Following Verstappen acquiring three investigations during qualifying, we may have woken up on Sunday to see the Red Bull even further back on the grid. He got away with reprimands though and I can hear Hamilton's voice in my head stating his opinion of that.
Lance Stroll had pulled out of the race after his crash as he wasn't quite fit enough and his car definitely wasn't. Super-sub Ricciardo was out of action after breaking his hand and super-sub-sub Lawson was in his Alpha Tauri seat.
It was a clean start, Sainz getting away well and his team mate, LeClerc too. Russell made a poor start from second and fell down to third, with his team mate going off the track and rejoining ahead of him to take that third place. Alonso and Ocon got past the Haas of Magnussen. Tsunoda stopped and started on the first lap and then stopped for good, parking his car behind the barriers, averting a Safety Car. It was a puncture, so you wonder why he couldn't have got back to the pits.
As Russell was released by his team mate, he set the fastest lap. After a bit of negotiation with the stewards, Hamilton gave a place back to Norris too and that was the end of that.
Everyone went around nicely for a while. Then Sargeant went and did something silly on Lap 19 and ended up with his own wing underneath him. He dragged it round the track, sending bits of carbon fibre everywhere. It didn't look like a Safety Car event but it was. Lots of cars came in for a change of tyre. Sainz held first position. Ferrari double-stacked and bought LeClerc in from second behind him but had to hold him in the pit box as Mercedes double-stacked too. This brought Norris out ahead of LeClerc. The Red Bulls did not pit. Alonso did something silly and locked up his tyres, swaying out of the pit lane lines and got a 5 second penalty.
At the restart, Sainz held his lead but it was all change behind him. For the first time this season we saw Verstappen being overtaken during race (other than off the start). Once everyone found their new place, they continued going round and round. With the Red Bull tyres dropping off more and more. Russell radioed in to let his team know that he did want to go for the win.
Two thirds of the way through the race, Ocon lost power in his Alpine. He was an angry Frenchman, beating the steering wheel and throwing his head support back into the car. He stomped back to the pits. This led to a Virtual Safety Car. It was a close call whether to pit or not. Albon made a quick decision to come in. Further on, both Mercedes came in and were in and out swiftly. Alonso came in and had to wait 5 seconds before his crew could start work. It was an awful stop though, with tyres not coming off and not going on. He had radioed in earlier to say the car was "undrivable". The end of the love affair begins. Then he spun but kept going. Ferrari were now racing on wing and prayer as they hoped LeClerc and Norris could hold up the Mercedes on new tyres.
With 9 laps to go Russell took LeClerc for 3rd place. Then Hamiton was past the Ferrari too. With three laps to go, Sainz radioed in to say that his tyres were finished. All four drivers were in shot at the same time. Sainz had backed Norris into the Mercedes to aid his defence and now Lando had to put in the hard work. Had Mercedes put in team orders asking Russell and Hamilton not to fight each other? It didn't look like it and that was hampering Russell's confidence getting past Norris. This proved to really cost the team in the last few corners, when Russell clipped the wall and crashed out. The podium was Sainz, Norris and Hamilton. LeClerc took fourth with Gasly in a commendable and quiet sixth.
With Verstappen finishing 5th and Perez finishing 8th, Red Bull don't claim the Constructors Championship at this race. As Verstappen didn't win the race his streak is over, so we won't have to hear about that for at least another 10 races. And Red Bull didn't win the race, so they won't get a perfect season. So we won't have to hear about that until next year.
Both the rookies, Lawson and Piastri scored points. With Tsunoda out, his performance won't have been compared to Lawson, which possibly saves for him for the rest of this season. We haven't seen a race with five cars out in a long time. Alonso won't be happy to finish plum last either. Sargeant will be happy not to be last. This last two is a surprise as Lawson brought out the Safety Car earlier.
Not only was Verstappen not the winner but he wasn't on the podium, which was the breath of fresh air that the fans needed.
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