Roar Rookie
Joined March 2019
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Roaring about all the grand prix action plus anything else that takes my fancy. I'm based in the UK so sometimes may not respond to comments promptly because it's the middle of the night here! Follow me on Twitter @Joshua_T_Kerr
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As Liverpool and Manchester City thrillingly battled for the English Premier League title (at time of writing, Manchester City looked likely to defend their crown), the less-than-thrilling Spanish Grand Prix was taking place in Barcelona. Here’s how things played out.
Valtteri Bottas made it three poles in a row in his resurgent third season at Mercedes, leading teammate Lewis Hamilton to lock out the front row for the Spanish Grand Prix in a blow to Ferrari’s dwindling title hopes.
This chilly and cloudy Sunday afternoon in Cardiff brought with it the only IT20 of the season, which England won by seven wickets over Pakistan.
Mercedes have broken the record for the most successful start to an F1 season as they recorded their fourth 1-2 finish in Baku, with Valtteri Bottas holding off his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
After a two-hour long qualifying session – one of the longest-ever – Valterri Bottas is our polesitter for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
I have predicted that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be chaotic and surprising.
It wasn’t the most thrilling grand prix in the world, but there are still many talking points.
Would this morning’s qualifying session (UK time) be one fitting for such a momentous occasion as a 1000th grand prix?
It’s safe to say that I am the first person to report on the Boat Race for The Roar, so here’s a little history lesson.
The Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying brought up many talking points. Here they are, team-by-team.
The last time an England match was broadcast live on free-to-air television in the UK was the World Cup third-place play-off against Belgium last July.
The Australian Grand Prix has been run and won for another year. Here are some observations.
If only England could have performed like this on Saturday.
Pakistan are about to start their pre-World Cup tour of England with some 50-over matches against county sides before playing 1 T20 and 5 ODIs against England. This could give us an idea of how they could perform but I do agree with you that they probably won’t make the semi-finals.
The four teams that will reach the Cricket World Cup semi-finals
Will you need to pay to watch the Canadian Premier League? Can you watch NHL, CFL, NBA, MLB and MLS on free-to-air television in Canada?
How the Canadian Premier League is doing things differently
Great to read that the CPL has put rules in place to help young players through the system. Hopefully by the 2026 World Cup, Canada can have a good men’s team like their women’s team who recently beat England 1-0 in a friendly.
How the Canadian Premier League is doing things differently
I did write a comment yesterday but it went ‘upstairs’ and disappeared into the ether. Duttonbrain refers to Peter Dutton who attacked Malcolm Turnbull in an interview in 2018. A Cabinet minister said after Dutton’s outburst: “Maybe he [Dutton] is just an egotistical moron who lacks self-awareness?” That quote sums up Warner’s character and so Warner is a Duttonbrain.
Did CA go a step too far with their leadership bans?
It’s good to see the young ‘uns giving the elder statesmen a run for their money. British tennis fans may remember Fognini for beating Andy Murray in the Italian Open in 2017, the year that Murray became world no.1! The future of tennis is bright!
Congrats Fabio Fognini - the new Monte Carlo Masters 1000 Champion
I agree with you Just Nuisance – if Rajasthan Royals (Smith) and Durham (Bancroft) are willing to let them be captain then why aren’t Australia? Durham did take careful consideration into the decision to make Bancroft captain and he wasn’t their first choice as explained in this Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/27/durham-decision-cameron-bancroft-captain. Smith and Warner will definitely make their voices heard – how will CA deal with that?
Did CA go a step too far with their leadership bans?
My personal opinion: this is the 14th year of knockout qualifying and is still ‘relatively’ exciting. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you do change anything as the viewing figures in the UK for qualifying are lower than for the race and have been like that for years even with the knockout qualifying.
Formula One should leave qualifying alone
Albon did a great job but Kvyat will be back as he was massively impacted by the accident that he may or may not have caused (I still haven’t decided and it’s Thursday).
Norris would’ve gone well had he not been whacked into the side by Kvyat and I think the McLaren will suit Azerbaijan where the midfield battle thrives.
Daniel Ricciardo has finally got used to his Renault but he has been defeated by a manhole cover in Melbourne and an MGU-K failure in Bahrain. If Renault can ensure no further reliability failures then they can become ‘best of the rest’.
Lance Stroll isn’t being exposed in my opinion as he has run well on race pace but has had to make a second pit stop meaning he hasn’t been able to stay in the points. However, I do agree that Stroll is not good enough for F1 because he was never good enough for F1 (despite getting some good points finishes although that was due to a bit of luck).
If Williams left F1, it would leave a gaping hole in the sport. They can come back. These things don’t happen overnight. Just look at Notre Dame Cathedral. It’s going to take a long time to restore the greatest cathedral in the world just like it’s going to take a long time to restore (one of) the greatest team in F1.
Elbows-out Albon turns the heat on Gasly
South Africa are underdogs. They could get to the semi-finals. The thing is with this World Cup is that it is so competitive and 60% of the teams will be eliminated in the group stages so it is very difficult to predict what will happen come this summer.
Hosts under pressure to deliver in window of dominance
There is a lot of pressure here in England (and I certainly don’t help). People expect England to win the World Cup because we’re hosting it. Wembley is hosting England’s group stage matches plus both semi-finals and the final of UEFA Euro 2020 and pundits are already predicting that England are favourites for that, despite the tournament not taking place for another 14 months!
