Tag: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen rounded off a dominant weekend with victory in the first Chinese Grand Prix for five years on Sunday to extend his world championship lead a day after romping to sprint victory.

The three-time world champion controlled the race on its return to the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time since 2019 to finish 13.7 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez third.

He was only denied a 100 per cent points-scoring weekend when Fernando Alonso picked up the bonus for the fastest lap around the 5.451-kilometre track on the outskirts of the Chinese megacity after a late switch to fresh tyres.

It was another all-conquering display from Verstappen, who won his fourth grand prix this season to add to his sprint victory.

Only a rare brake failure in Melbourne denied Verstappen the chance of a clean sweep in all five races in 2024, as he marches inexorably towards a fourth consecutive world title.

“It felt amazing, all weekend we were incredibly quick,” said Verstappen, who recorded his first victory in China.

“It felt amazing, it was so enjoyable to drive on every single compound. The car was on rails, I could do whatever I wanted to do with it.”

The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth, George Russell was sixth for Mercedes with Alonso seventh after a late charge through the field.

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McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was eighth, chased home by Lewis Hamilton who clawed his way up to ninth from 18th on the grid.

The points scorers were rounded out by the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in 10th.

Norris was delighted to finish second having started from fourth on the grid.

“Surprised, I’m very happy – today it just worked out, I wasn’t expecting it,” said the Englishman.

“It shows the team has done a good job, and it paid off. I made a bet about how far behind the Ferrari we would finish today, I thought 35 seconds and I was very wrong.”

Perez finished on the podium for the fourth time in five rounds this season but had been second until a safety car cost him places.

“Yeah it cost us quite a bit, we lost two places (under the Safety Car) and it was just tough fighting like that. The life of the tyre goes off dramatically,” said the Mexican.

China’s first Formula One driver Zhou Guanyu has been an enormous draw over the weekend as he made his home grand prix debut.

He was allowed to park his car on the grid in front of the grandstands after the race and exited the cockpit in floods of tears to an ovation from the capacity crowd.

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Max Verstappen overcame early electrical gremlins to blast from fourth on the grid to an emphatic victory in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race Saturday, 13 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The Dutchman charged past the seven-time world champion Hamilton’s Mercedes on lap nine of the 19-lap dash.

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was third after a thrilling battle with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

“The first few laps were hectic,” said Verstappen after claiming the eight points on offer for the winner of the first sprint of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit.

“The wind is changing a lot which makes it difficult to drive.

“Once we sorted (the battery) out we were OK,” Verstappen added as he extended his championship lead to 25 points over Perez.

Leclerc and Sainz ended up fourth and fifth after swapping places numerous times in the dramatic tussle for the minor places with Perez and Alonso.

Aston Martin’s Alonso came out worst as he went wheel-to-wheel with the Ferraris, having to retire his car on lap 18 with a puncture suffered in the skirmish.

Lando Norris started from the pole but could only cross the line sixth in his McLaren, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri with George Russell eighth to round out the sprint points scorers.

Hamilton started from second on the grid but got away quickest, holding the inside line on the long first two corners to emerge in front after Norris ran wide.

It was costly for the McLaren man who then found himself seventh after the first lap.

Alonso inherited second place and Verstappen third, despite the championship leader complaining of a flat battery.

By the fifth lap, Hamilton had opened up a 1.3-second gap and crucially was out of range for Alonso to attack with his DRS.

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Verstappen solved his electrical issue by lap seven and reeled in Alonso on the long back straight.

Two laps later he had the measure of Hamilton and nipped past on the final hairpin.

With a clear track in front, Verstappen cruised off into the distance, increasing the gap by almost a second a lap on the Mercedes as Hamilton settled for second.

“That’s the best result I’ve had in a long time, so I’m super happy and grateful,” said an ecstatic Hamilton, who picked up seven points having scored only 10 the four previous races this season.

“We couldn’t fight the Red Bulls, the race was tough but I found out a lot about the car through this short stint so I’m excited for the race tomorrow.”

It was the first of six sprints on the bumper 24-race Formula One calendar in 2024, and the first where the new weekend format was used.

It means grand prix qualifying remains in its usual Saturday afternoon slot where the cars will prepare for Sunday’s main event.

