Hola, MiniFans! This second part of the season is proving to be shaped by surprises, which is what yesterday’s qualifying was. Norris on pole while Piastri could only be seventh (originally eigth but a penalty for Sainz promoted him), Verstappen lost all the power he had been sporting in the last handful of weekends, Mercedes was strong and Ferrari was born again from its ashes like a phoenix, which will probably be the perfect set of ingredientes for an entertaining race.
The biggest surprise on the grid was Verstappen, who chose a medium tyre despite being surrounded by mediums. A cloud of dirt preceded a four-car wide formation into the first corner: Leclerc had managed to get past Hamilton and got right behind Norris, while Verstappen joined them into a space that wasn’t big enough for all of them. Verstappen braked late and had to go on a day trip over the grass, cutting the corner and giving back a handful of positions he had obtained to settle in fourth. In a similar manner, Leclerc gave back a position he had earned also going wide, letting Norris through, all while Russell, who had been overtaken before the incident, kept complaining about wanting either a penalty or the position back.
A couple laps later, mayhem rose in the Hamilton-Verstappen-Russell section. Verstappen overtook Hamilton very tightly in turn 1 and the Ferrari tried to get the position back. He was unsuccessful and had to go into the grass in turn 4 due to late braking, not making it into the small roadway he should have used to rejoin, but he wasn’t the only one leaving the track. Vestappen and Russell also tasted the grass, but in a much smaller scale barely leaving the track. All the chaos allowed Bearman to get past a few of them, climbing up to fourth right behind Hamilton as race direction started to investigate multiple incidents. Meanwhile, Norris had escaped from the mess, opening up a few seconds to Leclerc as everyone behind them was trying to get their bearings.
Once the race was finally settled, around lap ten, it was time to assess the damages for both race direction and spectators. The first judging was awarded to Hamilton: 10 seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which left the young Bearman virtually in third place. However, this was far from the only investigation taking place, but the race kept on going as the announcements for them were displayed on screens. Piastri, who had avoided all the mess due to being behind it instead of in the middle of it, slowly but surely got to Russell, who had dropped to seventh after his scuffs, but he wasn’t able to find a space to squeeze through. As the investigations kept being tossed out as Hamilton served his, being the first from the top ones to pit to get rid of a set of softs that seemingly dropped out of nowhere. The ten seconds left him fully put of the points, whereas Bearman, who had followed suit, was still in the top ten. Piastri, who had joined in the fun, tried an undercut on Russell, which, unluckily for the Australian, didn’t exactly work.
Norris’ advantage was getting greater as laps went by, with the only one able to keep up, if we can even call it that with the distance going in every sector, being Leclerc. The Monegasque had escaped unscathed from the first handful of laps and the battles had allowed him to escape as well, pretty much securing a podium spot from the very start. He pitted before Norris, as soon as the team had found a spot to drop him into, in between Verstappen, who hadn’t pitted yet as he was sporting mediums, and Leclerc, and Bearman, who was still aiming at the last podium position. In between messages from Russell asking the team for a position swap with Antonelli to try and make it to Bearman, Norris finally pitted, not even losing his first place after getting his set of mediums.
When Russell finally got his wish, after many laps of back and forth over the radio explaining that he couldn’t exactly manage temperatures with a McLaren up his rear wing, he quickly dropped Antonelli, leaving him to deal with Piastri, who had been told he’d box to overtake if he couldn’t get past. Behind them, Verstappen was coming slowly but surely, having taken great care of his softs in the early laps. He eventually pitted but Mercedes was faster: they pitted Antonelli in the same lap, tricking Piastri intro entering the pits right behing their driver, but their cheekiness didn’t come to fruition: a slow pitstop ended their attempt, letting Antonelli out behind Piastri. This stop triggered the rest of the pack as they all swapped tyres too, turning their races into two-stoppers. Norris and Leclerc stayed out in his mediums, whereas Verstappen did the same in his well cared for softs, the benefits apparently outweighing the risks for his strategy team to try and stay on the podium.
The last twenty laps became a game of lift and coast, tyre management and trying not to find the cliffs on their tyre sets. Exceptfor one driver: Verstappen’s earlier care meant that he could now try and go in pursuit of Leclerc, whose old mediums weren’t a match for his fresher softs. The chase took its time in order to preserve tyres, encouraged by his engineer, and the race went on behind them. Once Piastri had finally made work of Russell, Antonelli requested his position back and his teammate honored the promise he had made earlier, conceding sixth to his rookie teammate. Meanwhile, Piastri was closing in to Bearman and Verstappen to Leclerc at a similar pace, both hunters trying to score a few more points to lose as little as possible to Norris. They made it with three laps to go, managing to take advantage of the DRS in their attempts. Verstappen got to the reat of Leclerc’s Ferrari and didn’t let one attempt go by, putting pressure on Leclerc but a VSC halted his attempt as Norris entered the final lap, 40 seconds ahead. The virtual safety car ended way into their last lap, with Verstappen having lost the momentum he once had and remaining in third but not without trying until the very end, crossing the line in front of a Bearman who had also managed to keep Piastri behind.
The race wasn’t as calm as expected. The initial mayhem shaped the race, most critically for Hamilton, whose 10-second penalty meant being booted out of the podium contention. Bearman finding himself on the podium after escaping unscathed is still a bit too much of an ask for both driver and team, and others knew it. Red Bull took advantage of this, sticking to a one stopper when his main rivals went for two, and trusting their four-time world champion to get matters in his own hands. It worked as well as they hoped, with Verstappen closing in insanely fast in the last handful of laps and fighting to the very end, his attempts only halted by a poorly timed VSC that stopped him in his tracks as the same happened to Piastri. The title fight gets tigther, with Norris inheriting the lead of the championship race from his teammate and Verstappen still not giving up while there’s only four weekends left to decide who takes it home.
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