Right before the lights out, there were only 21 cars on the grid as Alexander Albon started from the pit line due to components change in his car. Except Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who started ninth on softs, all drivers started on medium tires.

Both Ferraris had an amazing start and Hamilton was leading the sprint in the first lap as Leclerc got past Antonelli and Norris. These two drivers had a bad start and struggled for the rest of the sprint race.

In the first couple of laps Hamilton and Russell exchanged first position many times. After the spectacular battles, Russell built a 4 second gap over Hamilton in lap 11. When the order settled, Antonelli was seventh.

This year’s rookie driving for Racing Bulls Arvind Lindblad made a contact in lap 1 which ruined his whole race. Antonelli and Hadjar had a collision and the race control gave Antonelli a 10 second penalty.

Yellow flag in lap 13 due to Hulkenberg’s technical issue on his Audi opened many strategy opportunities. Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull pitted for soft tires. Antonelli served his penalty and came back seventh.

At the end of lap 16 the safety car ended, but the order didn’t change much. Russell was leading with Leclerc and Hamilton behind. Right after the safety car finish Piastri overtook Antonelli, but before the finish line when his last lap wasn’t done so he had to give Antonelli the position back. Cadillac’s Checo Perez got a 5 second penalty for safety car infringement and finished 19^th.

Right after the sprint Russell commented, quoted by the official F1 website: “It was pretty fun in the end! Really happy to get the win. It is really windy at the moment, and this first corner is so long. It only takes one lap of battling and you can destroy your front tyre.”