Off the line, Leclerc maintained his lead over Vettel. Verstappen and Hamilton made slight contact into turn 2 and both ended up on the grass. 

Alex Albon moved up to P3, with Carlos Sainz 4th and Hamilton in 5th. Verstappen dropped to 8th behind Norris and Bottas. Hamilton quickly cleared the Spaniard on lap 4, however. 

Verstappen made a move in the stadium on Bottas, but they made small contact and the Dutchman ended up with a puncture which put him at the back of the field. The Finn didn’t pick up damage and passed the McLaren’s to move up to P5. 

The Toro Rossos and Norris were in the pits before lap 15 as their soft tyres degraded massively after making the top 10. Whilst the Toro Rossos had clean stops, Norris was released with a loose wheel. He stopped before the pit exit which meant they could push the car back and put it on. The Brit went a lap down, however.  

Antonio Giovinazzi was also released with a loose wheel but didn’t leave the pits and it got fitted correctly. 

Albon pitted from P3 on lap 15 and rejoined behind Sainz, before eventually passing him. Ferrari responded with race leader Leclerc a lap later. That left the top 5 as Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc and Albon on lap 20.  

Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 24 and returned to the circuit ahead of Albon in P4.  

Bottas and Vettel finally boxed at the end of laps 36 and 37 respectively. They rejoined in P4 and P5, with the German remaining in front of the Finn. 

Leclerc came in on lap 43 to put on a new set of hards. However, it was a slow 6.2s stop as he rejoined behind Vettel and Bottas. Albon came in soon afterwards and dropped to P5. It left Hamilton out front from Vettel, Bottas, Leclerc and Albon. 

Daniel Ricciardo finally pitted on lap 50 to switch from the hards to medium tyres after finding himself up in 6th after a superb first stint. 

Despite consistently questioning the strategy during the race, Hamilton did a stunning job to manage his tyres to take a great win and moved a step closer to sealing his sixth championship. Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium places. 

Leclerc, Albon, Verstappen – who charged through back through the field – rounded out the top 6. 

Perez held off Ricciardo as they crossed the line in P7 and P8. Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg made contact on the final lap as the German got spun into the wall. Kvyat and Gasly moved up to P9 and P10.

However, Kvyat got hit with a 10-second penalty for the incident with the German and dropped to P11. Gasly and Hulkenberg moved up to P9 and P10.