Max Verstappen, in the form of his life, does not require the boos of a pre-match crowd to inspire him. Perez had been off the pace all weekend, but lucked in, his time already banked. The defending champion made his next move at turn 17 of lap eight, taking Mercedes’ George Russell. The only one who attracted derision was Verstappen, introduced last because he bears ‘No 1’ on his car. Twenty laps later, as we pick up the race narrative again, he had closed to within 1.2sec of Perez, who was then pulled into the pits for new rubber. He came out 1.2sec off Perez, an impressive defender, in front. At the start of lap 48, Verstappen wriggled through as inevitably he was bound to and the lead was his, irrevocably.

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