Also going on:
Nozza looks as relaxed as ever and, as he’s explaining how confident he is in his car, Russell comes up from behind shouting “Let’s go Landoooo!” He sees every race as an opportunity but he’s competing against a lot of great guys and people forget Red Bull are still Red Bull – which seems unlikely. He knows it’s in the balance.
The best driver in the last seven races – none of which have been won by the champ – is Oscar Piastri. He drove brilliantly last week, his composure particularly noteworthy, and he’ll back himself to outpace the two Mercedeseseses in front of him.
Lando Norris (McLaren)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
George Russell (Mercedes)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Niko Hülkenberg (Haas)
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
Alex Albon (Williams)
Franco Colapinto (Williams)
Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber)
Now then. Now then. NOW. THEN. We’ve spent the last few weeks wondering if we’ve got ourselves a title race and finally the answer seems clear: yes we do.
Max Verstappen leads Lando Norris at the top of the driver standings by 59 points but, as we’ve learnt over the last few days – and weeks and months – his car is “fucked”. He said that word?! No! Horrors! How absolutely dare he! The paragons of F1 would never!
After forcing himself into the points from near the back in Baku last week, Norris begins today in pole and as such, is a heavy favourite to win the race. But Verstappen is just one spot behind him so, even if he can’t move in front, is well placed to limit any potential inroads the challenger might make into his cushion.
Which is easy to say. Because this being F1, what might happen barely matters because what does happen – the three-time world champ being handed a community service order for inadvertently using a naughty word to honestly describe his car, say – bears so little resemblance to reality that to predict any of it feels almost as foolish as the ludicrosity we’ve just discussed. Here we go!
Lights out: 8pm local, 1pm BST
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