By that stage Verstappen was already passed the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz into third place, behind Piastri and Russell, who had exchanged the lead twice in the opening phases of the race. But when the race resumed on lap eight, Russell’s tyres were already beginning to fade and Piastri re-took the lead on lap 11, just before the Ocon-Hulkenberg-Perez crash. The race devolved into a battle between two different tyre strategies, using the soft and the medium. But his fears were realised as first Verstappen passed him and then Norris did so, too. Russell’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who chose medium tyres, moved up from 12th on the grid to take fifth place, passing the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc on soft tyres in the closing stages.

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