Verstappen surprised by Red Bull race pace

Verstappen played a pivotal part in the race, as he was able to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him after the Mercedes driver pitted.

Later he closed in on Raikkonen, but the Dutchman was forced to back off in the closing laps as he suffered brake problems, with TV pictures showing clouds of carbon dust coming off the car.

Having closed to within 1.4s, he let the gap to go out to 6.4s by the flag.

"I think I can be pleased," said Verstappen. "I had Kimi in front of me the whole race, so at least we could follow one Ferrari, and I think the Mercedes was not that much in front as well.

"The pace was good. I was catching up to Kimi, but then the last few laps I had a little bit of brake issues, so I just backed off to make sure I finished the race.

"But I think in the race it was much more positive than qualifying. I was surprised.

"I could see straight away, in the first three laps you know if you can keep up, and it was actually not bad.

"Of course the first Ferrari and the first Mercedes, they pulled away a bit, because you have the dirty air from the cars. But pretty decent."

Verstappen played down his successful efforts at keeping Hamilton behind.

"It's really hard to follow. I was quite a bit faster at the end than Kimi, but as soon as you arrive, two seconds behind, that's it, you can't really get closer than that."