The changes were welcomed by drivers and teams who can now adjust their car set-ups after the sprint race for GP qualifying, which wasn’t allowed previously.

On the first Chinese Grand Prix weekend since 2019, huge crowds turned out to see Shanghai native Zhou Guanyu, China’s first Formula One driver, make his home debut in his third season in the premier racing class.

Tickets for Sunday’s main race sold out in minutes and fans had plenty to cheer Friday when Zhou propelled his Sauber into the top 10 in a wet sprint qualifying session.

He started from 10th and in dry conditions for the race and moved up one place after the opening skirmishes.

Zhou agonisingly finished just out of the points in ninth after being passed late on by Russell, who started down in 11th on the grid but made the most of starting on quicker soft tyres.

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Max Verstappen again publicly committed his long-term future to Red Bull on Thursday, saying that as long as he was happy there was “no reason to leave”.

There has been speculation the triple world champion could move to Mercedes to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton next year after Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate conduct towards a woman colleague.

Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing ahead of the season-opener in Bahrain but the off-track scandal rumbled on for weeks.

The Dutchman Verstappen is signed with Red Bull until 2028 but suggested earlier in the season that he would consider leaving if the team parted company with long-time mentor Helmut Marko.

Max Verstappen’s father Jos has claimed that Red Bull faced being “torn apart” if Horner remained in position.

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However, the paddock chatter in Shanghai this week has been firmly back on racing, something that pleased Verstappen.

“After 2021 I signed a long deal with the team. The only thing I said from the beginning was that I wanted to have a quiet, peaceful environment,” Verstappen told reporters.

“Lately we have been talking about the car, so I am very happy about that already.

“That’s also how it should be. And of course as long as I am happy with the team, there has never been a reason to leave.”

Max Verstappen is chasing a fourth victory in five races in 2024 but admitted the weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix will be an unknown quantity.

The Formula One circus is back at the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time in five years with a sprint race on Saturday.

“With the new cars of course there will be a little bit of the unknown,” said Verstappen. “Of course it is the same for everyone.”

There is only one practice session on Friday before sprint qualifying, so Verstappen said it was important for the team to get the set-up nailed early.

“We need to have a good FP1 where we don’t have to fine-tune too much on the car. That will really help,” he said.

“Time will tell, I’m not too worried about it.”

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Triple world champion Max Verstappen reiterated on Thursday that he could walk away from Formula One when his Red Bull contract expires in 2028, but insisted he was “very happy” at the team.

The Dutchman won the first two grands prix of the season but he has endured weeks of off-track turbulence at all-conquering Red Bull.

He suggested in Saudi Arabia last month that he would consider leaving if the team parted company with long-term mentor Helmut Marko.

It followed his father Jos claiming that Red Bull faced being “torn apart” if team boss Christian Horner remained in his position.

Asked ahead of Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix if he would still be with the team next year, Verstappen said: “I’m very happy where I’m at, and we want to keep it that way.”

But the 26-year-old was less certain when talking about his post-Red Bull future.

“I have a contract with Red Bull until ’28 — after that, I first want to see if I even want to continue,” he said.

“That’s for me the most important — it’s not so much about where. These kind of things I don’t really think about at the moment.”

Max Verstappen arrives in Japan after failing to finish a race for the first time in two years at the Australian Grand Prix a fortnight ago.

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He retired in Melbourne after a brake issue caused smoke to billow from his car, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz taking the chequered flag.

Verstappen said he had no concerns about his car at Suzuka, where he has won for the last two years and clinched his second world title in 2022.

“If you look at Melbourne performance-wise, I think we were quick,” he said.

“We didn’t finish the race so that’s not ideal, but our car likes the high-speed corners so hopefully we can show that again this weekend.”

Verstappen was in formidable form in Suzuka last year, finishing fastest in all three practice sessions and taking pole position.

He cruised home in the race, finishing almost 20 seconds clear of second-placed Lando Norris of McLaren.

Max Verstappen said the Japanese circuit was “definitely one of my favourites”.

“It’s quite intimidating the first time you drive around the track,” he said.

“Even in the wet, because it’s so narrow, if you make a small mistake you can go off in the grass or the gravel. It just adds a bit more to it.”

