The start influenced everything…
The race promised to be interesting even before any cars had been on track on Friday - it's not every race you find almost half of the grid being penalised for changes made to their Power Units and gearboxes. Just think - none of the starting positions on the grid corresponds to where the drivers qualified.
In many respects, the key to this race was the start - at least in the distribution of finishing positions: not for nothing Sergio Pérez after qualifying said that he would try to leave the race leader in the first few corners. But the main intrigue lay further behind on the grid: how a clean and successful start was vital for Max Verstappen, who throughout the weekend was in another league - with a gap of more than 0.6 seconds in qualifying. The Dutchman had to start in a dangerous place - 14th position, in the middle of the grid, so avoiding accidents and problems was critical for a potential good result.
Max's start was more than impressive. By the end of the first lap, he managed to advance to eighth position. But this didn't happen without the misadventures of other racers. Pérez overslept at the start, losing three positions off the line. His misfortunes didn't last long as Lewis Hamilton ahead tried attacking Fernando Alonso in the fight for second position, but the old "friends" were not able to finish the manoeuvre. Alonso bumped lewis' rear wheel and sent him flying. Hamilton sustained heavy damage to his car and had to end his race out on track, while Alonso was able to continue.
Along with this accident, further behind on track, Nicholas Latifi spun his car at the sixth corner while managing to hit Valtteri Bottas, sending him into the gravel. The safety car had to be deployed, with Charles Leclerc being forced to pit due to a tear-off visor becoming lodged in the brakes of his car, changing his tyres from soft to medium in the process.
Verstappen went straight for the win
On the restart Carlos Sainz managed to keep the lead. Pérez in 2nd successfully repelled the attacks of George Russell, and in the middle of the first ten was Verstappen, who broke through to the end of the sixth lap already in fifth place - just behind Alonso. In a short while, he had passed Alonso and Russell to get into 3rd place.
Leclerc, after his pit stop came out in 16th and started a new attempt at a breakthrough. the Ferrari team told the Monegasque driver that he would be on these tyres until the end of the race. But that raised the question of the moment - to break through on these tyres and get to the end? Ferrari's tactics, as always, turned out to be very peculiar...
By the end of the 11th lap, Verstappen was already on Sergio Pérez's tail. Sainz dived into the pits for a fresh set of medium tyres. Verstappen then managed to easily pass his teammate to become race leader. At this point, Leclerc had only managed to reach ninth position.
After three more laps, Pérez pitted, he started on mediums and changed to a new set, guaranteeing he would need to pit again. Verstappen stayed out, continuing on his soft tyres.
A lap later, Verstappen followed into the pits, switching to a fresh set of mediums. Sainz undercut the Red Bull, postponing the loss of his leadership.
However, the three seconds that Verstappen lost after the pit stop, were not a problem for long and he soon ate up the distance for a couple of laps and successfully attacked Sainz to come out again as race leader. In another three laps, Verstappen had managed to pull five seconds away from Sainz. Pérez caught up with the Spaniard and on lap 20 successfully attacked him, coming in second place.
The situation on track evened out, except for Russell trying with all his might to overtake Carlos Sainz in the final fight for the podium. On Lap 25, Ferrari boxed both cars to put Sainz on hard compound tyres and Leclerc on medium. Sainz returned to the track behind Russell and Leclerc rejoined in seventh, in front of a group led by Albon.
Two laps later, Pérez dived into the pits for his final pit stop, donning the hard tyres while Russell undercuts, however, he was still needing a pit stop himself. He stopped for a fresh set of hard tyres two laps later, coming back on track nine seconds behind Sainz in third.
On the 30th lap, Verstappen pits but for him it was a "free" pit stop as the advantage over Pérez by this time was already more than 30 seconds. Leclerc by this time had improved his position getting to fifth and passing Sebastian Vettel.
Max wins; another failed Ferrari strategy as he reached calmly the chequered flag for his ninth win of this season and the 29th of his career. Sergio Pérez came in second, making this Red Bull's fourth double podium of the season. Carlos Sainz managed to retain his third spot on the podium, with Russell finishing fourth, unable to close the gap and pass him.
Charles Leclerc was supposed to finish in the top five, however, Ferrari would not be Ferrari if it did not manage to mess up its strategy. Two laps before the end, Leclerc was called into the pits to change to softs, but he returned to the track behind Alonso, losing precious time. After the race, the Monegasque driver was handed a five-second penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane on his final pit stop, making him lose his fifth position.
The remaining drivers that made up the top ten were Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly who started his race from the Pit lane. With Alex Albon rounding out the top 10, finishing in the points for the third time this season.
Edited by Emma Phillips
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