The battle at the top of the championship remains between Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Leclerc. With eight points for the win, the Dutchman now leads his Mexican team-mate, who was fifth, on 38 points and the Ferrari man on 44. Verstappen has another chance on Sunday to extend his title lead further than pole. It doesn’t count that he took pole position at that price, going to the fastest driver in Friday’s qualifying and on this occasion where Verstappen did claim pole as well. Hamilton and Russell crashed out of qualifying on Friday and Mercedes had to make major repairs. They bounced back well after their team worked furiously to ensure they made it to the match. Hamilton switched his chassis to spare due to the damage and both cars had new gearboxes fitted, but using the existing units without penalty. The floors and fenders of both cars were also repaired. Mechanics worked on Hamilton’s car for most of third practice and he appeared with just 15 minutes to go. This is Verstappen’s third victory in a sprint race, having won at the British Grand Prix last year and at Imola earlier this season. It’s another strong statement of intent from the Dutchman and the Red Bull team at their home race and with a strong record here of four wins here, he’s in every position to take another. The reigning champion has been in exemplary form this season and after managing just seventh at the last round at Silverstone, having suffered floor damage from debris, he will be expecting a clear shot at victory from the front of the grid. His race pace was terrible, but Ferrari will be hopeful that their upgrades in this race will allow them to compete on Sunday. Their pace here on the board suggests they can still challenge in the main event, as Leclerc noted after the race. Verstappen held on to his lead from pole through the short turn one, while Sainz passed Leclerc to take second. However, the Monegasque quickly came back to reclaim the position on the inside of turn four. Hamilton dropped two places on the first lap to 11th, but Verstappen had already stretched his leg, two seconds adrift by lap three. Behind him Leclerc and Sainz were in an absolute dogfight, the latter clearly quicker, and the two battled for position and traded places, but Leclerc simply held his position. Their battle allowed Verstappen to move further ahead, with a lead of three seconds, while Hamilton dropped back to ninth and battled with Mick Schumacher’s Haas, who was driving well enough to deny the seven-time champion a clear chance. By the midway point of the race, Verstappen looked completely in control, managing the gap to Leclerc. Perez drove well, as he did at Silverstone, to move through the field from 13th on the grid to fifth on lap 18. Quick guide
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Thanks for your response. Schumacher defended strongly from Hamilton, with the British driver believing the German was overstepping the track limits in his defence, but the seven-time champion eventually managed to get stuck on lap 22 at turn four. He followed Kevin Magnussen but ran out of laps as Verstappen took a solid victory in a somewhat lackluster affair, but the Dutchman had a maximum eight points and the front of the grid for Sunday’s race. Esteban Ocon was sixth for Alpine, Magnussen seventh for Haas, Schumacher ninth and Valtteri Bottas 10th for Alfa Romeo.
