Verstappen lost his lead from pole at the start, as the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton passed him in the opening corners. But Verstappen took control after a restart following Alex Albon’s big crash, passing Hamilton using DRS in the ultra-fast section ahead of Turn 9 – while Russell went out with an engine fire.
Despite a brief off, Verstappen looked to be cruising to victory when the race was red-flagged again when Kevin Magnussen crashed his Haas. A two-lap restart was attempted but that ended in a multi-car crash, that led to another red flag.
