Wow, what a race!! I initially missed it due to taking my family out for a show during the race, but managed to catch it on a later broadcast. I managed to stay spoiler free until the race, and Iām so glad I did. That was the best race weāve had in probably 2 years!!
Normaly I would go team by team down the grid and make comments, but going to change things up a bit and do The Good, The Bad and The Meh
The Good:
Verstappen had the race of his life!! My word did he absolutely had a cracker of a race. To go from that horrible start to winning is truly amazing, and will go down in history as one of the best race performances of the modern era! I am so happy for Red Bull for finally pulling one out over Ferrari.
Leclerc I will put in the good column as well. Both him and Vettel showed great pace on the day, and Ferrari actually had a good race. It is the first time they comprehensively beat Mercedes, which is great for the championship. I thought Vettelās strategy was batshit crazy, but he so nearly beat Bottas on the last lap. Inspired strategy call by Ferrari, just a shame about that pitstop.
MCLAREN!!! McLaren is coming back boys! Holy hell well done to Norris for best of the rest, and how good was the pace of Carlos. How many times have we said its so unfair of the top teams just cruising through the field even from last to end up in the top 10. Well that is exactly what Carlos Sainz did! McLaren has come a very long way, and the future is looking very orange (and not just because of Max)
Special mention must be made to Williams as well. It was the first race they actually did have battles with other teams, and Russelās pace was on par with those of even the Renaults at some point. Many people probably missed it, but Russel had a few passes on track against other teams.
And last good goes to the Alfa Romeo team. Well done to Antonio for getting his first points, Kimi for battling for 4th at one point. It was good to see the Alfa Romeos putting pressure on the McLarens.
The Bad:
Haas, what the hell happened? From qualifying with the 5th fastest time to almost last? How is that possible? They were lapping slower than Williams this race, and were definitely the worst team in the race.
Gastly, sorry, Gasly is just so bad. How the hell do you, IN THE SAME CAR AS YOUR TEAM MATE, get lapped by your team mate. He didnāt have a problem in the car that we know of. He was just unable to make any passes at all. I had sympathy for Gastly, sorry Gasly in the first few races. Now I just want him out. Get someone more competent.
The Meh:
Mercedes showed weakness, the first time in 11 races. I donāt know what it with them and this track, they never seem to really get any good results here. I mean yeah Bottas still ended on the podium, but only just. Hamilton had a boring race and was only passed by Vettel on the much faster tires.
Renault, Racing Point and Torro Rosso all had pretty mediocre races. Nothing special and no real pace or any indication of speed. Just so average and meh.