Shortly before Leclerc's breakdown, Verstappen had past Perez, and the reigning Formula One champion cruised to his fifth season victory.

Verstappen won a year after he was on his way to victory in Baku, only to be thrown into the wall by a blown tyre with three laps to go. When Verstappen notified his crew that the vehicle felt strange under braking on Sunday, there were further late reliability concerns, but he was able to finish the race.

"You can never replace what you lost last year," Verstappen said. "But today, we had amazing pace in the car, and we were able to look after the tyres, chip away at it, and pass for the lead." "But, of course, with (Leclerc's) retirement, we were a little bit lucky." Regardless, I believe our vehicle was fast today and could have bridged the deficit."

Perez finished second for Red Bull, while George Russell and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished third and fourth, respectively.

Perez, who won in Azerbaijan last year, said Red Bull made the "correct decision" not to let him compete for the victory, adding that he battled with old tyres.

Perez, who won in Azerbaijan last year, said Red Bull made the "correct decision" not to let him compete for the victory, adding that he battled with old tyres.

Both Leclerc and colleague Carlos Sainz Jr., as well as the Ferrari-powered cars of Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen, had a bad day for Ferrari.

The Ferrari team had to abandon both vehicles for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix in 2020.

The drop in Ferrari reliability coincides with Red Bull's apparent resolution of its troubles. In the first race of the season, Verstappen and Perez crashed out in Bahrain, Red Bull's first race since moving engine manufacture in-house for 2022.

Verstappen is 21 points ahead of Perez in the standings, while Leclerc has plummeted to third, 34 points behind Verstappen.

Hamilton, a seven-time champion, complained of back pain due to the Mercedes' tendency to bounce at high speeds, and he gently hopped out of the car after finishing fourth on Sunday.

Toto Wolff, the team's manager, told him, "Let's make some adjustments."

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly was fifth, and Alfa Romeo's Sebastian Vettel was sixth.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso finished seventh, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in the two McLarens and Alonso's colleague Esteban Ocon in tenth.