Verstappen storms to victory from tenth as Ferrari strategy implodes

Max Verstappen drove an impressive race to win from tenth on the grid, while Ferrari were unable to claim a podium.

George Russell shocked the F1 paddock by snatching his first pole position, beating the two Ferraris while Red Bull Racing could only end Saturday’s Qualifying in 10th and 11th.

With a brief threat of rain at the start, Carlos Sainz spared no time in placing pressure on Russell who kept his lead in the opening stages. After a brief Virtual Safety Car, Russell would start to break away.

Meanwhile, championship leader Verstappen set about moving through the field to maximise damage limitation, breaking past both Alpine cars by lap seven.

Russell would pull into the pit-lane on lap 16, switching to the medium tyres with Ferrari responding by pitting Sainz for the same compound a lap later. The Mercedes driver would retain his lead.

Charles Leclerc would be left out until lap 21 before switching to the medium tyres. The Monegasque would ultimately jump teammate Sainz, and set his sights on taking the race lead. Eventually, Leclerc would hunt Russell down, breaking past Russell at turn one on lap 30.

Verstappen, who had made his way into the top-four, opted to take on another set of medium tyres jumping Russell while Leclerc switched to hard tyres. Questions around Ferrari’s strategy quickly arose as, so far, the hard compound was creating more problems than solutions for most teams.

This left Leclerc vulnerable, with his Dutch title rival taking advantage to snatch the race lead after starting tenth. Despite spinning and falling behind once again, Verstappen would quickly catch and pass Leclerc once again.

Leclerc’s poor race would continue as Russell would storm past. With their race quickly falling apart, Ferrari would pit Leclerc once again, this time taking on a set of soft tyres.

The Prancing Horse’s strategical blunders continue to destroy their championship hopes, with any chances of a World Championship seemingly thrown away as F1 heads into the summer break. This was made even more apparent, as Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto briefly left the team’s pit wall before the end of the Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton would then pass Sainz to join his teammate on the podium. The seven-time world champion would then break past Russell, snatching second.

However, by the end of the Grand Prix, despite both a VSC and a last-lap rain shower, nobody could touch Verstappen, who cruised to victory ahead of both Mercedes drivers, extending his championship lead to 80 points.

Speaking to David Coulthard after the race, Verstappen said:

“I was hoping that I could get close to a podium. Very tricky conditions out there but I think we had a really good strategy, we were really reactive and always pitting at the right time.

“I think we had some good out-laps and even with a 360° we won the race. It was a lot of fun out there.”

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