The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix turned out a surprise result with Mercedes knocked off the top step of the podium despite making history.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen has knocked Mercedes off the top of the podium with a stunning victory in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
It was the first race of the season that a Mercedes driver didn't win, but it was still a historic day for six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who equalled Michael Schumacher's record of 155 career podiums. Hamilton finished second after overtaking his teammate Valtteri Bottas late in the race.
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While many have criticised the sport for Mercedes' dominance, the 70th Anniversary race was not the Silver Arrows' day with tyre issues from the outset.
Blistering caused both Bottas and Hamilton to lose tyres last week and there was more caution this week. It didn't stop tyre issues throughout the race.
Verstappen set up his race perfectly with no such issues, running more than half the race before his first pit.
After an early pit, Hamilton waited until the 42nd lap with his tyres looking very worn and needing to make up 12 seconds to Verstappen.
With Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Bottas in his way, Hamilton was able to move up to second but couldn't really make a play at Verstappen.
In the early laps of the race, Verstappen was told to pull back from Mercedes to protect his tyres but the Dutchman hit back, a strategy that paid off as he put pressure on the front-runners.
"Mate – this is the only chance of being close to the Mercedes, I'm not just sitting behind like a grandma," he said.
A thrilled Verstappen felt vindicated after the race, saying "What an amazing race. This is what you get when you keep pushing. What a great day. I think we did everything perfect today. We're definitely going to celebrate this one" over team radio.
Post-race, Verstappen's comments were questioned by Sky Sports as "a lot of grandmas drive quite quickly".
"I know - my grandma as well," Verstappen said. "I mean we've never had the opportunity to fight with them really so I'm not going to just cruise behind, I have nothing to lose. Worst case I'm going to be P3, best case I'll win the race."
Winning his ninth grand prix, Verstappen said he wasn't expecting to come out on top.
"I didn't see it coming, but after the first stint it seemed like we were really good on tyres. Of course there was a question mark how Mercedes were going to go on the hard tyre," he said. "We had a lot of pace in the car and I didn't really have a lot of tyre issues at all. We just kept pushing.
"An incredible result of course to win here, everything worked out well. I'm incredibly happy.
"We haven't really had an opportunity in all the races so far to push them and I could see we were pushing them. I tried to put the pressure on, they had to pit, I did my own pace."
With two laps remaining, Max Verstappen knew he had it, calling back to last week when he was bored and told his engineers to hydrate.
A lot less bored this week, an elated Verstappen said "Did you hydrate during the race? You must have some sweaty hands as well so don't forget to sanitise".
Both Hamilton and Bottas were frustrated by the result.
"It was a massive challenge," Hamilton said. "Firstly, congratulations to the Red Bull team and to Max. They definitely didn't have the qualms we had today.
"Definitely unexpected to have the blistering as hardcore as we experienced. But I'm really grateful to progress and manage my way through until the end.
"I'm sure the team will be working as hard as they can because we've not had that (tyre issues) before. I don't know if anyone struggled with blistering like we did."
Outside of the top three, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc pulled out a great performance with the Sky Sports commentators praising the Monegasque.
"This is another great little drive from Leclerc," he said. "He's out-performing that car at the moment whereas Vettel can barely get in the top 10 at the moment."
Alexander Albon also came through the field to claim fifth, having come from ninth to fifth.
The two Racing Points came sixth and seventh with Lance Stroll ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
At the other end, Daniel Ricciardo plummeted from fifth to 14th after needing to go on a three-stop strategy before he spun out on the 31st lap, essentially ending his pursuit of points.
Luckily Esteban Ocon picked up the slack and finished in the points in eighth.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel also spun on the very first lap, falling from 12th to 20th and finishing the race in 12th.
70TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND PRIX RESULTS
1st: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3rd: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
4th: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5th: Alexander Albon (Red Bull)
6th: Lance Stroll (Racing Point)
7th: Nico Hulkenberg (Racing Point)
8th: Esteban Ocon (Renault)
9th: Lando Norris (McLaren)
10th: Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri)
Daniel Ricciardo has spun from ninth back to 12th after seemingly going too hard on a corner as McLaren's Carlos Sainz snuck down the inside.
