Despite overnight rain, the track, though damp, was dry enough for slick tyres at the start and Norris led Antonelli and Piastri away in grid order, while Verstappen moved up to fifth ahead of Alonso and behind Russell.

Piastri’s crash came as he hooked his inside wheel over the kerb at Turn Three, which immediately pitched his car into a spin and into the barriers.

He sat in the car with his fingers inside his visor as he rued the likely damage to his title hopes.

“Just trying to put this behind (me),” Piastri said. “There is a lot more points on offer tomorrow, so the better job I can do to get myself a good starting spot, the better it will be.”

It was his fifth major mistake in as many races after a crash-strewn outing in Baku in September, and a collision at the start of the sprint race in Austin three weeks ago.

Since Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Norris has made up 43 points on his team-mate in five weekends and a sprint race and has strong momentum in the championship.

Although there were yellow flags waving, both Hulkenberg and Colapinto made the same mistake, each hitting the barrier a little earlier than the car before had done.

For the restart, Norris and Alonso switched to soft tyres while the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers and Verstappen went for mediums.

The mediums were the better choice – Norris came under pressure from Antonelli in the closing laps but was able to fend him off.

Alonso had even stiffer pressure from the Ferraris, but his defence finally cracked when he locked a wheel into Turn One and Leclerc was able to get a run on him into Turn Four and pass on the inside.