Right, we have heard from the protagonists. Now it’s time to hear from Giles Richards, our sweltering F1 correspondent at the Red Bull Ring. Thank you for your company, see you on Saturday for the sprint race and qualifying at Silverstone.
“Starting positions do matter.” Would Verstappen have won without yesterday’s qualifying crash?
Laurent Mekies now. “The first time we have enough pace to win,” he says. “We know we will need more as the competition will bring updates.”
Reliability was pleasing, Wolff says. He says Ferrari didn’t look as good as Barcelona but he’s not sure why. He is off to Oxford tonight to get ready for Silverstone.
“You can’t accelerate a donkey but you can calm down a race horse.”
Drivers are not good at thinking, leave that to the pit guys, “just drive … Less thinking is better.”
Here’s Toto Wolff on Russell: “Since Q3 yesterday, perfect execution … He knows that he can drive fast. sometimes you have to add one and one.”
A second shock resignation of the day, after Steve Clarke kept me up to 3am.
Provided my maths is right, what does it do to the championship?
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 171pts 2 George Russell Mercedes 131 3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 125 4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 80 5 Lando Norris McLaren 79 6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 79 7 Max Verstappen Red Bull 73 8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull 42 9 Pierre Gasly Alpine 41 10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 29
Elsewhere, Ben Stokes is retiring from international cricket.
Out they come. Here comes the national anthems. First the British, then the German.
Bernie Ecclestone is at the presentation.
Thirsty work indeed: Russell’s and Antonelli’s drinks systems both failed.
Russell says that at one point he was monitoring who was behind him: “Ham-Ver, Ham-Ver, Ham-Ver.”
“Race pace was better for sure than we have seen so far,” says Verstappen. Music to Red Bull ears in their battle to keep their prize asset.
It’s podium time. The fans (many in Dutch orange) are on the track.
Russell again: “The last two weekends have been vitally important to remind myself I can do it. [This track] is not very suited to my style so I am looking forward to Silverstone.”
Antonelli speaks: “I was a bit too excited … lost three or four seconds with mistakes … It was a shame I joined the party too late … Three-four laps would have been more fun.”
Verstappen happy: “It was a very good race for us. The first few laps were quite fun … We then picked up a few issues. But to be second and that close to a win is very positive.”
Russell continues: “I was having to push every single lap … the team timed the stops to perfection.”
David Coulthard on interview duty. “Incredible to be back on the top step … Max. Red Bull had a great weekend … Looking forward to a drink now.”
That was a fine race. Very little – no? – talk about the regulations, which will please the FIA. Ferrari will be disappointed at their fall-off in the race.
Here’s how they finished:
1 Russell 2 Verstappen 3 Antonelli 4 Piastri 5 Hamilton 6 Hadjar 7 Norris 8 Leclerc 9 Lawson 10 Lindblad
Russell leaps to embrace the Mercedes mechanics.
“I’m a little bit thirsty,” says our winner. Russell overtakes Hamilton in the standings, which should help too.
Toto Wolff congratulates Russell on his win. Verstappen was driver of the day but couldn’t quite get there.
Russell takes the chequered flag from Verstappen with Antonelli third
Lap 71/71: Antonelli right up on Verstappen!
Lap 71/71: It’s less than a second. Russell may now be hoping (privately) that Verstappen keeps it together.
Lap 69/71: Antonelli can see Verstappen tantalisingly close. Anthony Davidson says Red Bull are now talking solely about second to third, not the lead.
Lap 68/71: Antonelli 1.9 behind Verstappen, a lot closer to him than the Dutchman to Russell.
Lap 67/71: Alonso in 18th in danger of being lapped by Albon in 17th … What a weekend for Aston Martin. Stroll out with a recovery system failure.
Lap 66/71: The lead is less than 4sec. Karun Chandhok believes it’s a managed decline with backmarkers causing it in part.
Lap 64/71: Russell leads by 4.6sec still. Antonelli is 3.4 behind Verstappen.
Lap 63/71: Things have calmed down generally. Rain would shake it all up for sure.
Lap 61/71: George Russell’s odds are shortening as he is keeping Verstappen at a safe distance for now. He has not won a race since the opener in Australia.
Lap 59/71: Lando Norris passes Leclerc. From P2 to P8. Still, he has 46 sec on Lawson in P9.
Lap 58/71: Russell went wide and lost almost a second. He remains the favourite. you can hear the smile in Laurent Mekies’s voice as the Red Bull principal says Verstappen is running “an amazing race”.
Lap 56/71: Hamilton, in fifth, losing time to Piastri. Hadjar then takes Leclerc, and the Monegasque gets bleeped on a comment on his tyres.
Lap 54/71: Bernie Collins on the radar: it’s raining 10 miles away. That could be tricky.
Lap 53/71: Norris noted for a pitlane problem, released close to Colapinto.
Lap 52/71: VSC. A loose bollard.
Lap 51/71: Antonelli pits, so Russell has the lead from Verstappen. Antonelli comes out in third, 4.6sec behind Verstappen.
Lap 50/71: The live odds have shifted in Russell’s favour.
Lap 49/71: Verstappen pits. Antonelli in the lead, Russell up to second, Verstappen rejoins in third.
Lap 48/71: Piastri passes Leclerc. McLaren are doing well versus Ferrari there.
Lap 48/71: Norris in, no one-stop. Hamilton up to sixth.
Lap 47/71: Russell is strategising for the cars around him, Bernie Collins reckons, hoping Antonelli pits and brings in Verstappen. Could Antonelli keep going long enough to finish on softs?
Lap 46/71: Norris told to keep driving. Could he manage a one-stop with sufficient pace.
Lap 45/71: So Verstappen leads from Antonelli, both with one stop, then Russell has had two, Norris one, Leclerc. Piastri two, Hamilton three.
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