Red Bull’s reliability drama meant Carlos Sainz Jr was able to follow his team-mate home in second, while Lewis Hamilton took a shock third place for Mercedes.
At the start, Leclerc and Verstappen shot off the line in unison, with the Ferrari quickly swinging across to his right to cover off the Red Bull and seal the inside line for the first corner.
There, Verstappen braked later and got completely alongside Leclerc, but the leader’s position on the inside meant he was easily able to pull ahead through Turns 2 and 3, then weave once on the short straight up to the Turn 4 right, where he pulled away clear in the lead.
Leclerc was already out of DRS range ahead of Verstappen by the end of the first lap of 57, with Sainz chasing the world champion and being followed by Hamilton, who had edged out Sergio Perez as the Mexican slid out of Turn 1, falling behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas as a result.
Over the next few laps, Leclerc – running new soft tyres versus used ones on…
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