Polesitter Verstappen led the charge to Turn 1 as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso swept around the outside of Perez to take second place.
Perez held off Norris for third, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri running an early fifth from George Russell (Mercedes), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – who came close to touching at Turn 1. Leclerc repassed Hulkenberg at the hairpin towards the end of the opening lap.
Verstappen immediately pulled a gap of over 2s as Perez stalked Alonso for second.
Further back, Sainz and Lance Stroll (Aston, who started on soft tyres unlike the majority on mediums) overtook Hulkenberg.
Perez lunged past Alonso to retake second at Turn 6 on lap five, restoring the expected Red Bull 1-2. Norris outbraked Alonso at the hairpin to take third, while Leclerc zoomed around the outside of Russell at Turn 1 for sixth on lap 9.
Two laps later, Leclerc passed Piastri for fifth at the hairpin, which became fourth as Alonso became the first of the frontrunners to pit for hard tyres on lap 12.
Verstappen and Perez pitted for hards, promoting Norris to a temporary lead over fellow long first-stint runner Leclerc.
Verstappen passed Leclerc for second on lap 16, while Perez lost time getting around Sainz. Verstappen retook the lead on lap 19, DRS-ing past Norris into the Turn 14 hairpin.
Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber expired at Turn 11 on lap 21, prompting a virtual safety car to recover it. Leclerc took the opportunity to make a cheap pitstop, but McLaren missed the chance to bring Norris in straight away and were fortunate that the Sauber appeared to stuck in gear, causing the marshals to toil.
