Imola Grand Prix Review: You Mess with the Bull, You get the Horner
There are 3 stages to a Spanish style Bull Fight. The first stage involves the matador observing the bull, learning how it reacts to the waving of the banderilleros (the cape). They even toy with the bull by tailing their cloak tail over the charging beast. Sounds very much like Ferrari so far this season. Stage 2 of the fight involves the matador sticking barbed spears known as tercio de banderillas into the bull. This is what Ferrari was hoping to do heading into their home race at Imola, and with it being a sprint race weekend, plenty of points where available in both the main race and the sprint race for Ferrari to deal some deadly blows to their bulls.
Sprint race weekends provide plenty of opportunity and plenty hardships. Teams only have 1 practice session to prep for qualifying, while our participants have one less day to get their picks in. We had more than a few people feeling like Lewis Hamilton. He ran out of time to get his car properly dialed in, and a large number of pool contestants ran out of time to get their picks in. Luckily for our pool participants we have a carry over rule, unfortunately for Mercedes they had to deal with the consequences. Neither Merc drivers made it into Q3 for the first time in over 180 races. And while a 4th place finish for Russell did help, the sight of the once mighty Sir. Lewis Hamilton hopelessly stuck trolling around in the mid pack couldn’t be forgotten. There is a specific type of spear bull fighters use when they feel a bull is particularly easy to fight -Striking the bull with them is meant to be an insult to the breader. As Max lapped his former rival, it must have felt to Mercedes like being stabbed with a black tercio de banderillas. It must be how Jafyshe and Marstar feel seeing their mother atop the table.
Now, McLaren was singing in the rain this weekend. Lando qualified 4th and Riccardo 6th. In the sprint race, both drivers picked up points, for a 5th/6th finish. In the main race, Lando even scored his first podium of the year. Not a bad weekend for the flying oranges. A season that started with such disaster appears to be turning around.
There were a few other teams to mention this weekend; Haas, Aston Martin and Alpha Romero had bounce back races. Aston Martin saw both their drivers finish in the top 10 as they scored their first points of the season, while K-Mag scored points in the both the Sprint and main race for Haas. As for Alpha Ro. Bottas threw in a very impressive drive to score a 5th place finish. However, the main attraction this weekend was the bull fight.
To no-ones surprise, it was Mad Max and Charles Leclerc heading the field after both qualifying and the sprint. The Dutchman coming out victorious on both occasions. Ferrari still needed to land some tercio de banderillas into the Red Bulls in order to truly weaken them for stage 3 of the fight. As the lights went out, the two elite drivers separated themselves from the pack, but the real story was another poor start from Ferrari's #2 Sainz. After and unfortunate run in with Danny Ric, Sainz found his car beached for the 2nd weekend in a row. Leclerc was like a matador missing his cape, left along to battle two bulls. Luckily only 3 pool participants feel for the Sainz trap this week. The man is turning into the next Bottas!
As Mad Max sped down the road putting distance between him and our championship leader, it was surprisingly the Red Bull of Perez Leclerc left to battle. Seeing a chance at major points slipping away, Leclerc did something he hadn't done all season….he made a mistake! Getting too aggressive on a sausage curb, he spun out into the gravel with only a hand full of laps remaining. The man from Monaco impressively got back on the track and franticly tried to limit the damage, but could only manage a 6th place finish. Ferrari had missed their chance to enter stage 2 of the bull fight, and I guess you could say Red Bull struck back with their Horners. They would end up leaving Imola with 58 totally points, 34 of them scored by Mad Max. It seems we might still have a title fight on our hands after all.
So how did this rain soaked sprint weekend affect our standings? Well, we had 3 contestants leave this weekend with a massive 61 points. Leah, Fyshing and Cargo V. Room all tied for weekend winners. Some honorable mentions must got to those who actually got their picks in on time. These elite 8 individuals are true heroes. Now, who takes home the Williams poor performance award. The average points scored this weekend was 45. Unfortunately for Fast Cars Dive Bars, they only took home 19. Tough go, both Ocon and Hamilton let this competitor down and only a crafty Norris pick helped them bring home points.
As we move onto Miami, Fyshing remains at the top of the table, while Leah and Meg remaining in striking distance. A good battle is developing for the best of the rest title, with 20 points separating 4th place Jimbo from 9th place Matty G. However, it’s a long season and anything can still happen. It’s on to Miami in a week’s time! We are back to a regular format, so picks in before qualifying on the Saturday. I'll send out a reminder e-mail on race week.