If we have a summer like we did last year (Australians may say that 30°C is not a summer heatwave but it is to us), then there will be huge totals in the first innings and England will do well. England are good at home anyway and the terrible performance in the semi-final of the 2017 Champions Trophy against Pakistan is just one blip on a good picture overall.
Hosts under pressure to deliver in window of dominance
I’m certainly enjoying Bottas 2.0!
It definitely is an important year for Vettel’s reputation especially if as the season goes on Leclerc begins to finish ahead of Vettel like in Bahrain.
Ferrari team orders looked bad, but they hide a bigger problem
2nd race where you have accused Roar writers of being Leclerc fanatics! Michael, you’re doing a brilliant job!
Martin Brundle did call for Vettel to be allowed through in commentary but at the same time Ted Kravitz called for Ferrari to let them race so even at Sky Sports there are differing opinions!
I still do not agree with the point you keep raising about Vettel winning 9 WDCs but I do agree that it looks like we’ll have another Hamilton benefit season. Hopefully Bottas can fight back and the Ferraris can get back on track too.
Ferrari team orders looked bad, but they hide a bigger problem
Leclerc was left out far too long and was expected to do too much work in too little time.
Ferrari team orders looked bad, but they hide a bigger problem
YES! A sports podcast I can actually listen to! Here in Britain, most sports podcasts are about football (which I’m not really into). It is much appreciated that there is a podcast that will address all the big sporting talking points across all the major Australian sports. It’ll further my education into how you lot enjoy sport down under. Thanks again – you must continue this podcast for at least the next 100 years.
Introducing The Roar's brand new podcast - Game of Codes: Australia's biggest sporting debate
There was no real difference between Vettel and Leclerc’s lap times in the first stint, apart from the 3 tenths gained under DRS on the back straight. When Leclerc let Vettel past on the main straight Ferrari lost time and momentum and left them vulnerable to Verstappen, when they really wanted to fight the Mercedes, who just kept pulling away. The fact that Verstappen managed to finish 4th tells you the whole story.
Ferrari team orders looked bad, but they hide a bigger problem
I don’t think you can compare Tiger Woods to Israel Folau at all. Tiger Woods did not go on Instagram and list the types of people who would be going to hell!
Clashes of management: Rugby Australia’s Israel Folau problem
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I didn’t mention Daniel Ricciardo’s race which was very good as he held on to 7th place, scoring his first points finish of the season. Also, the McLaren of Lando Norris didn’t split the two Williams because of his retirement.
Hamilton wins 1000th F1 race in China
Just going to bring the perspective of a gay person in here (me). What Folau posted isn’t good at all for someone representing the national rugby team but I’m not going to lose sleep over it. What’s done is done. I know that I have to live with the fact that, as a gay man, there will be people who don’t agree with homosexuality. Those opinions are fine but, if you play for your country (where there will be gay fans), you might have to keep them to yourself.
Clashes of management: Rugby Australia’s Israel Folau problem
I don’t think 4 day cricket would confirm the death of spin bowling. Leicestershire used spinners in the current match against Worcestershire in the County Championship to improve the over rate as well as limiting the scoring.
Are kids really bored by Test cricket?
The only problem with the creation of 4 day test matches is that there will be increased draws because teams will not declare like you propose and just play for the draw (this tends to happen in the County Championship to my annoyance). There is a 4 day test match here in England against Ireland at Lord’s from July 18-21. I know it won’t be entirely representative of top-class test match cricket (sorry Ireland) but it’ll be a good experiment.
Are kids really bored by Test cricket?
Start small, think big. I wouldn’t expect a 5 year old to last a full day of a test match so T20 is a good place to start.
Are kids really bored by Test cricket?
I’m 16 (17 in June) and follow every England test. Of course I don’t sit down to watch every ball (but that’s largely down to sixth form committments) but I do a combination of watching live, listening on the radio, watching highlights, reading live scores and newspaper articles. I’ll give you the example of me signing out from sixth form to go home and watch the England v West Indies test series (only for England to be bowled out by 5pm). I do like ODIs and T20s but I don’t follow them as much.
Are kids really bored by Test cricket?
Williams just have to keep going and hope for the best and they know this.
It’s not surprising at all Daniel that Raikkonen is quicker than Giovinazzi as he is the more experienced driver and can get the best out of what is a slower car than the Ferrari. Oh, and I should add that Giovinazzi did not set a lap time in Q1!
Bottas is on pole for the 1000th GP in China
I think that we should celebrate F1’s 1000th race. We can reflect on how F1 has evolved since the start of the championship in 1950. As for this morning’s qualifying session, it was fitting for such a momentous occasion. A great fight for pole with the two most successful teams in F1 history, Mercedes and Ferrari. I hope the race tomorrow can live up to expectations!
On your point about Shanghai hosting the 1000th race, I thought about this when Sky Sports F1 showed us round the city and gave the usual facts etc. China is beginning to take the US’s crown as the largest superpower in the world and they will relish the opportunity to welcome fans to what is essentially an exhibition of F1 history which just so happens to feature a live grand prix!
Why Formula One's 1000th race really matters
Definitely agree with you – I watched a thrilling Monaco E-Prix yesterday (all identical cars). There were eight different winners in the first eight races and you never know what’s going to happen. The new Concorde Agreement for 2021 could change things but whether it will make F1 unpredictable enough is another thing entirely. I’m just as frustrated as you are.
Re. Kimi Raikkonen – I’m sorry to say that I don’t think Kimi will be able to even get on the podium in his Alfa Romeo but as long as he consistently finishes in the points, I think that 2019 will be as good a season as possible for him.
Bottas brilliant in Barcelona qualifying