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PLP Season 3 Edition 9

Tired of F1 off weeks? Well fret not because we’ve got our 2nd of 3 triple headers this season kicking off this weekend, and six races in the next eight weeks. We’re back to the old country, with all but one of those taking place in Europe. The lone one outside the continent that gave us Sandstorm by Darude is happening Canada - which let’s face it, is basically Europe.

Last Thursday, Sandstorm was played simultaneously on all radio stations across Finland at 9:15am to celebrate the 25 year anniversary. Great way to start the day. If you haven’t heard it - you definitely have.

Race times for this weekend in EDT (Eastern Darude Time):

• FP1: Friday, May 16th @ 7:30am

• FP2: Friday, May 16th @ 11:00am

• FP3: Saturday, May 17th @ 6:30am

• Quali: Saturday, May 17th @ 10:00am

• Grand Prix: Sunday, May 18th @ 9:00am

NON-COMMITTAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I want to throw this out here even though I don’t know what the future will bring: I apologize in advance if PLP becomes more intermittent going forward. I will do my best to deliver before every race weekend, but if I don’t, rest assured it’s most likely not because I’ve been detained by law enforcement in a foreign country or something like that. It’s just because I gotta “lock in” as the kids say in other areas of life that will be requiring my attention.

I hope you understand - it’s not you, it’s me. But we’ll still see each other every other weekend and on holidays, I promise. But no for real, I’ll keep trying to bring the F1 news. Like the Italians say, “Sei come il prezzemolo!", which means, “You’re like parsley!” Because parsley is everywhere. So I guess that doesn’t really apply here. Avanti, Andiamo!

Quick Quiz!

Alpine Shenanigans

Jack Doohan Out, Franco Colapinto In

Just like that the cruel realities of F1 strikes again. It took just 6 races for Jack Doohan to be demoted back to Alpine reserve driver, and world renowned salsa dancer Franco Colapinto to take his seat. Idk if Franco can actually salsa or not, but he sure seems like he can, right?

Jack was unable to score any points in his short stint, with a couple big inchidents in Australia and Miami and a crash in practice in Japan. With Franco impressing early last year (though had no shortage of inchindents on his own), the writing was on the wall before the season began. But don’t get too comfortable Franco - Flavio Briatore has said he’s embracing a “rotating” driver strategy as he evaluates all options headed into next year.

I really feel for Jack here. He wasn’t given a fair shot. I know this ain’t about fairness, but if the leash is that short why even put him in the car? You gotta give guys time to get their bearings. The whole thing reflects poorly on Alpine, imo.

Ollie Oakes Out - Flavio Briatore In

In and even wilder turn of events, short tenured Ollie Oakes is out as Team Principal, being replaced by crashgate mastermind Flavio Briatore - who had one time had been banned for life from F1 for his role in the scandal.

If that isn’t weird enough, it was originally thought that Oakes had backed Doohan and gotten the sack as a result. But, it came out that his brother William Oakes had been arrested for transfer of criminal property and Ollie jumped a plane to Dubai right after Miami as a result. What??

But it get’s better: The whole thing has ties back to Dmitry Mazepin, the Russian oligarch and father of former Haas F1 driver Nikita Mazepin, in what is a whole trail of confusing companies and transfers and who the heck knows what was going on. Read about it here if you wish cus the whole thing didn’t make sense to me. Guess I wouldn’t make a good criminal (or is that exactly what a good criminal would say?).

Race Recap: Miami

Sprint

Podium: 🥇 NOR - 🥈 PIA - 🥉 HAM

DNS: LEC

DNF: SAI - ALO

The Sprint kicked off with a bang with young Kimi Antonelli taking pole position with an absolute monster lap, becoming the youngest ever pole sitter in F1 history. Unfortunate that he’d get squeezed a bit by Oscar on turn 1 and loose the lead, but hey, the future is clearly bright for the young lad. Ferrari’s troubles continued with Charles hitting the wall just enough on an extremely wet installation lap, knocking him out of the race before lights out.

The wet would play big role in this one, which made the switch to slick tires all the more crucial as the track began to dry. Hamilton nailed the timing and earned himself a podium position because of it (getting an overtake on Max no less), a great result after starting the race in P7. He was the first driver (besides Yuki, who was way down the order) to make the move off of the wet weather intermediate tire, and it paid off. Sainz and Ocon had some back and forth battles down the order, foreshadowing what would be a very strong Williams weekend (despite the Carlos DNF in the Sprint - the race overall would show a lot of promise for the team).

