RACE REPORT
Hamilton made his first
stop on lap 17 and took on
soft tyres. He emerged in P5
behind Verstappen. Thus,
Vettel assumed the lead. Soon
after, Hamilton was told that it
was “race critical’” that he pass
Verstappen but the Briton was
quick to point out that there was
no way past the Dutchman.
As Hamilton’s pace dropped
behind the slower Red Bull,
Vettel powered away at the front
and when the German made
his first stop, for soft tyres, on
lap 23 he emerged ahead of
both Verstappen and Hamilton,
with Vettel quickly building a six
seconds advantage.
Later, Hamilton would say
that his early stop was caused
excessive tyre wear and that he
has simply ‘run out of grip’.
Elsewhere, Ricciardo’s
frustrating afternoon came to
a close when he suddenly lost
power on lap 29 and ground to a
halt at Turn 3.
By lap 40, Vettel was looking
comfortable in the lead, 7.8
seconds ahead of Hamilton who
was in turn 2.8 seconds ahead
of Bottas. Behind the podium
positions Bottas was 13 seconds
ahead of Raikkonen and the
Ferrari driver was four seconds
ahead of Verstappen.