Norris was left to rue the pit stop decision. “How did we not win this?” he said over the radio. “We can make it easier for ourselves.”

But this was a strong showing from McLaren, who introduced a major upgrade package this weekend, which brought them right into the fight with Mercedes.

Leclerc was brought in on lap 21 for his stop, and complained over the radio that he had not been consulted.

The decision dropped him down the field and forced him to fight past slower cars. He regained third, but then lost it again to Norris’ team-mate Piastri on the penultimate lap as he began to struggle for grip.

Leclerc then spun on his own on the last lap. He hit the wall, damaged his car and had a puncture, and that meant he lost two further positions into and out of the final corner, as Russell and then Verstappen came past him.

“That’s all on me,” said Leclerc, before his penalty was imposed.

“I am very disappointed in myself. I need to look at whether the energy was different but that is not an excuse. It’s unacceptable.”

Verstappen pitted under the safety car for his fresh tyres, hoping the gamble would pay off. It dropped him to the back, but with some aggressive overtaking and the others pitting in front of him, it put him in the lead mid-race.

But he was never going to hold on with his worn tyres, and he slipped down. Still, fifth was a decent result after his early error, which was followed by some very aggressive racing that prompted complaints from some of his rivals.

Hamilton’s Ferrari was damaged in a first-lap clash with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who moved up a place to seventh because of Leclerc’s penalty.

The Williams cars of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took the final points, in ninth and 10th respectively.