Zoom Zoom: Race 7 finds one team making controversial changes, Kimi's first home race as an F1 driver, Errors costly for the Grand Prix drivers.
- Colby Michaels
- May 20
- 10 min read
If only the news had been released a day earlier I would have had it in the Miami GP blog post- but that one was pretty busy! So this will be old news to some of you, others new, but much like the mood at Alpine Racing, this is like posting sour milk. Paddock Buzz: Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes, who many in the paddock and in F1 seemed to feel to be a great fit to lead the team to a brighter future, was unceremoniously sacked shortly after the Miami GP. That was bad enough, but to make matters worse, Alpine decided to elevate their version of Darth Vader by promoting Flavio Briatore to team principal! A couple of things (of MANY) to know about Darth Flavio's history: He paid a driver to actually crash a car! Also, he had an affair with some 19 year-old model while his then wife, Heidi Klum was preggers with their child! (If ya know me, don't mess with my Heidi!); a real stand-up guy this Flavio is. Wasting no time, Flavio kept his dark word, and immediately sacked Jack Doohan after six races this season, and replaced Jack with our fave Argentine, Franco Colapinto, BUT under the condition that Franco has just FIVE race to prove himself worthy of holding onto that Alpine seat! So Darth Flavio is basically running Alpine like it's a Gladiators Gambit!
Oh wait, but there's more from House of Mordor...err...Alpine...and this one is a doozy! I'll let a professional news outlet shock you with this kind of skullduggery! When your team is somehow associated with Putin.....
https://www.independent.co.uk/f1/oliver-oakes-william-arrested-alpine-f1-hitech-b2747427.html New nickname for RB....RB sugar-free! I read a post using this name, and busted a gut laughing so hard!
Cadillac made a splash in Miami with a big show where they revealed their maiden 2026 livery (paint job), and some other technical stuff I shall not dive into at this time. General Motors is the engine that Cadillac will use, and some pundits are musing that Caddy may be the best American car to hit F1 in a while. Obviously TBD.
With that, your not updated driver/team grid! Switch Tsunoda with Lawson:
and bounce Doohan out and replace with this guy, Franco Colapinto at Alpine:
As we waited for the Imola race in Italy, the Vatican has chosen the new Pope, Leo XVI! Not this Leo:
After six races, this is where the top ten drivers rank in points! Oscar is on a heater with three wins in a row! (I'm shocked Stroll is in the top ten!):
This week's race is one of two in Italy, Imola. Per Wikipedia: Imola is a city and commune in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. Bologna also happens to be the home town of the youngest driver on the grid, rookie Kimi Antonelli, who just recently turned 18 and is finishing up his studies while racing for Mercedes in Formula One! I can only imagine the conversations about weekend plans with his fellow classmates! Oh, there is a mini-doc (40 minutes) that was just released on Netflix called "The Seat", how Kimi became Mercedes choice for that 2nd seat next to George Russell, what Kimi had to learn QUICKLY ( he can, he has a scary/crazy photographic memory), and snippets of his life growing up, and charming family dinner stuff!
As you can see from the standings above, so far, Kimi is proving to be the real deal for a rookie so young, already placing in the top ten with the other more seasoned drivers (he is ahead of the man he replaced, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton). An obvious choice for Driver of the Week!
Imola, Italy is one of the oldest tracks on the circuit, and while this is Ferrari Country, there are strong rumors that this circuit race may be dropped from teh race calendar. Beautiful Italian countryside surrounding the track though!
P1: Practice One: 60 minutes. 64 degrees and high humidity. Not a track that allows for a lot of overtakes. Perelli debuting new C6 soft tyres for all the teams- there may be a link to tyres in this post, if you find yourself killing time at the airport or waiting for your brunch mates. :) Lot of drivers are complaiing how the track is causing their car to "bounce" (you don't want to be bouncing with your car at over 100 MPH!). With two minutes left, F2 champion Bortoleto misses the turn at 18, and into the wall he goes. He is okay, and only minimal damage to the car as the Red Flag ends this P1 session.
P2: Practice Two: 60 minutes. Fairly uneventful practice, with teams starting on the mediums, then switching to the soft tyres halfway thru practice. With about 7 minutes left, RB Sugar- Free driver Hadjar oversteers, catches a tailwind, does a twirl and slide into the wall with the right side firmly smacking up against it. Isack tries to get back on track, as he is able to turn the car around, but the gravel grabs his rear tyres and the car is beached, bringing out the Red Flag, as the cranes come out to remove the car and Isack walks back to the paddock.
