It promised much, but ultimately that was a race punctuated more by accidents than action. If RedBull could have designed the conditions they’d probably have picked what we got and ultimately without the safety cars Norris would have won by 40-60s over Verstappen. I don’t see any team making the kind of investment into their cars it would take to overhaul that and I’d guess the pattern is set through to Barcelona at least. Piastri will have his moments this year, but his spinning out when the rain came has put a big dent in the hopes of a fight at the front.
I did enjoy the last 5 or 10 laps where two drivers at the top of their profession showed how to keep it on track in tricky conditions but still needing to be really on it. If Lando had made a mistake,all Max needed was half a chance and he`d be gone on to win.
Did anybody else notice that when Lando was speaking to Sir Jackie Stewart ,Stefano Domenicali just pulled Lando away F**K all manners or respect He’s gone down in my estimation over the last few years . He won’t know or care , but I needed to share that .
Busy day yesterday, so I didn’t get to follow up. A few more things that caught my attention. Antonelli’s finishing position was flattered by the safety cars bunching the field up several times and making the late race pit stop at the right time, but at various points in the race there were some real flashes of talent. He kept the inters alive across a long stint, including being in traffic / passing several cars, his overtakes in tricky conditions were well judged and when he was in clean air was generally well matched with Russell’s pace. I think he’s going to be really exciting to watch and I can see him becoming my new favourite driver (if I can get over my general distaste for Mercedes). Apologies to Albon, I figured Sainz would come in, assert the number one position and Alex would be following on a small step behind, but Alex was excellent this weekend and a competitive team mate seems to have caused him to go up at least one level. Fernando dropping it, would have shocked me a couple of years ago, but a pattern of him seeming to have lost some of his relentlessness started to emerge last year. At the time I figured that might just have been the effect of a long season where Aston’s competitiveness had waned causing him to lose some focus. To see it in the first race when an unexpectedly good result was on, suggests it’s something to keep an eye on. Side note, another wet race where Stroll produces a performance that suggests he really is capable of more than he shows in general.
Much as it pains me to say this . Stroll is not a bad driver . Took pole position in the wet Turkey 2020 , and has a smatterings of podium finishes . Then he goes and does something utterly stupid like when he hit Danny Ric up the back like in China , then denies it As a person , on the pre race Paris yesterday , it looked to me like he was all on his own . If he was , It says a lot about him as a person , but I doubt that crosses his mind .