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Three-time world champion Max Verstappen said it felt like driving “with the handbrake on” after retiring from the Australian Grand Prix Sunday with smoke billowing from his Red Bull.

The Dutchman started from pole and was heavily favoured to win for a third time this season after emphatic victories in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

But it went horribly wrong almost immediately when he was passed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on lap two before his brakes seized up and his race was over.

“What we can see so far from the data is that as soon as the lights went off the right-rear brake just stuck on,” he said.

“It just caused the damage and it kept on increasing so it was also basically driving with the handbrake on.

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“That’s why the car felt really weird to drive in some corners, just very snappy, while the laps to the grid the car was really spot on and I was happy with what we were doing.

“But if a brake is stuck on it doesn’t help.”

It ended any hope he had of matching his own record set last year of 10 consecutive wins and snapped his unbeaten streak of winning from 18 previous pole positions.

His brake failure ended a run of 43 consecutive races without a retirement.

“Of course, we had a lot of good races in a row, a lot of good reliability,” said the 26-year-old.

“And I knew that the day would come that you end up having a retirement and unfortunately that day was today.”

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Three-time world champion Max Verstappen said Thursday he intends to see out his contract with Red Bull, insisting he was happy despite weeks of off-track turbulence.

The Dutchman is signed until 2028 but suggested at the last race in Saudi Arabia he would consider leaving if Red Bull parted company with long-time mentor Helmut Marko in a power struggle threatening to envelop the team.

It followed his father Jos claiming earlier this month that Red Bull faced being “torn apart” if team boss Christian Horner remained in his position.

Horner was accused of inappropriate conduct involving a woman colleague but he was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing ahead of the season-opener in Bahrain.

Asked at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne if he would honour his contract, Verstappen replied: “Of course, that is why I signed the contract in the first place.

“For sure, with the deal in place, that is my intention, to be here until the end.

“It would be a great story for me to see it out till the end because it would mean I’ve been part of one family and one team.

“I always felt comfortable (in Red Bull) because for me it is like a second family, it’s good.”

The 26-year-old’s career has been overseen by Marko, 80, and Verstappen reiterated that it was important to keep in place a team that has enjoyed so much success.

“I feel we all want the same, we all want to perform on the track, that’s what we want to focus on as a team,” he said.

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“In general, when you have a successful team, when you have a good group of central people, it is important to keep them together and happy and in the same roles.”

His veiled threat to leave Red Bull piqued the interest of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who needs a replacement next season when Lewis Hamilton departs for Ferrari.

“It’s always nice to hear that,” said Verstappen, who added that he did not know what would happen after 2028.

“I don’t know after 2028 what happens, if I am going to continue, sign a new deal, I don’t know.”

Max Verstappen dominated the first two grands prix of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to put him on a nine-race win streak.

Should he cross the finish line first in Australia, he will equal his own record of winning 10 races in a row.

Sergio Perez, who finished runner-up to his teammate in the opening two races, said he hoped Verstappen remained, with the team in “a very strong position”.

“To achieve that it takes a lot of years,” he said.

“Everyone in the team is working well together now, the whole engineering team is united. You can see that on the track and how efficient we have been in the last years.

“So I don’t see any reason to change it and it will obviously be a blow if Max were to leave.”

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Max Verstappen won Saturday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix to give Red Bull a timely boost after a trying week for the world champions and team principal Christian Horner.

Verstappen shut out all the off-track speculation surrounding the Horner inquiry to lead home Sergio Perez for a crushing Red Bull 1-2.

Pole sitter Verstappen held off the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to lead into the first corner, and it was business as usual for the Dutchman from there to the flag as he enjoyed the perfect start to his quest for a fourth consecutive world title.

In a statement of emphatic superiority, the 26-year-old Dutchman came home 22.5 seconds clear of Perez, who started from fifth, to ease some of the pressure on Horner and repeat his statement triumph last year.

By claiming the 33rd pole of his career, fastest lap and race win, Verstappen delivered the 12th ‘hat-trick’ of his career leaving only the seven-time champions Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton ahead on 22 and 19 trebles respectively.

“That was simply lovely,” Horner told his ace driver.

“To get pole, fastest lap, and a 1-2, a brilliant start to the year, thank you very much.”

