Antonelli walks on water while Hamilton rages from mountaintop

The 20-year-old also benefited from a perfectly-timed (from his perspective at least) mid-race virtual safety car when Lance Stroll retired his Aston Martin, which allowed Antonelli a cheap stop to switch to fresh mediums while Russell stayed out on used hards. But at some point you just have to take your hat off to the youngster.

Antonelli was irresistible. He had already surged from 19th on the grid to 12th by the time the red flag came out at the end of lap 2. He was up to sixth a couple of laps after the race resumed. And by lap 18 of a 53-lap race, he had passed Russell for the lead for the first time. That is some going.

Having caught up to Russell, the two Mercedes drivers engaged in an entertaining battle for a few laps, the pair of them yo-yoing in and out of the lead before Russell got past Antonelli on lap 23 and managed to make it stick.

But the key moment of the race came on lap 27 when Stroll stopped at the first chicane and the VSC came out. For Antonelli, the decision to switch to fresh mediums was clear. He was going to struggle to make it to the end of the race. Far better to drop a few positions and fight back on fresh rubber.

For Russell, it was far trickier. He was in the lead of the race. He was on hard tyres which he knew could get to the end of the race. And he also had the problem of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who at the time he was struggling to shake off.

Mercedes chose to keep Russell out there. In hindsight, it may have been the wrong decision. Had he stopped at that point, he would at least have stayed ahead of Antonelli, and on the same tyres. By staying out, he kept the lead but found himself relentlessly hunted down by the Italian.

By lap 49, the Italian had caught up to him. Antonelli botched his first attempt at reclaiming the lead, going wide onto the gravel at the first chicane. But he made no mistake one lap later as Russell was once again left licking his wounds.