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An unusual incident after the chequered flag: Albon has spun at turn one after performing his practice start. The Williams driver is on his way again.
The chequered flag falls and it’s a one-two for Ferrari:
1. Carlos Sainz Jnr: 1’33.602
2. Charles Leclerc: 1’33.623
3. Max Verstappen: 1’33.855
4. Lando Norris: 1’33.868
5. Oscar Piastri: 1’33.908
6. Lewis Hamilton: 1’33.963
7. George Russell: 1’34.093
8. Kevin Magnussen: 1’34.096
9. Fernando Alonso: 1’34.112
10. Yuki Tsunoda: 1’34.313
11. Nico Hulkenberg: 1’34.364
12. Pierre Gasly: 1’34.375
13. Liam Lawson: 1’34.443
14. Alexander Albon: 1’34.618
15. Lance Stroll: 1’34.619
16. Sergio Perez: 1’34.638
17. Esteban Ocon: 1’34.806
18. Valtteri Bottas: 1’35.041
19. Franco Colapinto: 1’35.248
20. Zhou Guanyu: 1’37.219
Norris, with plenty of flow-vis on his car, goes fourth with a 1’33.868.
Piastri does a 1’33.908 for a temporary third place, which becomes fourth as Leclerc goes second, two-hundredths of a second of his team mate. Hamilton improves to fifth, three-tenths of a second off Sainz.
Tsunoda pops up to fourth, he’s just over a tenth of a second faster than Lawson. Russell improves to seventh after being held up by Colapinto. Norris is now out on a set of softs. Piastri goes beyond track limits at the exit of turn 12 on this lap.
Alonso beats Hamilton for third place with a 1’34.112. Piastri has a sketchy moment as he nearly hits the pit lane entry barrier. Virtual Safety Car now deployed. That forced Leclerc to abandon his flying lap.
Lawson goes a strong third. Sainz musters the fastest middle sector time, then goes on to displace Verstappen with a 1’33.602 with a health seven tenths of a second over Hamilton.
Soft tyres galore now with just under nine minutes left. Hamilton flirts with the track limits at turn 15, looks a bit loose and only manages second, 1’34.314, 0.459s off Verstappen.
A brief off for Alexander Albon at turn 12. He’s down in 16th at the moment on a 1’36.868, Williams like Ferrari not having brought any upgrades this weekend.
The bad news for Lawson is he’s got a new power unit this weekend which incurs multiple new penalties and means he will have to start the grand prix – not the sprint race – from the back of the grid.
Good effort from Lawson so far who’s two-tenths of a second up on Tsunoda, having done two laps more than his team mate, both on hards.
Perez tried the…
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