"The 100th Grand Prix win for the team, that's incredible," said Verstappen afterwards. "I never expected to be on these kind of numbers myself as well, you know, so, yeah, we keep enjoying, we keep working hard. But today has been a great day again."
When the lights went out at the start, championship leader Verstappen got away well from pole position to take the lead ahead of front-row starter Alonso. The Spanish driver, whose getaway was not the best, was passed into Turn 1 by Hamilton, with the second Mercedes of George Russell in fourth place.
Verstappen soon began to edge away from Hamilton and at the start of lap eight he was 2.4 seconds ahead of the Mercedes AMG.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed when Logan Sargeant parked his Williams at the side of the track, but when the American’s car was removed and the caution ended.
Verstappen’s progress away from the pack continued and by lap 10 he was almost 3.5s ahead of Hamilton, with Alonso a second off the Mercedes AMG in third place.
Russell held fourth ahead of Esteban Ocon, with Oscar Piastri sixth ahead of the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.
On lap 12 the Safety Car was released when Russell overcooked his entry into Turn 9 and hit the wall. He limped back to the pits and the SC period prompted Verstappen to pit and switch his starting medium tyres for a set of hard compound Pirellis.
Hamilton and Alonso also changed tyres during the SC phase, leaving Verstappen to emerge from his stop in the lead.
Behind the top three, both Ferrari drivers opted to stay out on starting medium tyres and they rose to P4 and P5 with Charles Leclerc ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr.. Behind them, Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull also stayed out, on hard tyres, and he climbed to sixth place.
The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 16. Max held his lead ahead of Hamilton and Alonso, and the twin Ferraris kept Checo at bay as the race went green again.
At the front, Verstappen again began to draw away and by lap 20 he was again almost three seconds clear of Hamilton.
The Mercedes AMG driver was coming under increasing pressure from Alonso, however, and at the end of lap 22 the Spaniard pounced, using DRS to slip down the inside of the Briton’s car as they approached the final chicane to take P2.
Further back, lead Ferrari driver Leclerc was now three seconds behind third-placed Hamilton. Sainz Jr. was two seconds off his team-mate and Checo held sixth, five seconds behind Carlos and seven clear of Ocon.
Pérez made his sole stop of the race on lap 38, moving to medium tyres and emerging in P7 behind Albon. Ferrari reacted by pitting Sainz Jr. on the following lap and after a 2.8 switch to hard tyres he rejoined ahead of Alex Albon who was targeting a one-stop race.
Leclerc then pitted from P4 on lap 40 and after taking on hard tyres he rejoined ahead of Sainz Jr.. Checo was on the hunt, though, and as Leclerc emerged from the pit lane, the Mexican passed Albon to take P6 just 4.5 seconds behind Carlos and on quicker tyres.
Hamilton also stopped on lap 40, heading back to medium compound Pirellis, while Alonso stopped on the next lap, fitting another set of hard tyres. Verstappen made is final stop on lap 42, moving to medium tyres and once again he took the lead for his final stint.
Behind the top six, Albon was doing a superb job of keeping Russell at bay. The Mercedes AMG driver had recovered from his early crash and was attempting to wrestle seventh place from his fellow Briton.
That battle ended on lap 54, however, when the damage Russell had shipped early on finally took its full toll and he was forced to retire. That left the way open for Ocon to reel in Albon and with 10 laps left the Alpine driver was just 0.4s off the Williams but could finds no way past.
The battle between Alonso and Hamilton was also hotting up and with the Spaniard nursing a rear brake problem, the Briton closed in and 10 laps from the flag the gap between P2 and P3 was down to 1.8s.
Despite his mechanical woes, Alonso managed to find enough pace to rebuild the gap and he was soon more than two seconds ahead of the Mercedes AMG.
At the front, Verstappen was in total control after 70 laps, he took his sixth win of the season ahead of Alonso and Hamilton.
With two laps left, and with a significant gap behind him, sixth-placed Pérez pitted for a set of soft tyres and an attempt at the fastest lap. The Mexican delivered a 1:14.481 to add a point to the eight he scored for sixth place behind the two Ferraris.
Seventh place in the race went to Albon with the Briton defending well in the closing stages to keep Esteban Ocon in eighth. Ninth place went to Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and the final point went to 10th-placed Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas.
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