\n<\/p>\n
At the front, Sainz made it three Ferrari wins in the past five races after taking pole position, despite losing the lead to Verstappen on the first lap.<\/p>\n
The race was immediately put under the safety car after a collision between Williams\u2019 Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda\u2019s RB led to the Japanese crashing at the first corner and Albon pulling off with damage after Turn Three.<\/p>\n
When the race resumed, Sainz took just a lap before he passed Verstappen into Turn One, after which Norris closed in, leading to all the drama between the title contenders.<\/p>\n
That allowed Leclerc through into second place and initially he tracked Sainz closely, and was within a second by lap 14.<\/p>\n
But he dropped back a second the following lap, whereupon Sainz came on the radio to make an unspecified complaint about Leclerc, using bad language.<\/p>\n
Leclerc stayed within two seconds of Sainz for a further three laps, before starting to drop back rapidly, slipping to nearly eight seconds behind before they made their single pit stops.<\/p>\n
No further communications were broadcast and there were no replays of whatever might have happened, so it remains to be seen whether the drivers will discuss it after the race.<\/p>\n
From that moment on, Sainz was untroubled out front, and Leclerc was equally comfortable in second for a long time.<\/p>\n
But after the pit stops, Norris began to eat into Leclerc\u2019s lead. The Ferrari was 4.7 seconds in front initially but Norris cut it back by 0.2secs or so a lap until he was on Leclerc\u2019s tail with 10 laps to go.<\/p>\n
Coming around the final corner on lap 62, Leclerc ran wide, onto the dusty outside of the track, and then off the circuit, and Norris swept by into second place.<\/p>\n
Behind the top three, the Mercedes drivers were locked in combat throughout the race. Russell overtook Hamilton on lap 14 and stayed ahead until the pit stops, but the seven-time champion came back at Russell in the second stint and was on his tail with 20 laps to go.<\/p>\n
They battled closely for many laps and eventually Hamilton found a way by into the first corner with five laps to go.<\/p>\n
Behind them, Verstappen had no pace after his penalty and had a lonely race to sixth place.<\/p>\n
Haas\u2019 Kevin Magnussen took seventh, ahead of McLaren\u2019s Oscar Piastri, eighth from 17th on the grid, Haas\u2019 Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine\u2019s Pierre Gasly.<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 400th grand prix, retired early on with overheating brakes.<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s team-mate Sergio Perez had a race to forget. He was penalised for a false start, after lining up well forward of his grid slot, and then damaged his car in an incident with RB’s Liam Lawson in Turn Four. <\/p>\n
He finished last after Red Bull stopped him for fresh tyres late on for a failed attempt to take fastest lap.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n