by VALERIO BARRETTA
Singapore GP, the report cards of the promoted
1. Max Verstappen. World Championships are also won with second places. All the champions know it and consequently Schumaxer knows it too, who after a weekend break returns to work and reiterates to Norris that he will not give up on anything. He looks like a prop defending the goal line five meters from the edge: masterpiece on Saturday on a track that continues to be enigmatic to him, Sunday by chauffeur but once again damage limited to a minimum. After four years I can finally put him in first place without falling into banality: demonstrating that he knows how to suffer, Verstappen confirms how the super car has helped him in the titles, but paradoxically penalized him in terms of reputation. This, car or not, is always there.
2. Landon Norris. Considering that in the past Verstappen suffered even when they were at the Carrefour in Monte-Carlo, not bad. He beats fears, shadows and ghosts: he’s not Max but he can defeat himand yesterday’s victory is a signal that Norris himself must first of all take on board. I remain convinced that he won’t make it, but I was also convinced that Alonso would have won the 33rd race in 2023 before Aston Martin became a compost bin.
3. Frank Colapinto. Hunger, wickedness and cheek. Now, even the free practice monitor had a better lap than Sargeant’sso we are not here to praise normality. However, that a rookie is a thousandth of a second behind Albon, passes Baku and Singapore unscathed and even scores points was much less predictable. He seems good and above all smart. Special mention for Hülkenberg: the usual Mr. Wolf, German concreteness at the service of Haas.
Singapore GP, the report cards of those who failed
3. Ferrari. A sure podium weekend, as it looked on Friday, turned into a 62-lap ordeal, with Sainz forced to pit practically at breakfast time and Leclerc constantly in the dumps of people who would have given a minute to normal things. It’s hard to say where Ferrari would have finished with a Ferrari Saturday: certainly not fifth and seventh, but worrying Norris would have been difficult for anyone. A race with an open ending, which leaves room for regrets and hypothesesThoughts that should have been confined to the post-Baku period, and which instead will remain in Maranello until October.
2. FIA. Under normal circumstances, Ferrari should have been the worst. And instead, not only are there those who do worse, but there is also a wide choice. The FIA, for example, makes a good show of itself by banning a wing in late September that it itself had deemed regular, when in fact the oxen had already bolted and, what’s more, that low-downforce configuration would only return in Las Vegas. Tombazis explaining it with the sun is something that goes beyond human excuses and borders on the Mazzarri universe. Tombazis blaming the other teams (“If someone had come to us in Monza or Spa perhaps we would have acted a little earlier“) is an insult to his role and to the body he represents: What is the FIA doing here? Is it possible that the priorities of those who organize a World Championship are to fine those who wear jewelry, cross a track with a red flag or utter a term that is practically used as good morning and good evening? I am not one of the new Che Guevaras who bring political correctness into five out of four sentences, but I believe that the Federation has slightly more important things to think about. No?
1. Ricciardo’s fastest lap. Bad stuff, any way you look at it, that I don’t even feel like commenting or joking about. It’s not fair that Ricciardo says goodbye to Formula 1 acting like a pageboy, it’s not fair that they asked him to, and for me it’s not fair that Red Bull and RB are competing in the same championship. Mekies, then, even thinks he can convince someone by saying that they stopped Ricciardo because it could have been his last race in Formula 1. Laurent, give me your elbow, go.
#Singapore #Report #Cards #podium
