Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Round 7

  • A look into Berlin

    We are back for Formula E this weekend with a double header in Berlin for Round 7 and 8, which marks our halfway point of Season 8.

    Formula E’s 11 teams and 22 drivers return to the German capital – a fixture which has been on the calendar since 2014/15 to tackle an anti-clockwise and clockwise variation of the circuit.

    With Vandoorne currently leading the Championship, will he be victorious in Berlin? His teammate definitely needs a good weekend, de Vries currently sits in 8th on 39 points, he needs another win to kick start to defend his Championship title.

    What can Mitch do? His came off the back of two very good weekends, so he will be raring to go once again and get on that podium.

    The Circuit-

    Back for the eight year, the race takes place on the giant apron section of the historic Berlin Tempelhof Airport. The drivers can expect a challenge with two circuits over two days, as the Sundays race will see the return of the reversed NILREB circuit for Round 8.

    Drivers should also be aware of the challenge of the concrete being high grip which can take its toll on energy levels and race strategies. Saturday will see the driver tackle the circuit traditionally in anti clockwise, where as Sunday is clockwise.

    Mitch Evans currently holds the Berlin Lap Record with a 1:08.350 (2020). Lucas di Grassi holds the NILREB Lap Record with a 1:08.305 (2021).

    Timings-

    Saturday 14th May

    • Free Practice 1- 06:15am – 06:45am (BST)
    • Free Practice 2 – 08:00am – 08:45am (BST)
    • Qualifying – 09:40am – 11:00am (BST)
    • Round 7 – 14:00pm (BST)

    Sunday 15th May

    • Free Practice 1 – 06:15am – 06:45am (BST)
    • Free Practice 2 – 08:00am – 08:45am (BST)
    • Qualifying – 09:40am – 11:00am (BST)
    • Round 8 – 14:00pm (BST)

  • Round 7- France Race

    Well what a race! For once Paul Ricard wasn’t boring and we didn’t even have rain 😳

    Another win for Verstappen after a last minute over take on Hamilton, meaning Hamilton takes P2 and P3 to the other Red Bull driver Perez! Big congratulations to the drivers on and off the podium!

    The rest of the top 10 are P4- Bottas, P5- Norris, P6- Ricciardo, P7- Gasly, P8- Alonso, P9- Vettel and P10- Stroll. The fastest lap point goes to Verstappen!

    Can I just say McLaren have aced their race pace and with both drivers, Norris started P8 and Ricciardo started P10 and they have both managed to climb up places to score points and overtake Ferrari in the constructors!

    It was nice to see Bottas back up to the top 4 but Mercedes strategy today just didn’t work, it made Bottas loose a podium, Hamilton a win and potentially taking back the Constructors lead as well as the Drivers championship. I think they need to re-group and think about their strategy for the next two weeks at Austria… And also it’s not going very well for Bottas is it? I don’t think it will be long till we get an announcement saying his out of a seat (Sorry to Bottas’ fans😬)

    Another team who needs to re-think there strategy is Ferrari, Sainz started P5 and Leclerc P7 however Sainz finished 11th and Leclerc all the way down in 16th! Lets hope they figure out a better strategy soon as they will have a big gap between McLaren in the Constructors if this happens in the next few races..

    Big well done to both Aston Martin drivers as well! Both in the points! So they clearly had the right strategy, and mega drive from Stroll, having to start at back of the grid because he didn’t get a qualifying time to then finishing 10th!

    Russell done a good drive too! Finishing P12, the Brit is going to go places, putting the Williams in a place it really shouldn’t be but is! Not long till he will be scoring his first points for the British team🤞🏻

    Now we don’t have a long wait to go till the next race as its only a week away! We are back at the Red Bull Ring, Austria!! Can Mercedes beat Red Bull at their home track? Or will it be Red Bull taking another win? It’s all to play for and I for one am very excited!🤩

  • Round 7- France Quali

    Well well well what a qualifying that was it went right down to the last flying laps 😳

    Pole goes to Verstappen and behind him by two hundred tenths was Hamilton and joining the top 3 was Bottas 👏🏻, it’s very nice to see both Mercedes up there together again. The rest of the top 10 are: P4- Perez, P5- Sainz, P6- Gasly, P7- Leclerc, P8- Norris, P9- Alonso and P10- Ricciardo.

