Congrats to Hamilton and Petronas for a 3rd straight 1-2 finish. Starting grid was weird, as it looked like a team photo, with each team qualified almost how they all ended the constructors last year. For as much pace as that Ferrari has, it did them no good on a track where, going into the weekend, it seemed like a safe bet for them to crush everyone in the straights. But Mercedes must have had a massive advantage in the corners as Hamilton and Bottas bolted out the gate and never looked back. Besides a few passes in the midfield (and Max's one shot at passing Pornstache) there wasn't much excitement on track. You'd want more drama for your 1000th race, but I suppose clean driving is better than dirty racing. On to 1001...

Ferrari seem to be setting themselves up a nasty driver situation between The Clerk and Pornstache. If Charles were that much slower than Seb it would have been understandable. But he wasn't, and further bungled strategy had them lose a place to Mad Max, who drove the beans off that RB. Losing the last race to mechanical problems and then losing unnecessary places the next race due to team orders is not a good look. I get Pornstache has the experience and tenure, but so far has come up short at Ferrari (partly because of Petronas' dominance this era, and partly because his cracking under pressure when it counted). Will Ferrari let their drivers race? Or will things boil over before summer break?

Other thoughts:

- Congrats to Ricciardo for coming in 7th in a mostly uneventful drive. At least he finished his first race for Renault, NOw to find some speed
- Gasley inched off the hot seat with his 6th place finish, but he was so far off Max's pace he still needs to look over his shoulder lest RB decides to promote Albon (who drove from the pit lane start to 10th place).
- Kvyat got his 'Torpedo' name back, but it wasn't completely his fault. Still, drive through penalty and DNF have to hurt
- Not sure where Haas pace has gone. I expect them or Renault to end up 'best of the rest', but neither team seem to want to make that move so far. Long season to go
- The Mercedes double stack was a thing of beauty. I'd give those guys a bonus this week.