Lewis Hamilton took a comfortable win in the Grand Prix to close the gap to Max Verstappen in their fight for the world championship.
After a five-place grid penalty, Verstappen fought his way to second and took the point for the fastest lap.
With two races to go in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, the deficit to Verstappen is eight points.
Fernando Alonso took a third place, his first podium since the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Alonso was trying to hold off a late charge from Red Bull'sSergio Perez, but a late virtual safety car put the place beyond doubt.
Perez was poised for a close fight for third with the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas until the Finn suffered a puncture.
Extra tension was created in the closing laps because of three punctures.
Verstappen was in several places on the first lap.
How did Hamilton win?
It was one of Hamilton's easiest wins of the season, and the seven-time champion appeared to have the pace to have triumphed even if Verstappen had been punished.
The Dutch driver was found to have not seen a double waved yellow flag at the end of the race, and although Red Bull tried to have the cockpit and trackside light-warning system turned off, officials said they had no choice but to punish him.
The penalty dropped Verstappen to sixth on the grid, but he was fourth by the end of the first lap and second after five.
By that point, the Red Bull was only 3.7 seconds behind Hamilton but the Mercedes driver continued to stretch ahead until his lead was 8.2 seconds by the time Verstappen made his first pit stop.
The pattern of the race was set when Hamilton followed him after he secured his position.
They stopped a lap apart on two more occasions, but the point for the fastest lap was still not decided.
Verstappen made a late pit stop for soft tyres to make sure.
David Beckham was one of the famous ex-footballers at the event.
There is a carnival of punctures and tension.
While Verstappen made progress on lap one, Bottas went backwards and was down in 11th at the end of the race.
He made little progress in the opening laps and was told by his boss to pass the cars in front.
The race between him and Perez was on target to end in the closing laps, the Mexican making his first stop early and the Finn trying to run long to have a tyre advantage.
Mercedes had to retire the car with 10 laps to go because of a puncture on lap 31 and the Finn did not finish the race.
Alonso was superb in the Alpine after starting third on the grid, and he was in a fight for third with Perez.
Red Bull decided to pit Perez for a second time at the same time as Verstappen, and left him to recover positions past Lance Stroll's Aston Martin and Esteban Ocon's Alpine.
There was a lot of tension as Perez was close to Alonso, but he had to close because Alonso was running on old tires and both Williams drivers had suffered punctures.
A virtual safety car with two laps to go gave Alonso's tyres an extra break and also neutralised the gap and the 40-year-old Spaniard scored his first podium since the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Perez took fourth place, ahead of the second Alpine of Ocon, Lance Stroll's car and the cars of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
The top 10 points scorers were Norris, Sebastian Vettel, and others.
The driver of the day.
Has to be Alonso. A fifth in qualification, second on the first lap, and third in the race, with the Alpine home in third on one stop. Red Bull helped him out by stopping Perez a second time, but he deserved a podium.
What will happen next?
After three race weekends in a row, a break before a double-header climax, a new circuit in Saudi Arabia and then a much-changed Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen has the points lead over Hamilton and Mercedes. The popular outcome at the final race would be a decider.
