Verstappen wins from Hamilton after late red-flag mayhem

Verstappen had dominated most of the proceedings despite losing the initial lead from pole to Mercedes’ George Russell and Hamilton, before a first red flag caused by Alex Albon crashing out solo and putting debris and gravel across the road.

At the second standing start Hamilton maintained his lead, but as soon as the DRS overtaking aid was reactivated, Verstappen blasted by into a lead he would ultimately not lose but with plenty of drama and confusing scenes to come.

The first red flag meant none of the leaders completed any in-race pitstops as they were able to change their starting tyres under the stoppage, which was what cemented Russell’s place in the pack from which he charged before his engine expired in flames at the end of the event’s first third.

For most of the race, there was little action at the front as Verstappen dropped Hamilton and worked his way to a 10-second advantage that was only cut when the Dutchman briefly ran off the road at the penultimate corner and complaining about front locking.

At this point, Hamilton was holding Fernando Alonso at arm’s length while the teams worked out if their charges could get to the finish without requiring new tyres.

They were upping their pace – exchanging fastest laps with Verstappen ahead – when the concluding farce kicked off, starting with Kevin Magnussen bizarrely running off the track by himself exiting the second corner and striking the nearby wall with his right rear.

This fell off as he headed towards Turn 3 and that, plus Magnussen stopping inside Turn 4, led to the race being stopped again, with a two-lap sprint set to conclude the action.

When this started, Verstappen swept across Hamilton’s bows and covered the inside line to Turn 1, from where Alonso exited ahead of Carlos Sainz and was then tagged by the Ferrari and spun towards the wall Magnussen had tagged.

Behind, chaos reigned as Pierre Gasly locked hard behind Sainz and went off at Turn 2 along with several other cars and as the Frenchman rejoined he swung right and took out team-mate Esteban Ocon, ruining what had looked to be a very strong result for Alpine and Gasly in particular as he had been fighting Sainz for most of the race.

Before the red flags came out for a third time, Lance Stroll slid into the gravel at Turn 3 while fighting Sainz, appearing to also destroy Aston Martin’s previously excellent positions.

But after the race was suspended, crucially before Verstappen had passed the first…