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Hamilton went on to take P5 from Piastri as he looked to close the gap to team mate Russell ahead – but Russell, meanwhile, was told that he had “asymmetry” in his front wing. Another driver facing issues was Colapinto, who reported steering problems as he tried to hold off Magnussen in a battle for P9.
Lap 40 saw Piastri and Lawson make their pit stops for the hard tyre, leaving only Colapinto, Bottas, Ocon and Zhou to visit the pits. Overhead, the skies looked increasingly grey – and Russell soon reported small rain drops on his visor.
Up ahead, Sainz was leading Leclerc by six seconds, while Norris had a deficit of just under five seconds to Leclerc as the Briton looked to maximise his points with Verstappen back in sixth place. Perez, meanwhile, pitted again for another set of medium tyres, the local hero having a tough afternoon down in 17th.
Norris pumped in the fastest lap of the race on Lap 47, the gap to Leclerc having come down to just over four seconds, and team mate Piastri was busy trying to find a way past Colapinto for ninth – before the Australian was freed up as the Williams finally headed to the pits. A slightly slow stop brought him out into P15.
With Hamilton chasing down Russell in fourth, the latter was told that the duo were “free to race”. The scrap was unfolding 12 seconds up the road from Verstappen in sixth, while Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Piastri and Gasly were the final top-10 runners.
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