Calm Montmelo or how to make the tyres slightly thinner 🏎🚦🇪🇸

It is time to speak about Montmelo, my dear friends. Many people think that race in Barcelona is usually one of the most boring ones as it is hard to overtake here. Many drivers on the contrary think that it is one of the best circuits to check if the car's good enough as it has all the types of turns and straights. Anyways, Formula 1 is never boring, am I right?

1. One-two for Mercedes from the first line: predictable or not?

Valtteri loses the start - this is the first thing I wrote down in the race notes. Well, he lost the start but the car was so unbelievably good, softs and mediums worked just great and Seb possibly made a tactical mistake, so both Lewis and Valtteri could finish where they started. Moreover, not only Valtteri overcame Seb during his first pit-stop but Seb made the podium impossible for himself after changing from medium to the medium.

2. Crash-boy Roman

The start of the race is usually the trickiest thing in all the races but this time it was unusually tricky as Roman lost the car after Kevin's move and hit Pierre and Nico, so both became the victims of this misfortune. All three drivers were immediately out whilst others were to follow the safety car. Both Brandon and Sergey pitted under the SC but without any specific changes to their strategy as they had to pit secondly later anyways.

3. DNF time

The race wasn't specifically epic in terms of crashes and fights but it was epic in terms of how many cars were out for some reason. Unfortunately one of leaders Kimi became a victim of an engine fail twice this weekend, so he couldn't end the race. Another one who had great moments against Fernando in the beginning of the race, Esteban became a victim of right rear problem which cost him a few places on the grid firstly but also an engine problem later which made him to retire. Stoffel penalized with five seconds after the wrong move in the beginning also couldn't see the chequered flag. The last one to suffer DNF was Brendon as he stopped one lap before the finish without an obvious reason. It was added to his misfortune whilst FP3 where he crashed the car completely and couldn't even take part in quali.

4. Podium with killed wing

The one who had a tiny crash but managed not only to finish the race but to finish it on the podium was Max who pushed so much that hit his front wing and lost a part of it. He commented on the podium later that it didn't look nice but it was drivable anyways.

Max wasn't the only youngster impressed public in this race. Charles not only managed to bring points to the team, to show amazing performance in quali entering Q2 but also push and compete against Fernando and others on track. That was really amazing.

5. Spain is orangy-yellow

Fernando as the real homie not only brought the Spanish flag to take it out on the cooling lap but also showed his respect towards another Spaniard Carlos who did the same. Talking about surprises, another great one was both Haases in Q3 and for me, of course, the starting line of the grid for Mercedes.

Unfortunately there were negative moments as Lance ended up in a wall in all pre-race sessions including quali. Dani, Roman and Checo also ended up crashed each once during FP1 and FP2 whilst Kubica made his come back to F1 and managed to safely finish his FP.

Talking about tactics, it was all pretty obvious: supersofts didn't show any speed difference comparing to softs so almost the whole grid except few drivers decided to start the race on yellow tyres to later change onto the white ones. By the way, Pirelli made the tyres thinner as Mercedes asked to do it as asphalt in Barcelona was changed recently to the new one. The time records were beaten faster than you can imagine as the new track coverage in May made it possible. Rain didn't come to Montmelo, so the race was pretty calm. Probably that is all that I should have mention in the racing blog.

Thanks for reading and until Monaco!

The team comes first... Is it? 🥇❤️🏎

It's never too late to jump on track under the safety car, innit? Hellooo, I missed you so much! My racing blogs are back so am I. Here's my first post in a while on the best race in the season I believe but who knows? Enjoy!

1. Crucial puncture for Valtteri and unexpected win for Lewis

Am I happy? Well, it is hard to say. As you might know I am a huge Mercedes fan and I wasn't quite into first three races this season so I didn't see all Lewis' losses. This race gave me hope from the very beginning firstly because I knew it is a motor track, secondly because I knew it is a crazy track. The whole race was a mess and when the last safety car stayed on track after absolutely unexpected crush for Roman (which I am honestly sad about since he had tough times in quali with his gearbox) and Valtteri managed to pit not only changing the tyres to ultrasofts but also coming in front of Seb you can imagine how happy I was. Later on everything happened in a perfect way - Seb blocked his front rears and lost 3 places not to Valtteri only but to Lewis and Kimi so we expected a one-two for Mercedes. But lady luck decided in other way. Some kind of debris and the puncture. This. Was. Crucial.

