RACE REPORT
On lap 27 Hamilton now led from Vettel,
Ricciardo and Stroll with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen
in fifth place. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was in
an unlikely sixth place after starting 19th, while
Sainz was seventh ahead of Bottas and Grosjean.
Perez was in P14 ahead of Raikkonen but both
were under investigation as it appeared their
crews had worked on the car outside the fast lane
in the frenzy to get them going again.
Hamilton, though, had a problem with his
head restraint and was told he had to pit to fix
the issue. That dropped him to eighth place. The
damage was minimised when moments later
Vettel was handed a 10-second stop and go
penalty for the SC incident with Hamilton. The
German served the penalty at the end of lap 33
and dropped to P7 ahead of Hamilton.
Ahead, and somewhat improbably, Ricciardo
now led the race in front of Stroll and Magnussen.
The Haas driver didn’t hold the podium position
for long, however, and on lap 38 the Dane was
passed by both Ocon and a resurgent Bottas.
The Finn then passed the Force India driver
and began setting fastest laps as he chased down
Stroll. As the laps counted down it didn’t look like
the Mercedes driver had done enough but on the
final lap he closed hard and after Ricciardo had
taken the flag to claim his fourth career victory,
Bottas managed to pass Stroll across the line in a
hugely exciting finale.
Stroll took third, becoming the first Canadian
to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve
at the German Grand Prix in 2001.
Behind them Vettel held Hamilton at bay to
finish fourth, while behind the Mercedes driver
Ocon took sixth ahead of Magnussen, Sainz,
Alonso and Wehrlein.