Antonelli misplaced the lead at the beginning because the Ferrari drivers each made their anticipated quick begins.
Hamilton took the lead from third on the grid and Leclerc moved into third forward of Russell, and narrowly missed out on passing Antonelli for second by the lengthy complicated of corners that begins the lap.
“The beginning remains to be our weak level. I did not go along with an important confidence as a result of my two earlier begins have been actually dangerous,” mentioned Antonelli.
“Clearly I lined somewhat bit an excessive amount of on the within and left an excessive amount of area on the skin. So I most likely must assessment that.”
Antonelli reclaimed the lead down the again straight on lap two, whereas Russell took somewhat longer to maneuver into second place, passing Leclerc on lap three and Hamilton on lap 4.
The 2 Mercedes ran collectively on the entrance till a security automobile was triggered by the retirement of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, which stopped within the run-off space at Flip Two.
Russell’s possibilities of victory unravelled within the subsequent few laps. The 4 main vehicles all stopped for contemporary tyres collectively, however whereas Antonelli retained the lead, Russell misplaced positions to the Alpine of Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon’s Haas, who had not stopped.
Russell then had a sticky restart. His tyres have been too chilly, and he had a sequence of snaps by the ultimate corners earlier than the restart and the primary corners of the lap and he misplaced positions to each Hamilton and Leclerc.
Russell quickly cleared Ocon and Colapinto however was caught behind the Ferraris for an additional 14 laps.
By the point Russell was previous and into second place on lap 29, Antonelli was almost seven seconds forward.
Russell pushed on attempting to shut the hole, however his personal quickest lap was answered by one from Antonelli, underlining that the teen had a solution for every thing Russell may throw at him.
There was a minor scare for Antonelli when he had a heavy lock-up on the finish of the again straight with three laps to go, however he saved issues beneath management to guide Russell residence by 5.5 seconds.
Reacting to the staff’s success, and Antonelli’s impressed drive, Mercedes staff principal Toto Wolff mentioned: “It’s uncommon I’m overwhelmed, however I’m for the time being.
“The win has perhaps come sooner than I anticipated. Final 12 months we mentioned that it may be a really tough 12 months with many ups and downs and errors.
“Then, bam, second race. He has managed it within the entrance, he has pushed very effectively right this moment, so he is most likely somewhat bit higher than the trajectory I assumed.
“He was really fairly calm and jovial earlier than the race however then, on the grid, you see the eyes.”
