Perez takes another Red Bull double

Leclerc and Norris start on soft, Hamilton on hard, the others on medium. The soft tires will get you through traffic quickly, but shouldn’t last long. Verstappen is cautious starting 15th, in traffic, but everyone is waiting for a crazy comeback to liven up the race. In front, we have Perez and Alonso, two experienced drivers who can’t be counted. Watch out for snagging.

In theory, we will only stop once to change tyres, except for the safety car or other incidents. Place at the 1081st GP in the history of Formula 1 since 1950.

Departure

Very good take off from Fernando Alonso who overtakes Perez at the start. Magnificent passing of Stroll on Sainz from the outside. Astons are lively. Piastri lost bits of carbon. We have Alonso, Perez, Russell, Stroll, Sainz, Ocon, Hamilton, Gasly, Leclerc and Zhou. Piastri returns to the pits to change wing after 1 lap.

5 second penalty for Alonso! Like Ocon in Bahrain, he was not well positioned at the start. Since this season, the race direction has been uncompromising. Perez at the start of the 4th lap braked Alonso and regained the lead of the GP. Leclerc is 9th, Verstappen 11th.

At the very back, we find Sargeant, De Vries, Piastri and Norris who have already come through the pits. Leclerc ended up finding the opening on Gasly. And at the start of the 9th lap he took Hamilton’s slipstream and put him under braking. Hamilton who took a caution for zig-zagging in a straight line. Yeah. We have known them to be more lax in the direction of the race on the zig-zags.

Tower 10/50

Gasly is overtaken by Verstappen. Here is Gasly 10th and Verstappen 9th. Alonso starts to push himself out of Perez’s DRS zone. We have Perez, Alonso, Russell, Stroll, Sainz, Ocon, Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen and Gasly. At the start of lap 12, Verstappen swallows Hamilton. The Red Bull is so much faster in a straight line, plus it had DRS. In front, Alonso is 3 seconds behind Perez.

At the end of the 13th lap, Stroll returned but not Sainz for Ferrari. Intox. He put the tough ones. Did we send Stroll to scout for the tough guys? Verstappen meanwhile overtakes Ocon for 6th place. The Alpine driver does not resist, they do not drive in the same race. And it’s Gasly who comes in to put on the hard tyres.

Sainz returns at the end of the 15th lap and leaves Leclerc free on the track. Sainz starts again in front of Stroll. A lap later, it’s Leclerc who returns, as well as Ocon. Leclerc is just behind Sainz, but ahead of Stroll. Ocon is behind Sargeant, in 13th position, ahead of Gasly.

Stroll is stationary. The car doesn’t seem to get in the way but it’s a safety car! Everyone takes the opportunity to go to the stands. All those who had not changed the gums anyway. For Stroll it is an engine (or a component). Alonso served his 5 second penalty without losing a place and will be right behind Perez. He had the right to do it under a safety car? To have.

Round 20/50

The safety car is erased on the 21st lap. Perez was late to leave and surprises Alonso. Above all, he avoided aspiration like that. Hamilton is wild and passes Sainz. Hamilton went back to the pits to put mediums in place of his tough guys. On the other hand, there are 30 turns to take.

The “losers” of the safety car are ultimately the Alpine drivers. They are 9th and 10th, with Tsunoda the SC winner. Verstappen passed Russell before the end of the circuit. Russell cannot reply. Ocon passes Tsunoda. Well, Verstappen is on the podium, after 24 laps out of 50. Hello Sergio?

Come on, Verstappen is 2d as he rolls “elbow to the door”. On the on-board views, we see him upshifting fairly early and releasing before the turns. Alonso tries to follow and takes advantage of the DRS. Verstappen puts Perez 1/2 seconds per lap. Gasly passed Tsunoda. The Alpines are 8 and 9 behind the Ferraris.

Ah, brake problems for Albon who tried to bring the Williams back to the pits to retire. Hamilton is in the DRS area of ​​Russell. Are we going to have a radio locker? Probably not even needed. Verstappen is 5.2 seconds behind Perez.

Round 30/50

Hamilton took a little off from Russell. To avoid overheating its mediums? The two Red Bulls are in the same rhythm. Perez sends a signal to his team. But Verstappen didn’t let it go either and suddenly gained 1 second in two laps. On the other hand, there is no one behind. Alonso is 12.7 seconds behind. Alfa Romeo brings in Bottas to put on the tenders. But he is 18th. Is it to acquire data?

Here, Verstappen complains about a “strange” transmission. Pay attention to reliability. Well, so as not to fall asleep in this slow period, Zhou did the braking from the outside at Sargeant, for 13th place, without a point.

Well, with the “noises” that Verstappen hears, he let go. Perez takes off a bit. Verstappen has enough to see Alonso coming with 14 seconds. Magnussen in the Haas returns to Tsunoda and the AlphaTauri. Perez complains about his brakes! There are 10 laps left, that’s a long time.

Tower 40/50

Alright, it’s still humming. Red Bull is still there. Strangely on the radio, Perez is asked to slow down a bit. He refuses. Frankly, did Red Bull try to “turn it upside down” to Perez? There are 6 laps to go and Perez is 4.8 seconds ahead. Unless there is a big disaster, it’s folded. Alonso is 3rd, 17 seconds behind Verstappen, but 4.5 seconds ahead of Perez.

Magnussen approaches Tsunoda again. Behind, McLaren is fighting with Williams as in the heyday… but for the last places. Magnussen passes Tsunoda and takes the last small point. At Mercedes, Russell is told that he must stay under 5 seconds behind Alonso who could have a 5 second penalty. The early penalty observed under the safety car?

Alonso has the instruction to accelerate and applies it! He wants his podium. Verstappen understood that it was Perez who had the fastest lap in the race and wants to go get him!

Arrival

Victory for Mexican Sergio Perez! Max is 2d and held out for the fastest lap in the race. He keeps the lead of the championship! Alonso is 3rd for 5.138 seconds over Russell. He is therefore assured of his 100th career podium!

The Mercedes, the Ferraris, the Alpines and Magnussen for Haas follow.
Attention, Alonso is under investigation for his penalty. What if he took 10 seconds like Ocon?

There you go, the penalty for Alonso has fallen! 10 seconds for failure to respect the penalty. Russell recovers 3rd place. The 100th podium will wait.

Position	Pilot
1	Sergio PEREZ
2	Max VERSTAPPEN
3	George Russell
4	Fernando ALONSO
5	Lewis HAMILTON
6	Carlos Sainz
7	Charles LECLERC
8	Esteban OCON
9	Pierre Gasley
10	Kevin MAGNUSSEN
11	Yuki TSUNODA
12	Nico HULKENBERG
13	Guanyu Zhou
14	Nyck DE
15	Oscar PIASTRI
16	Logan SARGEANT
17	Lando NORRIS
18	Valtteri BOTTAS
19	Alexander ALBON
20	Lance STROLL