World championship-elect Max Verstappen retuned to winning ways by securing first position at the Japanese Grand Prix and securing Red Bull Racing’s their sixth constructors’ title.
Verstappen fended off an early assault from the McLarens at the start of the race and lived up to Lando’s pre-race prediction that the Woking-based squad would have little answer to Max if he led beyond Turn 2.
The Red Bull driver crossed the finishing line 19.3 seconds clear of Norris, having been considerably out of reach across the 53-lap race at Suzuka beyond the opening laps.
The only moments of close action that the championship leader faced were in his defence of the lead into the first corner, as he pulled across to the inside of the corner to fend off any threat from front-row starter Oscar Piastri.
Norris then placed his car on the outside, but could not get enough to get into the second corner to take the lead, but jumping Piastri nonetheless in the process.
The McLaren driver then attempted to challenge Verstappen on a subsequent restart after a lap 1 safety car was produced to clear debris resulting from a clash between Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon – in which the Alfa Romeo driver went into the Williams driver’s side by Esteban Ocon.
Verstappen made the perfect restart on the exit of the Casio Triangle, and proceeded to begin his usual efforts to build a break over the rest.
This put him beyond reach despite the early power of an undercut strategy, as Verstappen had enough in hand to preserve a net lead during each pitstop stages.
His efforts ensured that Red Bull outscored Mercedes to tie up the constructors’ championship, the team’s sixth during its 19 seasons in Formula 1. What an incredible achievement.
Norris led a McLaren 2-3 home as Piastri managed to collect his maiden podium – although he undercut Norris following the opening round of stops having pitted under a brief virtual safety car – Oscar’s race pace was less impressive than his teammate and Norris made his way through at the start of lap 27.
Charles Leclerc briefly hinted at being a threat to Piastri’s podium when the 2021 Formula 2 champion was stuck behind a one-stopping George Russell following the second round of stops, but struggled to pass the Mercedes himself once Piastri made his way through.
The Ferrari driver eventually finished 7.5 seconds down on Piastri but had fourth apparently locked in as the cars behind made little progress into his advantage despite differing attempts at strategy.
Lewis Hamilton made an undercut over Carlos Sainz work to secure fifth, having just about fended off the Ferrari driver despite Mercedes’ bad attempt to imitate his Singapore Grand Prix-winning strategy by telling Hamilton to give the following Russell DRS.
Russell was moved aside by Sainz as his sole set of hard tyres had begun to ail and fell to 7.4 seconds behind the Ferrari to secure seventh.
Following a strong getaway at the start of the race that resulted in sixth position, Fernando Alonso could only claim eighth after an early switch from soft tyres to hards – and suggested his team had “thrown me to the lions” as he battled to retain position.
He managed to stay ahead of the Alpines, as Ocon recovered from the first-lap drama to collect ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Liam Lawson beat AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda as the home favourite was announced for the 2024 season, as Zhou Guanyu beat the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen had survived an assault from Sergio Perez at the Turn 11 hairpin as the Red Bull driver made an bad divebomb on K-Mag. Checo then earned a five-second penalty and retired, but returned to the circuit well into the race to serve that penalty before retiring again.
Williams retired Albon and Logan Sargeant as a result of the damage, as the latter used his newly rebuilt car to push off Bottas into a spin at the hairpin, causing the Alfa Romeo driver to retire his own car two laps after the contact.
So congratulations to Red Bull Racing in winning the constructors’ title. What an incredible achievement in this sport and with Max Verstappen on the verge of taking this season’s title, this success has been incredible.
Japanese Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:30:58.421
2 Lando Norris McLaren +19.387s
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +36.494s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +43.998s
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +49.376s
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +50.221s
7 George Russell Mercedes +57.659s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +74.725s
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine +79.678s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +83.155s
11 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri +1 lap
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
14 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
Alexander Albon Williams DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF
Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF
Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo DNF
Japanese Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull returned to winning ways in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix after surviving a dramatic first lap and pulling comfortably clear of McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, confirming another constructors’ title for the Milton Keynes team.
Verstappen was attacked by Piastri and Norris at the start but kept both of them at bay, navigated Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car periods and then romped into the distance, taking the chequered flag first for the 13th time this season.
