Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third after a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to pass Bottas through the first two corners.

Hamilton started fourth but dropped back to finish fifth and is a point behind Vettel a third of the way through the season.

In a bizarre end, the chequered flag was waved a lap too early by model Winnie Harlow, only for Vettel to say over team radio: “Tell them not to wave the flag when it’s not done.”

He continued on his way to take it again after the correct 70 laps, however the race was declared at 68 laps, based on the official count back rules, as a result of the mistake.

World champion Hamilton was struggling with engine temperatures in the first part of the race, which forced Mercedes into an earlier than planned pit stop for fresh tyres so they could add more cooling to the car.

It meant the Briton lost a place to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo at his stop, and Hamilton had a nervy moment when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen emerged alongside him after his much later stop.

Hamilton managed to fend the Finn off, and even pulled away despite having tyres 16 laps older than Raikkonen’s.