With Verstappen in command up front and the two Mercedes cars in the wars, the main interest in the race boiled down to a strategy offset between the one-stopping Leclerc and the two-stopping Perez in a tense final stint.
At the start, Perez launched well off the line to have a look down the inside of polesitter Verstappen at Turn 1 but was never a serious threat, while Leclerc held his third place starting spot and Lewis Hamilton beat Carlos Sainz into fourth.
