The incident that is likely to lead to an inquest at Ferrari came on the first lap.
Hamilton started on pole, with Leclerc third behind Russell, but as the Mercedes dropped back Leclerc challenged Hamilton through Turns One, Two and Three.
Hamilton held him off, but at the Turn Four/Five chicane Leclerc dived around the outside before taking to the grass, cut the corner and emerged in the lead.
Hamilton had also gone off defending, although by nowhere near as much as Leclerc, and that gave Verstappen the chance to nip by Hamilton into Turn Six and into second place.
Verstappen and Hamilton both got on the radio to say Leclerc had to give the position back, but he stayed in the lead and was given a five-second penalty.
The standard punishment is 10 seconds, but the stewards took into account as mitigation that Hamilton had also gone off so neither car was in a position to make the corner.
Hamilton’s argument will be that Leclerc cost him and the team a victory – had they worked together on the first lap, they could have ended it one-two and would probably have run that way to the end given the difficulty of overtaking.
Later in the race, Leclerc’s lock-up after the red flag left him battling a flat spot on his tyre, and he was pressured heavily by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
But despite expressing concerns about his tyre making it, he managed to hold on ahead of the 2025 world champion.
Russell took a low-key sixth, including a 10-second penalty for tipping Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar into a spin on the first lap, ahead of Piastri, his car damaged in the incident with Lindblad.