Lewis was lost during the interview and right after that he went to Valtteri to say that he had the amazing race. So the champ was late to the podium. The team comes first.

2. Red Bulls on fire

The team comes first but probably not for everyone. Red Bull lost huge points and possible podium because of how stupid their pilots was. I am sure you have seen the crush in details already. It was an amazing fight where one overtook another for a few times in this race.  In my opinion (I might be totally wrong) the blame is 50% on each. Dani saw that Max changes his way constantly and he should have understand that he would keep doing this not to let him in front so why speeding so much? Max also knew that Dani would fight so he should have left the space just in case Dani is irresponsible for a moment. What happened - happened. Both drivers went to Milton Keynes to apologize for the team. Smart decision from Christian.

3. Safety car leads the race

Apart from two main dramas in this race (I mean Valtteri puncture and Red Bull clash) we also had a few collisions called safety car. The start of the race was predictable. I mean - it is Baku, the most epic track of the season. The first ones to prove it were Kimi and Esteban. French ended in the wall whilst Finn on the podium. This is amazing how Kimi managed not only bring the damaged car to the pits, come back under the safety car but to climb on top and even beat Seb. Amazing job. Alonso was as good as Kimi in bringing car to the pits after becoming a part of a sandwich alongside Sergey (unfortunately retired) and Carlos but not so good in climbing on top.

4. Not to mention

Not to mention the driver of the day - Charles who brought his first career points to Zauber and was just great. He was congratulated by his mate Pierre who also had a great start making it to P7 in the first laps after having a little accident with Marcus. Marcus finished P13 and was the last one not to retire as Nico joined the company from mentioned above. Also not to mention Checo who got his second podium in Baku after overtaking Seb in the very end and Carlos showing a nice drive after overtaking both Red Bulls in the beginning.

5. What have you expected?

Overall after quite a calm qualifying with Seb on pole I expected anything but what happened. Before the start I knew just one thing - as Kimi was so fast but didn't make it to the pole after his mistake in Q3 Lewis need to win the start but he didn't. The times were lower than last year because of the season and all the teams struggled to find the temperature window. Winds and dust caused many mistakes, we saw a few wall-crushes in FPs and almost a clash between Pierre and Brendon in Q1 when the last one struggled a puncture. The weekend was interesting enough to write more but I'll stop.

Baku is always great and it is still a big dream of mine to write this blog from Azerbaijan GP paddock which I am sure I will do one day! Thank you for your attention and stay with me. Until Spain in two weeks :)

Mixed feelings in Spielberg: Valtteri drives himself into the champions race 🇫🇮🚀🏁

Greetings to all Formula 1 lovers, I just wanted you to know how much I missed writing racing blogs. Quite a lot happened, nah? But we don’t have too much time to think as long as Silverstone's coming up this week (literally in 4 days). So lets go right into what happened in Spielberg.

Overall the race itself was better than personally I expected it to be. It has even raised some new questions and put some new struggles in front of the pilots, teams and fans.

1. We are NOT playing bowling, man

A little bit epic start of the race - that is what happened actually. Probably I am not the only one who is still trying to figure out what has happened in the middle of the grid when Daniil hit Fernando (trying to overtake or as he claimed sliding as long as his wheels were locked) and then they also hit poor Max whose race was over after he couldn't manage a proper start struggling with his grid. Alonso would say on the radio: "They cannot play bowling". Fernando was frustrated as he had the chance not to struggle with technical problems for the first time in God knows how many races and was out as well as was Max. 

The fact that Daniil got 2 points (making it up to 7 in general as well as his teammate Carlos) makes it more possible that there WAS an actual mistake in his actions. So the blame is on him in some case but the team commented this situation as "normal racing accident". Anyways it doesn’t help the people who left the race as well as it doesn’t help the strange situation in Toro Rosso. Let me clarify what I am actually talking of. 

2. Sainz against Toro Rosso in "media war"

If you are a F1 follower you probably have heard about Carlos' situatuion evolving the whole weekend. Spaniard literally claimed that it is unlikely for him to stay at Toro Rosso for the next year and he is 100% aimed to go to the main team (where both drivers have lasting contracts until no one is going to leave the team for the better - here I mean Max and the rumors about him replacing Kimi in Ferrari). If not - Carlos is about to leave. The reaction of both Toro Rosso and Red Bull head management was quite expectable as long as Dr. Helmut Marco, Christian Horner and Franz Tost made it clear that the team program gave EVERYTHING to Carlos. He also has an activated contract for the next season already. After that Carlos became smarter and explained the misunderstanding of his words. But still the start to the "media war" has been given.

