Lando Norris won the sprint race after McLaren ordered Oscar Piastri to swap positions. Max Verstappen got the better of Charles Leclerc to finish P3.
The sprint race started cleanly, as everyone finished the first lap without issues. Oscar Piastri kept the lead, with Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc behind.
Max Verstappen tried to attack the Ferrari driver for P3, but he couldn’t get the job done. Despite that, the Red Bull driver was extremely fast, and thanks to the DRS he tried twice to gain a position already on lap 3.
Leclerc was also improving his pace and got into Norris’s DRS zone, making it a four-way battle at the front.
Meanwhile, George Russell was right behind Carlos Sainz, but the Britton made a mistake in turn 1 and went wide, thus losing time. The two McLarens picked up the pace and tried to create a bigger gap between them and Leclerc.
Norris said to his engineer that he was faster than Piastri, and apparently, he wanted to pass, but the team hadn’t ordered a driver swap so far. The Aussie driver was actually pulling away a little, and the Ferrari driver was now closer to Norris.
Sergio Perez was trying to recover and get back to at least P8 to score one point. He overtook Nico Hülkenberg and was in P10 behind Oliver Bearman. At the front, McLaren asked Piastri to give DRS to his teammate to help him defend from the Ferrari and the Red Bull.
Perez also overtook Bearman, while the top four drivers were giving their all in a superb race. Leclerc then made a mistake in turn 1 and lost contact with Norris, but he managed to keep Verstappen behind.
The Mexican driver overtook Liam Lawson, but the latter overtook him back immediately. Meanwhile, it seemed that McLaren wanted to switch positions on the last lap should the gap to P3 allow them to do so.
On lap 18, Verstappen overtook Leclerc for P3, as the Monégasque made a small mistake in turn 1. On lap 21, Hülkenberg retired from the sprint due to what seemed an engine problem. One lap later, Piastri let Norris by and gifted him the lead. Their timing was perfect as just a few seconds later the virtual safety car was deployed.
Behind the four front-runners, Sainz was fifth, Russell sixth, Pierre Gasly seventh, and Perez eighth.