It was Max Verstappen’s 55th race victory and 99th podium finish as Red Bull dominated an uneventful race on a cold evening at Sakhir’s Bahrain International Circuit.

It also extended his run as championship leader to 40 races since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz, whose seat at Ferrari is to be taken by Hamilton next year, finished a pugnacious third ahead of team-mate Leclerc, who profited from a rare error by Mercedes’ George Russell in the closing laps.

Russell finished fifth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, Hamilton in the second Mercedes, Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren and the Aston Martin duo two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

After days of speculation, Red Bull boss Horner arrived hand in hand with his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell – a show of unity following the release on Thursday of a cache of alleged messages from him to a female member of staff.

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On track, the team showed no apparent distraction as Verstappen topped qualifying to secure his 33rd pole position – and lead the pack when the lights went out in cold, dry conditions in the desert.

The Dutchman made a clean start and led Leclerc, Russell and Perez through Turn One while Stroll spun and dropped to the back of the field after contact with Hulkenberg, who pitted for a new front wing and hard tyres. The entire field started on softs.

On lap three, Russell passed Leclerc on the outside of Turn Four to take second and Norris seized sixth from Alonso, but Verstappen stretched his lead to two seconds.

By lap six, it was 4.8 seconds and clear that the Red Bull were in a race of their own. Perez endorsed this as he swept past Leclerc inside turn 11 for second on lap seven.

Hamilton, ninth, appeared to be stuck behind Alonso before squeezing through on lap 10, as Verstappen stretched his lead to 6.9 seconds.

The pit-stops began on lap 11 with Russell and Leclerc, with brake problems, going first of the leading group, re-joining 12th and 14th. Perez and Hamilton soon followed, all going for hards.

When Verstappen finally pitted he had bulit up a 31 second lead.

For Horner and Red Bull, it was as good as it gets, the Dutchman in command by seven seconds ahead of team-mate Perez and the feisty Sainz with Russell fourth after the first round of stops. Crisis? What crisis?

For Mercedes, problems were piling up – overheating engines, power-unit issues and then, for Hamilton, a broken seat, with 28 laps remaining while Alex Albon’s Williams flashed a message “car too hot’.

Max Verstappen came in for a final set of new softs at the end of lap 37 and re-joined with a 17-second cushion ahead of Perez.

It was a commanding performance from the champion, decorated with a fastest lap of 1:32.608 as he cruised through the final 16 laps: a lap that was fully 1.5 seconds quicker than any other.

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Defending double world champion Max Verstappen extended his lead in this year’s title race when he drove his Red Bull to a comprehensive victory in challenging conditions in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old Dutchman, driving with controlled aplomb in conditions that changed from warm sunshine to a downpour, came home 27 seconds clear of Aston Martin’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

It was his second victory on the barrier-lined streets of the Mediterranean principality in three years, his fourth win this year and the 39th of his clear, stretching his lead ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to 39 points in the championship.

Esteban Ocon finished a popular third for Alpine to become the first Frenchman to claim a Monaco Grand Prix podium since Olivier Panis won in 1996.

“That wasn’t easy,” said Verstappen. “It was quite a difficult one! I didn’t want to go long on my first stint, but I had to stay out when the rain came down and then it was very tricky to drive.

“It was incredibly slippery and quite difficult,” he said. “I clipped the walls a few times, but that’s Monaco. It’s nice to win and super-nice to win in this weather!”

Alonso secured his fifth podium finish in six races this year.

“It was difficult,” the Spaniard said. “Max drove super-well on the medium tyres in his first stint and it was complicated out there in the rain. I think everyone did an amazing job to stay on the track.”

Ocon’s success came in Alpine’s 50th Grand Prix and after some recent strife in the team.

“A super weekend,” he said. “We didn’t make any mistakes and I am enjoying this and hope it is the first of many.”

Ocon held off a late attack from seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton who finished fourth ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, local hero Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine.

Carlos Sainz finished a frustrated eighth in the second Ferrari ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The race began in beautiful conditions with an air temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and the track at 47 degrees, but with rain forecast.

Alonso made a vibrant start, but it was not enough to unsettle Max Verstappen who pulled clear in the dash to Saint Devote where the grid order remained unchanged.

Hamilton was sandwiched between the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc, who had taken a three-place grid penalty for blocking Lando Norris in qualifying.

