The race was moved forward from its usual June slot to avoid clashing with centenary celebrations of the Azerbaijani republic; the Russian Grand Prix shifted to September to fill the gap, and the newly revived French Grand Prix took the vacated June date. Sebastian Vettel entered the round with a nine-point lead over Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship; in the Constructors' standings, Mercedes held a one-point lead over Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo was the defending race winner. Pirelli nominated soft, super-soft, and ultra-soft compounds for the event.
Vettel took pole position after Kimi Räikkönen made a mistake at the exit of the final corner in the closing moments of Q3, costing himself the lap and settling for sixth. Nico Hülkenberg received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. Brendon Hartley and Romain Grosjean both failed to set a Q1 time within the 107 percent requirement and were permitted to race at the stewards' discretion; Grosjean also took a five-place gearbox penalty.
The opening lap produced multi-car chaos. Räikkönen and Esteban Ocon made contact twice — the second collision at turn 3 retiring Ocon on the spot. Sergey Sirotkin's car struck Fernando Alonso's McLaren and Hülkenberg's Renault, puncturing tyres on both Alonso's car and his own, and damaging Sirotkin's suspension. Sergio Pérez struck the back of Räikkönen's car during the confusion. Ocon and Sirotkin's stricken cars brought out the race's first safety car. Multiple drivers pitted during the neutralisation, with Pérez receiving a five-second penalty for his contact with Räikkönen.
After the lap 6 restart, Carlos Sainz Jr. climbed quickly to fifth, while Max Verstappen reported KERS battery issues that allowed the leaders to pull away. Hülkenberg retired on lap 11 after hitting the wall at turn 4. The race then settled for a time, with Vettel, Hamilton, and Bottas circulating closely at the front.
The race was completely transformed on lap 40 when Red Bull teammates Verstappen and Ricciardo — then running fourth and fifth — collided heavily. Verstappen made a late defensive move to cover Ricciardo's overtake attempt, causing contact sufficient to retire both cars and trigger a second safety car. Race leader Bottas and several others pitted under the caution period. Romain Grosjean also retired during the safety car phase after losing traction and hitting the wall on lap 43. The safety car remained deployed until lap 48.
At the restart, Vettel attempted to pass Bottas, locked his brakes, and overshot the corner, dropping to fourth with flat-spotted tyres. Bottas then suffered a tyre puncture at the start of lap 49 while leading Hamilton by more than a second, forcing his retirement. Pérez, who had taken supersoft tyres at his safety car stop, passed Vettel to take third.
Hamilton won ahead of Räikkönen and Pérez — the latter result proving to be the final podium finish for Force India as a constructor. Charles Leclerc finished sixth to score his first Formula One championship points, becoming the first Monégasque driver to do so since Louis Chiron at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. Brendon Hartley finished tenth for his first points in Formula One, becoming the first New Zealand driver to score since Chris Amon at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne both scored points for McLaren, with Vandoorne recovering from a late fourth pit stop to move from fourteenth to ninth on heated tyres after the final restart.
Hamilton expressed surprise at his victory, praising Bottas: "Valtteri deserved to win, he did an exceptional job and had a faultless drive. I would not have got by him in the remaining laps if he hadn't had his tyre blow." Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called the Verstappen-Ricciardo collision "unacceptable" and required both drivers to apologise to all Red Bull staff. Both received an official FIA reprimand. The incident drew comparisons to the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix, where Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Vettel had made similar contact while running first and second. From this race onwards, the FIA moved post-race driver interviews to the parc fermé area immediately after weigh-in, in arrival order rather than finishing order.
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