widening his lead from Bottas. Behind them, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lance Stroll, as well as AlphaTauri and Renault's drivers completed the top eight. Pérez made his way up into a points-paying tenth position by lap 20. By lap 50, all teams had made their first round of pit stops. The top three were Russell, Bottas, and McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr. Pérez, having taken a second stop for fresh tyres, ran in ninth. With the leaders on lap 54, Nicholas Latifi retired his Williams from 13th place, after turn 8 with an oil leak, triggering a virtual safety car (VSC). Several drivers behind the two leading Mercedes pitted for tyres. Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo were caught out by how brief the VSC was, and dropped down the order as they pitted under racing conditions. Pérez, who did not pit during this safety car period, made his way up to third, with Esteban Ocon's Renault in fourth and Lance Stroll in fifth. On lap 61, Jack Aitken, racing for Williams in 15th place, spun and knocked off his front wing at the final turn, which came to rest on the track on the opening of pit straight. The second virtual safety car of the race was called to allow marshals to remove the wing from the track. Mercedes elected to pit both its drivers on lap 63, at which time the virtual safety car was changed to a full safety car. Radio communication issues to Mercedes's tyre crews led to confusion over which tyre crew was to prepare first. Russell was sent out illegally with Bottas's front tyres, and Bottas remained in the pit box for nearly half a minute before being sent out with the same tyres he had come in on, after Mercedes realised the error. Russell was then forced to pit again on the next lap to fit a set of his own tyres. The Mercedes pit errors left Bottas in fourth and Russell in fifth, behind Pérez, Ocon, and Stroll in the top three positions. When the safety car ended on lap 69, the top four drivers were under threat from Russell, who was the only driver among them on fresh tyres. Russell was able to pass Bottas, Stroll and Ocon, in that order, by lap 73, putting him in second position, chasing Pérez for the lead of the race. Bottas dropped to ninth on his worn