Verstappen wins Sprint ahead of Hamilton as Antonelli capitalizes on Russell's DNF

Lewis Hamilton finished in second place and was cleared of a yellow-flag infringement after initially being noted by the stewards. Charles Leclerc completed the podium.

As George Russell crashed out while leading on Lap 1 and Kimi Antonelli finished in fourth place after the two McLaren drivers made contact on the final lap, the young Italian now leads the drivers’ standings by 89 points.

The Sprint began 30 minutes later than expected because of a rain delay. The biggest concern was too much standing water in Turns 2 and 3, while other parts of the circuit were dry.

After completing two formation laps behind the Safety Car, the final Sprint of the 2026 F1 season could finally begin. Verstappen made a poor start and lost the lead to Russell, while Lewis Hamilton overtook Leclerc and both McLaren drivers to move up to third place.

However, after exiting the final corner, Russell lost control of his Mercedes and hit the wall, bringing out the Safety Car. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez also made contact and had to retire from the Sprint, while Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto also had to stop due to car failures.

Verstappen did well on the restart and managed to stay ahead of the two Ferrari drivers. In the opening laps after the restart, Hamilton remained relatively close to Verstappen, but by Lap 13, he was three seconds behind.

During the final three laps, Piastri, Norris and Antonelli caught up to Leclerc, who had worn out his intermediate tyres. On the final lap, Norris tried to make a move stick on Piastri, but both drivers spun around. The Briton could finish in eighth place, while Piastri's MCL40 stopped.