The only thing I feel like adding is that both Kvyat and Sainz haven't shown anything tremendous this season and they both keep failing a lot in the races so they'd better to be more patient not to be fired from Formula 1 team at all.

3. Bottas drives himself into the champions race

Following the development of the race I feel like the most important thing was the fact that Valtteri held the leadership throughout almost the whole race and didn't let Ferrari to overtake him even at the very end when it was quite dangerous for him with Seb in DRS-zone. A few same situations happened in the middle of the grid (where Lewis as well tried to fight it out to the podium against Daniel) but it was just a question of bigger points for middle-teams. 

Valtteri was voted the driver of the day which I think (not as a Mercedes fan but as a neutral author) is quite justly. Valtteri's not only drove himself to the second career win here in Austria (4th win in 4 races by Mercedes at Red Bull Ring) but also to the champions race where he is 15 points behind Lewis and 35 points behind Seb now. Actually it is not that bad since it was just the 9th race of the season and so many things are still possible to happen. 

4. Pole jump-start

All the talks about the Valtteri's jump-start from the pole position were ridiculous. The motorsport rules have nothing about the times when drivers should react after the lights were off. I mean there's nothing fixed, so maybe 0,2 sec is too little but definitely not too early anyways. So what are people talking about now?

As a big Lewis fan I was also quite disappointed after he got five place gearbox penalty this weekend which made almost obvious he wasn’t about to win but could have fought for better points comparing to Seb. Suddenly after the race itself 1/3 of my sympathies went to Valtteri remembering how amazing he is as a person and as a driver. 

By the way, the last thing we can still hope is Mercedes being patient in this championship race and not depriving Valtteri the chance of getting the title. Well, here I need to mention that I LOVES Lewis' after-race reaction (especially considering his inappropriate request in Baku).

5. Red Bull struggle: Max retired for the 5th time in 7 races while Daniel collecting the trophies

The most controversial feelings (as well as Valtteri win and Lewis "loss" for Mercedes) caused me "win" and loss of Red Bull drivers. Seeing Max retiring almost every race is painful not because he is a cute boy from Netherlands but because he IS a really good and fast driver. He is the one of those who has this potential to fight for podiums and wins (especially considering the fact that Red Bull has a nice car with probably not the best engine this year). 

You probably can tell how frustrated Dr. Marco was since Max is considered as his favorite driver and most of the time the retirement is NOT pilot's fault but technical stuff. Red Bull keeps gaining points thanks to Daniel. He (after brake problem retirement in Sochi which was 4th race of the year) keeps finishing on podiums and even won the whole thing in Baku. There must be a lot of mixed emotions inside the team in that case. I just hope they will solve the problem if team really wants to keep Max for the next season.

6. Tyres on the limit

Being honest it was my first race where I saw tyres working on their limit (and yes, I've seen not that many GPs). Before the race I thought it was going to be two pit-stops race (not the biggest expert in this, sorry). 

At the end of the race I saw that Lewis was pushing literally everything from his Ultra Softs and Valtteri was doing the same with his Super Softs. I cannot tell that this race has been a race of "tyre strategy" in general. Probably. The only fenomenal fact F1 experts we mostly talking about was Lewis making it on SS in quali so he had a different strategy. Here I should mention that he had this 5-place pen on the grid so he knew he wasn’t fighting for the speed at this point but for the consistancy. 

Actually in the end I was pretty sure someone would go for the second pit (I mean leaders) but it was too dangerous so we got what we got. Looking at the tyre strategy graphics I was only impressed how different was Felipe's decision as long as the whole grid used almost the same strategy in different variants.

7. No rain despite the expectations in Spielberg 

I mean the rain happened just after the race. However, the forecast before the race showed 50% chance of rain. In that case some of the drivers were probably kind of hoping on the wet track to help them slide into bigger points while others were absolutely against this possibility as long as it might have ruined their better results. 

Anyways, it didn't end up raining so far we saw some AMAZING times. Michael Schumacher's record from 2004 was beaten numerous times and Lewis was the fastest man on Sunday even though he didn't drive himself to the podium. Remember the new record, everyone: 1.07.411!

