got a slightly better start than lewis hamilton, and also charles leclerc a better start than valtteri bottas. hamilton is just leading ahead, then, of max verstappen. on the inside of the ferrari, esteban ocon, as verstappen goes into turn 1 and goes . Past. Themercedes. he got his elbows out there, max verstappen, and takes the lead in the race from lewis hamilton and then valtteri bottas. they’re all clean through the first couple of corners. . Butthat was such an important move for verstappen and he got it done well. once again, verstappen with razor blades on his elbows, and he would not yield. all fair. it was good racing, and lewis did well to just step out of it and live for another 66 laps. engine stopped on the outside of turn 10, the newly reprofiled turn 10. wouldn’t be at . Allsurprised. yeah, safety car . Isgoing to be deployed. max verstappen is off and running and lewis hamilton trying to get to a spot where the ferrari behind him can’t get the benefit of a tow. but . He’sgiven up on that and he’s gone for the best place possible .

Togo into turn 1. sergio perez is in a duel with esteban ocon – sixth and seventh . Onthe race track. yeah, max was trying to break the tow. quick thinking there. you’re allowed to . Dothat. you know, you might think, ‘well, you know, you’re not allowed to move across the track that.’ that’s only when you’re in combat. if there’s nobody around you, you can move side to side. fernando alonso and lance stroll now go through turn 4. alonso’s got the inside line, . Butcan stroll hang onto this to take the inside line at turn 5 and take a position and move into ninth place? he can! he’s ahead of fernando alonso, into tenth place. mercedes have opted to carry on as verstappen pits. yeah, he’s right below me, crofty. they’re a bit slow on the rear left. the rear left tyre very slow to come up. i don’t know if it was a late call, but they were slow to bring the tyre out and that’s cost him time. this is a .

Hugeopportunity. once again an opportunity given to mercedes and hamilton. “blue flags! michael, this guy makes us lose . Theposition.” that’s toto wolff talking to race control. yeah, talking to michael masi. all the tyres .

Arehere, un the red bull situation. the team nice and early. hamilton gets a .

Cleanentry into his pit box no problems here. all the wheels on jacks. that’s .