Hamilton took P5 from Piastri as he tried to close the gap on his teammate Russell ahead of him – but Russell, meanwhile, was told he had an “asymmetry” in his front wing. Another driver who had problems was Colapinto, who reported steering problems as he tried to hold off Magnussen in the battle for P9.

On lap 40, Piastri and Lawson made their pit stops due to the hard tires, so only Colapinto, Bottas, Ocon and Zhou visited the pits. Above us the sky seemed to be getting grayer – and Russell soon reported small drops of rain on his visor.

At the front, Sainz was six seconds ahead of Leclerc, while Norris was just under five seconds behind Leclerc as the Brit looked to maximize his points with Verstappen in sixth. Meanwhile, Perez pitted again to get another set of medium tires. The local hero had a tough afternoon and ended up in 17th place.

Norris set the fastest lap of the race on lap 47, the gap to Leclerc had shrunk to just over four seconds, and teammate Piastri was busy finding a way past Colapinto into ninth – before the Australian was released in third Williams eventually pitted. A slightly slower stop brought him to P15.

As Hamilton chased Russell for fourth place, he was told that the duo were “free to race”. The battle unfolded twelve seconds ahead of Verstappen in sixth place, while Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Piastri and Gasly were the final top 10 runners.