We all thought Bottas had ruined the race on turn 1, lap 1 with a very old school style pile-up. Breaking too late, he tagged Norris who went into Verstappen and he shunts Perez. You could say he completely sabotaged Red Bull's race. This took out LeClerc, Stroll, Perez and Bottas, sent Norris and Verstappen to the end of the pack and brought out the safety car, followed by a red flag. A real humdinger of an incident. Bottas sat at the side of the track, refusing to go back to the pits like a toddler who knows they are in real trouble. I haven't seen anything like it in a decade.
The red flag then completely mitigated the length of the exciting period of rain. As the drivers went round for the standing start, Russell predicted that all the drivers would box for slick tires as the track was now dry. This led to the crazy image of Hamilton alone on the grid as all the other cars were in the pit lane. They would have to wait for him to pass the pit lane exit before they come out. With Russell in the Williams being first so taking second place! We were wrong, the race was just getting started and Bottas had not killed the party.
Hamilton came in the next lap, putting Ocon in the lead. Something went wrong with Russell's Williams and every driver overtook him so he ended in 7th (turns out it was a steward's call as he undertook in the pit lane). The late call for the Mercedes meant that Hamilton was plum last and very far back. This set up a Verstappen and Hamilton tangle in the future, although Verstappen had a severely damaged car. One of the racers (unnamed on BBC Five Live podcast) predicted that Verstappen would take Hamilton out during this race. I waited for the lap to come round...it never did as it was all sorted out by pitstops and backmarkers.
Hamilton couldn't blame his team for this as it was his call not to come in.
With Russell now in 7th, his team mate was 3rd and in a podium position. Ever the gentlemen (well just out of short trousers and possibly still in Huggies Drynites), he radioed in to his team to tell them to prioritise Nicky as he had such a good position.
In the midst of all this Raikkonen was unsafely released in the pit lane into Mazepin's car. Having avoided the first lap calamity, the Russian was out of the race. At least he didn't have far to walk back. The Finn was given a 10 second penalty. I think Kimi will quit this year as he will be tired with constant Steward's interventions.
The action was still coming, Hamilton could not get passed the cars in front of him and, barely a quarter of the way into the race, Verstappen was battling Mick Schumacher for 1 point and 10th place. Lap 20 out of 70, saw Hamilton take an early pit stop, covered off by Verstappen and Ricciardo (Don't know why McLaren thought he was in the mix?). The undercut worked and Hamilton was ahead of both of them. Which is probably fair given he has the best and least damaged car running.
For the first time ever, we were shown footage of a Haas battling with a Williams and the overtake. A topsy turvy race for sure. Ricciardo and Verstappen following Russell soon after.
The director was flicking from the race at the front, Ocon vs. Vettel, and Hamilton and Verstappen's progress through the pack. Vettel suffered a shocking 3.3 second pitstop (0.3 seconds longer than needed). Ocon covered him off and this put Alonso in the lead. The old champions to the fore. Ocon's pit stop was 1 second shorter than Vettel's and he maintained his lead, the undercut being lost.
We watched Alonso hold Hamilton up, the first driver to really take the fight to him this race. Is it surprising that Lewis made such a come back from last place? Even though no one can overtake at Hungary? (I disagree). With such a good car, that avoided all damage in Lap 1, not at all. When Alonso finally locked up, Hamilton slipped through. He made short work then of taking Sainz. Hamilton took the podium place. There was 9 seconds and 4 laps left now for Hamilton to take 2nd...or 1st. We waited with baited breath and no, it was third place for him. Vettel back on the podium and Ocon taking his maiden victory.
Would Ocon have won if Alonso had not done such a good job of holding Hamilton up? Lewis complained about the Spaniard's deft work, however as Alonso basically did what Hamilton did to Vertappen last race...hah. Fernando did get Driver of the Day though. Ricciardo's awful season continues as he finished outside the points with 6 cars out (5 if you don't count Mazepin, which I don't). Finished 11th basically means he finished 16th.
Clearly all drivers are filmed reacting to winning prior to the season starting, to put up on the big screens straight away at the end of a race. We got to see Ocon's today, I wonder what Alonso did and Latifi and Raikkonen? And...and.
Ultimately the real joy of the race comes when you look a little further down the grid. 5 points for Williams with 8th and 9th position. Surprisingly Latifi ahead of Russell, perhaps Nicky will get the Mercedes seat?? I suppose Benetton winning again is enjoyable too. Even Vettel finishing second is rather something...it gives Alonso and Raikkonen hope for their futures.
I can't remember the last time 6 drivers retired from a race, let alone by lap 5.
In other points to note, Vettel should be commended for wearing not only his Pride rainbow helmet but also T-shirt and mask on the grid, protesting against recent legislation in Hungary.
So, with Brundle at Silverstone, Sky viewers were treated to Rosberg in the commentary box. And what a race for your rookie commentary (at least in English and as far as I know). He did a good job although Crofty did the lion's share of actually speaking. There were also a lot of throws to Karun and Ted.
Post-script: Vettel stopped on track...why? Because he'd run out of fuel. This means that the FIA could not collect the litre of fuel required for testing. So he was disqualified. Hamilton took second and Sainz third, the race never seems to end these days.
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