Pole: Max Verstappen
Winner: Max Verstappen
Fastest Lap: Fernando Alonso 1.13.873
1-10
Verstappen gets a great start off the line as Russell loses a place to Alonso. Absolute chaos ensues as the rain comes down heavily and sees a flurry of drivers come into the pits for intermediates. Lawson is given a 10-second time penalty for an incident in the pit lane as we see a terrible Ferrari pit stop with Leclerc coming into the pits but no tyres ready for him. In lap 8, with the majority of drivers on the intermediate tyres, we have Perez in the lead closely followed by Verstappen.
10-20
Rain is on its way soon as we Magnussen pit for a second time as does Hamilton both on soft tyres. DRS is enabled on lap 11 as 3 more drivers pit for soft tyres as teams are taking the gamble on the light rain. In lap 14, Verstappen undercuts Perez on the favourable strategy as we see Tsunoda take P9 from Ocon on the inside of turn 1. Mercedes are having a bad day as Lewis was started on a bad tyre and leaving Russell out for too long when the rain came down. Ocon takes back P9 and almost clips the wall on the main straight. Sainz and Gasly are having a very exciting battle for P4 as Sargeant has crashed at turn 8 hits the run-off area and goes into the wall. Full safety car Russell pits for hard tyres as Gasly gets a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane as the safety car bunches the field back together.
20-30
Lap 22 on the safety car restart Verstappen heads off building the gap to Perez as Alonso tries to make a move on Perez. Gasly and Sainz are still battling it out as we see Albon try and make a move on Magnussen for P7 but Magnussen moves while under braking. Lap 24, Ocon gets past Magnussen on the main straight. In lap 26, Hamilton overtakes Leclerc for P12 and is now chasing fellow Brit Lando Norris.
30-40
Piastri has been making some good moves as he gets past Zhou who makes an easy move for P11. Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton are battling it out with each other for P8 as we see Norris making a move into turn 1. Russell makes a clinical move at turn 10 on Leclerc. Meanwhile at the front Verstappen is 5 seconds ahead of Perez who is 3 seconds ahead of Alonso. Albon is running a good race so far for Williams who has not put since the start of the race on the soft tyres. There are some reports of rain coming through in 5 minutes.
40-50
Lap 41, Lawson who is standing in for injured Ricciardo makes a fantastic move on Leclerc for P15 but Leclerc gets him back on the DRS zone. Lap 42, Sainz pits for new tyres as Leclerc retires with an issue with the car. Lap 43, Norris pits for new tyres in an attempt at the undercut on Tsunoda. In lap 45, Albon finally pits as we see Hamilton searching for a move on the inside of turns 1-3 but is unable to get past as of right now. Perez pits for new soft tyres as Norris sets the fastest lap. Hamilton into the pits for new soft tyres. In lap 48, Russell goes for a move on Gasly but is not able to make it stick on used Hard tyres.
50-60
A slow pit stop for Alonso means that Sainz takes P3. In lap 52, Alonso uses DRS to get past Sainz and is back up to P3. Tsunoda is dropping down the order as Russell gets past and Ocon is close behind. In lap 56, Hamilton gets past Norris as Albon gets past the other Mercedes for P6. Lap 57, the radars are showing heavy rain is on the way potentially before the end of the race. In lap 59, the rain is close as Hamilton and Russell are close to each other Russell makes an extraordinary save as he goes onto the grass. Gasly overtakes Sainz into turn 1 for P4 who is having an excellent race for Alpine.
60-72
Red Bull has a nightmare stop as Perez comes into the pits and there are no intermediate tyres ready for him. It is raining extremely heavily now as most drivers come into the pits for intermediate tyres. All drivers are going to have to pit as the rain is about to come down even heavier than the beginning of the race. With 10 laps to go Ocon goes onto full wet tyres as Norris Russell and Albon are battling as we see Perez go off the track at turn 1 and drop to P3. Zhou has crashed into turn 1 and it’s the VSC being deployed and coupled to potentially be a full safety car until the end of the race. Lap 64, has been red-flagged with a heavy downpour but confusion at Red Bull as Perez boxes just as the red flag comes out and does not make it out of the pits as the red light is flashing at the end of the pit lane.
A rolling start with Perez back up to P3 for the restart. Lap 66, safety car in this lap and Verstappen backs the pack up. Russell makes a brilliant move on the inside of Norris to take P7. In lap 67, Perez has a 5-second penalty which could put Gasly on the podium as Russell has to retire due to a puncture with debris on the track. Norris has been noted for a collision which could be the reason for Russell's puncture. In lap 69, we see the replay of Norris who seems to turn in on Russell and that is how Russell got a puncture and has boxed for new tyres but is running last. In lap 70, Hamilton is chasing Sainz and is getting ready to make a move for P5. The final lap of the race and Verstappen has broken the record for 9 consecutive race wins equals an all-time record. Hamilton has been close to Sainz and has one more chance to hold the position as Norris is closing the gap to Hamilton with no investigation for his tangle with Russell.
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