After taking the lead from Verstappen on lap two with an outside pass at Turn 10, Sainz held the lead throughout the race – and his victory in the 58-lap race was sealed a lap early when George Russell crashed. at turn 6 to produce a virtual safety car.
Barely two weeks after having his appendix removed which caused him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sainz returned to the top step of the podium for the third time in his F1 career, following his victory at Singapore last year.
Although Verstappen retained the lead from pole, warding off any hint of a move from Sainz on the first lap, the championship leader failed to get out of DRS range after the first lap and thus built the momentum at Ferrari.
Complaining about having “lost the car” for a moment on the second lap along the Lakeside Drive section of the circuit, Sainz was able to pass the Red Bull with DRS open and take the lead in his effort.
Verstappen reported further problems with his Red Bull, which had begun to precipitate the emergence of smoke from the rear, which intensified around the right rear corner of his car.
He then began to slow significantly when it became apparent that his brakes had caught fire, and he returned to the pits as the hub began to shed debris to retire.
This blew up the race, even though Sainz had already seized the initiative and started to repair himself to atone for his absence from pole on Saturday, creating a gap on Lando Norris to ensure he had breathing space in the phase opening pit stop. .
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20 on the field at the start
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Norris had been under fire from Leclerc but, as the Ferrari driver pitted at the end of lap nine, he focused on tire life and hung him on the mediums until the end of the 14th round.
This gave Leclerc the undercut, putting the Ferraris in the top two positions; Sainz stopped at the end of lap 16 to ensure he maintained the lead over his teammate who was quickly pursuing him.
A virtual safety car shortly after Sainz’s stop, produced for a slow Hamilton as the Mercedes driver suffered an engine problem, brought Leclerc closer to Sainz and with a sniff of movement on the restart, but the Spaniard kept him at arm’s length before restoring his advantage.
Sainz took his lead to 8.7 seconds before Leclerc stopped a second time on lap 34 as Norris had started to close on the Monegasque, but the leader waited until the end of lap 41 to pass himself. even to a second set of tough ones. .
Leclerc had cut the lead to five seconds, but Sainz steadied himself and added half a second over the next few laps to create another buffer. Despite complaining that his tires didn’t “feel right” with three laps remaining, Sainz had enough in reserve to reduce the lead – aided by Russell’s late race shunt as he was fighting against Fernando Alonso.
Norris was unable to resume his race against Leclerc, having lost two positions after his first stop; Leclerc and Oscar Piastri both took the lead in the first stint, but McLaren opted to swap Norris and Piastri to give the Briton a chance to chase down second place.
But Leclerc produced a series of strong laps towards the end to stave off the threat from third-placed Norris, while Piastri finished fourth to delight the crowd at his home race.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Sergio Perez was far behind in fifth after an off-color race, where he lost a starting place to Russell, then fell back down the order again after his first stop. This forced the Mexican to give up ground through the use of DRS, although he came up against a stubborn Alonso in the second half of the race.
Alonso had taken the initiative to stop under the first virtual safety car when Hamilton stopped, which put him in front of Perez; Although the Red Bull driver passed him, he was unable to shake the terrier-like Alonso off his heel before the final set of stops.
Lance’s Walk reclaimed seventh place, gaining one place thanks to Russell’s crash, while Yuki Tsunoda broke RB’s duck for the season with a quiet run to eighth place.
Albon was just outside the points, 11th after taking over Logan Sargeant’s car for the remainder of the weekend following his FP1 crash, with Daniel Ricciardo 12th.
One three stops Esteban Ocon completed the finishing touches, falling back after a right rear brake fire was resolved during pit stops – a tear turned out to be the culprit.
