It was the result that 70,000 fans were looking for as Max Verstappen took a dominant win at his home grand prix. Mercedes rounded out the podium in a tense, if uneventful race.
Rampant Red Bull race start
It was a dream start for Verstappen, pulling away well from the start and making a 1.7s gap by the end of the first lap, breaking the crucial DRS barrier. The tightness of the track led to close racing but, miraculously, there wasn’t a first lap incident.
Ricciardo’s McLaren was smoking after one lap and Russell feared oil on the track. With such a narrow course an off track excursion could be fatal.
Perez had to start from the pitlane after an engine change, but wasn’t able to make easy progress. He massively flat spotted a tyre after battling with Mazepin and had to pit on lap 12. Back on the track he set to the lower placed drivers, setting the fastest lap in the process.
First round of Pitstops
By lap 20, Verstappen was already lapping backmarkers. Hamilton pitted on lap 21, earlier than expected. The pitstop wasn’t entirely clean, but Verstappen reacted immediately, pitting a lap later. Verstappen came out cleanly in front of Hamilton as Bottas inherited the lead.
Verstappen caught Bottas at a remarkably quick rate, which raised questions as to whether or not he was deliberately slowing to aid Hamilton behind.
Giovinazzi dropped down after his strong starting position and was soon battling Russell for 10th. This almost came to a head in the pits, but Giovinazzi managed to remain in front. Russell’s chances were hampered further as the Williams driver recieved a 5s penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
By lap 30, Verstappen was now in Bottas’ DRS territory. The Mercedes was now going long for a one stop, but was able to defend against the Red Bull on the tight, twisty track. But, Bottas went wide on the last corner and gave Verstappen the opportunity on the main straight. Verstappen breezed past, to the joy of the crowd but Hamilton made his way past as well. The Briton was now less than a second behind the home hero. Bottas pitted on the next lap and came out in 3rd.
The first yellow flag of the afternoon came on lap 37 after Vettel attempted a move but lost the rear end through turn 3. Bottas behind had to take evasie action and was able to squeeze past on the outside.
Tense Mid-Race
Verstappen was increasing the gap further and now had cleared the pit gap to Bottas. Mercedes tried something new with a much earlier second stop, but this placed Hamilton in traffic, scuppering his outlap time.
Red Bull responded immediately, pitting Verstappen on the next lap, but on a harder compound than Hamilton. This would give the Red Bull longer durability, but Hamilton was setting consecutive fastest laps.
Despite an unfortunate result yesterday, Norris was pulling out a mega stint on his starting tyres. The Briton was running in the points when he pitted on lap 43, but he fell to 11th after his stop. An unlikely points finish was on the cards. This was aided further as the McLaren driver was let past his team-mate for 10th.
In 4th, Gasly was running yet another superb, but quiet race. With 30 laps to go, the Frenchman was managing an 8s advantage to the Ferraris behind.
Mazepin was the first retirement, his Haas was wheeled into the garage. A similar fate fell to Tsunoda on lap 50, reporting a lack of power.
Fastest Lap Faux Pas
Hamilton was slowly catching Verstappen and, after traffic, was able to make it to 1.3s behind, just unable to break the DRS of the car infront. On the radio, Hamilton was informed that they would be attempting to take these tyres to the end. Hamilton had to preserve his tyres and the gap started opening again.
Hamilton’s tyres started to degrade heavily with 11 laps to go. Meanwhile Perez was making moves through the field, now overtaking Norris for 9th through sector 2. Replays showed contact between the two drivers as the move started through turn 1. Both drivers were lucky to get away without significant damage.
There was a late pitstop for Bottas, but team orders prevented Bottas attempting the fastest lap, as this would have taken a point away from Hamilton. Bottas was told by the chief strategiest to abort his current lap, but Bottas took the fastest lap regardless. This meant that Hamilton now had to pit in an attempt to get that point back. Hamilton was able to take the fastest lap on the last tour.
The crowd erupted as Verstappen took a dominant win. Mercedes were never really in a position to challenge this weekend and, as a result, Hamilton has to concede the championship lead to his young rival. A suprisingly incident free race meant that the majority of the field were lapped by Verstappen. Mercedes rounded out the podium while Gasly was able to maintain his impressive 4th place. Leclerc and Sainz will be happy with their result as it puts them fully infront of McLaren in the constructors championship. Alpine continued their strong form, finishing in formation while strong recovery drives from Perez and Norris rounded out the point scorers.
F1 will return with part 3 of the triple header at Monza, where sprint race qualifying will return als0.
Full race results:
- Verstappen
- Hamilton +20.932
- Bottas +56.460
- Gasly + 1Lap
- Leclerc + 1Lap
- Sainz + 1Lap
- Alonso +1Lap
- Ocon +1Lap
- Perez +1Lap
- Norris +1Lap
- Ricciardo + 1Lap
- Stroll +2Laps
- Vettel +2Laps
- Giovinazzi +2Laps
- Kubica +2Laps
- Latifi +2Laps
- Russell +2Laps
- Schumacher +3Laps
- Tsunoda RET
- Mazepin RET
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
