Verstappen was untroubled launching from pole, where he needed only fend off an ambitious attempt at the lead from Charles Leclerc starting on the front row.
The Ferrari driver dispatched, Verstappen was allowed to serenely stretch his advantage, which ballooned to an eventual 22.457 seconds over Pérez in the sister car at the chequered flag.
As well as starting from pole, the reigning champion led every lap and collected the bonus point for fastest lap of the race, completing a rare fifth career grand slam, drawing him level with Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher. Only Jim Clark and Lewis Hamilton have more.
Emerging from his car looking like he had enough energy to run the race several more times without breaking a sweat, Verstappen praised his team for delivering him a rare perfect weekend.
“I think today went even better than expected,” he said. “It couldn’t have been better.
“It’s always very special to have these kinds of days because they don’t happen that often, that it just all goes perfectly, that you’re just at one with the car and everything just feels great.”
Pérez started fifth, picking up a place off the line and then making easy work of George Russell and Leclerc to rise to second, though he was no match for his leading teammate.
“I think it was the maximum we could have achieved,” he said. “It was quite a tricky race with the management of the tyres. I think there’s plenty we will learn from tonight’s race, which will be important for the championship.
“But overall I think it’s a great way to start the season.
“It’s a good team momentum and we’ve got to keep it up for the coming weekend.”
Carlos Sainz completed the podium after a strong race from fourth over the grid, making two bold passes on teammate Leclerc on either side of the pit stop window and breezing past Russell to claim a spot inside the top three.
The Spaniard was optimistic that he could challenge Pérez, but the Mexican had the benefit of the faster soft tyre at his second pit stop, while the Ferrari driver was left only with the slower hard compound, leaving him almost three seconds adrift at the finish line.
“I felt really good out there today,” Sainz said. “I could do my pace, overtook two or three cars on the way to the podium and then kept up with a Red Bull [of Pérez] there at the end, which was a pleasant surprise.
“It’s still not enough, not where we want to be, but a good step forward compared to last year and a solid start to the season.”
Leclerc and Russell finished fourth and fifth after having looked like the likely podium contenders early in the race before both were hamstrung by technical problems that left them limping home.
Leclerc’s car developed a severe brake temperature imbalance on the front axle, causing him to lock up frequently and run off track.
Russell’s Mercedes had been configured without enough cooling, and he was required to lift and coast from early in the race to prevent his car from overheating.
McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished sixth and eighth and sandwiched Lewis Hamilton in seventh, the second Mercedes driver likewise afflicted with cooling issues. The closely matched trio finished approximately 50 seconds behind Verstappen.
Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll quietly completed the top 10 as the last cars on the lead lap, though neither was in contention for more. Stroll’s race was particularly strong after he was tipped into a spin by Nico Hülkenberg at the first turn, leaving him at the back of the pack on the first lap.
Zhou Guanyu unexpectedly led home the midfield for Sauber ahead of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
Both were being pursued in the final laps by RB teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, who had their order controversially swapped in the final laps to give the Australian an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to make up ground.
Tsunoda responded angrily to the team order and delayed the switch, potentially costing Ricciardo a better shot at a higher finish.
The Japanese driver bizarrely took out his frustration on his teammate on the cool-down lap, dive-bombing him into a corner and almost causing a collision.
Thai driver Alex Albon was a quiet 15th ahead of Hülkenberg ‒ who needed a new front wing after his first-lap incident with Stroll ‒ and Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly on a dire uncompetitive weekend for the French marque.
Valtteri Bottas finished 19th following a super long 50-second pit stop for a stuck wheel nut, and Logan Sargeant finished last after needing to change his steering wheel after 10 laps due to an electronics issue.