RACE REPORT
Vettel, on the other hand, lined up well
out of his box and then was sluggish off the
line but recovered to tuck in behind Hamilton
as they exited the Turn 1 complex. Stewards
noted the German’s start-line positioning but
did not act on it.
Real drama started early when rookie
Lance Stroll clipped the Force India of Sergio
Perez on the opening lap, which resulted in
the Williams driver beached in the gravel, his
race was over and a virtual safety car period
ensued to allow marshals to remove the
beached car.
At this point several drivers darted into
the pits for slicks, including Vettel. At this
point the decision to bring in the Ferrari
appeared to be an inspired one.
But not long after the restart another
rookie, Antonio Giovinazzi, slammed his
Sauber into the pit-wall after getting it all
wrong on the final turn, in the same area he
crashed in qualifying 24 hours earlier. The
impact was big and the debris scattered
across the track forced the safety car to be
deployed.
This played into the hands of Hamilton
who made a pitstop and resumed at the
head of the field, but Vettel was not so lucky
as he found himself behind the Red Bull of
Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen who had
stormed through the field, as well as his own
teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Verstappen was on the move, getting
past Raikkonen with a sweet move then
pouncing on his teammate to take second
place behind Hamilton, who was about five
seconds up the road at that point.