(Motorsports news) Verstappen took the lead from third on the grid after passing the Ferraris that had taken the front row. Sergio Perez tried to follow him around the outside of the first curve, but was thrown out after colliding with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Verstappen was leading the race until Magnussen was involved in a major crash when his Haas’ rear suspension appeared to fail at Turn 8 and he slammed into the barriers.
The race was practically split in half, but Max resumed his dominance following the restart, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton working his way past the Ferraris to finish a distant second, ahead of Leclerc. Polesitter Leclerc led the charge to Turn 1, but Verstappen sped past the Ferraris that had locked off the first row.
Home hero Perez raced alongside the leaders on the outside line, making it three-wide, but collided with Leclerc as he came into Turn 1 and crashed into the air. Perez returned to the pits, but his car was too damaged to continue. Verstappen led the first lap, followed by Leclerc, who had damage to his front wing endplate, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), and George Russell (Mercedes).
On lap five, Leclerc’s endplate flew off at Turn 1, resulting in a brief virtual safety car period. On lap 11, Hamilton passed Ricciardo for fourth, while on lap 15, Alex Albon (Williams) passed Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) for the final points-paying position. Verstappen pitted from P1 on lap 20, resuming on hard tires, allowing Leclerc to take the lead from Sainz and Hamilton.
On lap 25, Hamilton pitted for hards, while Max eased past Sainz to take second on lap 29. Sainz pitted two laps later, rejoining considerably behind Hamilton, while Leclerc pitted a lap later, rejoining second but 16 seconds behind Verstappen. On lap 35, Magnussen crashed heavily at Turn 8 as his rear suspension looked to collapse, resulting in a safety car and sending Verstappen into the pits for fresh hards – just before the race was red flagged.
The grid reformed, with Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Ricciardo, Piastri (mediums), and Russell (mediums) leading the way. Verstappen aced the restart and sprinted free, with Russell the only mover at the front of the field, passing Piastri and Ricciardo to take sixth. Hamilton passed Leclerc on the run to Turn 1 with 21 laps remaining, at which point Verstappen was 2.6 seconds clear and driving away despite being on the tougher rubber.
Verstappen stretched his lead to over 13 seconds over Hamilton (who recorded the fastest lap on the last circuit), with Leclerc finishing a distant third. Further back, Sainz, Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) collided twice over sixth in consecutive laps at Turn 1, with Tsunoda spinning down to 16th.