Some other race moments I would love to mention to end up my blogpost are the emotions: Seb being honestly frustrated with his second place. Valtteri refusing drinking from Daniel's shoe and asking him: "are you laughing?" Kimi being in a conflict with Ferrari management and saying he IS doing everything he can. Lewis calling his  result  mediocre but being nice to what Valtteri did. I bud really liked all this honesty we saw.

We haven't seen anything extraordinary from Force India drivers that time even after them talking a lot on each other (which I am going to write the next post on). We saw good pace and good result from Roman and Haas (Kevin retired unfortunately) as long as they kept struggling the grid thing throughout the weekend. We saw some driver skills proofs from Felipe and Lance finishing in top-10 since Williams managed to qualify in the 1st segment. Not to mention yellow flags in the end of Q3 which helped Valtteri to get the pole position and made it impossible for Lewis, Max, Seb and others to improve.

Not a bad race, guys. I can't wait to see what will happened in GB. See you very soon!

Becoming an anti-hero: is Vettel sorry? 🤔❓🏎

Note: the author of this post is 100% neutral to Seb himself.

First of all: question. Have you noticed what Formula 1 fans have been talking about for last months? Sebastian Vettel winning Monaco due to team tactics over Kimi. Sebastian Vettel becoming a driver of the day finishing fifth in Canada. Sebastian Vettel hitting Lewis Hamilton in Azerbaijan. Kind of anti-hero tendency, isn't it? 

I have been writing a whole article on what has happened in Monaco, so let me remain kind of silent in this case or go read it. I didn't say too much on Seb in Montreal as long as I decided that there was nothing too sensational. I just really didn't like the choice of him as the best driver since there were so many good performances from other pilots, especially young ones. But let me talk about this NOT AN ACCIDENT in Baku.

Look what I wrote in my post about the race: "Yes, Lewis probably braked too quick so Seb clashed into him. Was that an accident? I suppose YES. What happened next? Seb went too emotional and hit Lewis. Did he do this on purpose? I am sure that YES. Was that all just emotions? Absolutely YES. He got his penalty and lost the leadership in the race, potential podium, some points. Was the penalty enough? I have no idea, it's all up to jury. Should he said he was at least sorry for unnecessary action? I suppose YES. But he didn't. Why? We'd better ask him." I do really think so. Still. But the situation got the development. 

FIA decided that they need some kind of a further investigation. And they even invited Seb to the headquarters so here what happened. The date of FIA hearing has been set and it was 3rd of July, Vettel's 30th birthday. Interesting, no? Throughout the day we had some FAKE FIA press releases which said there will be further punishment so we already got some public reaction (quite controversial).  

But later on journalists got the official document from FIA officer that said: "Sebastian Vettel extended his sincere apologies to the FIA and the wider motor sport family. He additionally committed to devote personal time over the next 12 months to educational activities across a variety of FIA championships and events, including in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, at an FIA Formula 4 Championship to be defined and at the FIA Stewards’ seminar. Due to this incident, President Jean Todt instructed that no road safety activities should be endorsed by Sebastian Vettel until the end of this year.

The FIA notes this commitment, the personal apology made by Sebastian Vettel and his pledge to make that apology public. The FIA also notes that Scuderia Ferrari is aligned with the values and objectives of the FIA.

In light of these developments, FIA President Jean Todt decided that on this occasion the matter should be closed."

Seb admitted his full responsibility. There are his words published in his website after the hearing where he admitted he is sorry for what has happened, he defined he loves this sport and he is not going to ruin its reputation for future generations. He also agreed to volunteer to help educate young racing drivers at events this year, with the FIA warning him that any repeat of what happened in Baku will prompt an International Tribunal hearing.

But as it was mentioned a few times in different media there's too much mysterious in that very situation. Not just the appologies coming after the decision but also the presence of only Ferrari side at the meeting with no Hamilton, no Mercedes side. Even the decision itself looked a little strange as long as that was not the first time when Seb's overreacted. Yes, on one hand it is dangerous for FIA that his example might give drivers the mutual permission to do crazy things and then just appologies. On the other hand who knows for how long it would take FIA to go further. And moreover, Seb has 10 sec stop-and-go penalty which is also a lot and further punishment might do harm to the Grand Prix reputation in general. Black flag as an option in Baku? I don't know and personally I don't see the reason to talk about past. Anyways the whole thing is up to the organization now and we can only guess on the possible reasons.

