It might not have had the chaotic excitement of the Baku race, but the Austrian Grand Prix held some moments of interest. The start of the race saw Bottas investigated for a potential jump start – he was found not to have done that, but it was mightily close on the replays. Daniil Kvyat got a great start, surging forward, but he forgot to stop at the first corner and bashed into the side of Fernando Alonso, who in turn took out Max Verstappen, the latter two retiring from the race.

The first session of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix saw disappointment for the Williams team, as both their drivers dropped out early and not only that, they were behind Jolyon Palmer. Kevin Magnussen qualified his Haas into Q2 but also damaged the suspension and had to retire to the pits so was unable to participate in that second session.

It was a scrappy day of practice as drivers got back to work preparing for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. Lewis Hamilton led both practice sessions and Valtteri Bottas was third in both. During the morning session, they were split by Max Verstappen – who had a couple of spins through the gravel and brushed the wall at one point. In second practice, it was Vettel who came between the two Mercedes drivers.

Daniel Ricciardo won after mostly inheriting the lead but doing a good job with it. Valtteri Bottas fought back from another first lap incident with Kimi Räikkönen to finish second, with Lance Stroll keeping out of trouble for an impressive third place.

Jolyon Palmer was unable to participate in qualifying in Baku after a fire on his Renault during FP3. That meant there were just four drivers dropped out in Q1, but they were the usual suspects – McLaren, Sauber and Haas.

First practice in Azerbaijan was dominated by Sergio Pérez, who crashed his Force India into the barriers at turn eight – a supremely narrow section of track that was the scene of plenty of drama. A lack of grip, smoke from tyre lockups, running wide off track and missing apexes and diving into run off zones was the order of the day, as the tricky Baku track caught out many a good driver.

Monisha Kaltenborn has been a mainstay at Sauber for many years, and has seen the team through several financial crisis situations during her time as team principal since 2012. Now, however, her tenure at the top has come to a close as she departs the team effective immediately. A statement made by the new owners, Longbow Finance, said the split was “by mutual consent and due to diverging views of the future of the company.”

The World Motorsport Council have signed off on the 2018 F1 calendar, a lot earlier than normal, and have approved 21 separate events to equal the largest season, alongside 2016. The most visible changes to the calendar include a return to Germany and France, the latter having been off the schedule for a decade, as well as the departure of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton led away from pole, remained out front for every lap and took a comfortable race victory over teammate Valtteri Bottas. Behind him, though, there was chaos. Max Verstappen swept up into second off the line but his Red Bull gave up just a few laps later. Carlos Sainz swiped into Felipe Massa, knocking them both out of the race on the first lap. Sebastian Vettel took some front wing damage that dropped him down the order but he fought back to fourth place.

The first session of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix had the normal names dropping out, Stroll, Vandoorne, Magnussen, but Jolyon Palmer got through to the second. He was helped by the fact that Pascal Wehrlein hit the grass and spun into the barriers, giving his Sauber colleagues a significant amount of work to do overnight.