Ahead of today's Sprint, the air temperature is 22 degrees C, while the track temperature is 27 degrees. It is warm but windy.

Having made changes to their set-ups overnight, both Perez and Colapinto are starting from the pitlane.

Norris is on pole with Russell alongside, ahead of Piastri and Sainz, however while the McLarens look strong, both Ferrari and Red Bull are said to have been holding back.

As ever with a race tomorrow drivers will be loath to throw caution to the wind, however there is still much to play for and in some cases it might pay off to take a risk or two, particularly in that battle for sixth in the teams' standings.

The pitlane opens and the drivers head out. Among the last to take his place on the grid is Russell.

Even before a wheel has turned in anger Zhou is in trouble for failing to keep to the maximum delta time on his way to the grid.

As they head off on the formation lap, all are starting on mediums bar Zhou who has opted for softs.

The grid forms.

They're away. Norris leads Russell towards Turn 1, and as the McLaren driver leads the field through the right-hander, Russell is on the inside with Piastri to his left, behind is Sainz while Hamilton, following a strong start, is on the inside of Leclerc.

On the run to Turn 2, Piastri has the inside and gets ahead of Russell while Hamilton edges ahead of Leclerc in Turn 3.

Unbelievably, at the back, Colapinto overtakes Perez as they exit the pitlane to claim 19th!

Russell runs wide in Turn 5 allowing his McLaren teammate to pull away. Elsewhere, Verstappen has dropped to ninth, and Lawson down to seventeenth.

At the end of Lap 1, it's: Norris, Piastri, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Verstappen and Alonso.

Russell is all over Piastri while at the back of the field Perez trails Colapinto.

"I've got no grip," complains Lawson.

As they cross the line at the end of Lap 3, Norris, Piastri and Russell post the fastest lap, the Briton makes a move on the Australian but the door is slammed shut.

"He just ******* turned into me," he claims.

As he pulls 1.2s clear of Hamilton, Sainz posts a new fastest lap, while Verstappen complains of understeer.

In clear air, Magnussen is setting a strong pace as the leading five are covered by 2.7s.

"I'm trying to give Oscar DRS every lap," says Norris.

At the start of Lap 8, Verstappen nips through on the inside of Gasly in Turn 1 to claim eighth and a point.

The Dutchman subsequently posts a new fastest lap (25.224).

Lapping 3s slower than the rest of the field, Zhou should surely pit to ditch his softs... but he doesn't.

"If more pace from Lando would help, let me know," Piastri is told.

At the end of Lap 10, Zhou finally pits. He rejoins almost a minute down on Perez.

Sainz posts a new fastest lap as he closes to within 0.674s of Russell who is 0.905s down on Piastri.

At the back of the field Tsunoda is closing on his RB teammate.

Norris, Russell and Sainz trade fastest sectors.

Leclerc and Hamilton are side by side as they battle for fifth. The Ferrari driver gets ahead and though Hamilton fights back, it is to no avail. Good, clean racing from the soon to be teammates.

As Norris posts a new fastest lap, Russell makes another move on Piastri, but again the Australian slams the door, albeit with a questionably late move.

"Mate, that was late," complains Russell, "twice now."

"I'm starting to struggle with the front," says Norris as he is told to help his teammate.

Perez pits to try a different front wing.

With just over la remaining, Perez looks to have escaped the indignity of being lapped in a Sprint.

A new fastest lap from Leclerc as he hunts down his Ferrari teammate.

At the start of the final lap, Russell makes another move in Turn 1, but simply doesn't the pace to pass the McLaren.

On the final lap, as they head down the pit straight Norris pulls aside for his teammate, clearly making up for what happened in Brazil.

Russell finishes third, ahead of Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasly and Magnussen.

Alonso is eleventh, ahead of Bottas, Stroll, Ocon, Albon, Lawson, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Zhou and Perez.

"It was very close going into Turn 1 on a couple of occasions," says Russell. "Lando backing up, giving Oscar the DRS it was pretty infuriating.

"P3, but this afternoon is the important one," he adds.

"We scored a 1-2," beams Norris, "that's what we were aiming for and we are happy as a team.

"I probably could have pushed a little more than I was doing," he adds, "but we didn't want to give George a chance.

"It was probably a bit closer than I was wanting," he says, referring to ther last lap change of order, "but I had planned to do it since Brazil. It was a bit sketchy, the team told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."

"It was about defence for the whole race," says winner Piastri. "I had a good start, a good Turn 1 but I killed the front tyres a little bit early on and was struggling for the rest of the Sprint.

"Some great teamwork, without that would have been a difficult Sprint."