Summary

  • Verstappen on pole, Perez 2nd, Alonso 3rd, Hamilton 18th

  • Hamilton out in first session

  • Sainz through to shootout despite crash during second session

  • Verstappen wins sprint race ahead of Hamilton

  • Hamilton led after overtaking polesitter Norris off line

  • Get involved #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

  1. Max Verstappen is rapid now. His latest lap is a 1:40.751, which is more than a second quicker than anyone else has managed. He's already almost three seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

  2. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

    Now it's like he's (Verstappen) smelt blood on the water and he's coming hunting.

  3. Verstappen into the lead

    Max Verstappen's Red Bull is firing on all cylinders now and there's nothing Lewis Hamilton can do as he makes his move down the inside into Turn 9 and he is into the lead.

  4. Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator

    Verstappen looks so much more confident, so much more bullish in his Red Bull compared to Hamilton, closing up through the corners. It's only a matter of time.

  5. George Russell gets the better of Zhou Guanyu and he is up into ninth, with Oscar Piastri ahead of him.

  6. A mistake by Lewis Hamilton as he runs wide at the hairpin and that's a huge opportunity for Max Verstappen, as he leaps to within five seconds of the Mercedes.

  7. Team radio - Hamilton

    "This thing won't turn in the low speed corners."

  8. Get Involved

    #bbcf1

    Jack: How many times has Lando thrown away decent results?

    Chris Doherty: As a McLaren fan, waking up at 4am to see Lando go off track at turn 1 isn't what I was hoping for

    Andrew Priestley: Lewis positioned his car perfectly in turn 1 and 2 after a perfect launch off the grid. With Norris losing places and Mercedes’ dry pace not being strong, that start will be great news for Alonso, Verstappen and Sainz behind.

  9. Oh Max Verstappen makes it look so easy. He swoops out from behind Fernando Alonso and breezes past the Aston Martin, Alonso knows Verstappen has the speed so doesn't even attempt to fight back.

  10. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

    (Lando) will be really kicking himself at the end of this race thinking that was a missed opportunity to get another bit of silverware in his trophy cabinet, but now it's a case of learning and understanding, collating data for tomorrow's big race.

  11. Has Max Verstappen got himself sorted? He's taken a big chunk out of Fernando Alonso's advantage over him and there's now half a second between them.

  12. Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator

    Lewis Hamilton leads a sprint race for the first time ever, he actually hasn't won a sprint race so far since they've been introduced.

  13. Sergio Perez is also given some instructions to make some tweaks as he, like Max Verstappen, is struggling to get the best out of the Red Bull.

    A big opportunity for someone else to snatch the victory today, and Lewis Hamilton looks determined to be the one to get it.

  14. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    I imagine that Verstappen's other problem is tyre temperature, he was complaining yesterday in that wet that he was unable to get his tyres up to temperature. One of the Red Bull strengths is the way it looks after its tyres. On this gripless circuit maybe it's just just taking him time in these early laps to get these tyres operating properly.

  15. Lewis Hamilton is increasing his lead over Fernando Alonso and is now 1.6 seconds down the road from his former team-mate.

    His current team-mate, George Russell, is into the top 10 after gaining one place.

  16. Max Verstappen is told to switch to "Mode 8" to resolve his battery issue, but this isn't the start he would have been hoping for. He's still in there, with 1.3 seconds between himself and Fernando Alonso.

  17. Team radio - Verstappen

    "Why is my battery flat?"

  18. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

    Everyone is still tiptoeing around trying to get a little bit of heat and temperature into those medium compound tyres. The track will grip up but this track as I've said previously has never given that much grip in these conditions.

  19. Fernando Alonso is trying to close the gap on Lewis Hamilton with just under a second between the two.

    Max Verstappen, who struggled in qualifying yesterday, seems to be struggling today too, he's not really getting any closer to Alonso.

  20. It is going to take all of Lewis Hamilton's racecraft to hold onto first place for the remainder of this race, but he could not have got off to a better start.

    Lando Norris has dropped all the way back to seventh so has his work cut out to fight back up the order.