Formula Journal

Turn 1 Max went wide, off the track and onto the grass, a long with Charles who rejoined the track in P1 however he had to give the place back to Lando. By the first corner Bearman was up into P6. Lance Stroll also span off the track but rejoined in P19. What’s more Liam Lawson came into the pits for a new front wing after contact with the Williams.

Lap 6 Verstappen made contact with Lewis and the Ferrari left the track, forcing him to take the escape route. During that Bearman took advantage of the situation passing Verstappen for P4. Lap 9 Lawson came into the pits to retire the car.

Lap 11 Piastri overtook Tsunoda for P8 with Verstappen out of Bearman’s DRS. Hamilton was given a 10 second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Lap 24 Lewis came into the pits and took his penalty.

Lap 25 Piastri and Bearman came into the pits, with Ollie having a great stop of 2.7 secs. A few laps later Hulkenberg DNF’d after an engine failure while Carlos Sainz was given a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Lap 35 Norris came into the pits for a clean stop and stayed out in front. Lap 36 saw Alonso DNF’d.

George Russell in P5 radioed his team saying that his teammate wasn’t fast enough and he had the McLaren of Piastri on his tail. Lap 41 Mercedes finally told Antonelli to let George past to see if he could overtake Bearman. With a few laps left McLaren told Piastri that if he didn’t overtake Antonelli at the start of the finish straight he should come into the pits, the next lap both Antonelli and Piastri came into the pits. McLaren had a smooth stop and Piastri came back on the track in front of Antonelli.

Lap 53 Bearman was under pressure from Russell and Carlos Sainz was given another penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Some laps later Piastri launched past Russell to secure P5 and the Mercedes drivers swapped back. With two laps left Piastri was on the tail of Bearman’s Haas and Verstappen was on Leclerc’s. We had a VSC on the last lap as Sainz came to a stop. We thought we were going to be robbed of a last lap battle between the Red Bull and the Ferrari. However, we had half a lap left but not enough time for Verstappen.

Lando Norris dominated this weekend and the race. He is now the leader of the Championship by 1 point. And a career best for rookie Oliver Bearman finishing in P4.

Top 10: Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen, Bearman, Piastri, Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Ocon, Bortoleto