Leclerc ends barren streak after late throttle scare

Leclerc, who had not been on the podium since Miami, passed Verstappen three times on track as the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers were placed on different strategies.

A late throttle pedal worry did threaten to derail Leclerc, but he held on for his third win of the 2022 Formula 1 season.

However, he was not joined on the podium by Sainz, who showed similar speed and was set to follow Leclerc over the line but was eliminated by a late engine fire to hand Lewis Hamilton third place.

Verstappen led a fast formation lap in a bid to generate tyre temperature and, on the medium tyres, enjoyed a tidy launch to hold the middle line and consolidate the lead into Turn 1.

Leclerc maintained position in second as third-starting Sainz was squeezed on the outside to rejoin side-by-side with George Russell, before he fought back past on the inside into Turn 3.

Perez, from fifth, could then have a sniff at the Mercedes with a drag race out of the right-hander, which left him on the outside for the Turn 4 right.

But Russell nicked the right-rear of Perez’s Red Bull with his front-left to send the RB18 spinning into the gravel, albeit the Mexican rejoined by finding the asphalt run off by the barrier.

Ahead, Verstappen found a 0.985s over Leclerc at the end of lap one of 71, with Sainz a further 1s back. Perez eventually recovered to the pits for hards, although would retire on lap 17.

Unlike the Saturday sprint race Verstappen won, the defending champion was not able to break away in the early laps as Leclerc remained within the 1s window to keep hold of DRS.

On the sprint out of Turn 1 to Turn 3, the gap fell to as little as 0.5s and with Perez heading for an early bath, Ferrari had the potential to split its strategy to leapfrog Verstappen.

Leclerc had his first tentative look up the inside of Verstappen into Turn 3 on lap 8, but thought better of it for the next three tours. Then on lap 11, Leclerc made his move – slicing down the inside into Turn 3.

Verstappen, slower in the opening phase, gave his chief title rival room and barely put up a fight. He tried to offer a rebuttal on the outside of Turn 4 but locked up to fall behind.

Despite a big moment of oversteer and then a couple of lock ups for Leclerc, setting the fastest lap of the race at that stage allowed the Monegasque to break free of DRS.

That…