Oscar Piastri has extended his championship lead after a commanding performance that yielded his fourth win of the season. It was a McLaren 1-2 as Lando Norris came home in second, the Brit forced to a recovery drive after a turn-one incident with Max Verstappen. Having kept the lead off the start, a lock-up saw Verstappen go deep into the first corner which opened the door for Norris to attempt a switchback. However, the world champion’s staunch defense saw Norris run wide at turn two and drop to sixth. Kimi Antonelli briefly inherited second but was swiftly passed by Piastri who proceeded to catch Verstappen with relative ease, the Australian entering DRS range by lap five and mounting his first attack on lap nine. There followed a fierce tussle between the leading duo with Verstappen’s defense coming to an end on lap 14 when, having been caught and passed by Piastri down the main straight, he locked up and ran wide.
Having cleared Verstappen, Piastri made the most of the clear as well as the McLaren’s race pace by pulling out a significant lead. Having fallen to sixth after his first corner incident, Norris was able to make light work of those ahead of him and caught Verstappen on lap 15. The Red Bull driver once again made things as difficult as possible but was forced to concede on lap 18. Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso lost time with a spin while an engine failure for Ollie Bearman triggered a virtual safety car, a major beneficiary of which was George Russell. Having opted to go long on a set of hard tires, Russell came in on lap 30 and, despite a slow stop, was able to overcut Verstappen for P3.
Further back, Williams proved to be the standout midfield contender as Alex Albon got past Antonelli for fifth, while his teammate Carlos Sainz went head-to-head with the Ferraris. On lap 34, the four-time race winner looked to have gotten the jump on his old teammate Charles Leclerc, only to run wide at turn one and lose out to both him and Lewis Hamilton. In addition to their lackluster pace, Ferrari also had an issue with team orders. Running in eighth on mediums one place behind Leclerc on hards, Hamilton asked to be let by in order to try and pressure Antonelli, a request the team initially denied. Leclerc was eventually asked to make way for his teammate at which point Hamilton’s tires started to wear, while Leclerc’s had entered their operating window. Ferrari therefore swapped their drivers again with a disgruntled Hamilton having to resist a last-lap divebomb from Sainz.
In contrast to the action behind, the two McLarens ran trouble-free for the remainder of the race. Piastri crossed the line 4.6 seconds clear of his teammate with Russell a daunting 37 seconds adrift in third. Verstappen had to settle for fourth ahead of Albon who equalled his best result of the season so far in fifth. Antonelli secured sixth for the fourth time this season with the two Ferraris in seventh and eighth. Sainz’s late charge was ultimately unsuccessful, the Spaniard having to make do with ninth with Yuki Tsunoda securing the last points-paying position in tenth ahead of Isack Hadjar despite receiving a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
After an early duel with Hamilton, Esteban Ocon could only manage 12th with Gasly, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Stroll behind him. Bearman and Bortoleto both suffered mechanical issues, while Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson were forced to retire after a turn-one collision on the opening lap.
Having secured his third successive victory (the first McLaren driver to do so since Mika Hakkinen in 1998) Oscar Piastri is now 26 points clear of Lando Norris at the top of the drivers’ championship with Verstappen 32 points behind in third. Russell’s podium saw close to within six points of the world champion, while Albon is now 11 points off Hamilton in eighth.