Again the clash and its consequences could not be unnoticed so here are some reasons why personally I think Seb is becoming more and more a kind of an anti-hero for the F1 world.

1. Insincerity

After the whole Baku situation I have defined  a few points of view of journalists and F1 fans who were absolutely sure that the apologies for what Seb did in Baku should have come before FIA statement and even before they announced the investigation itself. 

That is what I absolutely agree with. Here I must admit that I am more of a kind of person who understands the arrogance and other bad human nature things which not let Seb to say sorry right after the race. It's human nature, yes and unfortunately it is quite normal.

2. Kimi's abuser

Ferrari itself never announced the existence of team strategy. But now, after eight races probably EVERYONE understands that Seb is fighting for the title and team would always put him in front of Kimi as they might do in Monaco (no statement again). Sadly, unfortunately, undeniable.

3. Bad example

As long as FIA hearing did nothing but made Seb to say sorry after all, this might serve as a bad example for not only F1 drivers but also for the whole young generation. Yes, right now I am talking about the position where pilots could not only do crazy moves and expect no punishment but where they could be inspired to be that kind of "bad boys". Like in movies but on track. Not a proper inspiration, right?

4. Lewis' opponent

Huge LH44 team is 100% against Seb right now buttttt. Even if you are quite neutral to Lewis and Mercedes you probably see all those actions Ferrari and Seb use to overpass Lewis in championship as long as he MOSTLY is just racing (I do remember some incidents but they had no such a resonance, however, Mercedes admits team strategy clearly). Sympathy goes not to Seb. Unfortunately.

Probably there might be some more reasons but I don't really want to look like Seb's hater. So here I must say that I am over this situation now. Hopefully you too!

What a race! Cosmic Baku in action 🎢🍾🏁

I've been thinking quite a lot before publishing this particular blogpost and here are a few reasons why. First of all I used to consider myself as a Mercedes fan. At least in previous posts. But I was so freaking happy to see that same podium on Sunday - so shame on me. Secondly I changed my mind in several ways during that Baku weekend starting from what I think about the "race" in general and finishing with picking my "to go" pilot for future. Aaaaand thirdly, yes, too much happened that weekend. So let me be sequential.

1. Podium

Hello, you, Formula 1 fans, have you been expecting that same podium before the race? Of course you have not. Honestly that has been surprising especially taking into consideration the fact that ABSOLUTELY UNEXPECTED stuff happened to both championship leaders Seb and Lewis. Probably we all have been waiting the battle of those two (which we ACTUALLY saw) maybe pushed by Red Bulls. 

Speaking about Red Bulls personally I expected them to BE in front especially after FP results on Friday but Max was mine "to go", definitely it wasn't Daniel who I expected to win so far.

2. Losers, winners and "underdogs"

That race in Baku actually divided the whole grid into three: losers, winners and "underdogs". Let me explain. It is obvious that F1 world was waiting for Ferrari and Mercedes to fight for the podium before all that crazy stuff happened. If not Seb versus Lewis, then there were options with Kimi and Valterri in action. 

The most unexpected thing in my opinion was Lewis extra pit-stop with team not fixing his headrest and Seb behaving just INADEQUATE clashing into Lewis twice (firstly accidentally and then definitely on purpose) and getting his 10 seconds stop and go punishment. Those I should call "losers" in this race. Unfortunately there were a few more of "losers" here in Baku: Max and his engine problems, Daniil and Jolyon with their early retirements, Felipe with mechanical issues, Kimi and Checo with unfortunate collisions. Did I forget anyone?

By winners here I want to mention those who unexpectedly brought some points to their teams. And the greatest of them was definitely Lance. We can only imagine how much did it mean for him to stand on the podium after a thought start of the season and all the criticism he got. I love saying this but yes I am happy for him gaining some real confidence. Except the podium rookie I should call "winners" those guys Kevin and Pascal finishing in top-10 and bringing points to their teams.

And the last but not the least are those who I personally called "underdogs". OK, they were not real underdogs from the very beginning. But who expected Daniel to win from 10th on the grid and 17th after early pit-stop and Valterri to finish the second after the crush with Kimi and being one lap down? I just wouldn't believe if you said you were.

