Qualifying classification saw a dramatic change late on Saturday evening. Pole-setter Verstappen was given a 3-place grid penalty for having failed to slow down under yellow flags followed by Bottas' crash in the final corner. The first lap time would have been enough to secure pole for Max, had only his second time lap been deleted. Max could possibly have got away with impunity, had he kept his mouth shut in the post-qualifying press conference! He was asked about ignoring the yellow flags, as he improved his lap time in the end, although Bottas had crashed into the barrier a moment earlier. Max gave an arrogant answer: "Did it look like I slowed down? No, I didn't. You can delete my second time lap if you want to." After these thoughtless comments the stewards took Max's action into investigation and gave the penalty, which dropped the hot-headed Dutchman down to P4 on the grid. Max is an outstanding driver, but sometimes he really should pay attention to the frogs he lets out of his mouth!
I expected to see irritated Verstappen at the start. This time I got what I expected. There was drama already in Turn 1, with who else than Max Verstappen involved! Charles held on to his lead, with teammate Sebastian right behind him. Behind the red duo, Hamilton and Verstappen made contact. Both cars took damage, but they were able to continue the race. Virtual safety car was deployed. Albon was stunning third after the eventful start! McLaren's Sainz had also benefited from Verstappen's and Hamilton's hullabaloo, having moved up to P4. Hamilton was fifth, McLaren's Norris sixth, Bottas seventh and Verstappen eighth.
After the virtual safety car had ended, Hamilton made a move on Sainz, robbing the Spaniard of P4. Verstappen and Bottas had a wheel-banging battle of their own for P7. Max made an insolent move on the Finn, jumping seventh. But Bottas wasn't to let that happen. Only a moment later he snatched his P7 back from hard-fighting Verstappen. And there was another dramatic turn for Max; he had a puncture, as Valtteri's front wing had touched Max's rear tyre! Max had to limp into the pits for a fresh set of hard tyres and face the reality: he was now at the very back of the pack!
Meanwhile, Bottas was making his way up through the field. First the Finn passed McLaren's Norris and then his teammate Sainz, claiming P5. Norris' race turned into a catastrophe only a moment later; during his pit stop his front tyre wasn't successfully attached, which cost the Briton an awful lot of valuable time. Albon was the first top driver to pit on lap 15. Race leader Charles pitted a lap later. They both switched to another set of medium tyres, which was a clear indication of a two-stop strategy. Charles re-joined the track in P4.
Hamilton wasn't the only driver, who Verstappen made contact with. On lap 23 the flying Dutchman had a slight contact with Haas' Magnussen. Max made a questionable move by overtaking the Dane off track. Hamilton pitted on the same lap for a fresh set of hard tyres. However, it seemed quite unlikely, that the Briton would be able to go till the end on those tyres. Soon after his pit stop he complained on the team radio, that the team had called him in way too early. Hamilton was expected to drive a 48-lap stint on the hard Pirellis! Both Sebastian and Bottas stayed out and continued clocking excellent lap times.
Bottas pitted on lap 36, so it was an obvious one-stop strategy for the Finn. Sebastian pitted from the lead on the sequential lap, also for a fresh set of white-walled hard compound. After the pit stops Hamilton was fourth and Sebastian fifth. But Albon and Leclerc, who were ahead of them, were to stop for the second time. Charles drove into the pits on lap 43, and unfortunately it proved a delayed pit stop for the Monegasque. The red crew had difficulties to attach one of the rear tyres, which cost valuable seconds. Charles re-joined the track in P5. Albon pitted a lap later for a fresh set of hard Pirellis, similar to Charles.
With 25 laps to go, Hamilton was leading the race. Sebastian was three seconds down on the race leader, and Valtteri was two seconds behind the German. Meanwhile, Renault's Ricciardo proved, that an extremely long stint on the hard rubber was doable; the Australian pitted after a 50-lap long first stint! Kimi, who was driving his own race out of points, was asked to drive into the pits and retire the car on lap 59. Sad but true, scoring points has proved almost a mission impossible for Alfa Romeo since the summer break.
The gaps between the top four -Hamilton, Sebastian, Bottas and Charles- were extremely small towards the end of the race. However, an overtaking move of any kind seemed to be out of the question. Meanwhile, Verstappen had made his way up to P6 already in spite of the catastrophic start to the race. He had made his only pit stop already on lap 5, which meant a 66-lap second stint! Tyre management is definitely one of Max's strengths!
In spite of an all-red front row, the red-suited warriors had to settle for playing the second fiddle to Mercedes. Hamilton crossed the line as the race winner for the 10th time this season! Sebastian was the impressive runner-up, and Valtteri's race from P6 to P3 was well done, too. Pole-setter Charles was left fourth due to his two-stop strategy. To his comfort, he took the extra point for the fastest lap time. This time Albon was the more successful of the Red Bull drivers, as the Thai finished in P5 and Max in P6. Without the first-lap hullabaloo Max would have had a chance even for a better result. Racing Point's Perez took the honor of being "the best of the rest" in P7. Toro Rosso's Gasly in P9 was split by the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.
Bottas still has a gossamer mathematical chance to win the drivers' championship. To be honest, it's only a matter of time, when Hamilton secures his sixth world title. The US GP this week is his next chance to do so.
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