For a second straight weekend, Lance Stroll started from the pit lane as Aston Martin reverted to an older specification on his car for the race.
Floor assembly (different specification)
Sidepod bodywork panels (different specification)
Rear beam wing (different specification)
Rear anti roll bar (different specification)
Front brake friction material (different specification)
Norris, Tsunoda and Sargeant all moved up a spot as the Canadian was due to start in P17.
17 of the 20 drivers started on mediums, with Albon and Ocon on hards. Lando Norris started on the softs.
It was a superb start for Max Verstappen as he got between the Ferraris off the line and took the lead.
Sergio Perez got a mighty slipstream down towards turn 1 and looked to go around the outside of Leclerc, but the Mexican failed to compensate that Leclerc was between the two Red Bulls and turned in on the Ferrari. Perez got airborne, ended up in the run-off and ended up with sidepod damage. His day was done.
Although Leclerc had front wing endplate damage, he didn’t pit.
At turn 12, Oscar Piastri made a stunning move around the outside of George Russell to take P6, with Lando Norris picking off Fernando Alonso into turn 1.
A VSC was deployed on lap 5 as a part of Leclerc’s front wing endplate fell off.
Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Hülkenberg, Gasly and Zhou was the top 10 at that point.
It was a nightmare start for Fernando Alonso as he fell to P17 in the opening laps as he dropped four spots. The Spaniard then let Stroll through as the Canadian seemed to have more pace.
On lap 11, Hamilton finally got past Daniel Ricciardo for P4 into turn 1 after closing following the AlphaTauri since the start of the race.
Norris and Tsunoda boxed early off the softs and mediums respectively, switching to the hards. They were instantly the fastest cars on the circuit as they weren’t in management mode.
Alex Albon took P10 on his hard tyres by passing Zhou Guanyu into turn 1 on lap 15 as the Alfa Romeo driver fell away from Hülkenberg and Gasly.
After Max Verstappen complained about his medium tyres giving up, the Dutchman pitted at the end of lap 19 and switched to hards. He rejoined in P7.
The three-time World Champion started to come through as he overtook Russell, Piastri and Ricciardo to move into P3 thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s stop on lap 25.
Norris and Tsunoda started to come through the pack as they overtook Alonso and Ocon. The McLaren driver then got past Stroll, Bottas and Albon as he continued his fantastic charge to get into the points.
Piastri and Russell came out behind Albon and Bottas but quickly cleared both to move themselves back into P6 and P7.
Verstappen cruised through on Sainz to take P2 on lap 29 with much fresher boots.
The order on lap 30 was Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Piastri, Russell, Albon, Norris and Bottas.
Sainz and Leclerc pitted at the end of laps 30 and 31. While the Spaniard dropped behind Hamilton, Leclerc stayed ahead of the Brit in the fight for P2.
A red flag was thrown on lap 34 as Kevin Magnussen had a huge shunt at turn 8. The Haas looked like it had a rear suspension failure as he got on power out of 7 and speared into the tecpro barriers. Repairs needed to be made to them before the race could get going again.
The order for the restart was Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Ricciardo, Piastri, Russell, Tsunoda, Hülkenberg, Norris, Gasly, Albon, Zhou, Ocon, Sargeant, Bottas, Stroll and Alonso.
Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Hülkenberg, Norris, Albon, Ocon and Sargeant all switched to the mediums for the restart.
Verstappen got a perfect start to P1 to fend off Leclerc and Hamilton. George Russell and Alex Albon both gained two spots to move into P5 and P9 respectively on their mediums.
It was contrasting starts for Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon. The Brit fell four spots to 14th, with the French driver moving up three to P11.
On lap 40, Hamilton made a lovely move on Leclerc on the run towards turn 1 as he claimed the inside by going on the dusty part of the track.
Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Ricciardo, Piastri, Tsunoda, Albon and Hülkenberg was the top 10 with 30 laps remaining.
After his horrible launch at the restart, Norris started to come back through the pack by overtaking Bottas, Gasly, Ocon, Hülkenberg and Albon by lap 49.
It was game over for Fernando Alonso a lap later as Aston Martin retired his car.
In the battle for P7, Tsunoda and Piastri came to blows. On lap 48, the Japanese driver touched the McLaren into turn 2 but they came out unscathed. However, on the next lap, Tsunoda chopped across the Australian as he tried to make a move into turn 1 and they came together. The AlphaTauri driver spun and dropped to P16.
The order on lap 52 of F1 was Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Ricciardo, Piastri, Norris, Albon and Hülkenberg.
With Piastri lacking pace, McLaren asked the Australian to cede position to let Norris go and chase Ricciardo for 6th. The Brit quickly caught his former teammate and made a stunning pass around the outside into turn 4 as they came so close to touching.
With 6 laps remaining, Esteban Ocon finally made a move on Nico Hülkenberg for P10 as the rear tyres on the Haas were completely finished.
At turn 14, Valtteri Bottas spun Lance Stroll and turned the Canadian around in the stadium section.
The remarkable charge from Lando Norris continued as he overtook Russell on lap 67. The McLaren driver got Russell out of shape by defending into turn 4. As Russell missed the apex at T5, Norris got on the power and claimed the inside into turn 6 to take P5.
Such was Russell’s lack of pace and tyre life at the end, he came under huge pressure from Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen walked it out front after the restart as he won by almost 14s from Lewis Hamilton. The Brit did take the fastest lap, but it’s victory number 16 for Verstappen in 2023 – a new record. It was a very solid drive from Charles Leclerc to take 3rd.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Sainz, Norris, Russell, Ricciardo, Piastri, Albon and Ocon completed the points scorers.
