The first lap was thrilling. Hamilton (and nearly Perez) took Verstappen at the start. The track is so wide Sainz, Norris and Ricciardo had a huge battle, with Ricciardo finally coming out on top in 5th. Three abreast battles are rare. Unseen by us, Russell made up 6 places just on that lap including overtaking Vettel and Alonso.
It was predicted to be a two stop race. Early doors, Alonso went for the undercut on Vettel (for 14th) and Verstappen went too. When Hamilton did pit on Lap 14, he was quite far behind his rival. The Red Bull strategists played a blinder this weekend.
Alonso and Raikkonen had an epic wheel to wheel battle, with parts flying off of the Alfa Romeo as he went over the curbs, pushed by the Spaniard. It was noted by the stewards. Nothing came of it. Which was the right call.
A sudden Virtual Safety Car call came mid-race and we all waited to see what had happened...a marshal picked up some litter. The drivers clearly weren't listening to Vettel asking the crowd not to leave litter on the Driver's Truck Lap pre-race.
LeClerc had a very quiet race and finished 4th, an excellent job. Another fantastic performance was put in by Kimi Raikknan, who nearly finished 10th but had a big spin 3 laps from the end - a senior moment if you will.
When I was young, I bought the commentators notion that the second place driver could possibly overtake for the win. Now I'm older, I know that, unless there's a serious cock-up, it won't happen. Vestappen took the win, which gives me a successful race prediction at last. I also thought that Perez and Ricciardo would do well, 3rd and 5th.
There were fireworks at the end, but we're used to that sort of thing. Where were the showy extras? No drivers introduced through music...nothing. Then Shaquille O'Neill brought the trophy along in a car with horns (not the beep beep sort, the on-a-ranch sort).
As a final note, COTA is a sanitary product surely.
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