Verstappen took full advantage of the chaos. A slow puncture forced him to stop early in the race, switching from hard tyres to mediums. But he made it work for him, surging through the field on the favoured compound. By lap 18 he was in the top 10. And by the time Norris pitted at the end of lap 30, Verstappen was up to fourth.

At one stage it looked as if he might even be able to fight Norris for the win. But he eventually had to stop, bolting on a set of soft tyres which set up a grandstand finish as he used his fresh rubber to pick off first George Russell and very nearly Antonelli too.

Up ahead, Norris eased to victory by 10 seconds. The 25-year-old now has one hand on the title. Not that he will admit it. “It was a great win but to be honest seeing how quick Max was today, I’m pretty disappointed we weren’t quicker,” he said. “That is where my mind is at the minute, I’m going to see the team and congratulate them and see why we weren’t quick enough.

“There’s not a long way to go but it can change so quickly like we’ve seen today, so just focus on myself, keep my head down, ignore everyone and keep pushing.”