Ahlan, MiniFans! After Verstappen’s meteoric pole lap finished scrambling the standings, we were left with an unexpected order in the top ten. There wasn’t a united McLaren front, Verstappen had somehow wiggled himself back into first place, and both Leclerc and Russell were occupying a second row devoid of orange, which was to be found further back after Norris crashed during his timed lap. With the championship lead up for grabs, the race presented itself with interest, as getting enough points over the rivals would include a cheeky first place in the drivers’ standings.
After a pararell start from Piasti and Verstappen in which neither wanted to give up ended with Verstappen overtaking as he cut the chicane, but the usual doubts arose: Was Piastri ahead enough for him not to leave room for Verstappen? Had the Dutch driver no intention whastoever to actually take the corner? The questions soon got time to be answered, as a safety car came out courtesy of Tsunoda and Gasly, who made enough contact to warrant the interruption of the race and force their retirement. Despite it being just the first lap, a couple backmarkers used the chance to change into hards to try a very early one-stop, as they had nothing to lose if they had no luck with their choice.
Just as the safety car left and the race was restarted, the race direction decision on the turn one incident came out, with a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, making it that much more difficult for the current world champion to win again. As the tyres started to warm up, drivers started finding spaces to overtake rivals, and interest settled on Norris, who had managed to get up into seventh and had yet to prove how high he’d be able to climb. The top six remained unchanged as Verstappen and Piastri started to leave the rest behind, escaping into the distance as the Red Bull tried to minimize his penalty as much as possible.
Overtaking midfielders isn’t the same as overtaking a seven-time world champion, and Norris was writing his thesis on it. Hamilton allowed him to pass in the last corner, decreasing his speed and leaving the inside wide open, so that he’d get the DRS detection point to get the position back on the straight. Third time was the charm, as he finally understood what was going on and managed to counteract it, opening wide himself in the corner and overtaking before opening up enough of a gap so that Hamilton wouldn’t cause him more headaches. His teammate was still hot on Verstappen’s tail, not getting too close in order not to overheat his tyres but mostly staying within a distance of his choosing until he started to lose a bit too much time, slowly but surely letting tenths get in between him and Verstappen. Once this was becoming a bit too much, McLaren decided to pit him for hards, letting him out in the space between Hamilton and Sainz.
The play by McLaren was well thought out, as even though their stop wasn’t lighting quick, the fresh tyres coupled with Verstappen’s five-second penalty meant that he was forced to pit as Piastri pulled an incredibly risky overtake on Hamilton not to lose any time. Rejoining behind Hamilton, a brand new race kicked off for Verstappen, who was now on the hunt. Unlike Piastri, he had more trouble getting past his former championship rival, whom he couldn’t fully shake off until he was called for fresh tyres as well. Fully in clean air now, the Australian was pulling times he couldn’t while looking at Verstappens rear, which took the Red Bull a few laps to match, but he was already more than four seconds away.
One specific set of medium tyres, the only one left from the start halfway through the race, was under scrutiny by the teams. Leclerc, now leading the race due to not having pitted, was doing the drive of his life, giving his all while still caring for the tyres and extending their life around ten laps longer than most of his rivals, hoping it would pay off towards the end. Norris, who inherited the lead, waited until his dirty air was starting to make Piastri lose time to Verstappen, which was the point where the team decided to finally pit him for the mediums he had yet to use, setting him free to try and gain positions back with his softer and fresher compound.
Ferrari’s bet on the mediums seemed to be working nicely, as they had gained Russell’s earlier podium spot, but Norris’ chase looked like it could end their dreams. However, a small hurdle for the Brit in mediums came up in the shape of an investigation on crossing the line on pitlane exit. The camera angles seemed to work in his favour, as it wasn’t fully clear whether he had actually crossed the line or not, so race direction erred on the side of caution and didn’t give Norris a penalty, leaving him be to try and catch up Leclerc for third. This became the battle to watch during the last laps, as Verstappen getting closer to Piastri was a simple case of lapped cars not getting out of the way swiftly enough. Norris closed up the gap decently quickly, aided by his softer compound, but wasn’t able to go under a second to get one last push with DRS, conceding the third step of the podium, led by his teammate Piastri, to Leclerc and, in an unusual sight, Ferrari’s good strategy.
The race turned on its head for Verstappen just one corner in. Gaining an advantage while on the outside of the track without the chance to give back the position due to a safety car meant that five seconds were to be added to his next stop, which dropped him behind a Piastri that has lately been positioning himself as a serious title candidate. From a scenario where Verstappen was to conquer the McLarens once again despite his car disadvantage, we came into Piastri reining over the field. Mark Webber’s pupil has become the first Australian since the man himself to lead the world championship, a feat that few have achieved and less have maintained, and now looks at the rest of the field from a priviledged position that remains to see whether McLaren will allow him to keep or make him bend to the papaya rules.
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