Saturday polesitter Leclerc launched cleanly to hold position into Turn 1 and then retained control over second-starting Perez at a safety car restart that followed AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda shedding a tyre.
But shortly after DRS was enabled, the Red Bull's straightline advantage allowed Perez to dive cleanly up the inside into Turn 1 of lap eight for the lead and the eventual win by 4.463s.
This pass came despite the DRS zone down the main straight being cut by 100m for 2023.
Leclerc reckoned he did not fight hard to retain first, saying: "I didn't know what to expect.
"I didn't fight too much [Perez] because I just wanted to try and keep my tyres - I knew this was our weak point.
"I tried to stay within the DRS of [Perez] so he could pull me on the straight.
"But that wasn't enough. We were losing a little bit too much towards the end with the degradation."
Source: Autosport