Verstappen launched cleanly from pole position and was challenged for the lead repeatedly on the first lap by an equally fast-starting Leclerc from second place, the Ferrari driver revelling in a strong end to his underwhelming 2023 campaign.
But Verstappen rebuffed his advances before the slipstreaming-enhancing DRS was activated on the third lap before he slowly began to break away. With Leclerc quickly turning his attention rearwards and to a battle with Mercedes for second in the constructors championship, the title-winning Dutchman was unencumbered in stretching his lead.
Two clean pit stops were all it took to comfortably seal the deal on his 19th season victory and claim Red Bull Racing’s 21st win of the year - both new records by number and percentage.
“It was an incredible season,” he said. “It was a bit emotional on the in-lap - it was the last time I was sitting in the car, which has given me a lot.
“I’m very proud to win here at the last race, but I have to say a big thank you to everyone at Red Bull. It’s just been an incredible year. It will be hard to do something similar again, but we definitely enjoyed this year.”
Leclerc was on track for second all race, having seen off strategic parries from George Russell at the two pit stop windows, but the points difference between the last two podium laces wouldn’t have been enough for Ferrari to overhaul the for-point gap to Mercedes for second on the constructors table.
Sergio Pérez was the wildcard in the pack, recovering from ninth and with the pace for the podium after a long middle stint gave him the chance to race aggressively in the final 16 laps of the race.
Pérez slotting into third would have cleaved open a large enough points difference to see the Italian team reverse the title positions.
But the Mexican carried the complication of needing to serve a five-second penalty for barging past Lando Norris shortly after his last pit stop. Clearly much faster but arriving at the turn6-7 chicane out of control, he made heavy side-on contact with the McLaren and set it spearing off track. The stewards took a dim view of the move and resolved to penalise him after the race.
Pérez therefore had to both pass Russell and beat him by more than five seconds to secure the place.
With four laps to go, Pérez was into second place. Leclerc then bizarrely slowed down to let Pérez catch him up and offer him a slipstream and DRS advantage to accelerate his efforts to build the gap. On the final lap of the race Leclerc waved the Mexican past, hoping the clear air could make the difference.
But the plan ran out of laps to execute. Pérez took the flag only 3.875 seconds ahead of Russell and was demoted to fourth, and Mercedes was able to hold onto second in the standings.
“Unfortunately that wasn’t enough,” Leclerc said. “On one hand, I’m really happy because on a weekend like this there wasn’t one thing we could have done better as a team… we did an incredible job, doing everything right.
“It’s just a shame that we finished third in the constructors. That’s all that mattered to me in this end of season.”
Russell, who has been racing unwell for the past fortnight, was relieved to have squeaked home with enough points to hold off Ferrari’s late-season advances.
“They had great pace,” he said. “It was really tense at the end. The tyres were dropping off, but I’m just really pleased to have secured P2 for the team.”
Pérez finished his underwhelming season fourth after securing second in the drivers championship in Las Vegas, albeit with less than half the points of dominant teammate Verstappen.
McLaren teammates Norris and Oscar Piastri finished a subdued fifth and sixth, lacking the race pace to contend for the podium after a disrupted series of practice sessions to build up to the weekend.
It was more than enough to secure fourth in the constructors standings with 302 points, its highest score since 2012.
Fernando Alonso ended his unexpectedly successful Aston Martin campaign with seventh ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll in the final points-paying places.