Mercedes protégé Russell replaced Hamilton. Jack Aitken, who had been competing in Formula 2, replaced Russell at Williams, making his Formula One race debut. Tyres Sole tyre supplier Pirelli brought their C2, C3, and C4 compound tyres (the middle range of hardnesses) for teams to use in dry conditions. Practice The first of three practice sessions took place on Friday evening, with Russell at the top of the timesheet for Mercedes ahead of Red Bull Racing drivers Verstappen and Alex Albon. The second practice session took place on Friday night and Russell was again fastest, from Verstappen and Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez. The third practice session took place on Saturday, and Verstappen was fastest ahead of Valtteri Bottas and AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly. Qualifying Valtteri Bottas qualified on pole position with a time of 53.377 seconds to set a new record for the shortest pole position lap (in terms of time duration) in F1 history. This broke the record Niki Lauda set in qualifying for the 1974 French Grand Prix, which was 58.790 seconds. George Russell achieved second place in his debut qualifying session for Mercedes, just 0.026 seconds off Bottas' pole time. Qualifying classification – Lando Norris was required to start from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – Pietro Fittipaldi was required to start from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. The penalty was unapplied as he qualified in last position anyway. Race Race report Russell made a quick getaway off the starting grid to take the lead of the Grand Prix at turn 1, with teammate Valtteri Bottas behind in second. A three-way fight for third began behind the two Mercedes, between Leclerc, Verstappen and Pérez. As the three navigated turn four, Leclerc braked late and hit Pérez, causing the Mexican to spin and damaging Leclerc's front left suspension. Verstappen slowed and took the turn wide, but could not turn in time to avoid the barrier on the outside of the turn. The incident triggered a safety car. Leclerc and Verstappen retired, but Pérez was able to rejoin and, after a tyre change, ran at the back of the field. After the race, Leclerc was penalised three grid spots for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for his part in the incident. The safety car was withdrawn on lap 7 with Russell gradually