Red Bull achieved a second one-two of the season, but it was 18-year-old Ferrari sub Oliver Bearman who stole the headlines after scoring points on his debut.
Max Verstappen took his second victory of the season after successfully defending Charles Leclerc into the first corner.
Image: Ibc
It was Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez who mounted a challenge in the following corners, going side-by-side with the Monegasque until the tight turn four, where Perez was forced to slot back in behind.
Lance Stroll found the wall early in the race, making the same mistake he made in practice but this time more severe, ending his race with a heavy impact into the wall on lap six, bringing out the safety car.
All drivers pitted except Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, and Zhou Guanyu, who stayed out on mediums. This promoted Norris to the lead and Hamilton to third.
Bearman was aggressive in the opening few laps before slotting in behind Hulkenberg until the safety car was deployed.
Once the safety car pulled into the pit lane, it didn’t take Verstappen long to dispatch Norris to take the lead once more.
Kevin Magnussen made up for his 20-second penalty in total by holding up cars behind to allow teammate Hulkenberg to come out of the pits tenth to score a valuable point for the team.
Hamilton and Norris’ late stops to softs saw them unable to catch Bearman in front, who crossed the line an impressive seventh after just one practice session and a qualifying position of 11th.
Carlos Sainz was forced to miss the race due to appendicitis. But after a successful surgery on Saturday, the Spaniard returned to the paddock on Sunday to show his support for the team.
It is expected that Sainz will return in time for the next race in Australia.