It wasn't the best of races, and wasn't as good as qualifying, but somehow I enjoyed it more than any of the first five this season. It was good that Mercedes were a bit more competitive, hopefully they can take the fight to Red Bull a bit more in the future, even if that just means Perez. It was interesting that George Russell was able to beat Sergio Perez despite starting behind him, and that is arguably the first genuine defeat dealt to either Red Bull all season. Predictably, overtaking was far too easy as it has been all the time for the past two years, and it makes a jumbled grid far less interesting than if there was no DRS.
It was certainly Mercedes making a step up rather than Red Bull a step down, because Ferrari and Aston Martin were nowhere this weekend, particularly Leclerc who had a shocker although I did check the gap between him and Sainz at their final stop and it was pretty much constant throughout the final stint. I don't know what is going on with Alonso at the moment, he has been making a big deal out of being a good teammate to Stroll which is good, but not passing him when he was clearly faster was strange and frustrating. If we can't have a championship battle, the next best thing is a good battle for second, and that is two points needlessly dropped by Alonso. It is far more likely that he could lose third place to Hamilton, and if that is by just two points then it is here that he lost it. Perhaps part of his contract is to try and make Stroll look good?
