I don’t get why some people are saying this was a boring race. Yes, the first ten laps or so were pretty eventless (excluding lap one of course) but as the tire situation started manifesting itself it turned into a very interesting strategy race. We had several split strategies across the grid, it was unclear for the longest time whether the one or two-stop would be faster, and there were even the various ways of slicing the MHH pie throwing it up in the air. Besides George having the win on lock the rest of the podium was wide open even as late as the safety car.

George was impressive this whole weekend of course, but I was actually almost equally impressed by Antonelli holding off the McLarens at the end. Otherwise Kimi again showed he has a ways to go to match Russel (especially on tire management), but holding off faster cars under pressure for lap after lap without making a single mistake was hugely impressive for a still 18-year-old boy. Great to see him get a good result after a couple of unlucky races. His post-race radios were heartwarming.

I really don’t know what to make of Ferrari. Lewis hit a groundhog and Leclerc will probably go hit his pitwall but in the end P5/6 feels like where they should be right now. Maybe they’re in that no man’s land now where nothing they do really matters. Hamilton had one of the loneliest drives of all time out there, just miles off everyone in front and behind at times. Which is good for the memes I suppose as they can keep pitting into traffic and fumbling strategy without needing to learn and improve.

Also gotta mention Hulk and Alonso getting huge points today. That Aston finally looks like it’s not dogwater and Alonso is waking up again and showing he’s still got some drive in him. I think he got the most overtakes today (though granted they were predominantly DRS passes down the straights as usual around here) and he got absolutely everything out of that car (with no help from the team it appears as he was outright fighting his engineer today and apparently “flying blind”). Hulk drove well too, but hit the one-stop strategy home run along with the other midfield drivers attempting it.

Driver of the day I want to say Alonso because I love him. But really, the lap one overtake and the defense at the and makes it hard to give it to anyone but Antonelli.

EDIT: Somehow forgot to mention the McLaren incident. Norris has to be the most frustrating driver to watch on the grid right now. On pure pace he still has the edge on Oscar (though only just), but it’s just… literally everything else. He needs to get a mental coach immediately, or if he has one then fire them and get a better one. You will never win a championship if this is how you drive under pressure.