There were apparently no team orders in place for the race for the Mercedes drivers who started from the front row, but team orders were on the menu for the likes of the Red Bull, Ferrari and Alpine drivers.
The first lap saw a collision between Daniel Ricciardo, having his second to last race with McLaren, and the Haas driven by Kevin Magnussen, who the previous day had started the sprint race on the pole after qualifying, which was red-flagged when Russell went off the course and beached himself in the kitty-litter. That proved fortuitous for Russell because he was able to start that sprint race from third on the grid and win it to claim the pole for the grand prix.
Ricciardo has been given a three-place grid penalty for this weekend’s season finale, and possibly his final drive in F1, in Abu Dhabi.
The Ricciardo-Magnussen clash was one of several, as Lando Norris in the McLaren clipped the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, sending him into the barriers. But Leclerc got his car back to the pits and rejoined the race to become a podium contender towards the end of it.
That collision probably put paid to Norris’s chances of scoring good points for McLaren, who are battling Alpine for 4th place in the championship, as he had to retire from the race which initially brought out the Virtual Safety-Car, and then the Safety-Car itself.
The most controversial clash was between Hamilton and Verstappen, something they couldn’t avoid last year, but had so far this year because Hamilton was usually too far behind. Verstappen tried to pass Hamilton around the outside of turn 1 for second place and was slightly ahead at the left-hander, which becomes a right-hander for turn 2. Hamilton appeared to squeeze Verstappen at the apex of the corner, and they collided, blaming each other.
“I just felt, as soon as I was going next to him, that he had no intention to leave me space,” Verstappen said. “And okay, if you don’t leave me space, are we just going to collide? I thought after last year, we may be able to forget about it, we can finally race you know. But then you feel it with a driver if he’s going to leave space or not. And there was zero intention to leave me space.”
Hamilton said to his race engineer, Pete Bonnington: “That was no racing incident, mate.” He later said: “You know how it is with Max.”
The race stewards, perhaps conscious it was a pro-Hamilton crowd, saw it his way, in an FIA press release.
“The stewards determined that Verstappen attempted to pass Hamilton on the outside of turn 1 by braking very late. He did not complete the pass in turn 1 and his excess speed compromised his entry into turn 2 at which point he made contact with Hamilton. Whilst the stewards recognise that Hamilton could possibly have given a little more room at the apex of turn 2, the stewards determined that Verstappen was predominantly at fault.”
Verstappen received a five-second time penalty, meaning his chances of another race win were gone, but it wouldn’t be the end of his adventurous race, as he would later end up in a squabble with his teammate Sergio Perez, and the team itself, by disobeying a team order. More on that later.
Also squabbling were the Alpine drivers, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. The latter had squeezed Alonso off the track in the sprint race, and later when Alonso overtook Ocon along the home straight, he mistimed his speed compared to Ocon’s and hit him, taking off the end plate of his front wing. He had to pit for a new wing and recovered to finish 15th, while Ocon was 18th.
Alonso was asked if he would talk to Ocon about their clashes,
“No, not really,’ he said. “I don’t need to, it’s one more race then it’s finally over.”
Alonso was given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision, so started the race in 17th place, behind Ocon. Before the race, Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer warned his drivers about further contact. Alonso, who is Aston Martin bound in 2023, obviously listened as he drove like a man possessed and finished 5th, while Ocon was 9th.
With McLaren scoring no points, Alpine is now 19 points ahead of them with one race remaining, probably enough to secure 4th place in the Constructor’s Championship. A contrite Alonso had calmed down after the previous day’s incidents with Ocon.
“I made a mistake yesterday when Esteban and I made contact, so today we wanted to do our best and race hard for the team,” he said. “We needed these points heading to Abu Dhabi. There is one more race with the team to go and my heart is in the racing.”
Alonso had overtaken Perez towards the end of the race, and with Leclerc on a recovery charge, running 4th behind teammate Carlos Sainz, there was some tension in the fight for second place in the drivers’ championship.
Leclerc wanted his Ferrari team to order Sainz to let him pass to get more points on Perez. That didn’t happen. Perez didn’t want Verstappen to pass him, but it was agreed over the team car radio that if Verstappen couldn’t overtake Alonso, he was to give the place back to Perez. That didn’t happen either, with Verstappen being asked over the radio by his race engineer,” what happened?”
Verstappen replied: I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that again to me, OK? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.”
“That’s a very powerful message from Max Verstappen,” Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle, said. “That is ‘I’m in charge around here - I call the shots.’”
Perez was unhappy, as he is now on the same points as Leclerc with one race to go.
“This shows who he really is,” Perez remarked. “I mean, after all, I’ve done for him, it’s a bit disappointing, to be honest.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was keen to give the impression all was well after his drivers had a chat and shook hands.
“Regarding Max and Checo, we have discussed the matter internally and we go into Abu Dhabi as a team to do the very best we can to help Checo achieve second place in the championship. Max is supportive of that. Ultimately, we work as a team and race as a team.”
The team for this race was undoubtedly Mercedes, with Hamilton giving every indication he was happy that Russell had his first F1 victory.
“Huge congratulations to George,” he said. “What an amazing drive he did today. He did amazing in qualifying yesterday, so he truly deserves it.”
‘We’ve worked so hard through this year to get a one-two, or to get a win, so this is hugely, hugely deserved from everybody, so big, big thank you.”
The last words must go to F1′s latest maiden victor. “Amazing feeling, just a huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible,” Russell said. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster this season. This race was a tough race, I felt we controlled. Lewis was super-fast and then I saw the safety car, I thought this is going to be a really difficult ending, he put me under so much pressure, but so happy to go away with the victory.”
“On the in-lap, all of these memories sort of came flooding back, it started off with my mum and dad in go-karting and go through and all the support I’ve had from the rest of my family, my girlfriend, my trainer, my manager.”
“And then obviously the likes of Gwen [Lagrue, Mercedes driver development adviser] who gave me the opportunity to get on the programme with Mercedes and James Vowles [chief strategist] and Toto, the list is endless, I can’t thank enough. Super proud.”
- Sources: F1.com, Sky Sports F1
