The Australian had started on pole for the first time in his Grand Prix career and was so in control of the race that he scarcely appeared on the race broadcast all morning.However, post-race checks led to three drivers getting disqualified and the order shaken up entirely, with Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly’s cars found to be underweight.Lewis Hamilton also lost his position in the race thanks to over-worn skid blocks, the second time in 18 months the Brit has been disqualified for the same infringement after the US Grand Prix in 2023.Lando Norris spent most of the race fending off George Russell with reasonable ease too, the Mercedes trundling around in third place and holding off the Ferraris of Leclerc – missing a front wing endplate from the first corner – and Hamilton.However, Norris began to struggle with a brake pedal issue in the closing laps of the race, only barely holding off Russell as he began to lose 4-5 seconds a lap.Hamilton and Leclerc both passed Max Verstappen into the first corner and looked to be keeping the Red Bull comfortably behind until the Brit came in to switch onto an off-sync two-stop strategy, banking on tyre degradation for the one-stoppers which never came.Verstappen even caught up and passed Leclerc for fourth place with a handful of laps to go, bringing him back to the place he started the race.Thanks to the disqualifications of Leclerc, Hamilton and Gasly, Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz jumped up from 12th and 13th respectively to claim points in ninth and tenth.At the other end of the field, the under-pressure pair of Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan did little to help their cases, the second Red Bull driver finishing only ahead of the two struggling Saubers and Yuki Tsunoda*, who had to make a long late pit-stop when his front wing snapped apparently of its own accord.Doohan didn’t show awful pace, but picked up his second penalty in as many days for an incident with Isack Hadjar, dropping him down the order and doing nothing to silence the calls for him to be replaced by Gabriel Bortoleto.*Doohan’s penalty also meant that Lawson was classified ahead of the Australian.
