Verstappen Seals Another Victory in Japan

Yesterday, Max Verstappen took his fourth pole position of the season, followed by his teammate Sergio Perez in second and McLaren driver Lando Norris in third.

There were a mix of strategies to start off the race but it was Verstappen who ultimately held his lead going into Turn 1.

It didn’t take long until an accident happened. Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo made contact just a couple of corners into the first lap and both ended up in the tyre wall. Both drivers were okay and got out of their cars.

The red flag was bought out as the wall needed repairing, and the remaining 18 drivers headed into the pit lane. Here, some drivers chose to change their tyres – including the two Mercedes drivers who switched to the hard compound tyre.

After about a half an hour wait, the cars were allowed to be sent back out – and the restart would be a standing one. The cars lined up on the grid for the second time today and the five red lights went out again. It was Verstappen who again held his lead going into Turn 1, followed by Perez and Norris.

The same couldn’t be said for Lewis Hamilton as his future teammate at Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, went past him on the restart.

Verstappen got into his well-known rhythm and was punching in fastest laps continuously – leaving Perez behind and out of DRS range.

Further down the field, Bottas and Hülkenberg were the first drivers to pit under normal green flag race conditions, both of them putting on the hard compound tyre.

Norris was the first of the front runners to pit, which he did so at the end of Lap 11. He was followed by his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who boxed on the following lap. Zhou pitted to retire his car on the same lap.

Hamilton came on the radio and asked his race engineer, Peter Bonnington (aka Bono), whether or not he should “let George by”. Russell was having a better run on his hard compound tyres than the World Champion was. In the end, the Britons did swap their positions, and Russell was free to chase after the cars in front of him.

The Aston Martin pair swapped their tyres before Perez and Sainz made their way into the pits – both going onto another set of medium tyres.

At the end of Lap 16, race leader Verstappen decided it was time to make his first stop – another driver sticking with the same medium compound tyres. This handed Leclerc the temporary race lead as Norris made a beautiful move past Hamilton at Turns 1 and 2.

Norris wasn’t the only driver making moves at Turn 1. Bottas and home favourite Tsunoda were also passing their rivals there.

Overtakes throughout the field were coming from all directions. Perez was making moves on the Mercedes drivers at 130R. Sainz overtook the two Mercedes drivers at Spoon Corner – where a few more passes during the race would occur.

On Lap 21, Verstappen retook the lead and from then on maintained that position until the chequered flag.

Perez soon caught Leclerc (who was yet to pit) and went straight past him when the Monogasque ran wide at Degner 2. Leclerc then pitted at the end of the lap for fresh hard tyres, along with Norris – the Ferrari coming back out in front of Russell, with Norris following just behind.

Norris soon made his way past his fellow Brit taking P7, with many cars in front of him still needing to compete their second pit stops.

News came in that Stroll was being investigated for a pit lane infringement having re-joined the queue of traffic side-by-side with a Haas.

Loads of pit stops followed then, with Perez, Sainz, Piastri, Verstappen and Alonso all pitting for hard compound tyres.

Verstappen led Perez by 7.5 seconds, with Leclerc three seconds further back. He was followed by Norris and Sainz – who was able to clear the two Mercedes drivers (Hamilton as a pass, and Russell because he went into the pits to swap for a set of mediums).

With just over 10 laps remaining, Sargeant lost a lot of time and bought out yellow flags after he locked up and went into the gravel trap before reversing out back on track and heading into the pits for a fresh set of tyres.

On fresher tyres then those he was chasing, Carlos Sainz was able to close up to his former McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, and pass him, next setting his sight on his current teammate. Sainz passed Leclerc for the last step on the podium on Lap 46.

That wasn’t the end of the racing however, as Russell launched a last lap attack on Aussie, Oscar Piastri. Russell past Piastri a few laps later and took P7 away from the youngster.

Verstappen saw out the remainder of the race with ease to take his third victory of the season. Behind him was Perez in P2, and Sainz who completed the podium.

The final classification of the Japanese Grand Prix is as follows:

Verstappen (Fastest Lap)

Perez

Sainz

Leclerc (Driver of the Day)

Norris

Alonso

Russell

Piastri

Hamilton

Tsunoda

Hülkenberg

Stroll

Magnussen

Bottas

Ocon

Gasly

Sargeant

Zhou (DNF)

Ricciardo (DNF)

Albon (DNF)

Verstappen had this to say after the race: “It was very nice. I think the critical bit was of course the start, to stay ahead, and after that the car got better and better for me throughout the race. I don’t know if it had to do with the clouds coming in, but yeah, very nice. Everything just went really well, the pit stops went well, the strategy I think worked out well, so it couldn’t have been any better.”

In two weeks’ time, F1 will head back to Shanghai in China for the first time since 2019. Will home favourite Zhou Guanyu be able to score his first points of the season here? And will anyone be able to stop Verstappen from winning race number four of the season? We will find out in a couple of weeks!