The penultimate race of the Formula 1 season has already provided a lot of food for discussion in the first hour. After two serious accidents, the race had to be stopped twice by means of a red flag. Title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton also met during the first restart: the two ruffs drove off the track in no time and will immediately resume the race in third and second respectively.
Sam Varewyck
Lewis Hamilton had retained his lead at the start ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen. The trio continued in that order until Mick Schumacher (Haas) crashed heavily on lap ten. Both Mercedes immediately entered the pits for a tire change, while Verstappen drove on and took the lead.
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The red flag was raised after three laps behind the safety car. After all, Schumacher’s Haas had damaged the fence, which meant that it had to be repaired first. It then immediately went wrong on restart. Verstappen lost his lead to Hamilton, but the Dutchman then overtook his competitor outside the track and pushed Hamilton back to third place (Esteban Ocon also overtook him through Verstappen’s maneuver, ed.).
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So drama again, and it wasn’t over yet. After all, just after turn two, things went wrong again: Sergio Pérez was tapped by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, forcing all pursuers to brake. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) drilled into George Russell’s Williams, once again littering the track with debris. The match was again stopped.
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Afterwards there was also discussion about what to do with the next reboot. Verstappen normally had to start from place one for Ocon and Hamilton, but after consultation with the race management, Verstappen’s team Red Bull agreed to let the Dutchman leave from place three – so just behind Hamilton. The race is currently still at a standstill.