Hamilton finished eighth, but then received a 20-second penalty after crossing the finish line and fell all the way down to 16th place. Russell finished 12th.
The reason for the penalty was that Hamilton drove too fast through the pit lane. The penalty for that is having to drive through the pit lane, but after the race was over, Hamilton got 20 seconds instead.
– There is a crisis for Mercedes, states Viaplay commentator Thomas Schie as George Russell struggles to advance past Zhou Guanyu in the Sauber car.
– The car lacks top speed, says Schie as Hamilton struggles to get past Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
Hamilton was also overtaken by RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.
– Now it’s probably boiling in the cylinder head of Hamilton, says Schie.
En route, Lewis Hamilton announced on the team radio:
– I am very slow straight ahead.
– We are not better. We just have to realize that we are seven tenths too bad, Hamilton said beforehand. By that he means that the Mercedes cars are 0.7 seconds behind the fastest cars.
We followed the race live.
For a long time there was an amusing duel for 3rd place between Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Pérez in the sister teams RB and Red Bull. For the Australian, the dream is to take over Sergio Pérez’s seat in 2025. After a difficult start to the season, Ricciardo has done well lately.
He was unable to keep up with the pace of Pérez in the long run, but managed to keep Carlos Sainz behind him all the way to the finish line. Thus, Ricciardo was number four and Sainz number five.
– It may look as if Ricciardo is back, says Atle Gulbrandsen on Viaplay.
It is Ricciardo’s best position since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.
– He drove smartly, says Thomas Schie.
Lando Norris had to give up in the first round. It slammed between him and Lance Stroll. A pity for the McLaren driver, who has shown promising pace this weekend.
– This is what happens when there are four cars in the width, says Thomas Schie on the Viaplay broadcast.
– If there is someone who should be punished in that situation, then it must be Lewis Hamilton, who pushed Fernando Alonso.
– I couldn’t do anything, states Norris stated to Viaplay.
– He’s not Spanish, so he probably won’t get a penalty, Alonso says of Hamilton.
Charles Leclerc was second and Sergio Pérez third in Saturday’s sprint race.
