This was to the benefit of those who had not yet stopped, with Leclerc immediately taking the opportunity to pit before Norris next stopped (Stroll and Hamilton also taking fresh tires under caution), only for the VSC to switch to a full safety car soon afterwards – Bottas's car appears to be Stuck in speed.
A group of drivers elected to pit under the safety car as the race's midway point approached, with Verstappen, Perez, Alonso, Piastri and Russell being the first to do so, followed by Hulkenberg, Ocon, Tsunoda, Albon, Cho (suffering a slow stop) and Gasly, meaning that The open strategic race has already reached another level.
The standings after this burst of activity were Verstappen (two stops) from Norris (one), Leclerc (one), Perez (two) and Sainz (one), all on the hard surfaces, ahead of Alonso (two) on the soft, Russell (two). Piastri (two) on hard roads, Ricciardo (one) on medium tyres, and Stroll (two) on hard tyres.
“We think everyone will try to get to the finish on the hard tire except Alonso,” was the message sent to Norris before the safety car entered the pits for the restart, which happened at the end of lap 26 – Verstappen calmly leading the field away.
There was more drama a few moments later, as Tsunoda, who had earlier swapped places with teammate Ricciardo over opposing strategies, was flipped into a spin by Magnussen exiting Turn 6 – leaving the right-back with peripheral damage to the right-rear side and sending the ball. Haas limps back to the pits with a hole.
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