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.