The Small Picture
The main story of this race is not the championship, but a championship quality drive that came from Romain Grosjean. After a qualifying mistake saw him start P17, he managed an excellent, calculated race to deliver third place with a single stop. Managing the soft tyres excellently in a calm first stint, he got 13 laps from the soft compound before switching to the prime tyre to drive a huge stint to the end that saw him beat many potentially faster runners on two-stop strategies. Whilst perhaps he was a little lucky to get on the podium due to Mark Webber's retirement, it was still a great, controlled drive from the Frenchman. It is something I'd never have expected to see this time last year, and I have to say he's certainly won me over by proving that he can handle a tough situation and bring a great result out of it, something he simply couldn't achieve in 2012. Without a doubt it will surely secure his 2014 race seat with Lotus against some stiff competition, and deservedly so after the excellent performances he's now put in for the last three races, standing on the podium for all.