Antonelli made great strides in his bid for the F1 World Drivers’ Championship as a retirement from Russell allowed the Italian to extend his lead at the top to 43 points.
The start of the race was delayed as the FIA ordered for there to be an extra two formation laps after Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls was unable to get into gear, and therefore would have to retire from the race.
Lando Norris was one of the 7 drivers starting on the intermediate tyres in what were difficult conditions at the start of the race, and he made good use of his start by overtaking both Mercedes drivers to take the lead of the race, while Antonelli would overtake his teammate Russell to remain in 2nd place.
Piastri was vocal in how he felt that the intermediate tyres were the wrong tyres for the conditions, and would come into the pits for new mediums at the end of the first lap, while Norris would come in a lap later despite being in the lead.
Antonelli would only be in the lead for a brief moment though, with Russell regaining first place after making an overtake on the inside of his teammate at turn 1 on lap 3.
Antonelli’s race was close to ending on lap 6, after he tried to re-overtake Russell after losing the lead to his teammate, and eventually locked up heading into the final chicane, having to take to the escape road, but was able to maintain 2nd place.
Hamilton was complaining about a lack of power after being overtaken by Verstappen on lap 9, having previously had regeneration issues with his power unit during qualifying yesterday.
The fight at the front continued on lap 12 as Russell went deep heading into the turn 10 hairpin, allowing Antonelli to overtake for the lead, though Russell was able to regain the lead just moments later.
On lap 13, Albon found that his race came to a premature end after Piastri misjudged an attempted overtake at turn 10 and hit into the side of the Williams car, making it so that the McLaren would also be in for his second stop of the race, before most had even come in for their first. As a result of the incident, Piastri would receive a 10 second time penalty for his troubles.
McLaren’s race went from bad to worse as Norris was told to pit for his second stop on lap 16, with the reigning world champion being told that it was for reliability reasons.
Antonelli remained hot on the heels of Russell all throughout the opening portion of the race, and was finally able to make a move for the lead stick on lap 22, thanks to another lock up going into turn 10 for Russell.
Antonelli lost his lead almost as quickly as he gained it, having locked up going into turn 10 on lap 24, allowing Russell to pull alongside heading into the final chicane, with the two Mercedes drivers touching wheels and forcing Antonelli wide.
The Mercedes battle finally ended on lap 30 as George Russell ended up going deep and onto the grass at turn 8, before then coming to a stop as something on his car broke, bringing out a virtual safety car as a result, allowing many of those at the front of the grid to effectively have a free pit stop.
With the battle at the front effectively over, attention turned to the fight for positions further down the order, with Hadjar and Leclerc having a close fight in the battle for fourth, as Hadjar looked to defend the position he gained during the flurry of pitstops.
Leclerc would finally make his way ahead of Hadjar, but not before the Red Bull driver would be noted for more than one change in direction during his defence against Leclerc. Hadjar would be found guilty for infringing on the rules, and given a 10 second time penalty as a result.
Lap 40 would see the conclusion of Norris’ nightmare race as a power unit failure would force him to retire from the race, finding a spot behind the barriers at turn 10 in order to avoid bringing out a safety car.
A brief VSC would come out on lap 46 as a bit of debris came off of Sergio Perez’s Cadillac as the suspension of the car broke as he came into the pitlane a few laps prior, with Hamilton making good use of the restart as he tried to make gains on Verstappen in the fight for 2nd place.
Hamilton had been reeling Verstappen in for much of the second half of the race, turning what had been a 5 second gap into a 0.5 second gap. This eventually led to an opportunity to take 2nd place away from the Red Bull driver, having made a masterful overtake around the outside of turn 1 on lap 62.
Verstappen did not let the position go easy, and was keeping Hamilton honest for the rest of the race, though an opportunity to retake 2nd failed to materialise for the Dutchman.
In the end, Antonelli’s 4th consecutive win gave him a major boost in the drivers’s championship, moving him up to 131 points, 43 points ahead of teammate Russell after just 5 rounds of the season.
The next race to take place is the Monaco Grand Prix, which will be held in two weeks time on Sunday, June 7.