Perez, who started from the back after crashing out in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, made an immediate stop for hard tyres while Verstappen, on mediums, pulled away to lead Alonso, on hards, by five seconds by lap 15.

Sainz made early attempts to pass Ocon’s Alpine and in one move he clipped the Frenchman’s car, damaging his front wing.

He stayed out despite instructions to pit.

Max Verstappen extended his advantage to 8.4 seconds by lap 20 and 10.6 by lap 22 when dark clouds loomed.

Alarmed by tyre-wear, Verstappen warned his crew.

“Front left really isn’t pretty,” he said, as he approached a thicket of traffic that included Perez, in 16th.

Hamilton pitted on lap 32 for ‘hards’, re-joining eighth behind Russell while a frustrated Verstappen saw his lead trimmed to 7.9 seconds.

Ocon and Sainz soon followed into the pits while the Dutchman stayed out.

“It’s almost undriveable,” he grumbled, but was told to stay out as a stop would cost him the lead.

Perez continued his incident-plagued weekend when he hit the back of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and damaged a front wing. Perez pitted for a new one and fresh mediums returning in last place.

By lap 45, as other drivers pitted the front two were more than 30 seconds clear of the rest. By lap 52, it was raining. In the sudden treacherous localised conditions, the drivers tip-toed to survive, or gambled.

Alonso pitted for mediums but had to come in to change again as the rain intensified. Max Verstappen came in for intermediates and Alonso returned to do the same.

Ten minutes of chaos ensued. Magnussen and Logan Sargeant of Williams both crashed.

“It’s getting to a point where it’s pretty dangerous out here,” reported Hamilton, who was in close pursuit of Ocon for third and equalling Ayrton Senna’s record of eight Monaco podium finish.

As the rain relented, with ten laps to go, the order was unchanged. Max Verstappen led by 24 seconds with Alonso second 15 clear of Ocon and resisting Hamilton over the final dash to the flag.

MIAMI GARDENS: World champion Max Verstappen powered from ninth on the grid to beat team-mate Sergio Perez and extend Red Bull’s all-conquering start to the season with victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

The win — Red Bull’s fifth from five races this season — extends Verstappen’s lead at the top of the standings to 14 points and follows his triumph in the inaugural Miami race last year.

The 1-2 for Red Bull is their fourth in five races so far this year as the team utterly dominate the sport leaving their rivals to battle for the third podium position.

Aston Martin’s Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso took third for his fourth podium in five races this season as he continues to enjoy his late career revival.

Verstappen had to work hard for his third victory of the campaign after his disappointing performance in Saturday’s qualifying left him in the middle of the grid.

But the speed of the Red Bull car, combined with smart decisions on tyres, meant that the Dutchman was able to quickly get himself in contention and then produce a late surge to beat his team-mate Perez, who remains second in the standings.

Perez, starting on pole, made the perfect start, racing clear of his rivals but Verstappen, on hard tyres, quickly moved through the field and took just 15 laps to reach second place behind his team-mate.

– ‘Very satisfying’ –

Perez pitted on lap 20 allowing Verstappen to take the lead but the Dutchman had to give that up when he went into the pits on lap 46, changing to the medium compound tyres and coming out 1.2 seconds behind.

It took just two laps for Verstappen, who won the inaugural Miami Grand Prix a year ago, to take advantage of his fresher tyres with better grip as, after a brief joust, he overtook the Mexican, on 25-lap-old tyres, to take the lead.

Verstappen’s 38th win for Red Bull equals the team record set by Sebastian Vettel and is the first time a driver has won from exactly ninth on the grid since Niki Lauda at the French Grand Prix in 1984.

“I took the cars off one by one and then I could stay out really long on the hard tyres and that’s where we I think made the difference,” said Verstappen.

“For sure winning a race from P9 is always very satisfying,” he said.

It was a disappointing day for Perez, who after his victory in Baku last week, had a great chance to win from pole but was left frustrated with the tyre choice.

“I think the medium initially was really poor. It wasn’t expected and that really compromised our pace,” said Perez.

“Then, in all honesty, I think Max had tremendous pace on that hard tyre and I have got to analyse what happened today because we simply didn’t have the pace,” he added.

