Leclerc immediately began to eke out an advantage over Sainz, Perez and Verstappen behind him and was four seconds clear of Sainz after 10 laps, and 5.3 ahead after 16, when Perez pitted for intermediate tyres. Two laps after Perez pitted, Leclerc and Verstappen also stopped for inters, but such had been Perez’s pace, Leclerc emerged from the pits behind the Red Bull, albeit still ahead of Verstappen. But by the time Sainz pitted, Perez was only 3.9secs behind, so he was comfortably in the lead when Sainz re-emerged. Within five laps, the race was stopped because of Schumacher’s crash.

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