P3: Practice Three: Sunny day, partly cloudy which is makin for some cool shadows onto the track as the teams start out on Hard tyres for a lap, then switch to Medium tyres and will probably finish with Softs as they prep for a very strict Qualifying later in the day. About halfway thru the 60 minute practice, RB Sugar-Free's Liam Lawson cooks his rear tyres on Turn 3, does a spinout, but is able to remain on track to cruise those shredded rubbers into the garage. No further incidents, so the key for Quali will be the strategy for tyres (the new Softs seem to degrade pretty quickly after one lap), and track traffic, as this track is quite narrow on certain stretches. Oh, and whats up with Haas Ocon, who finished dead last in all three practices??
A note on how Qualifying works: There are three quick races to determine grid position for the GP race. First quali the last five drivers are cut, second quali again, last five drivers dropped, and 3rd and final quali determines the top ten on the grid and the ever important pole (1st) position. This also applies to the Sprint Qualis, you will just see me use SQ1 to show the difference.
Q1: 18 minutes.Two hours after P3 session, and weather is still holding, a bit cooler, so add in track/tyre temperature to the strategy bag! Imola and also Monaco have very few places to overtake, so getting that pole position is critical in both races. Seems all drivers are out on Softs for their first laps, and six minutes in , we have a RED FLAG, as Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda crashes heavily into the wall on Turn 5! Clock stops, everyone back to the pit lane.
Seeing the replay, Yuki caught the curb on the turn at high speed, skidded across the track, caught the opposite curb and the car did an AIRBORNE TWIRL AND FLIP before it slammed HARD into the barrier! Yuki is okay, as the medical car takes him away, obviously a DNQ (Did Not Qualify), and the mangled Red Bull car is being removed from the track. Extra time needed to also repair that barrier as well! The entire F1 paddock is shooketh, as that was one of the nastiest crashes we've seen in a while. Video of the crash here: https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/45192320
Green light with a little over 12 minutes to go, some drivers did not even get a qualifying lap in, so strategies changing again with regard to which tyres to use. As time ticks down, drivers who haven't got a lap time in (if not, you out, and start in the back of the GP race), Alpine's Colapinto rear tyre catches grass on Turn 5, sending him skidding across the track, and into the barrier as Q1 time expires. Franco is okay, and the car looks to be mildly damaged. Red Flag will delay start of Q2. Besides Yuki, the other drivers with the slowest lap times were , Lawson/ RB Sugar Free, both Haas of Ocon and Bearman and Sauber's Hulkenberg. Colapinto barely made it into Q2, but will his car be able to? Franco will get a penalty though for entering the pit lane from the garage during the Yuki red flag.
Q2: 15 minutes. Colapinto's car done for the day, so he will be part of the bottom five in this session. No incidents, so joining Colapinto in the bottom five of Q2 are: Bortoleto/Sauber, Antonelli/Mercedes, and BOTH Ferrari's: Hamilton and LeClerc! Aston-Martin's upgrades and tyre strategy of running on Mediums have paid off for both drivers! Not a good day for the Italian fans.
Q3: 12 minutes. No incidents (yay!), so by 0.034, Oscar Piastri wins pole position over Red Bull's Max Verstappen! Rest of the grid is as follows: Russell/Mercedes, Norris/McLaren, Alonso/Aston-Martin, Sainz/Williams, Albon/Williams, Stroll/Aston-Martin, Hadjar/ RB Sugar-Free, and Gasly/Alpine in 10th for Sunday's Grand Prix!
