After a difficult Sprint Qualifying session on Friday afternoon, George and Lewis started the second F1 Sprint of the season from 11th and 12th positions on used Medium tyres.
Lewis got off to a good start and got on the inside into Turn 1. With him, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris, four drivers entered the corner at the same time. Alonso and Stroll touched first, then Alonso and Lewis. Stroll then sent Norris into a spin.
The McLaren driver came to a halt in the run-off zone and retired. The safety car was sent out onto the track. Race control reported that no further investigation into the incident was necessary.
After the restart, Lewis and George were in P9 and P14, with George stuck in a DRS train led by Pierre Gasly and unfortunately unable to overtake the cars in front of him. The team already knew beforehand that it had a straight line disadvantage due to our set-up.
That made both Lewis' and George’s races difficult. Whilst they had the pace on those ahead, the straight line speed limitation made it tough to overtake.