Verstappen wins from Perez after Leclerc DNF

In a frenetic first half of the race, Verstappen cost himself second place by losing the rear end and careering across the gravel before mounting a remarkable recovery run.

Aided by runaway leader and polesitter Leclerc suffering the misfortune of a terminal power unit failure, Verstappen was able to force Red Bull to orchestrate a change for position.

That left Sergio Perez to concede a potential victory, which in turn allowed Verstappen to complete a run of three consecutive triumphs with an eventual 13s advantage at the flag.

The 25-point swing in the early title race gives Verstappen a six-point standings lead heading to Monaco.

George Russell, meanwhile, completed the podium for Mercedes as Carlos Sainz fought back from an early error to claim fourth thanks to a late pass on Lewis Hamilton’s poorly W13.

Verstappen enjoyed the marginally better initial launch from second place but on a used set of softs versus the new C3s for Leclerc, the Ferrari clawed away in the second phase.

That gave Leclerc just enough breathing space to pull to the right and put Verstappen off from attempting a lunge into Turn 1 to enable the 13-time polesitter to retain first place.

Sainz, however, was starting on old softs and bogged down to fall back from third behind Russell, Perez, and then Hamilton nabbed fifth around the outside of Turn 3.

But that left the Mercedes squeezed and he and Kevin Magnussen collided to give Hamilton a front-left puncture and the Haas driver came away with a front-right flat and both pitted.

Leclerc moved ninth tenths clear at the end of lap one, maintained the gap to Verstappen next time around and then critically toured 0.3s faster to move clear of the DRS range when the aid was enabled.

His Ferrari teammate then committed his latest mistake as Sainz spun unaided on entry into Turn 4 and careered over the gravel on lap seven, but two laps later Verstappen made a similar mistake in the tail wind as the rear slid out and he ran over the kitty…