By Lap 5 Hamilton was whinging about his tires. He came in very early for a second stop, it felt like he'd only just done his first, coming out in traffic. It was potentially a poor strategy decision from Mercedes. Would Red Bull bring Verstappen in straight away or let him stay out longer until the window was better for re-entry? They brought him in sooner, which worked out to be slightly better but all the same the most exciting factor of the race was the tire choice and when to change them. Hamilton quickly decided it was a poor strategy decision and used the radio to let the world know, repeatedly.
Now on to team orders. Towards the start of the race, Ocon was denied his request for Alonso to move over, largely because Alonso showed his true speed when it was mentioned. Norris was given the pass past Ricciardo. I'm looking forward to hearing the post-race interviews on that.
We also saw mechanical retirements for the first time in a while, Mazepin and Tsunoda did the raised reverse glide into the pit.
Different strategies were employed by every team. Mercedes went with a bizarre choice at the end to pit Bottas but ask him not to take the Fastest Lap point away from team mate Hamilton. Did he listen? No. Does this make it clear he's not staying at the team next year? Yes. Lewis got it back in the end, don't worry.
Some drivers had a very quiet race, we didn't see Kubica in his borrow Alfa Romeo once, or Giovannizi going backwards in his.
From a sea of orange, we move on to a sea of red next week at Monza. This triple-header is feeling like a lot of hard work. From the disappointment of Spa to this...what will Italy bring? A sprint race at least.
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