Alonso was starting his Aston Martin from the front row for the first time for the team since 1959, although he wasn't starting it from the right place it turned out. I don't know if it's the broken bones or the improved performance of his daddy's car but the press are devoting a lot of coverage to Stroll. Overall it's great to have a new team to talk seriously about.
Alonso made an excellent start and took Perez. Stroll took Sainz. But then we were told that Alonso was being investigated for being in the wrong place in his starting box. Piastri was also immediately into trouble with missing body parts and had to pit for a new front wing. It looked like Perez would possibly take Alonso when he got DRS, although this would be unnecessary as the Spaniard was awarded a 5 second penalty, he did it anyway.
As Verstappen scythed his way through the field, Alonso was given a cheap pass for his penalty as his team mate Stroll stopped on the track and a safety car came out. Was this a Singapore-style strategy? As the race restarted, Perez was first, followed by Alonso, Russell and Verstappen. The Ferraris were 5th and 7th. Everyone got away cleanly when the safety car went in.
Alonso had predicted that Verstappen would be in second place by lap 25, half way through the race and on lap 25 he overtook Alonso to make the prediction come true.
Albon suffered from brake issues and was slowly out of the race. Meanwhile, Russell and Hamilton were battling, with Russell refusing to follow team orders to let his team mate through. Lots of team mates were running side-by-side: the Ferraris, then Alpines, Haas and McLaren.
In the end, despite some mild arguing between the Ferrari drivers and the Mercedes drivers, it was an easy one two for the Red Bulls. Alonso was very happy with his podium position in 3rd and continued to be very cheery when he was awarded a 5 second penalty for a jack touching the car during his first penalty. Why was this awarded 35 laps after the event? Could it be that Mercedes or Alpine reported it late? I'm sure he was equally cheery to be reinstated after the media circus had departed. Even Russell who briefly held 3rd place from the press conference to midnight-ish felt it was the right decision for Alonso to be reinstated. It will be interesting to see if the Aston Martins, running the Mercedes engine, will continue to be stronger than the works car. Will there be foul play with the engine supplier? Will Ferrari hook everything and have a strong weekend. Will Ricciardo do a bit of media work in Australia and mention how relieved he is not to be driving that McLaren (note, also a Mercedes engine).
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