Alonso stayed on the throttle longer than anyone else

George Russell agrees with Isack Hadjar’s assessment that there was too much standing water on track in Q1 to race safely. “I love driving in the rain here but, at some point, if that was a race, there was no way we should be driving in that because the chances of seeing a really, really horrific incident are very, very high.”

Frédéric Vasseur faced a difficult press conference on Friday, dominated by the current situation at Ferrari and the tension between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

A light-hearted question about whether Leclerc had asked him to be godfather to his daughter Bianca must have come as a welcome relief to everyone present. “No, I have four children at home, and I don’t want to be the godfather of all the children of my drivers,” the Frenchman said with a laugh.

Williams boss James Vowles has no doubts about the quality of his drivers, although Fernando Alonso may have a different view. “It’s a driver line-up that can win championships, and I still mean it. I absolutely believe that they are not holding us back today. They are leaders.”

Former Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko also knows his way around the world of modern technology. He has now invested in an Austrian tech start-up that aims to use artificial intelligence to help keep the dead among the living, so to speak.

The new company, Lebensstimmen, is developing a platform that will allow people to create a virtual version of themselves, record personal messages, thoughts, memories or greetings, and in this way remain with their loved ones even after death.