As Verstappen got by it was too early in the stint for Ferrari to bring Sainz in. Not only had he not yet pulled himself out of reach of the lower midfield cars, but it would have meant too long a second stint even for the hard tyre. That super-skinny Ferrari wing which had helped Sainz to pole was extracting a price on rear tyre wear.
Meantime Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull had found a way past George Russell’s Mercedes (George was deeply impressed by how much faster the Red Bull was through Parabolica) and was chasing the Ferraris down. But Leclerc was being pulled along with the help of DRS from Sainz and it took a while to catch. He got past Leclerc just after they’d each made their stops to switch from mediums to hards, but Sainz would prove a doughtier opponent. So much so that he was pushing up against the hems of the sporting regulations on occasion, with his late defences and his crowding of the Red Bull over the kerb. Perez eventually found a way by to give Red Bull a 1-2, leaving Sainz to fend off Leclerc.
The two Ferraris went hard at it in the closing laps, totally gloves off. Sainz was in no mood to surrender given that he’d been Ferrari’s lead driver all weekend and was only struggling more with his tyres now because of his extended battle with the Red Bulls. He chopped across Leclerc into Turn 1 going into the last lap such that Leclerc had to take evasive action, all locked up.
Leclerc locks up and just avoids hitting his team-mate
DPPI
Russell in fifth wasn’t close enough to take advantage, the Merc just a little too draggy for this track but less draggy than the McLarens. They were stuck behind Alex Albon’s defensively-driven Williams which was Ferrari-fast down the straights which in turn allowed Hamilton – who’d started on hards from eighth on the grid – to pass them all once he’d switched to his mediums. But in doing so he snagged Oscar Piastri into the Roggia chicane, ruining the McLaren driver’s race. Hamilton took a 5sec penalty for the incident but managed to get himself 6sec ahead of Albon on the last lap to take sixth. Piastri was in the wars. As well as the Hamilton incident, he’d touched with team-mate Lando Norris as he exited the pits, having been undercut by him. Norris had been brought in first from behind to protect from a potential Fernando Alonso undercut. Later, Piastri made contact with Logan Sargeant’s Williams, for which he incurred a 5sec penalty of his own. Behind Alonso, the final point was taken by Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa.
Even if he took a holiday for the rest of the season, Verstappen would likely still be the 2023 world champion. What challenge is left? More. A Red Bull clean sweep of the season to match Alfa in 1950 and Ferrari in ’52?