As usual, more entertaining race when wet!

Max did exactly what e needed to do, a routine drive from start to finish. He wasn't close enough at turn 1 for a challenge and he basically settle for a cruise in the park to earn 18 points. And as expected, regains the lead in the driver's title.

Bottas, well he also has a boring straight forward race to win for the 1st time this year.

Leclerc hanged on for the longest time running 3rd, really quite well done! Ended up 4th, would e have finished there had he not pitted? That will be a close call but that's very likely he is going to be 4th whether he pitted or not.

Great recovery drive from Sainz, even with a long pit stop throw in there. Great drive!!

Could inters last a whole race? That will be a question to be answered at another race. But Mercedes again screwed up the strategy at another race. They pretty much got it wrong every single race this year, except Baku. This race they could have had a 1st and 3rd finish to grab extra points, but by stopping Hamilton and dropping him from 3rd to 5th, now Red Bull got the extra points by finishing 2nd and 3rd. They could have had 40 points, now it's only 35 and more crucially, Red Bull got 33 instead of 30, 11 extra points vs 3 points now. Hamilton on old inters may not be able to pass Max for 2nd but he still has enough pace to finish 3rd, or hang onto 3rd. 4th at worse had he not pitted. No one else on the grid has the skills to hang on and extra the most out of a car. Max could be one that's close to that level.

Mazepin, almost seems like he thinks he deserves every inch of track space and is not willing to concede even given the blue flag. 

Tsunoda. The little guy put up a pretty got fight against Hamilton at the beginning, much better than what Stroll did, or didn't do, aka defend the position. 

Vettel. 🤦🏻‍♂️ What was he thinking? That is the most memorable moment for the race watching him go skating. 

Perez, is it planned? That he would hang back at the beginning of the race to create breathing room for Max? Or is he really that slow in the Red Bull to be a good 20 seconds behind Leclerc in a Ferrari who was running 3rd after just a few laps? Can't be as he was having much more pace at the end against Leclerc. So must be a strategy call before the race, to drive as slow as possible to hold up the pack, with Hamilton in the middle of the pack. Wouldn't put it pass Horner. Red Bull is always the scheming team, as compared to the straight forward Mercedes. 

Gasly, poor kid. The 5 seconds wasn't just. Literally he was sandwiched at the start, there just isn't room for 3 cars to go through. Alonso was the one that sneaked in there but a few corners later he was the recipient of his own 5 second penalty. 

Ricciardo. Hmm. Errr. Hmmm. Enigma. What's going on with him, there is no consistency. 

 

 


--