(Motorsports news) Lando Norris of McLaren took the lead from Ferrari’s poleman Charles Leclerc on the run to the first corner, and pulled clear as Verstappen pushed his way up from sixth on the grid. On lap six, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) took second from Leclerc, and Verstappen did the same a few laps later before initiating the first pitstop cycle. Verstappen was able to undercut Hamilton, who went long on his first stint.
Max caught Norris at half-distance and easily passed him on weaker tyres. In the closing stages, Hamilton was a man on a mission, and he took advantage of running on medium tyres to the finish to catch and past Norris for second. Polesitter Leclerc led the charge to Turn 1, but Norris outran him and took the lead. Leclerc finished second, slightly ahead of Ferrari teammate Sainz and Hamilton, with Max gaining a slot to finish fifth, ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.
By lap two, Norris had driven well clear of Leclerc’s DRS range, but Hamilton was all over Sainz for third. Further back, the slow-starting George Russell (Mercedes) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull) overtook Esteban Ocon, whose Alpine sustained sidepod damage in a collision with Piastri on the first lap and retired a few circuits later. Piastri, too, was injured and would quit.
On lap four, Hamilton DRS-ed past Sainz into Turn 12, and Verstappen followed suit a lap later in the same location. Hamilton caught and passed Leclerc on lap six to claim second, but Norris was still over 3 seconds ahead. On lap 11, Verstappen glided up to the rear of Leclerc and made a hard move at Turn 12, sending both cars off the circuit temporarily before Max made the move stick a corner later.
On lap 17, Verstappen pitted from third place for additional medium tires, relegating himself to a two-stop strategy. That prompted a reaction from Norris, who chose for hard tires a lap later, but Hamilton stayed out to lead, while Leclerc didn’t stop but Sainz did, despite Verstappen opting for mediums. Hamilton lost time on his old tires following a massive lock up at Turn 11 just after one-third distance. He pitted on lap 21, rejoining on hards after a 3.6-second delay.
Leclerc led Russell, with Norris the first of the stoppers, 2.5s ahead of Verstappen, who had reduced his lead by 3s. Russell pitted immediately behind Norris. On lap 24, Leclerc pitted from the lead, restoring Norris’ advantage over Verstappen by 2.3 seconds. Hamilton finished third, followed by Sainz, Perez, and Leclerc, who all rejoined on hards. Norris locked up and ran wide just before half distance at Turn 11, allowing Verstappen to close straight up.
Verstappen took the lead from Norris on lap 28 at Turn 12, with Lando opting for the cutback rather than defending into the bend, although resistance was fruitless any way. After only a 17-lap stint, Norris pitted on lap 35 for a second set of new hards, giving Verstappen a 6-second advantage over Hamilton. Verstappen, on the other hand, stopped a lap later, going on to hards and rejoined 1.5 seconds ahead of Norris.
With 20 laps remained, Hamilton led Perez and Leclerc on the road, with Verstappen fourth behind Norris, Russell, and Sainz. Hamilton pitted for new mediums on lap 39, just as Verstappen passed Leclerc at Turn 1. At Turn 12, Norris passed Leclerc for second and closed to within 1.2 seconds of Verstappen. Meanwhile, Hamilton was 6 seconds behind. On lap 43, Hamilton wasted valuable time behind Leclerc before passing him at Turn 12, and he was now 3.8 seconds behind Norris, who had pulled away from Verstappen. With eight circuits remaining, Hamilton caught Norris and passed him at Turn 2.
Verstappen led by 5 seconds at this point, but Hamilton closed the gap in the closing stages as Max suffered with a brake problem. Verstappen held on to win by two seconds. With six laps remaining, Sainz passed one-stopper Leclerc for fourth place. Perez also demoted Leclerc from fifth to sixth with a few tours left. Leclerc finished sixth, ahead of Russell (who was only 0.3s behind at the finish) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine). Yuki Tsunoda earned the final point for AlphaTauri and doubled it by going quickest on softs.
As a result of the disqualifications, Norris has moved up to second place, with Carlos Sainz rounding off the podium. Perez moves up to fourth, with Russell, Gasly, Stroll, Tsunoda, and the Williams combo of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant rounding out the top ten. Sargeant scored the first points of his F1 career, becoming the first American to do so since Michael Andretti in the 1993 Italian GP.
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