Carlos Sainz has taken his first career podium finish following a time-penalty for Lewis Hamilton.
The third-place finish marks McLaren's first podium result since Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button's second and third place finishes in Australia 2014.
Hamilton received the time penalty after he made contact with Alexander Albon on the penultimate lap of the race, as the pair duelled for second place.
Albon was sent to the back of the grid after being spun round, allowing Pierre Gasly through to also take his first career podium finish.
"Car 23 was on his normal race line," read the statement from the stewards. "Car 44 attempted to pass on the inside, but was unable to get far enough inside to accomplish the overtake and by the time he realized there would not be sufficient room he was unable to back out of the situation and the collision followed.
"The Stewards determined that Car 44 predominantly at fault for the collision with Car 23 at Turn 10 and therefore ordered a five second penalty."
Nah.. Podium through attrition is not what Alonso wanted anyway
Shame it took so long and robbed Chilli of being on the podium proper,
Quite frankly, I think it was a case of Lewis talking himself into a penalty. The move was milder than Albon on Norris at Suzuka, where stewards didn't even investigate. But I think it was just Hamilton saving face, since he prevented a young driver from getting his first podium.
While I semiagree with this perhaps harsh penalty, I feel the stewards beed to adress these post-podium penalties. Considering how Sainz fought his way back from the bottom to a podium, I feel he deserved this, much like how Gasly deserved his podium due to his pace in this GP, but please let Sainz actually get that ceremony next time.
Sainz is hands down the driver of the day for me. Verstappen was great, but he finished where he started. If Leclerc had finished on the podium people would have called it an "incredible" recovery drive. Now considering how far McLaren was this weekend, this is really remarkable. I still don't know what happened to Norris, but today felt a bit like Alonso vs Vandoorne
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Mansell
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Shame it took so long and robbed Chilli of being on the podium proper,