A sprint that had an interesting course in the fight for the few points, thanks to Kevin Magnussen, who did not hesitate to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him and at the cost of penalty moves.
And it all started with Lewis Hamilton, who caused a collision between several drivers. The Briton saw clear space on the inside of Fernando Alonso entering the first corner, followed by a carom between the two Aston Martin drivers, before Lando Norris suffered in the upgraded and faster McLaren car.
Max Verstappen had a good start, managed to keep Leclerc behind him after the first bend, and then dictated the pace of the race until the finish.
The Dutchman emerged victorious by three seconds over Leclerc and five over Sergio Perez. Daniel Ricciardo completed an excellent defensive performance and was fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr., Oscar Piastre and Nico Hulkenberg.
For Norris and Stroll, the sprint ended there, but the stewards did not issue any penalties to anyone.
Fernando Alonso believes that Lewis Hamilton is to blame for the incident, but the stewards did not punish him because he is not Spanish.
"I think Lewis ruined the race for a few drivers, especially Norris, who had a very fast car but retired as a result of the incident. I wasn't penalized today, but I always get penalties."
"I was driving behind Esteban Ocon and I could have risked overtaking him, but I logically decided not to risk it to avoid a penalty. I was trying to finish the sprint, do 19 laps, go back to the team and discuss what needs to be changed in the car."
For Lando and Lance the sprint was over, Fernando managed to get back on track.
A safety car period followed, and the stewards decided not to penalize anyone.
The top eight order was: Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Perez, Sainz Jr., Piastre, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Hamilton, Tsunoda were in the points attack.
On lap 6, Perez overtook Ricciardo for third. Hamilton put pressure on Magnussen for a long time, but the Mercedes AMG car lacked speed on the tracks, it was inferior even compared to Haas.
In defending the position, Kevin ran off the track, something the stewards characterized as getting an advantage off the track. A 10-second penalty followed for the Dane.
From that moment on, the battle was to keep the Briton behind in every way possible, to help his team-mate in front of him. Magnussen didn't give up until lap 14, earning three plus time penalties in the meantime, while Yuki Tsunoda used the battle to sneak up to 8th.
On the penultimate lap, Hamilton overtook the Japanese and just when he thought he would take the final sprint point, it was announced after the finish that he had been penalized for speeding through the pit lane.
As a result, Tsunoda was back in 8th place and won the final sprint point.
Up front it was calmer, only Carlos Sainz Jr. put pressure on Ricciardo until the last meters from the finish, but the Australian defended the 4th place.
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