Bottas took the lead from the start and never looked like conceding the position to Verstappen. Hamilton recovered well to 5th, but will start in the middle of the pack after his ICE penalty.
Report:
The F1 world had been held in limbo for the previous 24 hours due to the news on Verstappen and Hamilton’s impending penalties. Hamilton was disqualified from Qualifying for the sprint race while Verstappen escaped with just a $50,000 fine.
Bottas had a superb start, while Verstappen bogged down. Bottas led out of the Senna S, while Vestappen went wide and dropped to 3rd, behind Sainz.
Verstappen, who started on the mediums, was able to climb back to 2nd, dispatching of Sainz, and was able to get within DRS of Bottas by lap 8.
Hamilton climbed 6 positions on lap one and was able to escape any carnage, specifically Raikkonen who was turned around at the start of lap 2.
Perez was behind the Ferrari of Sainz from early on and looked likely to take the position away from the Spaniard, but numerous overtake attempts were quelled by a superb defence from the Ferrari driver.
On lap 8, Hamilton was able to breeze past Alonso for 11th, but struggled initially with Ricciardo’s McLaren for 10th. Eventually, the reigning champion found his way past and set upon Vettel ahead.
Hamilton’s stellar drive took him past Ocon, Leclerc and Gasly and, into the final lap, Hamilton managed to squeeze past Norris to take a superb 5th place, which will become 10th after penalties are applied.
Up front, the Red Bulls were not able to progress, leaving Bottas to cruise to victory and P1 for the race, While Sainz took a phenomenal 3rd. Perez will be in the mix tomorrow with 4th, while Norris was suprised to be the leading car in the McLaren and Ferrari battle. Gasly and Ocon had respectable results while Vettel rounded out the top 10.
Results:
- Bottas
- Verstappen
- Sainz
- Perez
- Hamilton
- Norris
- Leclerc
- Gasly
- Ocon
- Vettel
- Ricciardo
- Alonso
- Giovinazzi
- Stroll
- Tsunoda
- Latifi
- Russell
- Raikkonen
- Schumacher
- Mazepin
Verstappen has extended his lead in the championship by 2 points, while Mercedes have clawed a point against Red Bull. As for the race tomorrow, Verstappen starts significantly ahead of his championship rival. As long as he can further extend his point advantage, the last 3 races will only need to be damage limitation.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
