Everyone seems SO depressed about that race. I was bummed for Nico and Dan, and especially for Felipe and Jenson and Jo, but I found the race pretty exciting and enjoyable overall.
So if it helps, here are some positive things (in my opinion), in no particular order:
Carlos “EXCUSE ME GUYS I’M STILL HERE, CONTINUING TO BE AWESOME” Sainz Jr, just quietly making his way from 20th to 9th.
Both Force Indias in the points.
A great drive and well-deserved podium for Valtteri.
Some incredibly good defense from Max. No matter how you feel about him, his battle with NIco was exciting to watch.
That brilliant start from Seb, and some great overtakes from Seb after the VSC.
Seb in 2nd. Yes, it’s disappointing to miss out on a win due to a strategy call, but...just the fact that he was a solid 2nd and so nearly could have been 1st is progress!
Three different teams on the podium, including one who doesn’t make it up there that often nowadays.
At least one Ferrari driver on every podium but one this year, which is good if you’re a Ferrari fan, but also....
Only THREE out of seven podiums so far have been entirely Mercedes/Ferrari drivers (last year we had 6/7 at this point).
Everyone upbeat and happy on the podium (not that I’m blaming Dan at all for being upset in Monaco, just that it’s much nicer to see everyone up there reasonably happy with their race).
A race where for most of the race we had no idea who would win. A two-way battle isn’t what most of us were hoping for, but I’ll take two different teams fighting till the last few laps over runaway Mercedes victories any day.
Ferrari clearly having made some improvements. Their strategy didn’t work out and Seb made some mistakes too, but it was clear they had the pace to be a threat if things had worked out better.
Ferrari being WAY closer in qualifying.
Seb is now only 38 points off the championship lead (after Russia he was 77 points behind, so...it’s something).
The top 5 championship contenders within less than 50 points.
Seb, Lewis, seagulls, and possibly the best post-race interview ever
Feel free to add to the list...
