At the Red Bull home track, packed full of bigoted Verstappen fans dressed in orange accessorised with orange flares, it seemed like the team were on track to bring home a one-two. In Qualifying a lot of teams struggled. Norris was "scared to hit the brakes" in his McLaren and Ricciardo was out in the first session. Vettel was the other surprise knock-out in Q1, although I'm not sure it is a surprise anymore. The final Qualifying session was more chaotic with Hamilton crashing out his Mercedes, closely followed by his team mate. It looked like it was going to be a Ferrari front row for the Sprint then Verstappen snatched pole.
On to the Sprint and Alonso didn't make it off the grid and then Zhou's engine switched off. Not a great start to the make or break 20 laps. There was a little bit of argy-bargy but not too much. Albon received a 5 second penalty for pushing Norris off the track, which he also did to Vettel, who reversed off of the gravel. Ultimately Vettel retired, which is not what you want in the sprint.
Vettel started off race day with a disagreement with the stewards. He feels the switch-around of personnel isn't working for him. It does seem strange with changes in sticking to the track limits, penalties and how quickly the Safety Car or Red Flag is issued seems to vary hugely race to race, the sport has become more inconsistent. With Masi having quit the FIA completely to return to his native Australia, perhaps everyone turned on him too quickly?
The number 2 drivers didn't have a great race. Perez was out early doors and on Lap 57 Sainz caught fire and had the dilemma between staying in a burning car rolling backwards and getting out of the burning car rolling backwards. McLaren quickly made it up to 9th and 10th but fell back as the race went on. Ricciardo took to Instagram to let the world know he is not leaving McLaren - only a Story though.
The battle continues to be between LeClerc and Verstappen. Red Bull just didn't have the pace and LeClerc passed him easily on Lap 12 and Lap 33 and Lap 53. Despite having problems with his throttle pedal, Verstappen couldn't find a way back past, closing the gap slowly until the race finished.
It looked like Alonso might have pulled a blinder by saving his tyres but then he pitted. The busiest people this race were the stewards, eyes glued to the white lines to see whose tyres went over and then waving their black and white flags with abandon. With two more races until the summer break, some drivers have a lot to prove, if they want their seat next year, if they want to be more than number two.
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