Mercedes had some consolation at the end of a difficult week with George Russell taking fourth place ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had described the car as a “nasty piece of work” after qualifying but Russell was delighted with his fourth.

“I am feeling pumped to be honest because it has been a while since we had a good race like that where we made overtakes stick,” he said.

“I would have liked to have been three positions higher but we know the position we are as a team right now and P4 was the maximum today,” he added.

Charles Leclerc, who crashed late in qualifying and started seventh on the grid, finished in seventh place on another disappointing day for Ferrari.

“There’s really a lot of work to do,” said Leclerc, “We have a car that has a good feeling under ideal conditions, but as soon as you get away a bit it gets complicated. We need a more consistent car especially in the race.

“It’s a very difficult situation because you can fight in qualifying, but then in the race you have to accept that you are passed.”

The Alpine pair of French drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocan finished eighth and ninth with Dane Kevin Magnussen finishing tenth.

It was a tough debut in his homeland for American rookie Logan Sargeant of Williams who had to pit early after losing his front wing and ended last.

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MELBOURNE: Max Verstappen held off a revived Lewis Hamilton to steer his Red Bull to a chaotic win at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and tighten his grip on the world championship.

The world champion began from pole and despite being passed by Mercedes pair George Russell and Hamilton at the start, he kept his cool to win a race red flagged three times, with multiple crashes.

Hamilton came home second ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who made it three podiums from three this year.

“We had a very poor start, lap one I was careful as I had a lot to lose,” said Dutchman Verstappen, who won the season-opening race in Bahrain and came second in Jeddah a fortnight ago.

“After that, the pace of the car was quick. With these red flags, I don’t know, I don’t really understand. It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, so that’s important.

It was a disastrous day for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, last year’s winner, who spun out on the first lap, while Russell’s car caught fire on lap 19 and his race too was over.

Victory was Verstappen’s maiden win in Melbourne and Red Bull’s first in Australia since Sebastian Vettel’s 2011 triumph.

His teammate and winner in Saudi Arabia Sergio Perez sliced through the field to come fifth after qualifying last due to brake issues, behind Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.

– Late drama –

The Red Bull triumph came despite unbelievable late drama that saw a red flag come out when Verstappen had a comfortable lead from Hamilton and Alonso with two laps left, meaning they had a bunched restart for an all-out attack to the finish.

But it descended into chaos when Alonso was clipped by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as they jostled for position and sent into a spin, which caused a flow on effect with multiple other cars coming to grief.

Sainz was given a five-second penalty, eventually finishing 12th, and the race stopped again.

It resumed after a lengthy delay for single lap behind a safety car — with no overtaking allowed  — in the order of the previous start with only 12 cars left.

“I didn’t expect to be second so I’m super grateful for it,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

“I’m driving as best I can and working as hard as I can but still, considering we’ve been down on performance and in straight pace, for us to be up there fighting with Aston is amazing.”

On a fine day, Lando Norris in a McLaren was sixth, Niko Hulkenberg in the Haas seventh and rookie Oscar Piastri, in the other McLaren, an encouraging eighth on his home circuit.

– ‘Rollercoaster of emotions’ –

Alpha Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu came ninth and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda 10th.

“We had a rollercoaster of emotions today, many things going on at the beginning, and the last half an hour,” said Spanish veteran Alonso.

“Mercedes were very fast and Lewis did an incredible job — I could not match the pace, but we’ll take P3.”

With Red Bull’s undeniable speed advantage, it was crucial for Russell and Hamilton to get a strong start.

And they did just that with both scorching past a tentative Verstappen on the first corner before Leclerc spun at Turn 3 and the safety car came out.

They resumed with Hamilton pressing Russell before the safety car was deployed again on lap seven when Williams’ Alexander Albon lost control, leaving gravel on the track, with a red flag eventually needed.

They got underway again from a standing start with Hamilton initially keeping Verstappen at bay.

But it only a matter of time before the Dutchman made his move and he surged into the lead on lap 12.

Once more a safety car was needed when Russell’s car broke down, but Verstappen was in charge now and pulling clear.

By the halfway mark, he was seven seconds ahead with the battle seemingly all about who came second between Hamilton and Alonso.

But there was more drama when Kevin Magnussen lost the rear tyre of his Haas and the red flag came out again at the death.

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