First, on lap ten, an accident involving Haas driver Mick Schumacher triggered a red flag. Only seconds after the standing restart was interrupted again after several accidents in the back of the field. Before the first stop, the Mercedes of world champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had led the Red Bull from world championship leader Max Verstappen.
Because, unlike Hamilton and Bottas, Verstappen had decided not to change tires after the Schumacher accident, he was the first to go from the standing restart. The Dutchman was overtaken by Hamilton immediately. Verstappen countered with a forbidden shortcut in the first corner, which put Alpine driver Esteban Ocon in the front.
After reaching an agreement with race management, the Frenchman was the first to tackle the second restart ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Verstappen took this opportunity to take the lead from P3. Hamilton overtook Ocon and was second behind Verstappen after 18 of 50 laps, before Verstappen complained about the lack of engine power. Before the penultimate race of the season in the World Cup, the Dutchman is eight points ahead of Hamilton.
Source: Nachrichten
