Lewis Hamilton surrendered the world championship lead despite a super drive – as his Mercedes team lost the plot. So is soon stands as: Leclerc (no stop), Bottas (stopped), Verstappen (stopped), Perez (stopped), Hamilton (no stop). Perez soon passed Leclerc, so the order went: Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc and Hamilton. Verstappen is second, Perez is third, Leclerc is fourth and Hamilton is fifth. Hamilton is bearing down on Leclerc, who is struggling with rear grip. Hamilton has come in and put on a fresh set of intermediates. Leclerc has just gone a second quicker than Hamilton on the last lap. There are eight laps left and Leclerc is around 10 seconds behind Hamilton. Bottas is slightly more than a second behind Leclerc, but is going half a second a lap quicker than the Frenchman. Hamilton is less than five seconds behind his title rival. Hamilton has moved to within a second of Perez, but finding grip is difficult at times. Hamilton has set another fastest lap and is closing in on Perez. Hamilton has racked up another fastest lap, while Verstappen is experiencing gear-shift problems.

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