The Dutchman converted pole position successfully despite having to contend with the rigours of a wet race among the final third of the contest, extending his stint on the medium tyres to cover off the looming threat of rain.
With a dry start to proceedings, the medium-shod Verstappen resisted the challenge from Alonso on the hards at the start, and immediately began to cement his lead early on with a strong opening salvo of laps to build a buffer.
Alonso was unable to match his fellow two-time champion's lap times in the first phase of the race, as worries over a puncture suggested that the Aston Martin was not handling correctly - although his team informed him that all was well when checking tyre pressures.
The lead reached 11.8s by lap 25 of 78, although this had shrunk slightly by the 30th lap, with the gap 10.6s over Alonso.
At this juncture, Verstappen had begun to close in on traffic as he was angling to lap the backmarkers - including team-mate Sergio Perez.
This allowed Alonso to cut the arrears as Verstappen attempted to barge his way through the rearguard action, despite Perez doing his best to make his fellow Red Bull driver's life easier.
The gap shrunk to 5.6s, but then began to grow once more as Alonso was now firmly ensconced in the tailback as Verstappen had largely cleared it.
Radio reports over the severity of rain began to intensify, and Red Bull elected to hold off pitting Verstappen to ensure he was poised to take advantage of a well-timed pitstop.
As light showers grew into heavier rainfall, particularly in the middle sector, it prompted a number of backmarkers to bolt on the intermediate compound.
Source: Autosport