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All of this led to plenty of action in the pit lane, with much of the second half of the field coming in – but by the time Russell and Norris made their stops, the VSC had ended, meaning that the pair had been somewhat caught out. This dropped them down to fourth and fifth, but Norris soon reversed those positions as Russell struggled for grip.
The Safety Car was then called on Lap 30 amid the worsening conditions, with Ocon leading the race by eight seconds from Verstappen and Gasly, a trio who were all yet to pit. Norris remained in fourth from Russell, while Piastri had been handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lawson.
Lap 32 saw the red flag thrown after a big crash for Colapinto, the Argentinian driver fortunately emerging unharmed after hitting the barriers heavily. This brought an end to what had been a miserable day for Williams, with Albon having been unable to start at all following his qualifying incident.
This meant that the rest of the pack returned to the pit lane, with just over half of the race distance left to go – and now everybody would be able to change tyres. During this pause, Piastri went to apologise to Lawson, while Hulkenberg learned that he had been given a black flag for receiving assistance from the marshals when he returned to the track after his off, meaning that he was disqualified from the event.
Conditions were still wet when the race resumed at 1402 local time, with the Safety Car leading the pack out for one tour before Ocon took over, the Alpine smoothly holding the lead from Verstappen. Behind them Norris went wide at Turn 4, allowing Russell through into fourth, while Hamilton took ninth place from Alonso and Leclerc also had a moment, the Ferrari running between Norris and Piastri.
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