Max Verstappen started today's race in seventh after a grid penalty. He was up to second by lap five, moving up quickly on the start and making short work of George Russell on track. It was early bad news for Charles Leclerc, who started from pole for Ferrari and looked earlier in the weekend like he may actually have the pace to win the team's home grand prix after months of disappointment.
Leclerc was able to put up a fight on an alternate strategy over the remainder of the race, stopping earlier under a virtual safety car to gain some advantage. Verstappen's dominant speed won out, though, putting the championship favorite back in the race lead by the time the day's final safety car came out with six laps to go. Both Verstappen and Leclerc stopped again for fresh tires ahead of an expected shootout, but the race unexpectedly ended under safety car without going through the restart procedure.
Verstappen's win is his fifth in a row and 11th of the year. It puts him 116 points clear of Charles Leclerc with just six races left in the season, making him mathematically eligible to clinch a championship when the series races at Singapore in three weeks. Leclerc got out to a many-race lead early, but Verstappen's second championship is now a foregone conclusion.
George Russell completed the podium for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr., Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Nyck de Vries, and Guanyu Zhou. 2019 Formula 2 champion de Vries scores points on his debut as an injury replacement for the appendicitis-stricken Alex Albon, an excellent performance in a long-awaited first race that should merit some interest from teams looking for talent in 2023. Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel are the day's only retirements.
The canceled Russian GP leaves a fairly substantial break in the schedule, giving the series a few weeks off before the Singapore Grand Prix after this tripleheader. That race will run on October 2nd.