live his second places! Victory must and will come anyway.
2. The old guard. Specifically, Nico Hülkenberg and Fernando Alonso. Hulk scores points for the third time in five races: well, Stroll is there and gives everyone a chance, but with five cars that are so much stronger it's a feat to be in the top-10 with the little Haas. Nando complete the trio of my certainties with death and taxes. His usual clever start in which he looks for free space taking advantage of the fact that Perez was blocked by Max, cooking on the grill Checo with negligible ease, then he has to come to terms with the limits of the AMR24, practically opposite to those he had last year. In the second part of the race he had fun like a child at an amusement park, putting in cars and doing fast laps. Other than 2026, if this remained it could last up to 50 years.
3. Daniel Ricciardo. He too would be of the old guard, but since he has been among those who failed several times it is right to promote him when he does well. He feels the breath on his neck and is always in front of Tsunoda, unfortunately he has the misfortune of also being in front of Stroll and breaking the rules in the half hour of lucidity of the commissioners.
F1 China, the report cards of those who failed
3. Ferrari. It's a bad weekend and in fact the rejection isn't much for a totally anonymous performance. It's because of the internal relationships between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, for which (in my opinion) the drivers are the least responsible. Sainz's aggression is certainly not ideal for the team but it is perfectly normal for those who have just been kicked out and need to find another home. It happens in all areas of work, and it's not that pilots are different from ordinary mortals just because of the life they live: they have their emotions and they express them. I also understand Leclerc who doesn't want to let his teammate get in his way with the suitcase, and in fact he returned it to him the next day (and that's the reason why he isn't among those promoted – he'll regret it, I'm sure ). It was a largely predictable scenario, and Vasseur must intervene (but he will have already done so), also because Sainz is more “smoking” than Vettel 2020, and also more brilliant with the media.
2. Lance Stroll. If I have to choose between public transport and getting a ride from Stroll, I opt for option number one. But can you imagine him at the traffic lights on the ring road? Who is then capable of blaming the traffic lights. There is a limit even to paternal love and as long as his son is at the helm, Aston Martin will be a crippled project. Who knows, maybe a winner in the future with Honda, but crippled.
1. FIA. Like Ronaldo who doesn't score for the first four matchdays, the FIA has caused discussion at the start of the season: some even had doubts whether it had transformed into a real Federation. And yet here it is the champion's weekend. We start with the fireworks on Friday, with the laps taken away from Norris and the others, contradicting the notes of the race director, in fact distorting the end of the sprint qualifying, not to mention the grass on fire and the bitumen on the track without that Pirelli and the teams were aware of it. And, leaving aside the comical handling of the Bottas issue, it is not clear why Ricciardo was given three positions for Miami because he retired but Alonso was given 10″ in the Sprint even though he was also retired. Whether the discriminating factor is the fact that Alonso is “classified” (for having completed 90% of the Sprint) and Ricciardo is not, not even the commissioners know, i.e. those who give the penalties, who in fact ask the FIA for clarification, the one who writes the rules but he doesn't understand them. The sporting version of Totò and Peppino, in short.
#report #cards #China #podium
