Balaclava Image Deep Throttle Logo
Auto Racing History Image
HOME THOUGHTS ESSAYS RANKINGS HISTORY
About Us
Russell's Ramblings
IMSA Thoughts
Photos
F1 Schedule
Master Schedule
Debunking Myths
News Links
Shopping
Ed Donath Archive
Guestbook
In Association with Amazon.com

2019 China Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: And now the domination, though not as much, swings back to Mercedes. The problem is, though early, Mercedes gained ground in every race despite who had the speed.

TRACK: Ironic, in the year they seemed to have corrected the ability for cars to follow closely, and thus increase passing opportunities, on a circuit which is known as a good passing track, there wasn't that much action.

EVENT: All the grandstands were full. That's what we heard. Of course, the caveat is all the grandstands they open up. There are still a whole slew they cover up. However, it's still far better than the days when they had to "forcibly" bus college students in to avoid embarrassment.

QUALIFYING: This time Mercedes is back to being fastest, Bottas continues to mean business, Vettel regains team superiority, Max is mad as hell, Kimi fails to make Q3 for the first time in 53 races, and Stroll fails to get out of Q1 for the seventh straight time.

RACE: A disappointment.

START: Hamilton finally beats his teammate off the line, youth wins out once again at Ferrari, Perez begins his march, and the Torpedo strikes again.

HAMILTON: Lewis is already putting his stamp on the championship.

BOTTAS: But we're not ready to go back to Valtteri of old just yet.

MERCEDES: Pit stop perfection.

VETTEL: Sebastian gets the call from his team, but blows the opportunity with sloppy driving.

LECLERC: It only took to the third race for Charles to start questioning his team's decisions favoring Vettel.

FERRARI: They continue to not be able to get out of their own way.

VERSTAPPEN: Max did the only thing he could do, and managed to get one spot out of it.

GASLY: He got the fastest lap. Good for him. He finished in the points essentially where he's expected to. Good for him. However, he is still not fast enough for Helmut Marko's standards. And that's all that matters.

RICCIARDO: Daniel is starting to fit in nicely at Renault.

RENAULT: CEO in attendance. And still reliability issues.

PEREZ: The obvious team leader at Racing Point with some impressive overtaking moves despite the ... umm ... organizational structure. Yeah, that's what we'll call it.

RAIKKONEN: Kimi continues to impress with a mid pack car.

GIOVINAZZI: While Antonio continues to not impress with the same mid pack car.

ALFA ROMEO: Okay, we know it's not really an Alfa Romeo. Just a Ferrari rebranded. However, in F1's 1,000th race, we need to give a shout out to Alfa Romeo since they won the first F1 race in 1950 by Giuseppe Farina from the pole. In fact, Alfa swept the podium. Talk about domination.

ALBON: His best race of the year. To comeback from his big FP3 crash, no qualifying time, starting from pit lane, and still score a points paying position, was impressive. But, let's not link him to Gasly's seat just yet. Alexander has a ways to go to prove himself.

HAAS: No race pace. Again.

MCLAREN: Ultimately done in at the start. But overall, their weekend was not as impressive as Bahrain.

WILLIAMS: They made the news because of what someone else did. Mercedes has started the season with three consecutive one-twos. That has not been done since 1992 by Williams.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Hoopla.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 1000 -- Or is it? Do you count the 11 times the Indy 500 counted for the World Championship? Only F1 races you say? Then, what about 1952 and 1953 when the World Championship ran under F2 rules? And let's not forget there was FIA F1 racing for four years before a world championship started in 1950. Then, you got those races during the FIA-FOCA wars which were removed from counting for points at the last minute. And it certainly is not the 1,000th grand prix, as the first grand prix was the 1906 French GP.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Let's go back to that first grand prix in France in 1906. It was held in Le Mans, but went through various towns on a course which was 64.11 miles long. It ran for 12 laps for a total distance of 769.36 miles. Ferenc Szisz, a Hungarian, won in a Renault in 12:14:07.4. The margin of victory was 32:19.4 over Felice Nazzaro in a FIAT. And people today complain of runaway races...

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Lewis Hamilton responding to Max Verstappen's complaint about drivers breaking unwritten rules in qualifying with a very short and to the point tweet, "Nope."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Sebastian Vettel becoming a bit testy with the media as the pressure mounts for him to produce, "I'm a little bit against the way you -- all of you -- work because you take bits out of answers here and there and put it into the wrong light."

SCHEDULE: Eagerly awaiting the mayhem at Baku.

Copyright © 2019 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Hamilton 56
2. Bottas 56
3. Vettel 56
4. Verstappen 56
5. Leclerc 56
6. Gasly 56
7. Ricciardo 55
8. Perez 55
9. Raikkonen 55
10. Albon(R) 55
11. Grosjean 55
12. Stroll 55
13. Magnussen 55
14. Sainz 55
15. Giovinazzi(R) 55
16. Russell(R) 54
17. Kubica 54
18. Norris(R) 50
NC Kvyat 41
NC Hulkenberg 16

Time of Race
1:32:06.350

Margin of Victory
6.552 sec.

Virtual Safety Car
1 for 1 lap

Lead Changes
1 among 2 drivers

Lap Leaders
Lewis Hamilton

Fastest Race Lap
Pierre Gasly

Pole Position
Valtteri Bottas

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 68
2. Bottas 62
3. Verstappen 39
4. Vettel 37
5. Leclerc 36
6. Gasly 13
7. Raikkonen 12
8. Norris(R) 8
  Magnussen 8
10. Hulkenberg 6
  Ricciardo 6
12. Perez 5
13. Albon(R) 3
14. Stroll 2
15. Kvyat 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 130
2. Ferrari 73
3. Red Bull 52
4. Renault 12
  Alfa Romeo 12
6. Haas 8
  McLaren 8
8. Racing Point 7
9. Toro Rosso 4
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


Archived CART/Champ Car Thoughts
Site Index | Search | Contacts | Ad Rates |


Copyright © 1999-2024 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.
The names, logos, and taglines identifying Deep Throttle are proprietary marks of Deep Throttle. All other trademarks and service marks are property of their respective owners. Deep Throttle is an independent electronic publication and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any series, team, driver, or sponsor. Privacy Policy.