Disaster for Piastri as Max thrills in remarkable victory

Verstappen clung to the win by 2.2 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.

At times throughout the 56-lap battle, Norris looked set to clinch his maiden F1 victory, especially after motoring off the start line to move past pole sitter Charles Leclerc and take the lead on lap one.

Norris’ teammate Piastri was able to make up four positions at the race start to sit sixth before he was tagged by the Alpine driver.

Ocon subsequently had to retire his car with sidepod damage, while it appeared that Piastri had got off scot-free.

However, Piastri was later instructed on lap 11 to bring his car into the pits and retire with damage to the radiator and a water leak caused by the contact.

In his return race from a broken hand, fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo finished 17th — seven places behind his AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

After gaining five positions at the start, Ricciardo began to slip back through the field, as his one-stop strategy proved ineffective.

In the closing stages, Hamilton appeared on course to steal the lead from Verstappen but ultimately left his charge too late after Mercedes’ failed to react to an early pit stop by Red Bull.

Persisting with a one-stop strategy, Hamilton was forced to pit earlier than planned and at the end of his first stint gifted Verstappen a six-second advantage

“We’ll see how this race pans out, but I have this little feeling in the back of my mind that Mercedes should have reacted sooner and pitted Lewis Hamilton,” David Croft said in commentary for Sky Sports at the time.

With the result, Hamilton moves within 19 points of Sergio Perez in second place in the drivers’ standings.