It's forced Ricciardo out of the top 10 and back to the pack.
David Croft said: "He was leaning a bit too hard on the tyres there."
But with the tyre issues still causing a bit of havoc, his only hope of a good finish appears to be some carnage ahead.
He then had to pit for the third time in the race and dropped back to 17th.
Mercedes are having a bad time of it with their tyres.
Lewis Hamilton is already having issues with his second set of tyres at the halfway mark.
It's 13 laps into the race and already the tyre issues that struck last week are already striking Mercedes.
Max Verstappen is right behind Lewis Hamilton with the Red Bull engineers telling the hot head to back off.
"Max, I think we're a little bit close for tyres at this stage. Just pull back," he said on radio.
Verstappen fired back: "Mate – this is the only chance of being close to the Mercedes, I'm not just sitting behind like a grandma."
Hamilton has pitted with his rear tyres already looking gone after 14 laps with Verstappen moving into first, just the second time this season a Mercedes hasn't led.
Verstappen's tyres are not getting any better with questions over his tyres as well.
A few laps later after pitting, the Mercedes tyres are already blistering with Verstappen even pulling away.
Verstappen could be looking to go for a one stop strategy, risking the tyre degradation as he closes in on the half way mark.
As if his weekend couldn't get any worse, Sebastian Vettel has spun on the first lap to drop from 12th to dead last.
Sky Sports' Paul Di Resta was baffled as to what happened as he just spun by himself.
"Vettel has just gone around himself. He got on the kerb behind his team-mate and around he went?" he said. "Why does he keep spinning?"
It seems like no one has an answer for him, having almost slammed into Carlos Sainz.
Nico Hulkenberg has returned to F1 with an impressive performance as he took his Racing Point to third in qualifying.
The record holder for the most Grand Prix starts without a podium finish, Hulkenberg is in the right spot to chase a breakthrough finish.
But while Daniel Ricciardo paid tribute to his former teammate, Max Verstappen said Hulkenberg "deserves" a seat in the sport.
“Nico did an amazing job in qualifying,” he said. “They did a very good job over the winter, but I really hope that this will help Nico find a seat for next year, because he definitely deserves to be in F1.
“There are definitely a few drivers who are not as good as him at the moment, and they are in F1. It's a hopefully a great boost for him I mean.
“Firstly today I was not very happy with how qualifying worked out for us. But I was very happy for Nico being third.”
But while Hulkenberg impressed, he admitted it had been a "brutal" week after returning last week.
While he ultimately didn't get to drive, it was a harsh reminder of how difficult it is at the top of F1.
“I wasn’t ready enough for sure. Body-wise it was all okay but it was all about my neck and shoulder which is so specific here in these cars," he said.
“Last week that was really a limiting factor, especially in qualifying when we go the fastest and the forces are the highest.
“It was really brutal to the point that I didn’t have enough strength to keep the car safe and go ultimately to the limit.”
Hulkenberg has also stepped into the F1's big controversy of the season with Racing Point deducted 15 points and fined $A660,000 for the design of the brake ducts on the car.
Following multiple Renault protests at the originality and legality of the car, the stewards announced that Racing Point had breached the sporting regulations in the design of the brake ducts for its RP20 car, ruling Mercedes had been the principal designer of the part, with the regulations stating that it has to be designed by the team itself.
Racing Point are appealing the decision, while Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams also appealing for a harsher penalty.
Racing Point's billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll took an extraordinary swipe at the penalty in a rare public statement.
"I do not often speak publicly, however I am extremely angry at any suggestion we have been underhand or have cheated – particularly those comments coming from our competitors," he said. "I have never cheated at anything in my life. These accusations are completely unacceptable and not true. My integrity – and that of my team – are beyond question.
"Everyone at Racing Point was shocked and disappointed by the FIA ruling and firmly maintain our innocence."
Aussie snowboarder Scotty James and his F1 billionaire heiress wife Chloe Stroll been inundated with messages of congratulations.
While the tears flowed amid claims of an injustice, Daniel Ricciardo has copped a vicious spray from a fellow F1 winner.
Daniel Ricciardo has spilled the beans on how his emotional Formula 1 exit went down behind the scenes with photos bringing fans to tears.