In Saturday's qualifying, Max Verstappen, having led all three practice sessions in his Red Bull, took pole position for the fourth time in his career.

In Sunday's race, Hamilton claimed victory over Verstappen, who had tried to overtake him previously but only managed to do so by exceeding track limits, and who was told to give the position back.

Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton's teammate, rounded out the podium, giving their team Mercedes a large lead in the Constructors' Championship.

The race was marked by controversy on the rules surrounding track limits, with leading figures from both teams criticising what they saw as unnecessarily complicated regulations.

[6] Further back on the grid, there was excitement about the closeness of the chasing midfield pack, with the relative speeds of Ferrari, AlphaTauri, McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin all uncertain.

[8] McLaren, Aston Martin, and Alpine (formerly Renault), third, fourth and fifth in the 2020 Constructors' Championship, had replaced outgoing drivers with proven race-winners in Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso respectively, but the first two had also significantly modified their aerodynamics, with McLaren changing from Renault power units to Mercedes, and Aston Martin's having issues with their "low-rake" philosophy.

[8] Haas had announced before the start of the season that development on their 2021 car had already ceased, and that the team's sole focus was on the 2022 technical regulation changes.

[17][18] The first practice session ran without incident and ended with Max Verstappen fastest for Red Bull, ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and the McLaren of Lando Norris.

[23] Following Friday's sessions, Toto Wolff remarked that he expected Mercedes and Red Bull to be in a close "dogfight" with each other at the front of the field throughout the rest of the weekend.

Vettel would receive a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow adequately for the yellow flags after Mazepin's second spin, and would start the race from last.

[26] Sergio Pérez, who had won his first Grand Prix at the track the previous year, albeit on the Outer Circuit, failed to progress from the second part of qualifying (Q2) on his debut for Red Bull Racing when his team unsuccessfully gambled on a medium tyres run.

The first set of lap times in the final part of qualifying (Q3) indicated that Max Verstappen's Red Bull was slightly faster than the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, a prediction which proved to be accurate: Verstappen claimed pole, with reigning world champion Hamilton and his teammate Bottas following.

Fernando Alonso achieved a creditable ninth in his Alpine, after two years away from the sport, and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.

Verstappen and Red Bull were both worried about his car's reliability after his teammate's issue, so he started to build a gap to Hamilton, which reached over 1.5 seconds by the end of lap 6.

[17] When Alpine told Fernando Alonso to pit from eighth place for fresh tyres on lap 11, it triggered a flurry of activity in the midfield, as teams sought to not be outwitted by the undercut strategy of others.

His Mercedes teammate Bottas had to endure a painfully slow stop a few laps later, when his pit crew were momentarily unable to get one tyre off, virtually removing him from contention, and dropping him down to fifth place.

[37] The Red Bull was then hit by oversteer caused by the dirty air off the Mercedes on the exit of turn 13, and Verstappen lost significant time trying to bring it under control.

[31] Bottas was disappointed with the ten-second pitstop which effectively took him out of contention, but highlighted how Mercedes had made "steps forward" through the weekend, to close the performance gap on Verstappen and Red Bull.

[32] Verstappen's teammate Pérez mourned what could have been if the car hadn't stopped on the formation lap, but emphasised the potential of the year ahead.

[35] Horner criticised the inconsistency of changing track limits between qualifying and the race, saying that this type of situation "shouldn't be shaded grey".