4) The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix
After a Silverstone Grand Prix that provided little action save for the final laps, the return to the circuit the following weekend gave us a thrilling and fitting celebration of 70 years of F1. Whilst a Mercedes win doesn’t necessarily a boring race make (see my number 5 and 2 picks), by the 5th race of the season F1 fans were both hoping that and wondering if anyone could beat the supremely dominant W11. The first to break their winning streak turned out to be Red Bull, with a classic Max Verstappen performance. His drive displayed hunger and determination (‘I’m not going to just sit here like a grandma!’) as he pushed the Mercs to pit early as he stayed out on his hard tyres. A true team performance, Red Bull’s strategy gamble to send him out on the hard compound in Q2 absolutely payed off, and injected a dose of tyre strategy excitement into the afternoon that has often been missing from this era. He only took 30 seconds from the pit exit to regain the lead from Valterri Bottas, following a slow (by Red Bull’s standards) stop. Verstappen benefited from his tyre strategy, but also controlled the race in a car that was difficult to handle and not the fastest, with a drive of confidence that featured none of the desperation that has plagued him in previous years. That he was able to joke with his race engineer GP in the closing stages I think paradoxically shows his maturation; a level of calm and peace with the car, and what he and it are capable of.
The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix was filled with overtakes a plenty, including some beauties from Alex Albon on Kimi Raikkonen, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, as well as a fabulous little battle between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. Nico Hulkenberg also put in an astounding performance filling in for the Covid-stricken Sergio Perez. He shone in qualifying, placing his Racing Point 3rd, and finished a very respectable 7th. We were even treated to a fight for 2nd place between Lewis Hamilton and Bottas with just two laps to go, the British driver taking the silver trophy at his home race, the cherry on top of this wonderful race.
