World championship leader Max Verstappen was in a class of his own yet again on race day, securing his fifth race win a row stretching his monumental lead in the standings to 116 points.
A slightly controversial end saw the race finish behind the safety car as last year’s winner Daniel Ricciardo was forced to stop his McLaren on-track due to engine issues, neutralising the thrill to end the grand prix.
Questions remain whether it was the right call to end the race behind the safety car or if a red flag was required to lead into a thrilling standing start.
It also seemed that the safety car picked up the wrong car instead of leader Verstappen, yet again delaying a possible resumption to the race.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started the race on pole, finished second best to his championship rival. Failing to answer once again to Red Bull’s pace was the Scuderia’s downfall; a repeated theme in the 2022 season.
The Monegasque was vividly disappointed that the race ended under the yellow flags that prevented a grand-stand finish to the 53-lap grand prix.
Mercedes’ George Russell secured his seventh podium of the season finishing 3rd, holding off a charging Carlos Sainz towards the end of the race.
Teammate Lewis Hamilton climbed fourteen places across the grand prix to finish 5th.
Sergio Pérez, who was one of a number victim to engine penalties, finished 6th and took an extra point for the fastest lap. The Mexican suffered from a front-right brake issue towards the beginning of the race.
Max Verstappen already made his way up into the podium positions within the first three laps of the race, passing Russell for 2nd by lap 5, setting himself up beautifully to try and attack leader Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz enjoyed his battle through the midfield too. The Spaniard started in 18th place after several engine penalties were applied to his Ferrari. His straight-line speed proved too dominant whilst charging his way through the field making light work of the midfield DRS-train, passing a car almost every lap, propping his car up into the top 4 by lap 13.
Perhaps the turning point of the race was when a virtual safety car for Sebastian Vettel’s stricken Aston Martin forced Leclerc to pit and put him onto a two-stop strategy, whilst Verstappen continued and extended his stint committing to the one-stop.
Once Leclerc had stopped a second time, the gap to the lead Red Bull was too far for him to catch. An irritatingly 17-second gap separated the two before that safety car was deployed towards the end.
Elsewhere, McLaren put pressure on Alpine in the constructor fight for fourth – Lando Norris finishing 7th.
Fernando Alonso ended a 10-race points finishing streak by retiring during the race with Esteban Ocon failing to score, finishing behind Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.
More woe for Aston Martin evolved as their weekend went from bad to worse from both cars exiting Qualifying 1 on Saturday to a double DNF on Sunday.
De Vries scores points on his debut
Verstappen’s counterpart Nyck de Vries who deputised for the ill Alexander Albon for Williams incredibly scored points on his debut to the sport.
The Dutchman had already taken part in FP1 for Aston Martin but got the call on Saturday morning to take part for the Williams team for the remainder of the weekend.
However, the 27-year-old Formula E and Formula 2 champion was not fazed by the situation, driving an astonishing race finishing 9th, with next to nothing preparation.
He is now the 67th driver to score points on his debut.
What’s next?
Formula 1 travels to Singapore for the first time since 2019 where Ferrari triumphed with a one-two finish – Sebastian Vettel’s most recent victory leading Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari will be hoping to cut the substantial deficit both in the drivers and the constructors world championship, where Max Verstappen could mathematically take the 2022 title.
By Daniel Baverstock
