Verstappen was cruising to an easy win after passing Leclerc early on but a late safety car brought them together for a re-start with 10 laps to go. It was an unexpectedly dramatic finish to a race that had appeared to be petering out after Verstappen’s early climb from third on the grid to the lead. The world champion passed the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz around the outside of Turn One and into Turn Two then chased down Leclerc before taking the lead at the start of the ninth lap. He was within a second of Verstappen for five laps after the restart but was always agonisingly just too far away to make a proper lunge for the lead.

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