Behind them, Norris drove an excellent race to blast up from sixth on the grid to third on the first lap, and briefly got past Antonelli for second before the Italian retook the position.
There were a few hectic laps as Norris, Russell and Verstappen swapped places before Norris managed to consolidate third place and move clear of the the battle behind him.
“It was a very good race,” the world champion said. “I’m very, very happy, good start, good first lap, not the pace to go with these guys but had a good battle with George. Pleasantly surprised.
“I was fighting the car everywhere to be honest. It wasn’t a straightforward race and I knew George would be catching, like he was towards the end of the race. We’re not on a similar level to these guys (Mercedes and Ferrari) on car performance. “
Russell had briefly got up to third from fifth on the grid on the first lap, passing Verstappen around the outside of Turn Four, losing out to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the Wellington Straight and then getting both McLarens before the end of the lap.
But he then lost two places on the next two laps as first Norris and then Verstappen went past.
He said: “Lap one was great, did two great overtakes in two corners. Then I got a bit left vulnerable on the next straight and got overtaken by the McLaren. So I need to sort of understand how I managed to pull the moves off but then I lost the positions again anyway.
“P3 is where I probably should have finished. Finished up P4, one point less. Not ideal.”
Russell managed to re-pass Verstappen on lap nine before the four-time champion fell back into the clutches of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who moved past the Red Bull a lap later.
Verstappen dropped back but managed to hold off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to take sixth.
Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson held off an attack from Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in the closing laps as they took the final points positions.
Qualifying for Sunday’s main grand prix is at 16:00 BST on Saturday.
