This affected the hands of those who had not yet stopped, and Leclerc had the opportunity to pit quickly before Norris’ next stop (stroll and Hamilton also cautiously put on fresh tires), but soon Only then did the VSC switch to full safety car mode. After that – Bottas’ car appeared to be stuck in gear.
As the mid-race distance approached, many drivers opted to pit under the safety car, with Verstappen, Perez, Alonso, Piastri and Russell becoming the front runners, followed by Hulkenberg, Ocon, Tsunoda, Albon and Zhou. slow stop) and Gasly, this means the already open strategic race has reached another level.
After a period of active activity, the standings were Verstappen (2 stops), Norris (1 stop), Leclerc (1 stop), Perez (2 stops), Sainz (1 stop), all hard, and Alonso (2 stops). stop) was soft and Russell (2 stops). ) and Piastri (2 cars) were hard, Ricardo (1 car) was medium, and Stroll (2 cars) was hard.
“Everyone except Alonso will want to go all the way on the hard tires,” was his message to Norris, before the safety car pitted for the restart. The restart occurred at the end of the 26th lap. Verstappen was calmly running in the lead. away from the field.
But minutes later there was more drama. Tsunoda, who had earlier swapped positions with teammate Ricciardo using the opposite strategy, was spun by Magnussen at the exit of Turn 6, causing terminal damage to the right rear of RB and causing him to fall. Haas limped back to the pits with a puncture.
