Following a late Virtual Safety Car period, the gloves came off between long-time leader Leclerc and his main 2022 rival Verstappen.
Verstappen first passed Leclerc in the final hairpin on lap 42 after the Monegasque driver appeared happy to let Verstappen by, as it returned the DRS advantage to him on the main straight and allowed him to retake the lead into Turn 1.
Verstappen smartened up by trying to time his next pass better two laps later, but out-braked himself to try and keep the DRS for the main straight.
On lap 47 Verstappen finally made the move stick on the run down to Turn 1 and held on to take his first win of 2022.
The Dutchman acknowledged playing "smart tricks" in the DRS zones was key to securing the win.
"Yeah, it seems like once you get quite close, when you get within half a second, you actually can have a good exit," Verstappen said.
"And I think that makes it a lot more tricky to actually do the pass, let's say in the last corner compared to last year, so it's a lot harder to plan your pass.
"It wasn't easy playing smart tricks in the last corner but eventually I managed to get ahead. But then even after that he was constantly in the DRS and then with the yellow flags in the last lap, just knowing how much you should lift, whether it's allowed or not."
Verstappen said he was trying to play the long game after initially failing to get within DRS range of Leclerc, the Ferrari enjoying a downforce advantage in the corners.
With both drivers out on old hard tyres after a one-stop race, the Dutchman tried to keep his tyre alive until the final 10 laps and bank on his higher top speed.
"It was a really tough but a good race. We're battling hard in the front and we just started to play the long game," he explained.
"They were really quick through corners; we were quick on the straight, but the tyres were wearing out quite quick around here.
"You could see the end I think, we had a little bit more pace, so I just tried to get by. It was tough, but really happy that we finally kickstarted the season."
After retiring from last week's season opener in Bahrain Verstappen climbs to third in the standings 20 points behind leader Leclerc, who scored a bonus point for the fastest lap, and eight points behind the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
