Lando Norris took advantage of Red Bull’s slower pace and the help of the safety car on the road to his first victory in Formula 1. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc completed the podium.
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The beginning of the competition did not herald a victory for the British. Although Max Verstappen stayed in the lead after the start, the Dutchman was very lucky because Sergio Perez almost lost him. The confusion in T1 allowed McLaren to break through, but led by Oscar Piastri.
The Australian already showed how much potential there was in MCL38 today, as he quickly overtook 2nd place Charles Leclerc, and his pace was on par with Red Bull. A little further down, Checo slowly confirmed that the Bulls might not be that damn fast.
Lando Norris, who was initially in P6, also showed pace and announced that under normal conditions he might try to break through and chase the leaders. However, the victory became real only after the first pit stops, which the orange team delayed, allowing Verstappen to make changes. Then Piastri and Leclerc visited the avenue, and Norris became the leader.
A moment later we moved to the lower league, where Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant clashed. The American ended up in the pit, the Dane got a penalty, and a safety car appeared on the track, which made Lando’s life much easier. There was some confusion about the so-called catching the leader, which meant that car no. 4 did not have to worry about Red Bull at the back.
After that, things went smoothly. Norris played the restart well and raced to the finish line with by far the best pace, to which Verstappen was unable to respond. Leclerc completed the top 3.
The second Ferrari eventually finished 4th, but still needs to avoid a penalty to be able to put the points on the pen. Only in P5 was Perez, for whom, after the adventure after the start, finishing the race and avoiding the wrath of Helmut Marko must be treated as a success.
Lewis Hamilton quietly climbed to P6, followed again by the very solid Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese split the two Mercedes cars, as P8 went to George Russell.
Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon also scored small points. The Frenchman thus opened up the achievements of Alpine, which started the season with the slowest structure, and recently provided its car with a dietician and gained some time. Gasly’s P12 can also be considered very good.
This time, Haas ended up with nothing, as Nico Hulkenberg was in P11. Kevin Magnussen once again focused on presenting a greater challenge to the judges, so after the crash and penalty he was already far away.
The remaining drivers, not counting Piastri, were not in the game for anything special, although they had several interesting duels during the competition.
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