Sergio Perez takes a phenomenal race win despite being 18th after the first lap. Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll complete another surprise podium. George Russell had an almost certain race win taken away as Mercedes fumble during a surprise pit stop.
Report:
Russell stormed from the grid and had the lead by turn 1. Behind, Bottas had to defend from Perez and Verstappen. By the time they reached turn 4, Leclerc had joined the battle but locked up, collecting Perez. Verstappen took avoiding action, but misjudged the distance to the barriers and appeared to just drive into them. Leclerc and Verstappen had to retire, and Perez was demoted to last as the safety car came out.
Russell drove away on the restart, but Sainz attempted a move on Bottas. The Spaniard almost completed the move, but put a wheel in the gravel and gifted the position back to Bottas. This gave a crucial 1.5s gap to the leader, free from DRS.
Sainz took 3rd after all the drama, but Ricciardo and Kvyat were not far behind. Norris, who had started last, managed to make his way to 9th with an incredible start. But, Albon took the position from him on lap 21 with a stunning move. Perez replicated the move taking Albon a lap later.
Mid-race
The race plateaued as the teams started to move toward their pit stops, Russell was able to maintain his 2s lead and Sainz was holding on to 3rd.
The pit stops truly kicked off on lap 29 as the midfield cars came in. Sainz pitted from his podium position and while Ricciardo attempted the undercut. This backfired as Kvyat made his way past the Australian on the straight.
Stroll and Ocon took 3rd and 4th and started a long, conservative stint. They were on a different compound to Sainz and Ricciardo and were hoping that they would get out in front after their eventual stop.
Ocon stopped on lap 42 and despite a good job from his pit crew, came out a long way adrift of the battle for 3rd. Stroll followed a lap later and managed to come out in front of the Frenchman. Ocon used the warm tyres supremely well with an outstanding overtake through turns 4, 5 an 6.
Russell finally came in on lap 46 and had an issue free stop. Despite having to change a setting, Russell started flying, reeling in Bottas by almost a second a lap. Bizarrely, Bottas stayed out for 5 laps longer and after stopping was 8.5s behind.
Chaos Reigns in the desert
Latifi pulled up on lap 54, retiring from the race. The VSC was out and a few cars used this as an opportunity to take an extra stop. Most importantly, Sainz and Riccardo stopped from 3rd and 4th, but racing was resumed while they were in, not giving them as much time as they would have expected.
On track, Perez had managed to recover to 3rd despite his start. Yet another incredible drive from the Mexican, but more was yet to come.
With 21 laps to go, Aitken spun out of the last corner and wiped off his front wing in the process. This bought out the safety car for the second time and both Mercedes cars stopped. But this led to absolute chaos. Russell was given a mixed set of tyres and had to stop on the following lap. Behind, Bottas had a very slow stop with a huge issue on his front left tyre. After this, Bottas lead from Russell, but they were now down in 4th and 5th respectively.
Before the restart the order was Perez, Ocon, Stroll, Bottas and Russell.
As the safety car came in, the cars remained in formation. It took one lap, but Russell pulled an amazing overtake on Bottas, wheel by wheel throughout the entirety of sector 2. This started a wave of overtakes for the Briton. He dispatched Stroll and Ocon on following laps, but he had a 3.3 gap to close on a car known as ‘The Pink Mercedes’
In a heart-breaking twist, Russell’s luck took a turn for the worse as a slow rear left puncture surfaced on his car. Russell had to pit again, dropping him to 14th. On the soft tyres, he fought back to 9th, taking his first points and his first fastest lap, finishing only one place behind Bottas.
This enabled Perez to maintain his lead and take the first Mexican victory since 1970. Even better for Racing Point, Stroll came home 3rd a fantastic double podium for the pink panthers. Between them, Ocon controlled his superb drive to take his first podium in Formula 1. The cameras showed scenes of ecstasy, for the second time this year F1 pulled a podium no-one would have predicted.
George Russell was pictured with an understandably disappointed expression after the race, but this could be a moment that defines the potential world champion. For anyone who was disappointed about that result, the joy shown from all 3 podium sitters and their respective teams would have provided solace. Most importantly, Sergio Perez has become the 111th driver to win a Formula 1 race. A result no-one expected, but many are very happy to see.
Full race results:
- Perez
- Ocon +10.518
- Stroll +11.869
- Sainz +12.580
- Ricciardo +13.330
- Albon +13.842
- Kvyat +14.534
- Bottas +15.389
- Russell +18.556
- Norris +19.541
- Gasly +20.527
- Vettel +22.611
- Giovinazzi +24.111
- Raikkonen +26.153
- Magnussen +32.370
- Aikten +33.674
- Fittipaldi +36.858
- Latifi RET
- Verstappen RET
- Leclerc RET
Featured Image Credit: @RacingPointF1 Official Twitter
