Max Verstappen delivered a dominant performance
to win for a second time this year, finishing ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre
Gasly, with Lewis Hamilton taking the flag in third. Hamilton, however, was
handed a five-second penalty, dropping him to seventh and promoting McLaren’s
Carlos Sainz to third, following a penultimate-lap coming together with Alex
Albon.
Hamilton’s collision with Albon encapsulated
the frenetic nature of a race effectively deemed a dead rubber after the he had
sewn up his sixth world championship in Texas a fortnight ago. Yet, despite
Verstappen’s masterclass – the Dutchman proving again why some regard him as
the best driver on the grid – and Hamilton’s banzai move on Albon, which
cruelly denied him his first career podium, the penultimate round of the 2019
campaign might yet be remembered as the straw that broke the camel’s back at
Ferrari.
The tension has been simmering between their
two drivers – the four-times world champion Vettel and emerging talent,
Leclerc – since the opening round of the campaign in Melbourne eight months’
ago. Here, at one of the iconic venues on the grand prix calendar, it
sensationally boiled over.
Leclerc, having started 14th following a grid
penalty, was battling Vettel for fourth with five laps to go. He dived
underneath Vettel at the Senna Esses and made the pass stick. It was a perfect
move. Leclerc held off Vettel as they emerged from the third corner, but on the
run down to the ensuing bend, Vettel latched on to Leclerc’s tow before drawing
alongside his team-mate, and then subtly moving across him.
Vettel’s left-rear tyre made contact with
Leclerc’s right-front, and in a flurry of sparks and broken carbon fibre, both
Ferraris were out of the race. The contact was gentle, but the result
devastating.
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