3. Hamilton versus Vettel

Here we go. This topic has touched nearly everyone. Even those who were not that much into Formula 1 yet. The incident itself was quite normal (if we talking about race, men, speed, emotions). Don't get me wrong but that what could happened with EVERY pilot.

Yes, Lewis probably braked too quick so Seb clashed into him. Was that an accident? I suppose YES. What happened next? Seb went too emotional and hit Lewis. Did he do this on purpose? I am sure that YES. Was that all just emotions? Absolutely YES. He got his penalty and lost the leadership in the race, potential podium, some points. Was the penalty enough? I have no idea, it's all up to jury. Should he said he was at least sorry for unnecessary action? I suppose YES. But he didn't. Why? We'd better ask him. 

From aside it all looked like a completely stupid mistake which Seb did following his emotions and payed for it. Too much or not enough? I think there's no unbiased answer. We'd all love to hear his apologies but probably we won't. 

4. Team tactics

A few races ago (after Monaco) motorsport world was all about that incident happened in Ferrari. We all talked about if there was a team strategy or if there wasn't, if it was needed or if not. But after Azerbaijan I marked one team who definitely needs this "team strategy" thing. Hello, Force India, I'm talking about you.

Do you remember those things happened two weeks ago in Canada? When Esteban asked team to put him in front of Checo to try to overtake Dan and reach the podium. Do you remember what happened next? Checo asked team to let them "race" and Seb overtook them both. Boom! 

Here we are in Baku. What happened to Force Indias here? Yes, they collided. Why? I suppose that Esteban remembering the situation in Montreal (and their sincere talk with Checo after, of course) decided not to wait for team permission and just pushed. Fortunately he survived the race and Checo left. All I can say: KARMA. 

Overall it makes me think of the fact that this team needs to do something. I don't necessarily talk of picking "first" and "second" pilot but the fact that they need strategy considering the pace of each pilot, their tires condition and also opponents in front and behind is obvious. Just because we don't want to see both really good drivers crushing into their teammates every single time and ending the race when they decide to fight with other team for points, podium, whatever. 

5. Epic race

Yes, that was absolutely an epic race. Can you still remember how many crushes, overtakes, yellow flags, safety cars were there? I cannot. The only thing that really matters that all of this gave so much emotions to every person who had seen this. I hope this race not only gave you something to think about but also inspired you to love this sport a lot more.

The fact that it all just couldn't be planned makes me think that this race is the one you should rewatch when you want to see something worthy. Here you could see nearly everything even the "photo finish" from amazing Valterri which made me soooo happy. Famous "shoey" from Australian boy (poor Lance drinking from Daniel's shoe on his very first podium ever). Happiness, frustration, anger, hesitation, luck - EVERYTHING.

To sum it up I want to say that Baku race was so far the best I saw (I haven't seen so many - so even more lucky I am) and it gave me not only chills but the decision who I want to root for after Lewis retirement. And here I picked Esteban Ocon, just because he IS a really good driver. 

Equaling the king: what does it really means to get closer to Ayrton Senna 🇧🇷👑

It has been said so many words so I will be probably too late. But I am here not to talk about well-known facts. I am here to speak about emotions.

23 years ago on the May, 1st. Can you remember this day? Cause I just cannot. I was barely born that time. But I still know the story.

I remember myself falling in love with Formula 1. It happened not quite long ago. I also remember myself watching the documentary with an unknown for me title "Senna" which made me cry for literally 2 hours. Am I mad? No. I am just sincere. If I was born a few decades earlier I am sure the racer I would be rooting for would be Ayrton Senna. Amazing, beautiful, breathtaking, mysterios and quick. Really really quick. 

If you ever ask me who my favorite Formula 1 driver is I will probably ask you if you mean the one alive. Cause I now I have two options.

One more crazy weekend of mine went in Montreal. I mean I wasn’t there physically but my soul was. That Saturday I was sitting in a restaurant with a couple of my friends watching quali on my mobile phone. I literally cried out when Lewis (yes, my favorite racer alive) has beaten the lap record in Canada twice in a row and has finally taken his 65th pole position EQUALING Ayrton Senna. I probably frightened the whole place but that was unbelievable. You know the later story. Ayrton's family made a special gift to Lewis: race-worn helmet of a legend. Replica, yes. He wasn’t racing in it but still he worn it.

