End-of-day report. Post 14. It’s bitter.
Observation number one. An Alpine car receives a ten-place grid penalty. Reason: a new Mercedes engine at the next race weekend, the fifth of the season. The permitted maximum is exceeded. I read it on Formule1.nl, on my camping chair, before the briefing.
Observation number two. These ten places are added to five already pending. They date from Baku, from a collision with the car’s team-mate and with a McLaren. Total: fifteen. I name no one. I count.
Observation number three. The A526 does not fight for the front places. Fifteen places back, when you don’t start at the front, is called the last row. At the post, we don’t count in places. We count in rows. One row, two cars. It’s shorter to say on the radio.
Observation number four. According to Formule1.nl, the team appears to have planned this engine change on purpose, because the car had already been moved back. That way, the engine limit will not cause a new problem later. Noted. At the post too, we refill the thermos the day we’re already soaked. You only get wet once.
Observation number five. A Racing Bulls car is also on its fifth engine. Penalty in Malaysia as well. Two cars going backwards on the same Sunday. Symmetry observed.
I had nothing to raise. Engine penalties are decided in an office, not at the trackside. No flag for an engine. I checked in the folder, on the flags page. There isn’t one.
Your correspondent observes to his colleague that the last row has its charm: from there, you see everyone set off.
Post 14, received. Nothing further to report.
It’s true, we checked: Formule1.nl.
