There's word it could also have been debris from Kimi's wing that broke of that caused the issues. All the tires were in bad shape but apparently there's onboards that may show issues when the drivers went through that area and the tires let go not long afterward.

Bottas has to be hating life. Second late stage tire issue in recent memory that robbed him of a podium (Baku coming to mind). When Hamilton's tire went I nearly passed out. Watching Max close on him with nothing that could have been done was excruciating.

Now, RB bringing Max in for the fastest lap was probably a 50/50 call at best, and safe at worst. No word on how his tires were looking, and assuming Hamilton stayed out, no way to have caught him, even if Hamilton backed way off to eek that tire to the end. So, 2nd and fastest lap makes sense from a standing perspective. You could question Petronas for not bringing Hamilton in after MAx pitted. There was enough time in hand and with Bottas out, you really want to make sure the same didn't befall the points leader.

Standings stayed the same, but Valtteri definitely got the worst of it, having the gap between him and lewis grow considerably and the lead he has over Max shrink to just 6 points. I think the W11 has enough pace over the field to give either Mercedes driver the win on any given Sunday, so Bottas should be able to keep 2nd place, but he doesn't have much cushion anymore.

Hulkenburg is who I feel sorry for. A whirlwind signing to replace Perez hours before race weekend begins only for the car not to start.