Red Bull were again the class of the field today in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, and somewhat predictably it was Verstappen who took his fifth consecutive pole position of the season. With Perez second, the closest competitor was Fernando Alonso who will start the Grand Prix from third place.
The field is close and he made mistakes at the critical moment. Then you are out in Q3. Max has now taken the first 5 poles this season, even with the spread being much closer than years gone by. You just have to execute what you have.
"39.6 Any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying session or the sprint shootout will
not be permitted to take any further part in that session."
I wonder, is one who stops outside the tracklimits actually on the track....
Not relevant in this case as Sainz rear wheel is on the line.
This suggest that a 1 stopper is not on the horizon.
You would say, however .. RUS did a pretty decent 19 laps on those softs.
Might easily see a few starting on the hards, wait out the chance for a SC and finish of with softs.
Without SC I can image a 1-stop would be slower, but well .. track position isn't that much of a big deal here.
Im sure some teams/drivers could use that to their advantage now. I mean technically, you could go out first, set a blinder of a lap, sticking it on pole, then go out for one last run before anyone else, and then just cut the PU in the car and coast to a stop. Session red flagged, then you manage to restart the car with the ERS and away you go.
Its a rule that needs a bit of clarification really.
Technically, with Sainz, you could also look at failing to meet the minimum required laptime thats set by the RD, but thats a pretty silly rule by itself.
Nothing against Sainz here, but its just a rule that needs further clarification. Especially when there was notes from a previous teams' meeting about adding the line 'without additional assistance' to the paragraph.
Well, I appreciate the honesty, stewards will choose what they want. Ultimately Carlos finished the race where he should have, and got lucky to escape a penalty.
Finally got a chance to see a proper camera angle. I retract my previous comments - you're absolutely right that this was on Alonso.
What is the stopped on track rule for? What is it’s intent/purpose? I mean, you can’t stop in the pits anymore creating a gap, so if you stop on the track instead you are gone due to this rule, is that what it is for? But a crash is then not what the rule is aimed at.