Max Verstappen claimed a dominant Japanese Grand Prix victory at Suzuka as the reigning world champion banished the reliability issues which saw him retire in Melbourne two weeks ago.
The Dutchman’s teammate Sergio Perez came home in second to make it a third Red Bull one-two finish of the season after the race was red-flagged on the opening lap.
Carlos Sainz completed the podium lineup ahead of fellow Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc after climbing through the field late on.
Verstappen’s 57th career victory sees him take a 13-point lead atop the Drivers’ Championship standings and he praised the performance of his car post-race.
He said: “It was very nice. I think the critical bit was the start to stay ahead but the car got better and better for me throughout the race, it maybe had to do with the clouds coming in, but it was very nice, everything went really well, pit-stops went well, strategy. It couldn't have been any better.”
Story of the Race
The race was barely two corners old before it was halted with a red flag.
Williams’ Alex Albon clipped the back right tyre of Daniel Ricciardo causing both drivers to have heavy impacts with the wall.
Fortunately, both men walked away from the crash unhurt. Upon the resumption of proceedings over 20 minutes later, Verstappen got away cleanly to maintain his lead off the line from teammate Perez, as the remaining 18 cars all completed their first full lap unscathed.
However, Zhou Guanyu succumbed to a mechanical issue which forced him to retire on lap 12.
The two-stop strategy appeared to be preferred by most teams and after the opening round of pit stops momentarily shuffled the pack, both Red Bull’s regained their original positions with relative ease.
Verstappen cleared Leclerc to regain the lead on lap 21 whilst Perez dispatched both Mercedes in quick succession at 130R before also passing the Monegasque who ran wide on lap 26 to claim second place.
It was a comfortable afternoon for the Austrian team who always looked on course to claim maximum points.
Sainz best of the rest
The major question that remained in the closing stages of the race was whether Sainz could take third place after pitting on lap 36.
The Spaniard was operating on a different strategy to teammate Leclerc and after he rejoined the race in seventh, answered with a skilful drive, further showcasing his talents to potential suitors for next season.
The Australian Grand Prix winner powered past McLaren’s Lando Norris thanks to his fresher tyres before manoeuvring round the outside of Leclerc at Turn One to take the final podium place.
Logan Sargeant almost caused a safety car on lap 42 when he put his Williams into the gravel but the American managed to make it back on the tarmac.
Having started third on the grid, Norris could only finish fifth after being unable to deal with the speed of the Ferraris while Fernando Alonso used all his experience to take sixth.
The two-time world champion used Oscar Piastri to defend from the onrushing George Russell by allowing the Australian within one second of his Aston Martin to give him DRS and make it harder for the Englishman to overtake.
The plan worked for Alonso, but Russell was able to overtake Piastri on the final lap to finish seventh after the two made slight contact a few laps before.
Despite Russell’s late overtake, it was another poor day for Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton finished ninth after the Silver Arrows abandoned their one-stop strategy.
It was a good day for Yuki Tsunoda who became the first Japanese driver to score points at his home grand prix since Kamui Kobayashi in 2012.
The RB driver fought hard to finish 10th which was helped by some smart work by the RB pit crew which allowed Tsunoda to jump four cars midway through the race.
The next stop on the F1 calendar is a return to China for the first time since 2019 and few would bet against Red Bull taking the spoils in two weeks’ time.