Imola Grand Prix: 63 laps on this old-school tricky and unforgiving of any errors track at Imola on a warm Sunday, as over 242,000 attended this Ilola race weekend. Oscar and Max going head to head again to start this race. Yuki is starting in the pit lane once Red Bull raided the parts department to rebuild that Red Bull Car. Colapinto's car is okay, but for that early release penalty during Yuki's red flag, loses a grid spot and is in 16th. The start and taking on Turn One could be messy; we shall see. Most drivers starting on Medium tyres and barring any Safety cars or flags, a one-stop predicted! LIGHTS OUT, and Lando jumps out ahead, but on Turn 1, Max makes a slick move on the inside and zips out ahead of Oscar to be race leader! Haas Ocon before Lap 1 was done, already made a pit stop to change tyres- odd! Lap 11 finds Lando hunting down George Russell through several turns before Lando finds an opening on the outside to overtake Georgie for 3rd. Mercedes has Georgie box to change to Hard tyres, as does Carlos Sainz for Williams. Alonso and Bortoleto pit on Lap 13 to switch to Hards, as does Oscar, which now has Max leading Lando by 10 seconds with Alex Albon in 3rd. Oscar, after his pit stop, has clawed his way back up from 14th to 7th by Lap 22, while Max, Lando, Alex and Isack Hadjar, all who are still running on Mediums, have yet to pit. This is looking like a potential two pit stop strategy...very cat and mouse at this time, who blinks first situation! Have to note that Sauber's driver, Hulkenberg, who is still on the Hard tyres is holding position at 7th; good race start for Nico so far. On Lap 28, Oscar passes both Lewis and Kimi (who have been scrapping for the several laps now), and Oscar overtakes Isack as Lando pits to change to Hard tyres (2.1 pit stop!) , so as of now, its Max, Alex, and Oscar in the front. Big question is how long will Oscar's hard tyres hold up, as he pitted earlier than Max and Alex and now Lando. Haas' Ocon Esteban's truly awful weekend has ended on Lap 29, as he is on the grass on Turn 9, as the power unit says "Ciao" to this race (DNF). Ocon's misery is to the benefit to most of the drivers, as they get a free pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car, and the leaderboard gets shuffled, with Max still leading, with both McLaren's Oscar and Lando and Albon holding on to those top 4 spots. Lap 34, Lewis finally overtakes Kimi for 6th in that race-long battle. Lewis' teammate, LeClerc now hunting down Kimo, as Georgie is busy overtaking both Aston-Martin's, first Stroll, then Alonso. Lap 36 Lewis has that Ferrari overtake Isack for 5th as Lewis seems to be cooking, as LeClerc passes Kimi for 7th. Lap 40, Oscar overtakes Alex for 3rd. LeClerc overtakes Isack and has Ferrari holding 5th and 6th.
"The Boy from Bologna", Kimi Antonelli, breaks the hearts of his home crowd, as his Mercedes power unit also has said "Ciao" to this race (DNF) on Lap 46, bringing out the Yellow Safety Car, and allowing some drivers to pit an change, including Max, who already has a 22 second lead. Lando had an awful pit stop (4.4). Note that Ferrari told LeClerc not to pit, and Charles was not happy. Lando has much fresher tyres than Oscar, should McLaren switch the drivers for the last laps of this race?
Safety Car off and we restart on Lap 54 with nine laps to go! Max sprints ahead! On Lap 58, Lando overtakes Oscar in a neat and tidy scrap between the McLaren drivers, and is 5 seconds behind Max. LeClerc and Albon also in a scrap for 4th! Alex tries to overtake Charles on Lap 60, but is squeezed into the gravel- he is able to recover and rejoin the race, but is now 6th behind the two Ferrari's, which makes the crowd very happy! On the last lap, Alex giving Charles all he can handle, but Ferrari radios in to tell Charles to give that place back to Alex, as there may be a potential PENALTY slapped on Charles on how he overtook Alex earlier. (no penalty issued). Max Verstappen wins his fourth Imola Grand Prix (he gonna miss this track if they take it off the circuit!) by six seconds over Lando, with Oscar rounding out the podium. Hamilton, Albon, LeClerc, Russell, Carlos Sainz, Hadjar and Tsunoda round ing out the top ten points.
Notes: Isack the best rookie driver of the day with another top 10 finish.
Lewis came from 12th to 4th...no tea breaks this time. Yuki came from last place, and surviving that scary flip and roll crash from Q1 to get Red Bull a point! Alex Albon is having a SEASON so far!
There will be yapping (chatter as we say stateside), over McLaren's tyre strategy. Max must've had a lucky charm, as both Safety Car incidents helped him immensely, and he snagged the fan vote Driver of the Day! Onto the Crown Jewel of Formula One, Monaco next weekend! One last snap of Kimi...or Chef Kimi in this case!
Breaking News! F1 and Disney have partnered up for the 2026 Formula One Season for cross marketing purposes! The linked story explains just what a smart marketing strategy this is (had no idea those youngsters are so into F1- must be the carting!).
Of course this did not stop my brain from immediately applying Disney characters to F1 Drivers: Lando: Bolt Max: Cheshire Cat Oscar: Mickey Mouse (minus the high voice!) Lewis: Lion King Lance: Hai Hai (almost savage...almost) Yuki: Stitch George: Prince Charming Charles: Skrat (both are adorable and determined, but foiled by outside influences!) Lave your Driver/Disney character matchup in the comments section below!
Good writing! Loved the Disney characters!