Lewis Hamilton somehow managed to hold off an intense challenge from Max Verstappen to take a thrilling victory. Valtteri Bottas came home in third ahead of an impressive Lando Norris and resurgent Sergio Perez.
The season begins.
Perez broke down from 11th on the formation lap, an unideal start to his Red Bull tenure. He was able to get the car started as the second formation lap took place, but had to go straight to the pits.
Off the line, Verstappen had a very strong start and defended well from Hamilton. As the cars filed through the first corners, the Haas of Mazepin was sighted careening into the barriers. The Russian retired immediately and will have to wait to complete his first lap of a Formula One race.
On the restart, Verstappen backed up the pack right to the line and was able to bolt from the Mercedes. Leclerc had a look against Hamilton, but was unable to get past. Behind, there was carnage as random pieces of bodywork flew from numerous incidents. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car. The most significant damage was on Gasly who lost his front wing on the back of Ricciardo’s McLaren. At the end of the grid, Schumacher emulated his team-mate with a spin, but was able to keep his car out of the barriers.
On lap 6, Bottas was able to squeeze past Leclerc for 3rd. Encouragingly, Leclerc was able to fight back, but lost out on the straights to Mercedes power. As the top 3 started to power away, Norris took 4th from Leclerc and began to knock down the time to 3rd. Despite starting from the pits, Perez was flying through the grid, recovering to 12th before lap 10.
The Pit Stops begin.
Hamilton pitted first between the battling pair, trailing by 1.7s as he pulled up. Throughout the grid, many drivers started to attempt their own undercut moves. Back on track, Hamilton started gaining a huge amount of time on Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver stayed out, much to the surprise of the paddock.
Verstappen finally pitted on lap 18, ending up 7s behind Hamilton. He was hampered by a slightly slower pit stop, but was left puzzled by Red Bull’s strategy choice.
At the bottom of the top 10, Sainz, Alonso and Vettel launched into a hugely entertaining battle. All 3 drivers raced superbly, switching places for multiple laps in a row. It was Sainz who would win out, edging in front of both drivers.
Verstappen was clawing back the time to Hamilton ahead, using his softer compound tyre to full affect. His team-mate was making the most of his dire situation and found himself in 7th by lap 27.
Strangely, Hamilton pitted on lap 29 for another set of hard tyres, his previous tyres were only 12 laps old. This meant Verstappen retook the lead, with Bottas 3s behind. Bottas came in a lap later than Hamilton for his stop, but was hit with a disaster. His front right tyre wouldn’t come off, leaving him on the ugly side of a 10s stop. This elevated Norris and Leclerc to 3rd and 4th respectively.
Unfortunately, Alonso’s stellar return was spoiled with a terminal trip to the pits, the Spaniard was running in a solid points paying position.
With 20 laps to go, Verstappen was leading, but still had one stop to go. Hamilton was 15s behind, but was stuck to the end of the race on the hard compound tyre.
Perez came in for his final stop on lap 39, coming out in 7th, infront of Stroll. Verstappen made his final stop a lap later and had 16 laps to close 8 seconds. This was a superb set up to a tantalising finish.
Verstappen begins the chase.
Verstappen started closing over a 1s a lap. This led to the pit wall fearing that he might be taking too much out of his tyres.
There was a strange incident between Ocon and Vettel on lap 48. Vettel appeared to lock up, colliding with Ocon in front and turning him around. Vettel was furious over the radio, accusing Ocon of changing his lines despite following a regular path. Vettel was left with damage and a 10s penalty.
It was incredibly tense as the race drew to a close. Verstappen was still closing the gap, but time was running out. With 5 laps to go, Hamilton suffered a costly lock up on his 10 lap older tyres. This gifted Verstappen the much needed DRS.
Verstappen finally made his move with 4 laps to go, but took the position with all 4 wheels off the track. He immediately had to give the position back and ducked right back in to the DRS zone of Hamilton.
But, it wasn’t enough and Hamilton managed his tyres beautifully to take the 300th race win for a British driver in Formula One. Bottas pitted late for an attempt on the fastest lap, which he managed at the bitter end of the race. Norris completed a solid opener finishing 4th, ahead of Perez and Leclerc.
F1 2021 has started with a superb bang. Many F1 fans have been wishing for a season long battle between Hamilton and Verstappen. Now, it seems that wish may finally be coming true.
F1 returns in 3 weeks as Imola hosts Round 2.
Full Race Standings:
- Hamilton
- Verstappen +0.745
- Bottas +37.383 (FL)
- Norris +46.466
- Perez +52.047
- Leclerc +59.090
- Ricciardo +66.004
- Sainz +67.100
- Tsunoda +85.691
- Stroll +86.713
- Raikkonen +88.864
- Giovinazzi +1 Lap
- Ocon +1 Lap
- Russell +1 Lap
- Vettel +1 Lap
- Schumacher +1 Lap
- Gasly RET
- Latifi RET
- Alonso RET
- Mazepin RET
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
