Before the race had started we had both Aston Martins and both Haas starting from the pits, putting both Williams at the back of the grid. The boxer Anthony Joshua radioed in to his newly owned driver Gasly to wish him good luck, which I suppose gets you extra coverage.
It was an amazing start for Norris and he took the lead from LeClerc, before the first lap had even ended the two Ferraris were fighting. Russell was fighting to get past Ocon and was investigated for going off the track and gaining an advantage. As soon as DRS was enabled, Russell and Perez were past the Alpine. Hamilton then used his DRS to get past Sainz for third. On lap 5, Verstappen overtook Sainz and on the next lap Hamilton overtook LeClerc. DRS was really ruining this race.
Ocon retired his car with a big hole in the side after coming together with Piastri at the start; neither good luck wishes from Anthony Joshua nor golf lessons from Rory McIlroy could help him. A fifth of the way into the race, Piastri had to retire too.
It was half way through the race that Verstappen inevitably took the lead from his pal Norris. With 20 laps to go, Norris pitted again and triggered a chain reaction.
Poor Norris lost his second place to Hamilton with 7 laps to go. Mercedes fed Lewis the little nugget he always needs to push: "Verstappen is managing a brakes problem." With 6 laps to go LeClerc was told to let Sainz by despite messing the drivers about over tyre strategy. Alonso retired having managed nearly the whole race. Verstappen managed his brakes to bring the car back in first place, with Hamilton pushing close behind.
We haven't seen a race so determined by tyre strategy in many a long year and I remember being really frustrated by this in the past. DRS is the new tyre strategy but this made a pleasant change.
Considering LeClerc started on pole, he finished 6th, not what is needed to keep things harmonious at Ferrari.
Considering Alonso decided to use the old car that they started the year with he was able to put in some good overtakes before retiring.
Ricciardo stole the Fastest Lap point from a top ten finisher by finishing both last and fastest, so he won't get the point himself.
The big grumbles about this race were: holes in your side, DRS, inconsistent wind, problems with the floor, track limits (although I think Albon was the only driver to receive a penalty), attending the race only to find out that two drivers were disqualified for shaving their floors on the track, thus running too low and gaining an advantage.
With LeClerc and Hamilton disqualified, both Williams scored points! Gasly will also be 6th, which is a great result for Alpine.
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