back straight

"I had a good conversation with Bob, mostly around not pushing too hard too early and trying to get those shots back straight away," McIlroy said.

Behind Verstappen, Mercedes' George Russell passed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for fourth place with a dive down the inside of the hairpin at the end of the long back straight on the first lap.

Norris had appeared to be on target to take sprint pole with a blistering first-sector time on a second run but braked too late for the hairpin at the end of the long back straight and ran wide, forcing him to abort the lap.

Bend at the waist, keeping your back straight and chest up.

Hamilton closed in and passed Russell on the back straight with six corners to go and take a fourth place as he bowed out from 12 years at Mercedes to end the most successful team-driver combination in F1 history.