Max Verstappen produced a flawless drive to claim victory which will surely be extra satisfying after a victory was taken away from him in Brazil last year.
It didn’t come easy for Red Bull’s star driver as he had to overtake Lewis Hamilton twice due to an undercut from the Mecredes team.
The race was full of drama as Bottas bowed out of the race due to overheating and that was followed by the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc collided while disputing fourth place.
Shortly after the second safety car Hamilton collided with Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly held off the Mercedes for second place on the line.
It was a remarkable end to one of the most incident-packed races in recent memory. “What a race!” Verstappen said, summing it up perfectly. “Loved it.”
“Mercedes was quick again, but I think as a team we did a really good job with the pit stop strategy,” Verstappen said.
“I think especially the last one to get the call to get back on the red tyres, that basically saved our race and gave us the opportunity to fight Lewis again into Turn 1. It was of course incredible to come out on top again.”
“I had to keep pushing and all the time with the strategy Lewis pitted a lap earlier so we had to be really on top of our pit stops,” he added.
“Two times we had a good move with him to get back into first and from there onwards I could control the race with the tyres I had.
“I was pushing flat-out on my out lap to be closer because it was my only shot. I was close into the DRS and we knew that we had great top speed all weekend already, so I’m very happy to get past.”
Hamilton took the blame for his crash with Albon and was penalised after the race by five seconds, demoting him to seventh – promoting Carlos Sainz to third for McLaren.
Verstappen was a deserved winner in a race that he controlled from the start, but Gasly was a star, Hamilton and Mercedes had an unusually difficult race, and yet again there will be a sharp focus on Vettel’s driving and character, as the four-time champion continued his battle for supremacy at Ferrari with his young team-mate.
We hope you followed our preview where we tipped Verstappen to win @ $3.50 & Ricciardo top 6 @ $9
The Results
- Verstappen
- Gasly
- Sainz
- Raikkonen
- Giovinazzi
- Ricciardo
- Hamilton
- Norris
- Perez
- Kvyat
- Magnussen
- Russell
- Grosjean
- Albon
- Hulkenberg
- Kubica
DNF: Vettel, Leclerc, Stroll, Bottas