    Gasly will be very happy with P6, at his home circuit and in front of fans too, he will be wanting to score some points tomorrow. Sadly for the other frenchman it didn’t go his way today, Ocon starts in P11, again he will want to score points in front of his home crowd too.

    I feel gutted for Tsunoda, he crashed a few minutes in to Q1 meaning he will start last in tomorrows race… As well for Schumacher he got through to Q2 but wasn’t able to participate as he crashed at the end of Q1, they need to check the gearbox as it took a heavy hit when he crashed so he possibly might not be starting P15… As well I feel sorry for Stroll, his first lap time got deleted in Q1 for track limits and because of the crash at the end of Q1 he wasn’t able to put a time up on the board, so he will be starting at the back of the grid.

    My Predictions-

    My top 5 predictions for tomorrow is P1 for Hamilton, P2- Bottas, P3- Verstappen, P4- Gasly and P5- Sainz. Fastest lap I see going to possibly Bottas if Mercedes play their strategy right. There could possibly be a safety car tomorrow depends if it rains tomorrow or not😉

    I want to see Russell get closer to a top 10 finish tomorrow, I feel like it could happen! It would be nice to see Vettel finish in the points again.

    Times for tomorrow are 14.00pm (BST) and 15.00pm (CEST).

  • French GP

    We are back racing this weekend and we are starting our first triple header of the season! We’re in France after missing out last year :( It is also the home race of Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Alpine!

    The fight between Verstappen and Hamilton is still as tense round one, Verstappen still leads by 4 points after his DNF and Hamiltons no points in Baku… Where as the Constructors is a different story, Red Bull are leading by 26 points and the gap between 3rd- Ferrari and 4th- McLaren is only 2 points so its all to play for this weekend!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    The person who stuck out the most for me is Bottas, as the rumour mill is spinning quite a bit about him possibly loosing his seat to Russell at the end of the season, so if Bottas wants any chance of keeping his seat with Mercedes or finding another seat somewhere else he is going to need to start improving… Also he hasn’t had a very good start to the season at all his had 2 DNF and didn’t score any points in Baku…

    I’d say as-well Daniel Ricciardo his currently P10 in the championship and I know it doesn’t mean much as were only on round 7 out of 23 but when his team mate is in 4th it does… I’m hoping to see some improvement from him this weekend and then hopefully he can score some decent points.

    Track Limits-

    The FIA have outlined strict track limits this weekend at the Paul Ricard Circuit starting with Turn 1 and 2, any driver who fails to take Turn 2 correctly, passing on the right of the yellow bollard, will have to stick to the right and then re-join the track by driving through the two blocks in the run of area.

    Turns 3 to 5- If a driver fails to take Turn 4 correctly on track, going to the left of the bollard on the apex, they must then stay left and re-join the track by driving to the left of the block in the run-off area.

    Turns 8 & 9- Any driver going straight on at Turn 8 must re-join the track by driving through the four blocks in the escape road. As usual with track limits, drivers are permitted three off-track moments at the above points on track before being shown the black and white flag and being referred to the stewards.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top 5 for qualifying are P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Perez, P5: Gasly.

    I would to see Ocon and Alonso qualify in top 10 i’m hoping their car suits them around the Paul Ricard Circuit, as well as Pierre Gasly i’m hoping his still on a good streak from his podium at Baku so hopefully, we see something special from him this weekend.

    Times for Saturday sessions are: FP3- 11.00am (BST), 12.00pm (CEST) Qualifying- 14.00pm (BST), 15.00 (CEST).