Whilst behind the final safety car Daniil Kvyat and Lance Stroll switched to dry tyres before anyone else, allowing them to finish an unexpected third and fourth respectively.

[3] Mercedes announced that they would be running a different livery in tribute to their heritage with the team as celebrating their 125th year of competing in motorsport, and their 200th F1 start.

[7] Heading into the weekend it was Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who held a lead of 39 and 164 points in the drivers and constructors championships respectively.

The session passed mostly without incident with the exception being Kevin Magnussen after his car failed causing a brief red flag.

[18] Since at race time the track conditions were considered unsuitable due to heavy rain, all 20 cars were obligated to start on the wet tyres.

[23] Verstappen, who had dropped down due to his start, passed Räikkönen for third immediately before Sergio Pérez spun off coming out of turn 10, he hit the wall on the inside taking him out of the race.

[20] As the track began to dry Vettel and Alexander Albon pitted for intermediate tyres, with the majority of the other cars doing the same on the following lap.

[25] On lap 18, Carlos Sainz lost control of his McLaren at turn 16, causing it to run wide and aquaplane on the slippery, dragstrip area of the track, before narrowly avoiding the barriers.

Almost immediately after Bottas pitted, Verstappen lost control of his car and performed a 360 degree spin at turn 14, but managed to recover.

Many teams took the opportunity to pit their drivers for dry weather tires, including Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

At the end of the lap, Hamilton, now in the lead behind the safety car, also lost control at turn 17, damaging his front wing on the wall and returning into the pit lane cutting across the track as he did so.

His Mercedes team was not ready for him, and Hamilton endured a 50.3 second pit stop in which his front wing was replaced and he had switched back onto intermediate tyres.

Verstappen's 10 second lead disappeared as Bottas's shunt brought out the fourth and final safety car of the race.

Kvyat, finishing 3rd, achieved Toro Rosso's first podium since Vettel's victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

Verstappen won his second race of the last three, also picking up the point for fastest lap and the spectator voted "Driver of the Day" award.

Phil Turner, Red Bull team chief mechanic joined him on the podium to receive the winning manufacturer's award.

The penalties moved Hamilton up to 9th and prevented Mercedes from leaving the race without points for the first time since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.

An appeal against the penalties was lodged by Alfa Romeo after the race and was subsequently dismissed by the FIA World Council.