Max Verstappen ensured it was business as usual with a commanding, untroubled victory from pole to flag at the Japanese Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver comfortably beat his team-mate Sergio Pérez into second place at Suzuka, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton made little headway, finishing in seventh and ninth, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth and McLaren’s Lando Norris in fifth.
For Verstappen this was another consolidation of the control he has exerted over the season in its opening four meetings. He has won three of them with ease and would probably have been on top in the last round in Australia but for the brake failure which ended his race. His consistency remains remarkable and since the Miami GP last year he has been beaten only twice, both times by Sainz: once in Singapore in 2023 and then in Melbourne, a sequence of unprecedented dominance.
Verstappen’s 57th victory is his third in a row in Japan, a circuit which he knows plays to the real strengths of the Red Bull. The margins are closer than they were last year as the pack is, albeit painfully slowly, beginning to peg back Red Bull’s advantage, but Verstappen remains in a class of his own. Indeed, should he be genuinely challenged there is almost certainly more in the bank for him to draw on. This season, as with last year and 2022, once he has consolidated a healthy lead the Dutchman can ease off from caning the car to the flag.
Furthermore, the upgrades Red Bull brought to the meeting appear to have paid off well, laying down a gauntlet to the opposition and demonstrating that they will not be standing still and offering them an easy opportunity to catch up. With their grip on the championship already well established, this was an indication that they intend to maintain the advantage, particularly in these early phases before potentially switching resources to next year’s car. This is a sobering consideration for the neutral only four races into a new, 24-race season, in which Verstappen now leads Perez by 13 points in the drivers’ championship and finished a full 20 seconds up the road from Sainz.
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Verstappen had held his lead through turns one and two, but behind him Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon tangled on entering turn three, leaving both in the wall, and the race was red flagged immediately. Both drivers emerged unhurt after what were heavy impacts.
When racing resumed from a standing start 30 minutes later after the barriers had been repaired, Verstappen once more maintained the lead as they poured down the hill into turn one, this time with the pack keeping it clean on the opening lap.
He and Pérez immediately began extending their lead, with over two seconds on Norris by lap four. Verstappen also swiftly put his team-mate under the cosh, setting a series of fastest laps to drop Pérez by a further two seconds by lap six.
By the time the opening round of pit stops began, he led Pérez by four seconds while Hamilton, outpaced by Russell, pulled over to allow his team-mate past on lap 13. Pérez came in on 15 with Verstappen covering him off a lap later and Hamilton, left out long by Mercedes, lost places on the worn rubber.
Verstappen resumed in second, behind Leclerc who had yet to pit, while Norris managed to pass Pérez through the stops. Verstappen duly passed Leclerc to retake the lead on lap 21 on the drop down to turn one and Pérez managed to claw back second from Norris on lap 23.
With first stops shaken out, Verstappen still held a seven-second lead over his team-mate, an advantage of 10 seconds by lap 29; most teams adopted a two-stop strategy with Ferrari aiming to pit Leclerc once.
Local hero Yuki Tsunoda at least provided some lively entertainment in the midfield, making two bravura passes for position in the Esses, a brave proposition at the best of times and deserving of the crowd’s acclaim, on his way to 10th place.
As the second stops worked out, it transpired that McLaren had lbeen beaten by Ferrari’s gamble. They had pitted Norris too early, with one eye on Russell, leaving Leclerc with the place on track and Norris without a tyre advantage to chase him down.; a podium lost for the Woking team.
Sainz too caught Norris and passed him on lap 44, then overtook his team-mate for third two laps later, completing another fine drive from the Spaniard.
However, out front it remained plain sailing as Verstappen reasserted his iron grip on the title, managing a solid lead to the flag without putting a foot wrong, coming home 12.5 seconds in front of Pérez.
Fernando Alonso was in sixth for Aston Martin and Oscar Piastri eighth for McLaren. – Guardian
