Welcome to Sunday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Lando Norris is letting his best opportunity to win the world championship slip through his fingers, says RBAlonso:
My assumption was that his errors last year were so glaring and basic that it would only take a fractional mindset change to develop into a leader. World champions own their environment, they thrive on pressure, manage their engineers from the cockpit and deliver in the big moments.
Today was another entry in the catalogue of missed opportunities. McLaren have topped every session this weekend. Last weekend they were fastest in all three sectors in Q3. Norris has now had the fastest car for the best part of 11 months. He’s won four races and a sprint race in that time. Having demolished Oscar for two years he now looks on the back foot.
I like Lando, and I still believe he’ll be champion this year. But statements last week about Max having a go in his car or not wanting to be ruthless illustrate that he’s not matured. Comments in the pen today made him look like an intemperate school boy.
I’m sure he’ll recover to finish second tomorrow but Oscar is such a cool customer, and qualifying is so important this season, that Lando can’t afford to lose the impetus. If he’s fighting the team battle and the car drops back after the Spain regulations changes, he’ll regret what can now be considered an untidy start to the year.
RBAlonso
Social media and links
Norris says Red Bull should complain less, do a better job (Reuters)
‘There are plenty of things that Red Bull do that also push the limits just as much. So we can also play that game, but… we focus on ourselves rather than complaining about others.’
Top Gear’s The Stig breaks 20-year-old lap record (BBC)
‘The new lap time broke the 2004 record of 59 seconds in a Renault R24 Formula 1 car, also set by The Stig, who has been portrayed by a number of drivers.’
Qualifying recap (Haas)
Esteban Ocon: ‘I feel really sorry for the team, I messed up today. I think we were on for a decent qualifying but I made a mistake – that I don’t usually do in quali, and I pushed too hard at turn two so got on the kerb, bottomed out and lost it at that corner.’
Signs of speed in Sakhir Quali (Williams)
‘It seems like we made a step in the right direction, but we need to keep our heads down and carry on trying different things. I feel I still have margin for improvement, and I want to be higher than (eighth).’
Charles aiming for the podium, Lewis looking to fight back (Ferrari)
‘Charles has two sets of mediums which could be an advantage as we have seen a lot more tyre degradation than at the first three races, run on tracks that had been completely or partially resurfaced. As for the new floor, I think we will have to wait until we run it also in Jeddah next week to have a clearer picture of what it brings us. ‘
‘Completely out of touch’: golf and dinners for ‘king’ Trump as economy melts down (The Guardian)
‘After lighting a fuse under global financial markets, Donald Trump stepped back – all the way to a Florida golf course. A week later, having just caved to pressure to ease his trade tariffs, the US president defended the retreat while hosting (Penske) racing car champions at the White House.’
Grand Prix of Long Beach qualifying (IndyCar via YouTube)
Miami (Formula E via YouTube)
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