Live: Piastri pits early after stunning Verstappen first-corner move

The tifosi roars as Hamilton goes around the outside of Isack Hadjar!

That’s another great move and the Ferrari, after all the disappointment of the qualifying yesterday, is into fourth!

That was good from Lewis Hamilton, vintage stuff from the seven-time champion.

He is into sixth spot now after passing Kimi Antonelli.

Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda have a had a little bit of a bump!

It was at turn two and it was as Sainz made a nice move down the outside.

I think Tsunoda could be in trouble after that, he turned into the Williams – as Race Control tells us it was a racing incident.

Piastri was second but has come into the pits again under the virtual safety car.

That means he will be in fourth once the green flags are waved.

And those green flags are waved now and that is where he will be as racing gets underway again.

Hi John, the safety car has messed all this up BUT he was not quite closing enough for them to have to worry about pitting.

That traffic killed him.

Esteban Ocon is told to stop the car and he is on the grass by the side of the circuit.

This is perfect for Max Verstappen, who will lose even less time than normal under the virtual safety car.

He will lose less time than during the normal race.

Verstappen is in the pits.

EVERYONE is in the pits!

They are nose to tail!

Lando Norris comes in from second, and he has a great stop.

He rejoins in seventh.

That was very clean from Piastri.

You may have worried that Isack Hadjar and the Racing Bull might have tried to do their sister team a favour.

Whether he wanted to or not, he wasn’t able to and Piastri flies past.

Another great move from Oscar Piastri there.

He moves into fifth place.

The Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar is next…

Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton are in a battle.

And Oscar Piastri is about to join the party.

Scrap that, he has burst right into the middle of the party and separated the two battling drivers with a clean move on Hamilton.

Nico Hülkenberg was the next driver in Piastri’s sights in seventh spot, and the McLaren makes short work of him to move into that spot.

This is developing into an intriguing situation.

Lando Norris has been given some information from his team, saying that “the key to us is free air and go long”.

So Norris and presumably Verstappen are being held out for a potential one stop strategy.

Ferrari, meanwhile, have told Lewis Hamilton there’s no gap for him to pit into, so has Piastri made a mistake by pitting early?

Piastri is working his way through the field at the moment, but every overtake is just adding a little bit of time that he didn’t need to have as Verstappen holds his place at the front of the race.

That’s incredible from Piastri, as the Aussie peerlessly flies past the second Red Bull on DRS into the first corner.

Verstappen is leading Lando Norris by about 10 seconds.

Piastri meanwhile, is coming up to Ollie Bearman in 9th.

Oscar Piastri is coming up to Yuki Tsunoda.

Can the Japanese driver hold him up?

That’s what his team radio has asked him to do.

That’s the plan!

Piastri as come into the pits and it’s NOT A CLEAN STOP!

The front left tyre took a fraction longer to get off than the others, just delaying him.

He rejoins in clear air in 12th place.

Meanwhile, we have just been shown footage of Fernando Alonso’s front two brake pads on fire as he exited the pit lane…

Oscar Piastri has just been on the radio.

“I think plan a is looking ambitious,” he says.

So a change in strategy in play for McClaren?

He trails Verstappen by almost three seconds.

Brilliant move from Lando Norris.

A huge move on George Russell and he’s made it stick around the outside into Villeneuve chicane.

He had the speed advantage and the grip.

Russell is coming in now though, he could be there for a two-stopper as the medium tyre degrades.

Lando Norris is flying at the moment, really putting George Russell under pressure.

“I’m not sure how I am going to make it to the target lap time,” Russell says on the radio.

Norris now put two wheels on the grass trying to get past his British rival!

He’s held it on, but these errors are allowing Fernando Alonso to close.

“****, Piastri, what’s he doing?” screams George Russell on his radio.

It was from the start and it was after the Australian touched the brakes to allow Verstappen the space to complete his brilliant move.

However, that touch of brakes did stop Russell’s momentum though.