Max Verstappen won an incredible race after starting P17, Alpine also had an outstanding race as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finished P2 and P3.
During the formation lap, Lance Stroll spun and got stuck in the gravel, therefore the start was aborted. However, Lando Norris and everyone behind restarted their cars and made another lap, which was against the rules since the stewards hadn’t shown the message of an additional formation lap yet. This situation will be investigated after the session, though.
After a slight delay, the race finally started. Norris lost the lead immediately to George Russell, while Max Verstappen had an incredible start and recovered several positions. After just a few laps, he was already in P6.
Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon maintained P3 and P4, with Charles Leclerc unable to overtake them despite being faster. If Russell was leading the race, Lewis Hamilton struggled a lot out there and went wide a few times.
Sergio Perez wasn’t doing great either, as he spun and lost many positions, going back to P16. Meanwhile, Verstappen attacked Leclerc on lap 22, as the Ferrari driver went wide in the last corner, but the former couldn’t get the move done.
The first to pit was the Monégasque on lap 25, and he fitted the inters once again. Meanwhile, Norris was right on Russell’s tail, but overtaking was extremely difficult, as the rain also increased.
On lap 27, Nico Hülkenberg got stuck and the virtual safety car was deployed. Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson, and others pitted since they lost less time. Everybody opted for inters, except for Perez, who went on full wets. The Haas driver was able to resume his race.
The following lap, Russell and Norris pitted, too. They also went on inters, but the rain had visibly increased. Meanwhile, Piastri received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Lawson, who went wide and lost a few positions.
Norris then managed to overtake Russell mere seconds before the safety car got deployed due to the track conditions. The order saw Ocon leading the race, with Verstappen second and Gasly third. Then Norris in P4, with Russell behind, Tsunoda in P6, Leclerc in P7, Piastri P8, Alonso P9, and Lawson P10.
Despite the safety car, Franco Colapinto crashed and destroyed his Williams. The session was therefore red-flagged. This was great news for Ocon, Verstappen, and Gasly.
The FIA announced that Hülkenberg received the black flag since he was helped by the marshals to rejoin the track.
The race resumed on lap 33, with the safety car leading the group, on the same lap the action restarted with a rolling start. Norris went wide in turn 4 and was overtaken by Russell.
On lap 36, Oliver Bearman was right behind Sainz, but the Britton lost control of his car and hit the wall with the front wing. Luckily for him, he could continue with just small damage.
A few laps later, it was the Ferrari driver who crashed and ended his race in the wall. The safety car was deployed once again.
On lap 42, the race resumed once again. It was a crazy restart as Verstappen took the lead of the race, while Norris ended up in P7. Leclerc also had a great start and went up to P4.
McLaren then asked Piastri to swap positions with his teammate, considering that the Aussie also had a ten-second penalty. Meanwhile, Russell overtook Leclerc, who was struggling with the pace.
Hamilton overtook Perez after the Mexican fought hard with Lawson.
In the end, Verstappen won an incredible race ahead of Ocon and Gasly. Russell and Leclerc completed the top 5. Norris was sixth, with Piastri behind, but he had a ten-second penalty. Therefore, it was Tsunoda in P7, Piastri in P8, Lawson in P9, and Hamilton in P10.