The Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Sergio Perez swapped the lead on the opening lap with some robust driving between the team-mates, each blaming the other.
But Verstappen got clear as Perez got trapped behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas for a dozen laps, and motored away to another dominant victory, with all the action happening behind as the track dried and some switched to slicks.
On a damp track, Perez took the lead at Turn 1 and then edged Verstappen onto the grass on the exit of the first corner. The Red Bulls then almost banged wheels at Turn 3 and Turn 5, allowing Hulkenberg up to second – behind Verstappen but in front of Perez.
Perez took until lap 12 to pass Hulkenberg for second but was already 10s behind Verstappen. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed Hulkenberg a lap later for third.
DRS was enabled on lap 17, which allowed the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso to pass Hulkenberg too – which led to Hulkenberg pitting for slicks, along with Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who’d both started from near the tail of the field.
Verstappen beat Perez by 21s, ahead of Sainz, the battling Stroll and Alonso, a fast-closing Hulkenberg (first home on slicks), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Russell (who crossed the line side by side), Lando Norris (McLaren) and Hamilton.
