One third of the way in, it was Leclerc who held P1 with a 1m 23.702s on hards, a couple of tenths clear of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, as Norris, Sainz and Las Vegas Grand Prix winner George Russell rounded out the top six.

Norris went for another run on mediums a little later and looked set to go quickest, only for a slide at Turn 10 to scupper his efforts, while team mate Piastri had a moment of his own at Turn 15 – Ferrari then moving further clear through gains from Leclerc and Sainz.

With just over 10 minutes to go, the soft tyres finally appeared, leading to another flurry of improvements through to the chequered flag – Leclerc ultimately coming out on top by some four-tenths over Norris and Piastri via a 1m 21.953s.

Sainz was next up in P4, around half a second away from team mate Leclerc, while Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll put their respective RB, Kick Sauber and Aston Martin machines firmly inside the top seven with particularly late efforts.