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Alex Albon fought valiantly from the back of the grid after his exclusion from a P8 result in qualifying over Williams’s illegal floor upgrade, but despite briefly working his way into the points, he ended up 14th on a two-stop strategy.
Next up were Esteban Ocon and Logan Sargeant in their Alpine and Williams cars, the latter thankful to his mechanics for overnight repairs after his massive FP3 shunt that ruled him out of qualifying, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda another two-stopper en route to 17th.
Kevin Magnussen went longest of all in the opening stint as he looked to recover from a pit lane start following power unit changes, but the Haas man could manage no more than 18th, followed by Kick Sauber pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, who also both pitted twice.
While Russell and Hamilton – the latter also catching the eye with his recovery drive – looked set to post the fastest lap on softs, it was Norris who ultimately set the benchmark to secure the bonus on offer and cut Verstappen’s advantage from 78 points to 70 with nine rounds remaining.
More to follow.
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