By the way, have you seen the record from the press conference while Michael Schumacher equaled Ayrton? He. Was. Crying. That is how you probably feel when you become so close to the legend.

What means even more is that Lewis has always been following Ayrton saying that Brazilial driver was main true inspiration for him. We can only imagine how much that really means to Ham. 

The thing is that probably no one will ever be greater than Senna, equaling him and even beating his records. Of course, there some of the greatest names in Formula 1 as Michael Schumacher, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso. But Senna will always stand out. Not just because he died on the track and not because he was the last one to sacrifice his life to make motorsport safer but because he was very very uncommonly special. He was just not from this world. And we will always adore him for that.

Perfect podium: Mercedes double and a little bit of Red Bull in Canada 🖤🏁

Mondays after the racing weekend are always a little bit sad as long as we have to wait for 11 (am I right?) days until the next racing weekend. But for me not this one. As a super happy Mercedes fan after a comfortable double win I just wanna tell my emotions on the whole race.

First of all, I should mention that there were too absolutely different sides of this race: first one is really calm and steady but still very happy for Lewis and Valterri and maybe Dan (not counting all the pressure) the second one is pretty frustrating and nervous for the rest of the grid. 

I won't talk too much about Lewis and Valterri as long as you will probably tell me to shut up about Mercedes team buuuuuut. The only thing I really want to mention is that from Friday to Sunday Mercedes struggled a lot with the tires temperature and the lap result shown by Lewis TWICE in quali means so much for everyone in love with F1 and the main reason is that the record hadn't been beaten since 2004. Can you imagine? 13 years, that's I think is more than a lot. The fact that this lap made a 65th Lewis' pole possible for him is even more meaningful. Equaling the record of one and only, amazing Ayrton Senna was just beautiful for Lewis. All the supporters just couldn't be happier. And I cannot mention that this double on the podium brought Mercedes back on the 1st place in team competition.

However, it wasn’t that good for the whole grid. Sainz who struggled a lot during Friday training session made a thing Felipe Massa should be so sad about. Hitting Roman Carlos just lost control and still at enormous speed hit Felipe who just was quite unlucky to be on that place at that very moment. Massa without understanding anything at all left young and rich (why should I mention this?) Lance the only Williams pilot in his first home race. Here I should say that EVERYONE, I'll repeat EVERYONE expected Lance to hit the Champions wall on his first lap and be out almost after 1 minute after he started. But NO WAY! This is what we all should be proud of. Lance not even finished the race but gained his first points this season being the 9th under the black and white flag.

Next thing that made me and probably some other neutral to Red Bull team people literally CRY. Max with his great great start was the second but had some kind of engine problems and was out of the race from the SECOND place. Thanks to Dan finishing on the podium and doing his shoeye thing though.

The whole Red Bull family except Dan was quite unlucky this weekend as long as FIA decided to punish Toro Rosso pilot Daniil twice in a row firstly making him go through the pit-lane and lately deciding on giving 10 extra seconds to his pit-stop which made him loose all positions gained. Unfortunately something bad happened to his wheel while pitting so he just couldn’t continue the race in case he already was too laps behind everyone. After the race Daniil would say in Russian: "FIA thinks we are fucking taxi drivers". Well, we cannot argue that the blame is on the jury that time. 

Unlike Toro Rosso united around injustice, Force India on the contrary has been divided into two. Before describing the whole situation I must say that personally for me Esteban IS the driver of the day since this was his first race ever on this track in real life and he WAS able to take the podium. I am just sure. Lap 50 (or something). The grid was like: HAM, BOT, RIC, PER, OCO, RAI, VET. Ocon's radio was on. Esteban asked for the chance to overtake Ricciardo switching with his partner Checo. Esteban's pace on newer tires was definitely better that Checo's. Both were in DRS-zone from their opponents. Checo's radio on with him saying: "I also want to try to overtake Dan, can you just give us the chance to race?" OKAAAAAY. How the hell he was going to overtake Dan first of all? And why he didn’t agree to switch with Ocon to give him a chance and not to give a chance to Seb to overtake both of them? The team offered this option. The most unfair thing is that they didn’t MAKE Scheco to give a chance to Esteban. That's the deal. I just couldn’t believe such decisions. I mean the lack of team's decisions.

And the last but not the least significant thing is Ferrari drivers losing so many points in this race. Some things about that are still very confusing. Not chanching the wing during the pace car is just first of them. Voting Seb the racer of the weekend? Okay, yes, he started the second, lost to Max, hell knows why pitted twice, went to the end of the grid and made it to the 4th place mostly because Checo was just mad. Do you really think he was the best? Personally I don’t. Nothing to say about Kimi really that time. The saddest moment is again his position where he HAD to let Seb in front and got some really bad problems after.

Well done, I hope you all liked the race as much as I did. It gave us a lot to think about and was really diverse in tactics and some other moments. See you soon, Formula 1 lovers. Azerbaijan, the land of mystery is coming.

Kimi under decision and Mercedes out of the podium in Monaco 🏎🏁

Well, lets begin with the fact I'm not Kimi fan as well as I'm not Ferrari fan at all. But Sunday Monaco's race made me so emotional on Kimi finishing the second and standing there on the podium with literally NO face that I decided on writing this and not how much I'm sad considering the fact that my Mercedes boys didn't see the podium this time. 

Okay, first of all I wanna say that quali went great for both Kimi and Seb as all the ones (3) I saw. And yes for numerous Kimi fans around the world starting from pole position for the first time since 2008 meant a lot. Anyway Saturday made me feel like hell after Vandorne crush and yellow flags on made Lewis finish at only Q2 (for the first time since 2008) and of course I (even knowing so little about Monaco GPs yet) understood that no win for him is coming. Especially on this track. But was quite happy for Valterri starting from the third place as far as I kept in mind his fenomenal start in Sochi 4 weeks ago. So I hoped. But no, not in Monaco. 

Before I say what I truly wanted to say I should mention that I really like both Seb and Kimi as human beings but the hysteria of everyone around me wanting Kimi to win has influenced my feelings alot. 

I can totally understand the Ferrari strategy in this particular race. Even the fact that they will always put Seb in front of Kimi considering the team's interests and the personal table where Seb is above Lewis after those six races. 

We always talk about Valterri's place in Mercedes comparing to Lewis and so on... But have never debated the fact that where we can definitely see the 1st and 2nd pilots IS Ferrari. So. Yes I do understand this. But isn't it just unfair for Kimi to trust his team in pit-stop timings, questions of using the tires and at the end of the day getting THIS?! Did you see his face during the podium thing? Did you hear how devastated he was during interview with Nico after all? Okay, congrats to Seb, happy for Ferrari winning here for first time for 16 years but couldn't they (I mean Ferrari) give Kimi and Seb the fair chance to fight and attach but not this "pit-game". 

Following the team interests we could see that no. After the race Seb would say: "The plan was that the first pilot will go to the pit first". First goes first. Easy strategy, right? But wasn't that obvious that Kimi WOULD be the first considering the track in Monaco. Please, if you think I'm mistaken go and listen to Kimi's interview after the race. Sad. Really really sad. 

Overall that race made feel so nasty if I can say like this since I've heard Max' reaction on Dani in front of him. THIS WAS NOT REDBULL STRATEGY. This was Dani's decision using both Max and Valterri pit stops to push. But what we've heard?! Have we ever heard this from anyone in Mercedes this season? Correct me if I'm wrong. I was also so unhappy on Checo being rude to someone not letting him in front and so on. Many small and dirty situations after which they will post cute photos together. But that is no help. With no personal attitude to Red Bull drivers I must say this was not great of Max. 

Here I will put my little thought as a girl rooting for Mercedes (never seeing Rosberg on the track by the way). No matter if Lewis is my favorite driver I'm rooting for the whole team. Not just because the cars are great to win but because of the culture inside and no accidents like today. In contrary Lewis starting on the 13th position said: "I hope Valterri WILL have a good race". Come on guys. This is how it should be.

The last thing I should mention is how much emotional this race made me feel in a bad way. Of course Pascal crushing and no radio for viewers at that very moment. I literally started crying remembering all the health problems he went through to make it to this season. Thanks GOD he is okay. 

So thanks to Dani for being on the podium (I told you I bring luck to the chosen ones), thanks Jason for being back (it does not matter that I never saw him racing before so I got a chance). Thanks to those who finished and Checo for the new lap record. Sad for Daniil after the episode with Checo again and other guys who were off during all the accidents. Sad for Force India this weekend cause I sympathized both guys so much. And thanks Monaco for being both beautiful and disgusting track during my first steps in Motorsport.

See you soon. I mean less than in two weeks. Canada's coming.