♦ Prior to the start of the race, Lando Norris (McLaren) had his starting position moved to the back from 15th position as his car had an engine change.

♦ The two Mercedes-AMG cars got a great start, with George Russell just sneaking ahead of Valtteri Bottas. But for Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez clashed in the first corner and Max Verstappen couldn’t avoid them. The Dutchman and Leclerc ended up heading straight for the barriers and ending their race, while Perez got away.

♦ The Safety Car was immediately sent out and it was Russell who was right behind it as it circulated for 6 laps. In second place was Bottas and then Carlos Sainz. While Bottas would have been determined to get into the lead, he was too busy keeping back Sainz to close the gap on Russell.

♦ Although way back in the field, the two newcomers racing in F1 for the first time – Pietro Fittipaldi and Jack Aitken – were aggressively trying to improve their positions, taking on even Kimi Raikkonen.

♦ By the 22nd lap, Bottas was able to extend the gap with Sainz to 11 seconds and focussed on his team mate who was 2 seconds ahead. However, his team said that he was having brake problems too.

♦ The first 6 laps with the Safety Car out had an effect on tyre degradation which was less than what was forecast, pls track temperatures were also cool. As a result, team strategists began to consider the possibility of a one-stop race. Even up to 40 laps, the first 4 cars had not come in for new tyres.

♦ With lap times under a minute, the halfway mark in the 87-lap race was reached about 43 minutes after start. It would have been earlier if not the for slow-down by the Safety Car at the start.

♦ Russell finally came in on lap 46 for new tyres, letting Bottas take over the lead. But as the British driver returned to the track after less than 3 seconds out, he found that the car was down on power. The cause was later said to be a sensor issue but seemed to go away and he rocketed ahead to close the gap – and set fastest lap.

♦ Bottas had earlier been asked to extend the time out another 9 laps and came in on lap 50, giving back the lead to Russell.

♦ Nicholas Latifi’s race ended on lap 54 as he pulled over, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car for about 2 laps to allow retrieval of the Williams car.

♦ Perez put in an impressive drive; after escaping the Verstappen-Leclerc crash and then coming into the pits, he worked his way up the field to reach third by lap 59. He still have Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll close behind but the gap was too big to go for Bottas.

♦ The Virtual Safety Car would come out again another 4 minutes later when Aitken’s car lost its wing after a spin and bumping in the barrier. Aitken’s incident would later be seen as the event that changed the outcome of the race.

♦ Both Russell and Bottas slipped into the pits and then disaster struck for Bottas as his stop was 10 times longer than the usual sub-3 seconds! And in the confusion, Russell got wrong tyres, which could mean a penalty for having a mixed set. It was a heartbreaking time for the team while Perez appeared to be secure in the lead as 18 laps remained.

♦ On lap 71,  with new tyres, Russell pushed hard to get past Bottas and then set his sights on Stroll, who was less than  2 second ahead. Commentators had checked the rules and it seemed that the mixed tyres might not bring a penalty.

♦  With 10 laps remaining, Russell got past Ocon and was in second place, gunning for Perez who was about 2 seconds ahead. And then a puncture on the rear left wheel forced the Mercedes-AMG driver back to the pits… and when he rejoined the race, he was in 15th position.

♦ With a sufficiently wide gap, Perez sped through the remaining laps to win the second last round of 2020. And it was a 1-3 for the BWT Racing Point team too as Stroll finished third, behind Ocon. For Russell, who managed to get at least a point (as well as another for fastest lap) as he managed to get up to ninth before the chequered flag came out, it’s just a tiny consolation.