As a result, the third DRS activation point was moved farther ahead, being positioned 170 metres (560 ft) after turn 27.

[4] The first practice session ended with Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen setting the fastest time ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

[14] The second practice session saw Alonso split the Red Bull pairing of Verstappen and Pérez, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Russell.

[4] The first segment ended with Yuki Tsunoda, Alexander Albon, Nyck de Vries, Lando Norris and Logan Sargeant setting the five slowest times resulting in their elimination.

He was able to limp back to the pits, but what was later identified as a driveshaft failure prevented him from taking part in qualifying any further and this left him in fifteenth place.

Piastri, who had started in eighth place, made contact with Gasly while exiting turn two and this forced him to make a pit stop for a new front wing.

[26] In the meantime, during lap twelve, Zhou and Hülkenberg were the first drivers to make a regular pitstop for a fresh set of tyres.

One lap later, Lance Stroll became the first of the front runners to follow suit, all three of them switching from the medium to the hardest compound in a bid to complete the race with one tyre change.

Shortly afterwards, during lap seventeen, Stroll was suddenly asked to stop his car on track over his team's radio and duly did so in a service area on the outside of turn thirteen.

The top ten was Pérez, Verstappen, Alonso, Russell, Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc, Ocon, and Gasly, with Tsunoda joining them.

[29] During the final laps first Mercedes and then Aston Martin mentioned over the radio that Alonso could potentially incur an additional penalty of five seconds.

Alonso finished third, making him the sixth driver to have scored 100 podiums in his Formula One career, ahead of Russell and Hamilton.

[30] Shortly after the podium ceremony, an official message was shown that Alonso was under investigation for not having served the first penalty correctly at his pit stop.

[35] The FIA clarified the matter before the next round of the championship, stating that neither jacks, nor any other tools or mechanics can touch the car when a driver serves their penalty at a pit stop.

[36] On 4 March 2024, the BBC reported that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem was being investigated for allegedly influencing the stewards decision to overturn Alonso's penalty.