Heading into the race, Valtteri Bottas was leading the Drivers' Championship by one point from Lewis Hamilton.[3] Bottas's team Mercedes was leading the Constructors' Championship by 39 points from Ferrari.[3]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand in drivers for either the race or practice.[4]
Free practice
Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first practice session with Valtteri Bottas fastest in the second practice.[5][6] Bottas was again fastest in FP3 on Saturday, however the session was brought to a premature end when Alexander Albon lost control of his Toro Rosso and hit the wall on the exit of the final corner, smashing into the wall rear-first with an impact of 49g. He would not compete in qualifying due to the damage sustained from the accident and therefore started from the pitlane.[7]
^1 – Antonio Giovinazzi failed to set a time during qualifying and was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.[8]
^2 – Alexander Albon did not take part in qualifying after crashing in FP3 and was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.[8] He was required to start from the pit lane after changing his survival cell.[10] He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
At the start of the race Bottas got a bad start allowing Hamilton to lead into the first corner. At the fourth corner Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris collided which would cause Norris and Kvyat to retire later in the race, despite Kvyat receiving a drive-through penalty as the stewards blamed him for the incident. On lap 11 Charles Leclerc was ordered by Ferrari to let his teammate Vettel past. Nico Hülkenberg retired on lap 17 with an MGU-K problem. Daniel Ricciardo managed to score his first points of the season and his first points for Renault. Pierre Gasly got the first fastest lap of his career.[12] It was also Mercedes' third 1–2 finish of the season and the first time that a team has managed a 1–2 in the first three races of a season since Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese did so for Williams in 1992.[13]