encounter, although Ocon did not think the contact was Ricciardo's fault. Hamilton squeezed past this incident to move into third place. Another incident involving Bottas and Ocon later on the first lap left Ocon with a punctured tyre, and Bottas with steering damage for the rest of the race. Vettel gained a large number of places on the first lap, moving into fourth place after starting eleventh. Vettel overtook Hamilton to gain third place when the Mercedes driver slid off at the ninth turn. Hamilton rejoined the track in the same sixth position he had started in. Sainz moved up from fifteenth into ninth on the first lap while his McLaren teammate Norris was slow off the line. Starting from an even numbered grid position was seen as a disadvantage due to the lower grip levels on that side of the track. Early stages Leclerc, who was in fourteenth place at the time, made a pit stop to switch from full wet tyres to intermediates on lap six, with the frontrunning drivers doing the same over the following laps. The Ferrari driver's speed on the new tyres convinced other teams to change the tyres on their cars. Hamilton and Vettel made their pit stops on lap eight, while Stroll pitted on lap nine and Pérez on lap ten. A slow pit stop for Pérez allowed Stroll to extend his advantage to ten seconds. Verstappen, who had been unable to pass Vettel, waited until lap eleven to switch from the full wets to the intermediates. This allowed Verstappen to emerge from the pit lane ahead of the Ferrari driver. Albon led a Grand Prix for the first time before he took a pit stop for intermediate tyres on lap twelve. There was one virtual safety car period during the race. This occurred after Giovinazzi retired with gearbox issues on the twelfth lap. Other drivers were required to slow down while his Alfa Romeo was recovered. Albon had lost a position to Hamilton during the first pit stop cycle, but was able to overtake him once drivers were allowed to return to racing speed as his Red Bull's tyres came up to temperature quicker than those of Hamilton's Mercedes. Albon moved up another position on the sixteenth lap when he overtook Vettel. The Red Bull and Racing Point cars were the fastest on the track in the earlier stages of the race,