The Dutchman turned a second place start into victory in the first European race of the season, largely thanks to an explosive first lap.

He appeared to surprise polesitter Piastri in the flowing opening sequence of corners, jumping the Aussie to take an early lead.

From there he was never headed, a virtual and then real safety car both falling at ideal times as Verstappen two-stopped his way to a comfortable second win of the season.

“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but I still had the outside line, basically the normal line,” said Verstappen.

“I was like, ‘woah, guess I’m going to send it around the outside’. It worked really well.

“That unleashed out pace, once we were in the lead the car was good, I could look after the tyres and we had very good pace.”

Once in the lead Verstappen executed a masterclass, resisting the temptation for an early stop from the medium when the likes of Piastri headed to the pits.

The Red Bull Racing driver waited until a well-timed Virtual Safety Car on Lap 29, when Esteban Ocon rolled to a stop on the exit of Tosa, to take his first service, some 16 laps after Piastri had made a green running stop.

When hometown hero Kimi Antonelli stopped at the same place on Lap 46, sparking an actual Safety Car, Verstappen made stopped for another set of hard Pirellis, settling back into a comfortable lead he would hold until the finish.

The battle for second was fourth out between the McLarens.

Piastri made an early stop for hards from second, which funnelled him back out into traffic.

He made decent headway given the circumstances, but was unquestionably compromised as he worked his way back through the field.

He made another stop during the VSC before staying out during the second caution, which helps him rise to second on the road.

He didn’t have the tyre condition once the race went green, though, leaving him vulnerable to fourth-starting teammate Lando Norris.

The Briton was able to barge past into second five laps from the end, clawing back a handful of points, although Piastri still leads the title by 13.

For Piastri, the start was a sore point.

“I just braked too early, it was a good move by Max as well,” he said. “Disappointing obviously. We made a few wrong calls after that anyway, not our best Sunday.”

With Piastri rounding out the podium, fourth fell to Lewis Hamilton who came from outside the top 10 on the grid.

He actually came from seventh at the restart, his progress helped somewhat by a scrap between Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc.

At one point the Williams driver ended up off the road, allowing Hamilton to jump them both.

Leclerc would later let Albon back into fifth, which is where he finished between the two Ferrari drivers.

George Russell finished seventh for Mercedes ahead of Carlos Sains, Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda.