Sick Sakhir

Previously, on Formula One 2020.

"It's lights out in Bahrain and away we go, Romain Grosjean hit the barrier the car exploded the race was stopped and the medical crews saved the Frenchman, Lance Stroll flew and rolled to DNF, Sergio Perez dominated the top rows only to retire and let go of the podium that he would snatch in several more laps leading Racing Point to a tragic double DNF, giving the glory to the lucky Alex Albon! What a race!"

Gotta admit, Bahrain GP was something.

Not because of the blast, because no one would ever want to witness that. I literally screamed when that Haas car slipped to the edge, hit the barrels and actually BLASTED! I've never seen a fire like that in an F1 race before, and the view was a total horror. Thank God Romain Grosjean made it out and the scene where he jumped out from the blaze remained sanctity to me it never failed making me cry. Such a miracle to see that happening in front of my very eyes...

So yea, Bahrain GP was something, but totally not because of the blast. It's what follows afterwards that made things went saucy.

Lewis Hamilton was tested positive for Covid-19.

That's another news we didn't want to hear, really, though gotta admit the idea of not having Lewis in a race was somehow exciting. But still, speedy recovery, Lewis! Then rumors of who to replace the champ to compete in the upcoming Sakhir GP went like all over the air. First strong candidate was Stoffel Vandoorne, because duh, he was the actual reserve. Then of course Nico Hulkenberg's name surfaced too because he'd been doing that this year for like, thousands of times. But the one that really tickled most of everyone, because we really REALLY wanted it to happen, was George Russell.

Britain's next F1 talent. A driver we knew more than capable enough to sit that Mercedes throne, a driver whom we agreed deserves a better car than that Williams kiddy ride. We wanted him. More than anyone else. And so they heard us.

George Russell was to replace Lewis Hamilton.

I just loved the vibes. Everyone suddenly became a fan of Mercedes, forgetting that they're not a big fan of Lewis. Everyone? Or it was just me? Haha. Predictions on where Georgie would start, whether he'd snatch pole, and ultimately, whether he'd win the race, blew up like crazy. People were also curious on how Bottas would deal with this sudden change, challenged by a fresh, aggressive driver.

Sakhir GP, though took place at the same circuit as Bahrain GP but with different track layout, sadly was broadcasted at night -- meaning that I would have to stay up late. But I didn't care. I watched the quali anyway because I wanted to see how far George would break his own record. I wanted to see him out of Q1 with not much struggle as usual, out of Q2 for the first time, and even strike pole if he could. Well eventually he couldn't but he was second! George Russell would start on the front row, set only .0026-ish below pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas! CRAZY ENOUGH TO START THE GP WEEKEND? YE BET!

Because the actual race was out of the world.

Oh my God. This is going to be all over the place. And too much. Because seriously, the race itself was mindblowing. From the very first lap, even from lights out! It was a freaking 87-lap race but GOD DID I HAVE NO TIME TO BREATHE??

Okay. So let's talk about lineup first. Bottas, Russell, Verstappen, Lecrerc, Perez, Kvyat - like, whaaatt??? - Ricciardo, Sainz, and so on and so on I forgot the rest. But just look at this top 5. Four top teams were there. Then followed by the favorite mid-tiers. WHO DIDN'T FREAK OUT WITH THIS LINEUP? I mean, even if Russell messed things up, which would be fine, because he was only a reserve driver and that car belonged to you-know-who, there were still Max, Charles, Sergio, and Daniel. AND CHARLES!? Literally everyone rejoiced to see him back up there, casually starting fourth like a good ol' fashioned Ferrari! THIS WAS LIKE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF F1 FANS FANTASY LINEUP! Oh the idea of seeing two Mercedes, a Red Bull, a Ferrari and a Racing Point run in a very interesting almost square-like track it gave me a mini o*gasm already.

You can't tell how excited I was when the time was already reaching close. When coast was clear and all twenty cars did their formation lap. And then lights out.

For a split second it was all over the place. Some drivers were still on their current position but already running, until I saw both Mercedes were side by side entering the first corner... revealing that George exited first to snatch the lead.

George Russell. Snatched. The Lead.

AND I WAS INSTANTLY LOSING MYSELF. I screamed as if he was my favorite driver. George Russell led the race, and after overtaking Bottas, he fled away, creating some distance between him and his temporary team mate and then BOOM! Crash happened just behind them Mercedes.

One crash. That made the top three contenders swept away, two of which even had to retire early. Lecrerc booped on the back of charging Perez, sending the pink car spinning and the red car widened to the direction of Max Verstappen. Max and Charles DNF-ed instantly after both ended up kissing the barrier, and Sergio Perez, dropped from almost P3 to P18. FVCKING CRAZY TO THINK THAT IT ALL HAPPENED IN JUST THE FIRST LAP, AND ALL OUR FAVORITES TO BE TODAY'S CHAMP JUST GOT SWOOPED AWAY IN AN INSTANT. Phew. As the competitors fell, now the mid-packers were feasting to get the empty spots.

Things went smoothly for Georgie. Most fights happened in the middle pack, as usual, and both Mercedes swayed on the far front, as usual, but the feeling was unusual. Because I enjoyed it this time. EVERYONE, must've been enjoying that this time. We wanted George to keep on running and just wrap up the race so we could see him as the winner of Sakhir Grand Prix. We did want that, we really really longed to see that, and we were actually seeing that happening.

Until Safety Car deployed.

The type that would change everything.

This time was thanks to Jack Aitken's crash, causing his front nose break and debris all over the track. Thanks to Jack Aitken, which was driving a Williams car. A Williams car which seat was free, because the driver moved to Mercedes. George's usual car.

George entered pit during this period. It was fine until Mercedes decided to do double stack pit, and suddenly... they're being doofus. The crews messed up the tyres set, giving Bottas' tyres to George and the other way around, sending him out of pit in an instant not knowing their errors because Bottas was waiting. They realized they made a mistake when they did Bottas, and that was why it took them forever to do his pit. Long story short, after one lap George was recalled to the pit to switch the tyres again.

Oh my God. I swear when it happened, I'm losing my knees it feels like both of them were disjointed I couldn't stand again. It's as if I was the one being robbed. The best F1 team made a very foolish mistake that looked so unprofessional. COULDN'T YOU FREAKING BELIEVE THAT?? And for that sort of stupidity to happen when the seat was filled by a promising reserve driver, not when His Majesty Lewis Hamilton was onboard it felt like... DID YOU GUYS DO THAT ON PURPOSE???

I was so gutted here. It was lap 64, and all of my excitement towards George was for what? Seeing him now several places behind where he should be, and even worse, behind Bottas?? Seeing that super dumb tyre mixed-up made me question Mercedes' strategy, and whether they'd want to let Bottas give way to George later on. I didn't care about Perez, Ocon, and Stroll in front of them because I thought they hadn't pitted and that they'd give the P1-2 back somehow, but, WE DON'T WANT TO SEE GEORGE FINISH SECOND!

Race resumed, and as expected, George fought for the 4th place. Against Bottas. This was really REALLY concerning because a little mistake would create an unnecessary contact and SWOOSH! Bye bye both Mercedes. I was curling so hard on my couch like a cold cat, not sure how to react to every single too-much-too-bald moves from George. Because hey, it's not his car and it would be easy for him to lose grip!

But that kid really was a crazy son of a Brit. After a few laps, George took on Bottas, closing in, and FOR FUDGE'S SAKE A BIT TOO CLOSE, and finally OVERTOOK BOTTAS YET AGAIN WHICH MEANS THAT HE DID THAT TWICE IN JUST A SINGLE RACE! OH MY FREAKING GOD! I WAS LITERALLY SQUIRMING AND ROLLING HERE AND THERE WHEN THAT HAPPENED! I SWEAR I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE CHEERING FOR A MERCEDES CAR LIKE THIS! THE FACT THAT HE'S AN UNDERRATED DRIVER GIVEN A CHANCE TO PROVE HIMSELF REALLY MADE ME LOWER MY EGO AND WOULD WANT TO SUCK UP TO THE TEAM I LIKE THE LEAST! GOD HOW COULD F1 DO THIS TO VICKY AMIN!?!? HAHA!

I skyrocketed from being uber upset to super excited! For a split second I completely forgot about the foolishness Mercedes did, because Russell was now ahead of Bottas. It was just a matter of time until he could kick the three worms off of his way, and there he did! He gained back to P2 in just one lap. Meanwhile Bottas, after getting overtaken by Russell, seemed to be losing it and got raped by Sainz, Danny Ric and even Albon.

But I guess I've made one too many jinx out of George. All of us F1 fans did jinx the poor guy. And we forget the fact that this is 2020, the year of fuckery. Also the fact that this was not Lewis Hamilton, whose luck was divine and beyond compare.

Just before Russell got the chance to take on Perez and snatch back his place, a crazy thing happened. A crazy thing that made me decided that this race was a fucker because it really played with my emotions. From up there being all too excited, crash landing to earth thanks to the idiotic double-stacking-gone-wrong, to high up again until I feel like I reached the climax, now back down even deeper than the center of the hell.

George was called back in.

He got puncture, they said, sending George back to pit for a total of 4 stops which until now I really can't comprehend on why, WHY, did that have to happen??? Why did this have to happen to a pure fresh talent hungry for a boost that could make him go even further??? WHY ON EARTH ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WHEN IT WAS NOT LEWIS HAMILTON WHO WAS THEIR DRIVER, WHEN HE WAS NOT ONBOARD, WHEN HE WAS NOT FIGHTING FOR HIS YET ANOTHER WIN!?!?

That cost Russell his chance to win. He even almost lost his chance to score points because out of pit, he joined the pack on 14th place. Thank God he still made it to the points sector and finished 9th, giving him a sad 2-point finish which happened to be his first ever points. At least he got something but, what's the beauty in that, after for 60 laps or so was looking at the grandeur of being the race winner? I don't know how it was like to be him. I really don't, and I hope I don't ever have to. I feel so terrible, and it wasn't even on me. It wasn't even my favorite driver. I was just being a human.

But then the human side of me wasn't all completely devastated. Because although the man we wanted the most to win the race eventually didn't, the place went to the second-best deserving driver whom I'm sure no one would ever be against it.

The Overlooked Sergio Perez.

The real hero of Bahrain last night. The real driver of the day, if it wasn't for everyone thinking Russell would win, or everyone voting him out of pity. Sergio started 5th originally, and then the crash made him drop to 18th, only above Max and Charles whom both DNF-ed, which means that he was basically at the bottom. But he crawled back up there, slowly but steadily, all while all of us were swooned by George's charm and smooth operation.

From the bottom of the pack to the points sector, Sergio's first meaningful fight was against the weirdly-underperforming-throughout-the-weekend Norris and obviously-not-deserving-an-RB-seat Albon for 9th place. Passing those two, it was apparently fast for him to get even higher. Having an early pit after the crash surprisingly gave him all the benefits as the others started to pit and struggle between medium or hard strategies, Mr Perez went on with the yellow tyre.

His last decisive maneuver was when he overtook both Lance Stroll and then Esteban Ocon, which would stay like that until the end of the race. Little did he know that Mercedes had a plan to "destroy" George's chance to win, and eventually gave free space for him to be the race leader, making his supposedly P3 a winning spot.

Sergio Perez finally won his maiden Grand Prix.

Esteban Ocon got his first podium, Stroll got his second of the year which made it double podium for Racing Point, but I didn't care. I didn't really care about all those additional sugar icings because the main cherry on top was Sergio Perez. He deserved every little second up there on that podium.

And for some time we were really distracted from the sorrow of George's big loss. He was robbed, big time, and we felt really REALLY crushed for him, but honestly, we couldn't ask for a better consolation. Sergio Perez winning Sakhir Grand Prix is the only thing that could really cure our heartbreak and no one would complain about that.

Frantic. Mental. Insane.

We've been waiting for this race, for George Russell specifically, actually, and it gave us endless insanity. I swear I've never been so stuck to a race before I mean, I usually got distracted for like a total of quarter of the race. This time, my eyes were fixed almost all the time.

Well we've been waiting for Mr Russell, but good luck wasn't with him.

But again it's okay. It's MORE THAN OKAY, because the result was as much fulfilling.

So whatever the ending was, really,
Eventually I'd say the same anyway:
That Sakhir was Sick!

Fratelli d'Italia, L'Italia s'è Desta (Ancora)

We thought it’d be just another boring race.

And I thought it'd be a difficult week to go through.

Truth be told, we were all oh so wrong.

Watching Formula 1 had been really, REALLY painful lately. For basically almost every race, we could predict what would happen. A Mercedes 1-2 for both Quali and the actual race, with Max or Racing Points could give a worthy fight. The last good race was Austria, which was actually the first race of the season - so of course it'd be fun because we hadn't watched any race for like 8 months - and it was like, seven races ago... But this was Monza. At least it's a legendary circuit, and it's rude for us to despise it.

However, this was the time I kind of... feel afraid to embrace. Why because exactly last year, I was actually there. I was a part of those tifosi in Monza, in that legendary circuit of Italia, witnessing the shocking win of a Ferrari, in front of their home spectators. It was simply one of the best life experience I could ever have, and today, just staying at home watching the GP from my couch, only able to imagine things thanks to the pandemic, really, it broke me inside out. I was so sure that I wouldn't be able to survive this weekend because, well, let's just say because I'm an emotional crybaby bitch.

Then came the Qualification.

And hopes got a bit high after Quali. With Sainz started third and Ricciardo not so far behind, I felt like it could be a fresh air for the race. And to distract myself from my sorrowful nostalgia. Same Mercedes 1-2 start, yes, as usual, but at least we have a new color up there eh?

Then came the Race Day.

And things got heated up even from the lights out. Bottas somehow lost it - puncture he said - and kept losing places. Both McLarens suddenly emerged to P2-3 with Dan on P4. If it ended this way, which was what I hoped for some times during the race, I’d be more than happy. Same Mercedes win, same LEWIS win, but at least we have a new color up there eh? And who would say no to McLaren double podium win??

Then things got EVEN more heated up when Kevin retired. And safety car deployed, and pit lane closed BUT FREAKING HAMILTON ENTERED TO PIT. This was the major turn of event because Giovinazzi, who did the same thing, got punished with a stop-and-go 10s penalty. It took quiet some time for us to know how Lewis would be punished, AND IT WAS SUCH A WAITING-IN-VAIN MOMENT!

Safety car ended and things got pretty shuffled afterwards, with Lewis still on top, yet both McLarens lost places as they went into pit once the lane was opened again. At this point I was a bit pissed because I really wanted them to win. Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll, however, with their teams’ “risky” strategy for not pitting, suddenly earned themselves P2-3 spots. Here I was like, well, they would need to pit later somehow, so Carlos and Lando will regain their places soon.

BUT. Little did I know that another big bang would happen.

Charles Lecrerc crash. This accident alone is really heartbreaking because some laps before, Vettel got some brake issues and retired. First retirement of the race, topping their shit performances all weekend. Shit performances in their home grand prix. Shit performances for Sebastian Vettel, in their home grand prix. Shit performances for Sebastian Vettel, in his last year home grand prix with Ferrari. I swear I felt really REALLY bad for him...

Now back to Lecrerc's crash. It was pretty big, and it ended up with a red flag. All cars then returned to pit, and this was the race's next turn of event. A VERY BIG ONE. Because not so long after the red flag announcement, stewards finally decided to give the same stop-and-go 10s penalty to Lewis. And I swear I could hear the whole world celebrating. Because this only meant that when the race resumed, Lewis would drop nastily from top to bottom. Oh he'd drive his ass back to top, for sure, but with the race already gone half way, he might not be the winner and that's for sure.

So now it left us with A VERY OPEN POSSIBILITY for everyone else to snatch that spot Lewis brilliantly ditched. Gasly and Stroll secured positions in P2-3 but we knew it would be P1-2 soon when Lewis served his penalty. Oh yea of course they took the opportunity to switch compounds, so all they needed to do next was just to defend their position without having to worry about tyres.

Raikkonen and Giovinazzi stopped at P4-5 during red flag but we knew that they were not big threats - especially because they switched to softs I mean, why?? Sainz was at P6, thanks to him switching tyres just before the red flag, and this, my friend, was where the drama began.

Then Italian GP 2020 restarted.

It was a standing start, and after one lap, Lewis entered pit and did the penalty. And that was the end for Mercedes for this race. With Bottas struggling, and everyone on top would fight their asses off to defend their place, they wouldn't be dominating today.

Gasly led the race ever since. Sainz charged from P6 to P2, taking on Kimi and Lance, finally battling fiercely with the French guy. For many laps, distance closed in slowly but sure from 3s to .5 ish. At this time, I really wanted Carlos to win. So bad. Because he must really wanted it. He needed to bring a title as he steps into the garage of Ferrari next season. He needed to have at least one win before he’d be struggling next season with Ferrari. He needed this to calm himself before the Italian storm!

But I tried to look from Pierre’s perspective too. This could also be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for him. His team is a total midfield player so an opportunity like this might not happen often later. But I guess most importantly, he needed to prove something with this win. Given that exactly this time last year, he was dropped from RB to Toro Rosso.

I remembered last year in Monza on Saturday, just before the Quali, we had a meet-up and Q&A session with some drivers. Alpha Tauri were on stage, and there was this guy who stood exactly beside me asking some question to Kvyat, and it goes like this:

"Dani, do you think you'd have a future to go back to Red Bull? No offence to you Pierre."

NO KIDDING HE DID ASK THAT! And I swear Gasly's face was so fucking pissed. He was just demoted from Red Bull the race before Monza, and this stupid guy out of courtesy asked this harsh question in his face? I'm pretty sure it bugged Gasly so bad, that so for a year, he'd been fighting hard to prove things wrong. To prove that those people made bad mistakes by kicking him out of the team. This win, can be a nice slap in the face for Helmut Marko.

Battle got even crazier between the French guy and the Spaniard. I swear, it was really intense! Felt like my adrenaline rushed and I didn't even drive the car lol. But believe me, I screamed like an old lady like so many times during these last laps. Especially on the final lap, when Carlos really closed it like sooooo tiiigghhht!

Finally, Sainz couldn't make it. Gasly won.

Pierre Gasly, is the winner of Italian Grand Prix.

I screamed like I was a fan of his. Because hey whoever your favorite driver was, you'd feel the same. You'd feel happy for Gasly. You'd celebrate the end of this Italian Grand Prix. Especially knowing that he became the first French winner since 1994. Sainz was P2, Stroll P3, and this was the second win for ALL THREE OF THEM - Gasly's first was Germany 2019, Sainz's was Brazil 2019, Stroll Azerbaijan 2017.

All these good news, really, it made this race even more beautiful.

We didn’t expect that an Italian anthem would play in Monza this year, given the fact that Ferrari was doing poorly lately. But the universe had another plan. So whoever thought it’d be just another boring race, and I'm pretty sure most of us did, well, we're wrong. I really can’t imagine to have this race with tifosi.

Honestly, I was going to repost last year’s Monza situation as the race ended, because I was expecting that it’d be another Mercedes 1-2 and the race would be boring and totally different with last year. But of course I dropped that plan, because it turned out to be the other way around. So when I thought it'd be a difficult week to go through, well, I was wrong. I got distracted, in a very very amazing way. It became the best one yet. Immediately, instantly.

I came across so many tweets and comments saying that “this kind of race is why I love F1”, literally so many, and I couldn't agree more! We do need variations and unexpected results like this! I’m not trying to be negative here but, it’s just so crazy to see everyone’s euphoria for Gasly’s win. It’s obvious that we’ve had enough of Mercedes domination. Next week we might be back to that pattern, but to hell with next week let’s just enjoy the result of this week first :)

Amazing.

Utterly crazy amazing.

Apparently Italy always have something to offer.

Although yea, this year I just watched it from my couch.

Still,

Grazie, Italia!

It Finally Begins

Seven months.

Seven, fucking, months, oh for crying out loud - oh, yeah, I won't bother typing 'fucking' as 'fvcking' anymore because I've had enough I DON'T WANT TO BE POLITE HERE!? That's how long we F1 fans had to wait for the first race of the season, from the end of last year's.

This fucking pandemic is getting really out of hand. It RUINED everything. Oh, like totally everything, but since I'll be talking about F1 in this post, let's just stick to only F1-related stuff.

So to begin with, I planned to continue my 4-year-streak of watching F1 live this year. It was either Australia or Vietnam. Australia, because I still have a valid visa that will expire this year, and Vietnam, because it'd be their very first Grand Prix. But the outbreak got worse by the beginning of March, and so AustraliaGP canceled. Okay, let's see for Vietnam, I said to myself. But the outbreak got even worse and worse that flights are canceled and events are even canceled-er and so, VietnamGP of course canceled-est!

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? But hey that's not the worst part. I've mentioned the worst part: with all these canceled Grands Prix, we had to extend our vacuum of F1 intake for another four fucking months, and so in total we had to wait for SEVEN, FUCKING, MONTHS!

Phew, okay, I've let go all the steam.

Now let's get into the better part.

F1 Finally Begins

To be honest, I prefer the 2019 version of the opening theme but

I don't want to complain because F1 IS HERE!

After GP by GP announcing their cancellation, we've come to the ultimate fate that the Formula One 2020 season would start THIS JULY, with two Austrian GPs back-to-back as the grand opening. Lol, yea you read it right: TWO. Weird. But for God's sake who cares about the quote-unquote weird formatting -- we no longer give any shit because we've been needing any kinds of racing action! ANY! Lol okay chill, Vick.

So yea, this was it. YESTERDAY, was it. The day we've been waiting for, after seven fucking months of waiting painfully. I got to admit that four months stuck in a self-quarantine was like an emotional rollercoaster ride to me with its ups and downs about many things in life that sometimes I forgot that I needed to watch F1. But when this week came, and everyone's euphoria sky-rocketed like crazy, I just realized that WE'VE BEEN MISSING THIS SHIT SO BAD!!!

I lie if I tell you that I didn't freak out when the race day finally came. Because I did, freak out like an old lady. Usually I had this annual watching-together with some fellow F1 fans - hi Arga and Chita! - for Australian Grand Prix but thanks to COVID, this year we started the season only through group chat. But the tension was the same lol because I swear we talked and screamed a lot - virtually - and flooded the group like crazy. From practices to quali, the nearer we got to lights out, the talkier we became.

And finally it was lights out.

MY LOOOORDDD I'VE MISSED THIS SPECTACLE!!!
Pic's from here.

Ugh my heart, felt like it exploded! WE HAVEN'T HAD LIGHTS OUT FOR 7 MONTHS OH MY GOD I WAS TREMBLING TO FINALLY SEE IT - too much? It started so smoothly, this Austrian Grand Prix, a bit disappointing to be honest, because we wanted crashes didn't we? Ha ha.

Not long after, drama starts: Max's P2 ended with, an electrical fault (?), giving a Merc 1-2 yet again which I would not love to see... oh, yes, if you're new to my F1 approach, I'm not the biggest fan of Mercedes' dominance. I'm rooting for Bottas, still, because he's the 'underdog' worth to support there, but as for collective Mercedes, I'm just not up for it. So Max's failure was such a loss to me. But not as much loss as Daniel's retirement. He failed too and seriously, I lost my appetite from there onwards. I thought that was it for the race, I'm done, I don't want to continue, but thank God I didn't make that stupid decision. Because other teams are WORTH rooting for.

Especially Racing Point. They had been oh so promising throughout the weekend. Said to be the Mercedes of the past. I was so joyed to see them, Checo, specifically, and it just felt so awesome to watch them fighting on top-tier grid, given their last year's not-so-fulfilling performances. He got a bit too fired up though, I guess, because at some point during a pit he sped up and almost hit Norris!

Ferrari was fun to watch too, because, admit it, you want to see them challenge Mercedes. So them starting weak was more like a good-guy-losing-first kind of moment that made us want to wait for whatever they had under their sleeve. They were slow-but-surely-rising, well at least for Lecrerc, as he started midpack then slowly gained position... Vettel on the other hand, ugh, well, I still feel bad for Vettel - the one versus Carlos, which sent him all the way back to the bottom.

Let me show you some turmoil my friends and I had during the race.
This is after Vettel had contact with Sainz.

Back to top, Mercedes' gaps with the others were totally unbelievable. They seemed untouchable, making me wanting some dramas so others could come closing in. Hamilton charging from P5 to P2 - partly thanks to Verstappen out, closing in with Bottas and constantly keeping the gap below 1s was, surprisingly, nerve-wrecking to watch. Because I would want the Finn to defend his place.

We're not even halfway done yet. In fact, it was about to get better. Especially when God gave us something even crazier: two safety cars - or more? - with highlight on the second SC, where Perez on P3 decided to stay with medium tyres while Albon on P4 switched to soft. It freaking created an intense prediction of who will conquer whom and apparently, the drama DID HAPPEN BECAUSE ALBON OVERTOOK PEREZ, but then he slowed down for yet another yellow flag - this time for Kimi - AND PEREZ TOOK BACK HIS P3 LIKE OH MY GOOD CAN WE BREATHE A LITTLE FIRST!? Fucking crazy I couldn't stop screeching like a rat!

With Kimi out, we had seven DNFs already! Seven!? Verstappen, Ricciardo, Stroll, Magnussen, Grosjean, Russell, and Raikkonen. Plus Albon and Kvyat toward the end, it all came to a total of NINE FREAKING DNFs! This gave me a side excitement remembering that this season's newcomer, Nicholas Latifi, WAS STILL ON THE RACE and could possibly GET A POINT! ON HIS DEBUT RACE IN F1!! AND DRIVING A FREAKING WILLIAMS!!? My God, there were just so much dimension of fun in this race alone, and honestly, I LOST MY GRIP MOST OF THE TIME, MY FRIENDS AND I STARTED TO MAKE TYPOS AND IRRATIONAL SENTENCES IN OUR GROUP CHAT!

Another fun stuff? Hamilton's downfall, thanks to his own mistakes. See, he should've started the race from P2 but got 5s penalty for not slowing for a yellow flag during quali. Then he succeeded in finishing 2nd for the race, but got yet another 5s penalty for his contact with Albon -- which leads us to something so worth talking about: I'm not a big fan of the Thai guy, BUT MAN I FELT SORRY FOR HIM!? He was like, the podium was just around the corner for him but then, it's Brazil 2019 all over again!? AND WITH THE SAME BAD GUY AGAIN!?!? Crazy.

And this is when Lewis(a) crushed Albon's chance to win.

Now we're reaching the end of the race. Bottas was clearly getting it, he was fast though kind of slowing down - him and Lewis kept scoring fastest laps, but towards the end, Lecrerc got it and finally it was Lando who came out to be the fastest... something's wrong, Mercedes? Hamilton was P2, but he got that 5s penalty from crashing with Albon. Charles was P3, and Perez was P4, but they'd be P2 and P3 once Ham's getting his penalty. IT COULD'VE BEEN A VERY COLORFUL PODIUM with red and pink on top, but guess what--PEREZ ALSO GOT A 5S PENALTY FOR SPEEDING UP ON THE LANE - the one where he almost 'kissed' Lando.

I was like, WHAT THE HELL!? So Hamilton gets P3?? I feel like this is it. FIA is vouching for the celebrity. He and his team was allowed for that DAS thing, then he was almost getting away with the yellow flag drama if it weren't for Red Bull's protest, and now this!? How can we stop him from benefitting??

But guess who saved the day: Mr Lando Norris. Snatched the third podium from the reigning champion. Finishing somewhat just point two seconds faster than Hamilton. POINT TWO!? GOSH, IF HE WAS SLOWER BY JUST POINT SOMETHING SECONDS THE PODIUM WOULD'VE BEEN DOMINATED BY MERCEDES AGAIN!? Oh my God he was such a savior. And not only for his last-minute gig.

Norris, along with McLaren, had been pretty amazing throughout the weekend - at least to me. Both he and Sainz made it to Q3, securing both P4 and P8, and even better, the milk guy got promoted to P3 for Hamilton's penalty. THE KID STARTED THE RACE FROM THE SECOND ROW! Then during the race they've been showing some constant performances, resulting in a podium and a P5. Amazing work, McLaren's, really. Their growth was just so pleasant to see, especially since we've  all seen them during their dark ages. They deserve this big win and that celebration of their team, ohh, such a delight to see!

Our reaction was as happy as those on McLaren's garage.

And there you go.

A race that we've been waiting for for seven months. SEVEN FUCKING MONTHS. On Saturday I was a bit hesitant because it would seem to be yet another Mercedes 1-2 score, with only Max as our trump card to spice things up - because both Ferraris were a bit on the back. Who would have thought that the result would come up like this???

Dang, man, I really can't wait for the next one.

Same track. Same drivers. Same day next week.

Some would say it's boring, I'd say it's exciting.

Because it'll be like revenge for many of the drivers.

For Max, for Daniel, for the others who did not finish, for Albon - OH MY GOD I WOULD WANT TO SEE HIM CHALLENGE LEWIS LIKE RIGHT NOW, for Latifi to actually score a point, basically, FOR EVERY ONE!

Seven months.

Seven, fucking, months, oh for crying out loud.

This color combination... I'm sincerely hoping that from now on, podiums would be
as colorful as this! Even with other colors! Pic's from here.

It finally begins. And it's

What we've been waiting for.