Charles Leclerc got away well from pole position, entering the first corner uncontested. Carlos Sainz had a look on the outside of Oscar Piastri in the first corner, but never really attempted a move. This allowed Sergio Perez to sneak into the second corner of the Ferrari and take the position. Max Verstappen followed suit, making an identical move on George Russell.
At the end of the first lap, Lance Stroll had to pit for new tyres, having suffered a puncture when he collided with Yuki Tsunoda earlier in the lap. Stroll figures the RB turned closed the door on him. Tsunoda later retired. This bunched up a group of cars near the back of the field, creating a four-car battle down the main straight. One of these cars was Lando Norris, who started the race from P15 after his first Q1 exit since the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
He started the race on the hard tyres, hoping for a safety car to help him out. He carved his way through the cars at the back of the field, eventually making his way into the points on lap 8.
Drivers who started the race on medium tyres began complaining about tyre degradation and started losing pace. The pit stops began with rookie Franco Colapinto, who was running an impressive top-ten in only his second race. This caused a few drivers to make a pit stop to cover off the Williams driver.
Max Verstappen and George Russell were next to pit on lap 13 and Sergio Perez did the same on the next lap. Critically, McLaren did not call Piastri into the pits to cover off Perez, compromising his net P2. Perez rejoined the race behind Lando Norris. Despite saying they would favour Norris in all future 50/50 strategy decisions, they asked the Brit to hold up Perez. Norris obliged, costing Perez 1.5s on his out lap and allowing Piastri to rejoin the race narrowly ahead of the Red Bull when he pitted the following lap.
Charles Leclerc pitted from the lead on lap 17, rejoining the race with Alex Albon right on his tail. Something had happened to the leading Ferrari, losing all his 6s advantage over Piastri. Although the Williams seemed to have a strong pace on the hard tyres it started the race on, it was a cork in the bottle when compared with the newer tyres of Piastri and Perez behind.
Piastri overtook Albon down the main straight, leaving Perez behind, showcasing the lack of straight-line speed in the Red Bull this weekend. Perez finally got by Albon a lap later, but Piastri was too far ahead to challenge.
In fact, Piastri was so quick that he decided to have a go at Leclerc in the first corner. He was brave on the brakes, diving up the inside of Leclerc and into the lead of the race. Leclerc attempted to fight back on the run to the second corner, but Piastri covered him off. Leclerc managed to keep right on the back of the McLaren in the laps that followed, but Piastri was strong on the brakes in the first corner, covering off the best overtaking zone on the circuit.
Further back, Norris was stuck behind Albon. McLaren played a bit of a game on the radio, calling Norris into the pits and then telling him to stay out, potentially to trick the Williams pit wall. It didn’t work, although Albon did pit a lap later on lap 32. This unleashed Norris to build a gap and maximize his position when he finally pits. He finally pitted on lap 38, rejoining the race in P7.
Back at the front, Leclerc continued to be stuck behind Piastri. He spent lap after lap after lap in the dirty air of the McLaren. On most laps, he was too far back to line up a lunge on the inside, but on the ones where he was close enough, Piastri would defend the inside line. Ferrari played the bluff on the radio, telling Leclerc to “box opposite McLaren”, but neither of the leading pair pitted.
As the laps ticked down, Leclerc’s tyres dropped off a cliff in the closing laps of the race. He fell right off the rear of the leading McLaren, watching a gap that was once measured in tenths grow to more than 3 seconds. This put Leclerc under pressure from Perez behind with Carlos Sainz also in the mix.
On the penultimate lap, Perez tried to dive around the outside of the first corner, but Leclerc was able to maintain the position on the brakes. This compromised Perez’s exit, allowing Sainz to climb into P2. Sainz had a look on the outside of his teammate in the second corner, hindering his exit. This put Perez just alongside Sainz and the two cars drifted into each other down the straight to turn 3, both hunting the slipstream from the back of Leclerc’s car. With two cars destroyed, the race ended under a virtual safety car.
The late race collision promoted George Russell to the bottom step of the podium. Despite his best efforts, Charles Leclerc had to settle for the second step of the podium with Oscar Piastri standing on the top step after a defensive masterclass. Unexpectedly, Lando Norris also managed to gain points in his championship rivalry with Max Verstappen, finishing P4 and P5, respectively.
This performance was enough for McLaren to dethrone Red Bull and take the lead in the World Constructors’ Championship with seven races remaining in the season.
Next on the schedule is the second round in the street-race double-header. This time it’s the Singapore Grand Prix on the weekend of September 22.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51 | 1:32:58.007 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 51 | +10.910 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 51 | +31.328 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 51 | +36.143 | 13 |  | |
| 5 | 51 | +77.098 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 51 | +85.468 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 51 | +87.396 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 51 | +89.541 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 51 | +92.401 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 51 | +93.127 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 51 | +93.465 | |||
| 12 | 51 | +117.189 | |||
| 13 | 51 | +146.907 | |||
| 14 | 51 | +148.841 | |||
| 15 | 50 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 50 | +1 Lap | |||
| DNF | 49 | ||||
| DNF | 49 | ||||
| DNF | 45 | ||||
| DNF | 14 |
