Very enjoyable race and so glad to see Oscar take the win! Kudos to Lando for being a good team player.... eventually...
Checo in P7.... hmm..... a reasonable drive, but aided only by the pit wall getting him out in clear air. I can't help but think he should have been doing more with the machinery in terms of carving his way through the midfield cars earlier in the race. That being said, George wasn't having much more luck in his Mercedes. Is it enough to save him from being booted from RBR? Right here and now, I'd suggest the answer is no, especially with McLaren scoring a 1-2 finish and Max having a bad day at the office. With the gap in the Constructors' Championship now down to 51 points, McLaren on an absolute tear with 2 drivers in top form, I'd be thinking that RBR are
very worried about their trajectory post the Emilia Romagna GP given that McLaren have scored 184 points compared to RBR's 121. Spa will be make or break for Perez.
PIA took the win but bet he wished it was not handed to him like that and he will enjoy his first proper win more.
RIC went backwards as normal.
Respectfully disagree with both comments.
This was not handed to Oscar. He earned it through a brilliant start and excellent race management. To suggest otherwise diminishes his performance. The only reason it became an issue was McLaren knowingly stopping Norris early (such that he would undercut Piastri) explicitly for the purposes of covering Hamilton whilst also explicitly advising both drivers that it was strategic and that there would be a position switch. The rules of engagement were clear to both drivers and like it or not, it's a team sport. Anthony Davidson just made the point on Sky's coverage that for the purposes of British taxation law, drivers are employees of the Team and therefore, employees are expected to do as the team demands of them. Additionally, if McLaren was not seeking to cover off Hamilton, they would have pitted Oscar first, meaning that Oscar would have had track position and could have better controlled things. Would he have held on for the win in that situation? Who knows? But we're talking hypotheticals now which is precisely what Lando was discussing over the radio.
As for Ricciardo... He actually drove a
very strong race. He - and Yuki - were overtaken at the start by cars running the soft compound (vs their mediums) and RB royally screwed him on race strategy, particularly for his first stop. They succeeded in placing him in a DRS train, whilst leaving Yuki out in clean air to go long. They went for the undercut on the second stop to put him in clear air and he was (comparatively) rapid. Through the course of his second and third stint, he was consistently faster than Yuki and was only overtaken by the Aston Martins, which were undeniably quicker cars. Why didn't the Astons get Yuki? Simply because they screwed their own strategy and put themselves on the back foot, whereas RB got it right with Yuki.
very grumpy Max. Penalty due.
He certainly had his grumpy pants on today didn't he? GP Lambiase has the patience of a saint dealing with Max when he's in these sorts of stroppy moods, but I do love his sarcastic replies to Max's petulance. Max absolutely deserves a penalty for that move given he was completely out of control.
