At the beginning of the race, Poleman Verstappen was overtaken by George Russell but he lost another spot when Lewis Hamilton drove close to him and moved ahead. Verstappen watched as Hamilton and Russell raced each other until a safety car came out after Alex Albon crashed causing a red flag. This let Hamilton and Verstappen make some changes to their cars so they stayed at the front of the order.
After the race restarted, the Red Bull driver managed to overtake the Mercedes cars and pull ahead. The team Boss commented on this, saying that Max showed a lot of patience in order to not get involved in any trouble.
George managed to overtake Max in the first corner. After that, Lewis Hamilton (driving a Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (driving an Aston Martin) got the chance to pass George which left just enough space for Lewis to shoot ahead into the third corner. Max Verstappen (driving a Red Bull Racing car) was being praised by Horner for leaving an opportunity for Lewis to pass.
I think the racer showed a lot of self-control getting out of the way. All three racers were competing really hard at the beginning of the race, and they all fought it out at first place.
George, Lewis, and Max were not very happy with each other during the race. George got pushed by Lewis and then they both had a fight between them. Then the red flag came up while Max and Lewis had a one-on-one competition. After this was over, Max controlled the remainder of the race. Afterwards, Verstappen said he wasn’t pleased with what Hamilton did on the first lap.
“I just wanted to stay away from any contact,” the Dutchman said. “The rules say we’re allowed to do something on the outside, but it seems that people aren’t following the rules.”
“We had a good speed and were able to still pass them, so it’s not a problem right now. But let’s pay attention to this in our next races.”
Hamilton thought that his move was fair for both drivers. He said that the other driver carefullly braked early and he secretly brake late. But, at the same time, he didn’t hit him or drive him away from the road so that safety is ensured. The Mercedes boss also had no problem with Hamilton’s move.
The Austrian said, “We’ve talked a lot about racing rules before, and I don’t think that this one was bad.”
