The Red Bull driver needed to defend into Turn 1 and 3 against an initially strong Ferrari threat, but as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz went wheel-to-wheel, the defending champion was able to march away to a relatively smooth triumph.
The start was delayed and an extra formation lap called when Zhou Guanyu momentarily lost drive out of the final corner on his way to the grid when his Alfa Romeo’s engine briefly switched off.
He was able to find drive and pull away, but not before one lap had been struck off the 24.
This came after Fernando Alonso – due to line up eighth – required a pitlane start when his Alpine would not fire on the grid for a technical issue that the team is still to identify.
The regulations permitting that the car cannot be touched with three minutes to go meant Alonso was left on the trolley and with the tyre blankets on.
Despite the possibility of a pitlane start, the two-time champion would not take part at all in the sprint race.
After the disruption, it was Leclerc who enjoyed the marginally better launch to force Verstappen to pull to the inside line and squeeze the Ferrari closer to the pit wall.
The Red Bull’s defensive work duly paid off as Verstappen swept into the Turn 1 right-hander in the lead, but a compromised line allowed third-starting Sainz to threaten.
With Leclerc battling Verstappen, Sainz was given room to dive ahead into the first corner and a strong exit enabled the Spaniard to move his Ferrari to the outside and attempt a pass.
He put his nose in front of Verstappen in the braking zone of Turn 3 but on the outside and off the racing line, he ran wide and then the subsequent oversteer on the less grippy asphalt allowed Leclerc to accelerate away faster and reclaim second place with a run into Turn 4.
The Ferrari squabbling allowed Verstappen to initially break away to the tune of half a second, an advantage the reigning champion then doubled at the end of the opening tour.
The Ferraris continued to dice, with Sainz seemingly carrying an early pace advantage to try and leapfrog Leclerc on the outside of Turn 3 into 4, with the red car appears to rub.
With the Ferrari pair allowed to fight, that left Sainz, who had locked up, to virtually stop as he was squeezed towards the gravel trap, in turn gifting Verstappen breathing space of two seconds.
Verstappen was able to stretch the legs of his Red Bull to take the gap up towards three seconds, but in the final few laps, Leclerc could lap a tenth or two faster to…
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