Pole: Max Verstappen
Winner: Max Verstappen
Fastest Lap: Lando Norris 1.12.486
Leclerc is out on the formation lap after suffering from a hydraulics failure.
1-10
Heading into the first corner Albon and Magnussen make contact and are out on the first lap and that brings out the safety car. Piastri is currently out at the moment as his rear wing was hit by Magnussen we also see Ricciardo is in the pits and could be fixing the car as we are now under a red flag as the barriers are fixed.
In lap 4, Verstappen gets away well followed by Norris as Alonso overtakes Hamilton by lap 5. Russell is up ahead of Perez now running in P5. Piastri and Ricciardo who started from the pit lane were a little delayed and are now catching up to the others. Lap7, Norris is now very close to Verstappen and is picking up the slip stream and could take the lead of this race. Russell has said that he is happy to help Hamilton chase Alonso who is 2 seconds ahead. Verstappen has pulled a bigger gap this time around.
10-20
A DRS train is forming with Hamilton leading this train whilst managing g his tyres followed by Russell, Perez, Stroll, Sainz and Gasly. In lap 14, Russell has dropped out of DRS range and has been overtaken by Perez as Ocon comes into the pits. After a flurry of pit stops onto the mediums Zhou has to retire on lap 24. The two Mercedes are now chasing each other running p6 and P7.
Lap 34, Russell is now under threat from Sainz as Hamilton reports he is struggling with his tyres. By the end of lap 34, Sainz is now past Russell as the mediums are not working for the Mercedes cars as they may look to the 3-stop strategy. In lap 36, Tsunoda gets into the final points position in p10 as he overtakes Bottas both on the mediums. Sainz has now overtaken the Mercedes of Hamilton. Perez who is running P4 is closing the gap to Alonso with 1.5 between them with Norris 12 seconds ahead and Verstappen 5 seconds ahead in the lead.
40-50
Unfortunately for Alfa Romeo, they have to retire Bottas’ car with 3 retirements for cars running the Ferrari power units. Lap 43, Russell is struggling as Gasly overtakes and is in danger from the Alpha Tauri. Gasly is now reporting problems with the brakes with high temperatures at the circuit today. In lap 46, Sargeant is in the pit for new tyres starting his final stint. Russell has now pitted for soft tyres. Lap 47, Gasly and Hamilton both pit along with Hulkenberg.
50-60
Sainz has pitted for new tyres as Perez is looking close to Alonso is looking for a move. Stroll also pits as most of the grid is back onto soft tyres. Piastri comes into the pits as Verstappen still leads the race with the next. At to be lapped is Russell. Lap 57, Verstappen and Tsunoda pit with Perez edging ever closer to Alonso who is now in DRS range. Lap 59, Russell is having to retire the car due to a threat of overheating and an oil leak.
60-71
Norris has pitted and the top 3 continue the same with Norris running a very good race. Lap 60, Perez is now close with DRS and Alonso defends against Perez forcing him to back off a little. Alonso is doing well to keep Perez behind with 10 laps left. In lap 68, Verstappen is looking like he is going to win the race with Norris 8 seconds behind in P2 and Alonso putting on a sterling performance to try and keep P3. Sainz is reporting issues with his left paddle shift and is unable to downshift running P6 the only Ferrari left in the race. In lap 70, Perez is finally able to get past Alonso into turn 1 but Alonso is still fighting it back within the slipstream and DRS range. On the final lap, Alonso took P3 from Perez using the slipstream and there was a tense drag race to the chequered flag as Alonso just took P3.
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