As it is our home race, the coverage had so many extra pieces...McLaren playing cricket, Russell taking a ride in a jet fighter and Brundle interviewing Brad Pitt about his new film. The filming of which involves the car being immersed in the grid, so it was at the back of the grid being filmed being at the back of the grid.
The actual grid hadn't been hit by lots of penalties, so Qualifying actually counted. Only Bottas was sent to the back as he didn't have sufficient fuel in his car. Speaking of caras, Cara Delavigne was the celebrity who refused to talk to Martin on his walk. A better line was "I'll just squeeze by Ralf Schumacher...". Summing up his F1 career. Then Damian Lewis delivered a never-heard-before jazz version of the national anthem accompanied by a saxophonist. We usually forward through the anthem but this was so terrible we were gripped and unable to extricate ourselves.
It was a dry start and Norris pointed his car with clear intent towards pole-sitter Verstappen's path. It was a great start by the Brit who led the race with his team mate Piastri battling with the Dutchman for second. Max looked a little rattled or wary, would the rookie take him out? By Lap 2, Norris had pulled a second clear of Verstappen which was critical for DRS. The tracker system was so confused by Verstappen not leading that it failed to function for a while. By Lap 5, the Red Bull was past. Piastri was told not to overtake Norris, which was a good plan for the team.
LeClerc took an early pit stop and it wasn't long until the race settled down and the action lessened. Even the pit stops didn't really liven things up. The Haas of Hulkenberg had been tapped by Perez early doors and he had to stop for a new nose, leaving him running last. Then on Lap 33, Magnussen's engine caught fire, solidifying a poor race for the American outfit. The drivers who could, dived for the pit lane for new boots as a Virtual Safety Car was declared. LeClerc was released into the path of Albon. Then the Virtual Safety Car became a Real one. Norris and Verstappen came in from second and first, taking the Hard and Soft tyres respectively. Norris was happy about this decision.
There were only 13 laps left when the Safety Car went in. Norris drove very defensively from Hamilton. Verstappen, as always in the closing laps when he is in the lead, started to worry over the radio, this time about his tyres. Perez overtook Sainz (on the hard tyre), then Albon powered his Williams past, then LeClerc took his team mate. Whilst the mid-field battled, Norris was able to stretch to a one second plus gap to Hamilton using his hard tyre, leaving his older countryman behind him.
Ocon retired without explanation early in the race and Gasly followed him with four laps to go. Williams really need Alpine and Haas to do badly at the moment and they are delivering. Battling to the end was LeClerc, Albon and Alonso. The Williams needed all his Mercedes power to defend. With McLaren finishing second and fourth, the long drought (apart from Ricciardo's Monza victory but no one discusses that) is over. The second Brit on the podium was Hamilton. He said he didn't have the grunt in the car to overtake the McLaren, which is surprising as they have the same engine and he is in the works car. Three different teams represented on the podium and not an Aston Martin, so the rest of the season could be interesting.
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