with Verstappen and Albon catching up to Pérez and Stroll ahead of them. Verstappen spun at high speed on lap eighteen while trying to pass Pérez. This damaged the Red Bull's tyres, meaning that he had to pit again. This allowed Albon, Vettel, and Hamilton to pass Verstappen. Albon then began to catch Pérez, only to fall back as his tyres wore out. Middle stages Some teams hoped that it would be possible to switch onto dry weather tyres, but as the race progressed this was ruled out. At the end of the 30th lap Ferrari brought Leclerc into the pits to change onto a second set of intermediate tyres. Leclerc's pace on the new tyres encouraged others to also stop. Sainz moved up into sixth place after Ricciardo spun on the 32nd lap. Ricciardo pitted for new intermediates at the end of that lap, with Sainz and Vettel doing the same a lap later. Vettel's pit stop lasted five seconds, slow by modern Formula One standards. Tyre wear caused Albon to spin on the 34th lap, which allowed Vettel and Hamilton to overtake him. Albon came into the pits at the end of that lap, then struggled to find grip on his second set of intermediate tyres. Stroll led for all but three of the first 35 laps, briefly relinquishing it during the first pit stop cycle before regaining it as other drivers came in for their first pit stops. He lost the lead on lap 36 when the team brought him into the pits for a new set of intermediate tyres. After this he fell to ninth place by the end of the race. According to the Racing Point team, this was due to damage to his car's front wing that caused a loss of aerodynamic downforce, which in turn damaged the tyres. Stroll had told his engineer before the pit stop that he did not want to change tyres. Norris also pitted on the 36th lap. Pérez briefly led after Stroll's pit stop, but Hamilton overtook him a lap later using the drag reduction system, which had been enabled on lap 30. Hamilton caught up to Pérez after Vettel (who Hamilton had been unable to overtake on track) made his second pit stop. As Stroll struggled on the new set of tyres the team decided against replacing the tyres on Pérez's car. Leclerc followed Vettel past Stroll