The rough race for Kimi continued after Max got a bad release from his team off a pit stop which earned him a 10s penalty and ended his podium contention. The Red Bull and Mercedes drivers came together, causing Kimi to miss his pit stop entirely and drop way down the order. Oscar and Lando got close at the front, but ultimately Lando would benefit from safety car timing after Lawson gave Alonso a love tap. Lando would exit the pit just ahead of his teammate and the race would end behind the safety car, securing the victory for Norris. Lando with a lucky safety car in Miami? Deja vu all over again.

Grand Prix

Podium: 🥇 PIA - 🥈 NOR - 🥉 RUS

DNF: DOO - BEA - BOR - LAW

Fastest Lap: NOR

DotD: PIA - A solid choice, obv. Albon was also deserving and a close second in the vote, with a stellar drive to P5.

If you ask any of the drivers, they’re likely to say the highlight of the race was before it even started - at the drivers parade. Equipped with lego cars at about a 1:1 scale (but only 1/10th of the speed), the competitive juices were flowing as the drivers could not help themselves but race each other. Complete with multiple crashes and aggressive maneuvers that would certainly have earned penalties in an actual race. If you watch the highlights, just look at how happy Lewis is. Think we’ll ever see him smile like that after an actual race this season?

But for the main event, the best action happened between pole sitter Max and the unstoppable papayas. Max pushed Lando a bit wide on the start, with Kimi able to shoot to P2 after a few turns. As the race went on and the McLarens got closer, the four time champ gave it his all and held them off for as long as possible but the blistering pace for McLaren was ultimately too much to handle. It did make for some great entertainment in the first half of the race though, before they shot off into the sunset and took 1-2 by over 30 seconds. While they clearly have the best car despite what the team may say, Miami was a track that suited their car perfectly. Don’t expect as wide a gap this weekend.

The other story was Williams pace - who saw some slight drama as Albon passed teammate Sainz when the former was told they were in a hold. But, the P5 result for Albon and P9 finish for Sainz deemed the weekend a success - one where they looked super quick. George Russell was able to take advantage of Max’s fight earlier by getting ahead off of a pit stop - with Lando saying that Max’s aggressive battling ultimately cost him a podium. And what’s a race without Ferrari drama - Hamilton wanted to swap positions with Leclerc to chase down Kimi, but ultimately didn’t have the pace to get there. Lewis’ sassy radio messages during the teams indecision was one of the highlights later in the race.

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Imola GP Preview

This Sunday we’ve got the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, or by it’s full name the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Gran Premio Del Made in Italy E Delle’emilia-Romagna 2024… but you can just call it Imola (after the city in which it resides).

Sunday we’ll get 63 counter-clockwise laps through 19 turns in a combination of fast straights, sweeping curves, and technical chicanes over changing elevation in Italy’s classic rolling landscape. Turns 7, 9, and 12 or “Tosa”, “Piratella” and “Acque Minerali” are the most famous parts of the track, with the most technical section being “Variante Alta” at turns 14-15.

Look for likely Medium-Hard one stop strategies at a low abrasion track (and due to the long pit lane), although Pirelli is bringing the softest compounds available - debuting the new C6 compound for the first time. Softer than a microwaved peep in August, as they say. Quali and strategy will be important since it can be difficult to overtake here, with only 1 DRS zone.

What to Watch For:

• Colapinto Returns: He started hot last season as a replacement for Logan Sargeant, wowing with some daring moves and solid finishes. He did however taper off near the end of the 2024 campaign, with numerous crashes and DNFs. Will he fair better than Doohan? If he can nab a point then that would technically be a yes.

• Oakes Out: What will Briatore do to mix up the team, and he get them back into the fight with the stronger midfield teams like Williams and Haas? Crashgate 2.0?

• Upgrades: The logistical fact is that it’s easier to bring new test parts to a European race than it is to ship them to Miami, and a triple header presents the perfect opportunity to get quick feedback on if they’re working or not. Speculation across the grid says their could be a pecking order shake up based on a bunch of teams bringing upgrades.

• Ferrari Needs a Bounce Back (again): It was another disappointing weekend for the Scuderia, and reports are significant upgrades will have to wait due to the early struggles they’ve had this season. There’s more work to be done to improve on what was the 5th fastest car in Miami.

Driver Drama

Quote of the Week

Constructor’s Corner

Tech Talk

Off the Grid

TRIPLE HEADER BABY! Monaco next week. Get the champagne ready. But let’s just do pasta for now 🔽 

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