Verstappen cruises to Japanese Grand Prix victory

Max Verstappen claimed a comfortable victory ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in a Red Bull one-two finish at the Japanese Grand Prix. Verstappen was flawless off the line to hold Perez at bay into the first corner, but the Dutchman was forced into a second standing start when the race was almost immediately red flagged for a heavy crash between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon. Albon followed Ricciardo out of Turn 2 in the middle of the road and tried to sneak up the Australian’s outside into the left-handed Turn 3. Ricciardo moved to the right to take the racing line just as the Williams driver pulled alongside the RB’s rear axle, and despite the contact being relatively light, both cars speared off the road and into the tire barrier at speed. The drivers emerged uninjured, but the barrier needed significant repair, suspending the race for half an hour. While Verstappen held sway from the start, chaos soon ensued behind. Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images The race was restarted from the grid on lap 3, and Verstappen was again slick dropping the clutch to hold a lead he wouldn’t meaningfully relinquish for the rest of the afternoon, completing a breezy 12.5s victory over Perez. “It was very nice,” Verstappen said. “I think the critical bit was of course the start, to stay ahead. After that the car just got better and better for me throughout the race. “Everything just went really well. It couldn’t have been any better.” Perez had a more complicated grand prix. Slower in the first stint, he was undercut by Lando Norris and forced into a comeback charge. But the Mexican was in a fighting mood. After a pair of gutsy passes through 130R past the Mercedes drivers on an alternative strategy, he snatched the place back from Norris with a dive into the chicane to restore himself to net second and secure Red Bull’s third one-two finish of the season. “It was a good weekend for the team,” he said. “I think we have good momentum. If you remember here last year, it was probably my worst weekend. If we’re strong in places like this … I think we can be strong everywhere.” Carlos Sainz collected his third podium of the year with a well judged two-stop strategy, including two stints on the medium tire. While Norris vaulted has high as second with a pair of early stops, the McLaren’s worse degradation left him vulnerable to Sainz’s better balance strategy, the Spaniard sweeping into second on lap 46 of 53. “I had a good race,” he said. “I’m very happy because it was quite tough out there with the degradation. I thought was on, but I thought it was going to be very difficult to get back into P3. “ Charles Leclerc executed an ambitious one-stop strategy on a day tire life was uncertain owing to the lack of practice time and warmer Sunday weather. Leclerc ran a long 25-lap opening stint on the medium tire, briefly taking the lead of the race, before switching to the hard and clinging on ahead of the faster finishers. He was no match for teammate Sainz late in the race, but he had more than enough pace to keep Norris at bay in the battle for fourth and fifth. Fernando Alonso finished sixth, holding off a fast-finishing George Russell with the aid of Oscar Piastri, who he expertly held in his DRS zone to create a buffer to the Mercedes. Piastri defended sternly to keep seventh from Russell. The Briton tried a move into he chicane with four laps to go, but the pair made light contact, and Piastri held the place by running off the road. The Australian wasn’t so lucky three laps later, however, when a wide moment exiting the same turn left him vulnerable to a DRS move into the first corner, finishing behind Russell win seventh and eighth. Lewis Hamilton was a frustrated ninth after a botched attempt to complete the race with a single stop, with a late conversion to two stops giving him limited reprieve after having let Russell through in a team order early in the race. Yuki Tsunoda was an excellent 10th, gaining places on both Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas in the pit lane at his second stop, scoring the final point of his home grand prix. The RB driver was being pursued by Lance Stroll in the faster Aston Martin car in the final stint, but the Canadian didn’t have the pace to make an impact and was passed by Nico Hulkenberg for 11th on the final tour. Kevin Magnussen finished 13th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and the woefully slow Alpine cars piloted by Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Logan Sargeant finished 17th and last after running off the track at the second Degner with 11 laps to go while chasing Hulkenberg for position. Zhou Guanyu was the race’s only retirement after the first-lap crash, stopping early with a gearbox issue.