However, with the pair losing ground to Norris in third, the order soon followed from the pit wall for Hamilton to let Leclerc through, which Hamilton subsequently did. There was further action in the pit lane, meanwhile, with the likes of Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Bearman pitting while Sainz suffered a nightmarishly slow stop, bringing him back out at the rear of the pack.
As Lap 11 ticked down, Piastri continued to hold the lead by over three seconds from Verstappen, while Norris had closed in to within half a second of the World Champion. “No grip, compared to them that is,” Verstappen glumly told his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, just as Piastri reported some struggles with his rear tyres.
It did not take long for Norris to take advantage of the situation, the Briton passing Verstappen with ease into Turn 1 on Lap 13 – and just one tour later, the Dutchman dived into the pits for a fresh set of soft tyres, emerging back on track in P8.
Another title winner, meanwhile, was skating across the gravel at Turn 5 – that being home favourite Alonso, who returned to the track in P15 just ahead of Ocon. The Spaniard was subsequently noted by the stewards for rejoining the track unsafely, though it was soon decided that no further investigation was needed.
Alonso went on to pit for medium tyres on Lap 16, while Hamilton followed one tour later. “There’s a long way to go,” the seven-time World Champion cautioned before being told that they were attempting an undercut. Leclerc up ahead was encouraged to “full push”, the Monegasque making his stop on the following lap.
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