This put Hamilton hot on the tail of Piastri, and it was not long until the Briton also snatched a position from the McLaren, dropping the latter down into P6. By the halfway point of the race, Antonelli continued to lead from Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Gasly.
After clearing several backmarkers, the gap between Antonelli and Norris had again been reduced to 0.7s by Lap 40 – while yet again Leclerc looked to be gearing up for another battle as the Monegasque closed in on Russell in the scrap for third. Just one lap later, Antonelli headed to the pits for a set of hard tyres and was soon followed by Russell, bringing the pair out in fourth and sixth respectively.
Over at Ferrari, Hamilton was all over the back of Leclerc and the World Champion was quick to voice his frustration, Leclerc seemingly unwilling to let his team mate through. After ignoring a call to pit, the driver from Monaco followed the instruction one tour later on Lap 44 and, following a fairly slow stop, returned to the track in P6 on hard tyres. “Great waste of time there, guys,” Hamilton sarcastically commented on the situation.
Piastri was the next to pit and also suffered a slow stop, returning to the track in P6. Up ahead, Norris was leading by 10 seconds from Hamilton, followed by Antonelli, Russell and Leclerc – but it was all change again on Lap 48 when Norris made his second visit to the pits, re-emerging in third just over five seconds away from Antonelli.
That gap rapidly came down over the laps that followed, with it dropping to 1.4s only three tours later. Hamilton, meanwhile, was in discussions with his team about strategy plans as the Briton remained in the lead.