That was despite Alonso being tagged into a spin at a restart with two laps to go and dropped to the back. The timing of the incident meant that, according to the rules, there would be two racing laps after the restart. An incident-packed start to the grand prix featured two safety-car periods – the first on the opening lap and the second on lap six – and a first red flag. He lost places to both Mercedes at the first start, and was challenged by third-placed Alonso at the second, but once up and running was in a class of his own. And in the final 10 laps or so and he began to drop back.

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