Oscar Piastri wins his first race in Formula 1 after a controversial Grand Prix. Lando Norris was second with Lewis Hamilton third after colliding with Max Verstappen.
Lando Norris immediately lost the lead of the race as his teammate Oscar Piastri overtook him in turn 1. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen got up to P2 as he also passed Norris by going off-track into the first corner.
Carlos Sainz had a poor start and dropped to P7, while Charles Leclerc was fifth. One lap later, the Spaniard got up to P6 as he overtook Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen let Norris by in order to avoid a harsher penalty later on. The Dutchman was still putting pressure on the Britton.
Many drivers in the midfield pitted very early in the race, probably going on a two-stop strategy. Hamilton was the first of the front-runners to stop, and Norris pitted the next lap. Verstappen went on a different strategy as he stayed out and lost track position to Hamilton.
Piastri also dived into the pits one lap after his teammate and kept the leadership of the Grand Prix. Both Ferraris stayed out, just like Verstappen.
The Dutchman pitted on lap 22, probably scrapping the idea of the one-stop strategy, and rejoined in P4 having lost one position. Sainz also stopped, while Leclerc continued for a couple of more laps.
Hamilton was losing ground to Verstappen, while Leclerc was gaining time on both of them with a very competitive rhythm. The Red Bull driver was trying to attack the Britton and went wide into turn 3, thus allowing Leclerc to get even closer.
After fighting for some laps, both Hamilton and Leclerc pitted on lap 41. On lap 46, Norris also boxed to cover from the Mercedes driver. Piastri stayed out, thus virtually losing the lead of the race. He pitted two laps later and came out behind Norris.
Verstappen pitted on lap 50 and rejoined in P5 behind Leclerc and Hamilton. After just 5 laps, he was already behind them, but he couldn’t attack the Ferrari driver. He only did so on lap 57 and got up to P4.
Meanwhile, McLaren was dealing with a tough situation as they had to decide whether to let Piastri by or not. Norris’ engineer was asking him to slow down to save tires, probably with the aim of allowing Piastri to get closer, but the Britton wasn’t listening.
Meanwhile, Verstappen was right on Hamilton’s tail. The Dutchman tried on the outside of turn 3, but the Britton closed the door. One lap later, Verstappen dived into turn 1, and they crashed into each other, with the Dutchman hitting Hamilton’s front-right tire. Luckily for both of them, the cars weren’t damaged.
Verstappen probably had some minor damage, as he couldn’t catch up to Leclerc, who overtook him. Meanwhile, Sainz also got closer.
Meanwhile, Norris and his engineer were still debating on the situation. The Britton was pulling away to prove he was faster, but the team wanted him to let Piastri by. However, Verstappen was 5th, and the crash was under investigation, meaning that he could receive a penalty.
With three laps to go, Norris let Piastri by as the team asked him.
In the end, Piastri got his maiden win in Formula 1. Norris and Hamilton were second and third. Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Tsunoda, and Stroll completed the top 10.