What a difference twenty-fours hours makes! All pundits' eyes were on Antonelli, any other driver that was previously the big story ("Just look at young Piastri!") is now too old and too slow. The Mercedes driver came to the track on the Saturday as the centre of everyone's attention. Also, the Floridian sunshine had disappeared and was replaced by rain. The track wet was a complete unknown.
It was a bit wet, drizzly and drivers went out on Intermediate wet tyres to get round to the starting grid. The rain suddenly got much, much heavier and LeClerc, who was going round (far too fast for the conditions I feel, he should have tip-toed round) hit the wall in a largish smash. He tried to bring the car back around to the pits but stopped at the end of the pit lane. Both Ferrari drivers were complaining. I was surprised that they were not stopped from going out with the car at the side of the track. Bearman was going at much more appropriate speed and went off but was able to bring the car gently around and back on track. LeClerc was out of the race. Hamilton has been facing a lot of negative discussion about his performance compared to LeClerc but in this instance he did a better job in the conditions. He was pulled up for driving unsafely by the stewards.
The formation lap would be behind the Safety Car and all drivers were on the Intermediate tyres apart from Sainz who chose the Full Wet. They did a few laps. Verstappen spun off, lots of drivers complained/fed back and the race was Red Flagged and stopped.
Following a delay for the marshals to sweep water off the track. They did a couple of laps behind the Safety Car and the drivers radioed in to tell us what the conditions were like. From all this, the Race Director decided to go for a standing not a rolling start. With three laps completed of the 18, it would be a short sprint.
Antonelli made a poor start and Piastri came in quick, he fought and he was off and coming back onto the track in 4th. Despite large rooster tails of water, the drivers were right behind each other tightly. Lawson and Stroll made up 5 places each.
The race was like watching highlights, everything that would normally happen in a race did, but much closer together. Albon was desperately trying to get past Hamilton, there was overtaking, pit stops were made. Tsunoda, running in last place, was the first person to go onto slick, dry weather tyres. He was followed by Hamilton, which was a bigger gamble as it dropped him into 15th place ahead of Bortoleto, Stroll and Sainz.
Next, Verstappen and Antonelli came in from the front, the Red Bull car was released into the Mercedes, meaning Antonelli couldn't even get into his pit box and had to keep going. He was awarded a 10 second penalty. Whilst this was happening there were Yellow Flags then Green again, something had happened on track. We quickly found out that Sainz had had a big smash with lots of debris on track that drivers were trying to avoid. We weren't sure whether there would be a Safety Car. Piastri took a risk and came in early, not waiting to see; then Norri kept radioing in to say how much debris there was on track in the hope that a Safety Car would be called. Sainz managed to get back to the pits somehow.
It looked like Norris was going to have to pit for dry tyres anyway, especially as Hamilton was powering through the line up and was in third. As he was in the pits, there were more Yellow Flags, initially this seemed because of the debris but we cut to an Aston Martin in pieces across the track. Obviously, the world assumed it was Stroll but, no, two times world champion Alonso. It wasn't his fault, Lawson went into him; in a race where he veered from hero to zero and back again at an alarming pace.
There were three laps left and the pole-sitter, Antonelli, was in 11th. A replay of Sainz made me think Albon was out from 5th too but luckily not. With the Safety Car leading the cars to the finish, everyone was very close. This meant that Verstappen's 10 second penalty took him back to 16th place, ahead of only Doohan. Somehow, just by keeping his head down Norris won ahead of Piastri, Hamilton, Albon, Russell, Stroll, Lawson and Bearman. It was a good chance to earn points for those last 4 drivers. For once the promise of Williams looking strong came true, normally as soon as anyone suggests it there will be an inevitable no points finish.
There were several more investigations announced as well, so the finishing order did not look definite at all. In the end only Bearman was given a 5 second penalty, which put Tsunoda in the points, which is amazing for him as he started at the back. Then Albon and Lawson were also given 5 seconds off their race times for not staying above the minimum times set under the Safety Car and bumping into Alonso respectively.
Hamilton was full of praise for his team's strategic decision to bring him in early. He was overjoyed for once.
Williams might rue their saviour Sainz, he has made one mistake after another so far this season. Three cars needed fixing before the imminent Qualifying session, his, LeClerc's and Alonso's. It would be touch and go. It was a thrilling Sprint, which made me worry that Qualifying and the Race would be dreary.
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