The more things change the more they stay the same Mercedes AMG Petronas scored a front row lockout, something that they did quit often during the 2018 season.  The first 3 rows had the other familiar teams, except Romain Grosjean was able to get his car in the mix for the Haas team.  Since most of the changes in the cars, for the 2019 session, were aerodynamics to create a more competitive race we’ll see how the changes affect the actual race tomorrow.

Mercedes AMG scored their second lockout on the pole two years in a row at the Hungaroring this morning at the close of Q3 in Budapest that determines the starting field for the Hungarian Grand Prix 2016.  The start of the Qualifying session Saturday was delayed by a torrential downpour of rain with the pace with the Mercedes pace/safety car at times looking like it’s going to waterslide off the track as the start of Q1 was delayed by 20 minutes.  The issue was a newly paved track and in certain areas of the track there were no runoff gutters (channels) so you have a situation where the water is actually pooling.  Even with Pirellis, that dissipate 17 gallons of water per second, the deep tread on the Super Wets would have been no match for Mother Nature and the cars would have hydroplaned.

The driving line (the path the cars take) is important in motor racing, as in other forms of racing, going into the curve taking the proper line to the curve, ‘the apex’ is extremely important in most racing and borderline critical in Formula 1.  In Sunday’s race in Austria a very unusual thing happened near the end of the race where Lewis HAMILTON and Nico ROSBERG, both drivers for the same team, Mercedes AMG, were in a very intense (for Mercedes AMG) and very exciting (for the fans) battle for 1st place in the last 3 to 4 laps of the 2016 Grand Prix of Austria.  In the fight for first place ROSBERG appears to that it’s obvious that he missed the apex, the question at the end of the race was whether or not that was a deliberate attempt to block HAMILTON from taking the lead.  In looking at the replays and the different camera angles ROSBERG’s defensive move does appear to be excessive and deliberate as opposed to a situation with the brakes.  The situation was very reminiscent of when the teammates collided in Spain a few races ago and at the immediate team meeting that followed that incident team leader Niki Lauda made it clear that the cars are not to take each other out snice they are one of the few teams that if the car finishes that chances are that they are om the Podium is extremely high.  So the real awkward situation after the race in an interview ROSBERG said that the reason that he missed the apex on the turn was that his brakes were giving out and he ran long into the turn missing the line to hit the apex properly.  In an interview HAMILTON was pretty much as over it.

Leading up to race day for the first Formula 1 race ever in Baku there was a certain amount of special focus being put on Turn 8 by the drivers, even before the actual Practice sessions and therefore the media.  After P1 and P2 the drivers still had concerns, but a little less leading into the Qualifying sessions.  After most of the field for Q1, Q2 and Q3 navigated the, even more race day, the now almost famous Turn 8.  The 2016 Grand Prix of Europe ended without incident on Turn 8, now famous for nothing happening and not becoming the new Wall of Champions challenging Montreal for the title.  The drivers’ expertise and the Pirelli tire compounds chosen for the race (no the bad-ass Ultrasofts (purple) were not seen.  The castle wall has been there since 1235, so it should be no big deal to wait for its first Formula 1 kiss, hopefully, for many more years.  Drivers and Pirelli, well done!

Will we see ‘Purple Reign’ for the 3rd race in a row for the Pirelli Ultrasofts (purple) and Lewis Hamilton?