Alonso’s reprieve, Sainz’s pain
The third stoppage was entirely without question following mayhem from the third standing start of the day. Verstappen succeeded where he had failed at the first start by leading into Turn One, defending from Hamilton as Alonso threatened – only for Carlos Sainz Jr’s Ferrari to turn the Aston Martin around with a nudge to the right rear. That triggered trouble at Turn Two as Pierre Gasly inadvertently ran Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon out of room, the pink cars slamming into the wall. What a disaster, but especially for Gasly who had driven a great race for what had looked set to net fifth place. Meanwhile back at Turn One, Logan Sargeant’s Williams had rammed Nyck de Vries’ Alpha Tauri into the gravel. Total chaos.
So now what? Teams and drivers parked up in the pitlane wondering what the stewards would decide next. Alonso had driven back to the pits with little damage and look unamused that his third consecutive third place appeared to have been harpooned by his friend and countryman Sainz. But then eventually the decision came down from the top: the race would be restarted for a third time, but behind the safety car, simply to complete the final lap. In NASCAR they would have added on a couple and called it ‘extra time’.
Starting positions returned to how they had been set for that final standing start because the field had not completed the lap’s first sector before the red flag had been shown. Thus Alonso was able to resume and finish the lap back in third place – although the unfortunate Alpines were out, so everyone behind them shifted up a place, just to rub in their misery.
But it was Sainz who was most vocal in his displeasure. As the cars lined up in the pitlane to start and finish the race he was informed the stewards had handed him a five-second penalty for the Alonso contact. He pleaded with them to wait until after the flag so he could make his case, convinced the judgement was too harsh – but they were never going to acquiesce. So he completed the final lap in fourth, but as the rest filed across the line his name plummeted to 12th. Charles Leclerc had retired at the first start (which by now seemed like an age ago) when a racing incident with Lance Stroll left him picking gravel – so Sainz’s fate meant a big fat zero for Ferrari on a miserable day for Maranello.