As such, Red Bull mathematically put the constructors’ championship out of their rivals’ reach to back up their 2022 win and make it two triumphs on the bounce, underlining the outfit’s superiority under F1’s latest ground effect era so far, while adding to the teams’ titles they achieved in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
A battle between the McLaren drivers was ultimately settled in Norris’ favour, the Briton getting ahead at the start, dropping behind when Piastri pitted under a Virtual Safety Car but then displaying enough pace for the team to swap positions.
Charles Leclerc led Ferrari’s charge in fourth position, completing a bold, late move on Mercedes rival George Russell – the only front-runner to attempt a one-stop rather than two-stop strategy – around the outside of Turn 1 and 2.
Russell fell into the clutches of team mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps and was instructed to let him by, which he agreed to do, after the Mercedes drivers had gone wheel-to-wheel and almost collided earlier in the race.
Carlos Sainz also pounced on Russell’s ageing tyres to take sixth behind Hamilton, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly – despite a first-lap incident for the former – scoring the final points of the day.
With their cars starting ninth and 11th, AlphaTauri had been points contenders in the opening exchanges, but faded as the various strategies played out – F1 newcomer Liam Lawson beating home favourite Yuki Tsunoda to the flag.
Zhou Guanyu was another to bounce back from Lap 1 drama as he crossed the line 13th, the only Alfa Romeo driver to finish after team mate Valtteri Bottas was punted into the gravel by Williams rival Logan Sargeant.
Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were the final finishers in P14 and P15 respectively, a theme of their 2023 season amid tyre degradation struggles, with a gaggle of cars behind retiring at different stages.
Williams suffered a double DNF as Sargeant returned his car to the garage after clashing with Bottas, having been penalised pre-race and given a pit lane start for major car changes following his qualifying crash, while Albon retired with damage after his own Lap 1 incident with the Alfa Romeo.
Another bottleneck moment at the start saw Red Bull’s Sergio Perez bang wheels with Hamilton, before a separate incident with Magnussen forced him to pit for a second new front wing, after which he retired. Lance Stroll was the other driver to retire with a rear wing issue.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-dominates-for-japanese-gp-victory-as-red-bull-secure-back-to-back.6nJ1rDkiGByJw6nypqVPO6.html
Lando Norris says McLaren is not “miles away” from Red Bull rival Max Verstappen after the Briton finished as runner-up in Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri finished second and third at Suzuka as McLaren scored its first double podium of the season.
McLaren started the season with a pair of scoreless races but has since developed the MCL60 into what is more often than not the second-best car on the grid, behind only Red Bull’s constructors’ championship-winning RB19.
Although Norris finished 19 seconds off Verstappen in the race, team-mate Piastri was comfortably clear of fourth-placed Charles Leclerc at the chequered flag as he scored his first F1 podium.
“Another amazing day for us,” said Norris. “P2 and P3, so we couldn’t have asked for any more.
“The team did an amazing job. My start was very good. I almost had Max, but Max is Max as well. I didn’t have a lot of chance in Turn 2, but I tried.
“The pace was extremely strong today, compared to everyone. And I mean, we’re not close to Max, but we’re not miles away either. So it was a very good day. I’m very happy also for Oscar, his first podium in Formula 1. So congrats to him.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norris-says-mclaren-not-miles-away-from-verstappen/10524680/
Carlos Sainz says he was “laughing in the car” during the Formula 1 Japanese GP when he realised that Mercedes had borrowed the DRS trick he used in Singapore.
In the closing laps of last weekend’s street race in the Marina Bay track, Sainz slowed down to give DRS to the following Lando Norris in an attempt to keep George Russell and Lewis Hamilton behind on their fresher tyres.
In the end, the ploy worked, and Sainz and Norris finished first and second, with Hamilton taking third after Russell crashed on the last lap.
At Suzuka, the positions were reversed with Sainz catching up with Russell and Hamilton, who were running fifth and sixth.
On older tyres, Russell was told to invert the positions and let Hamilton through, and Russell then asked if Hamilton could in turn give him DRS and help him to defend from Sainz.
Hamilton responded “understood” but the strategy only worked briefly before Sainz got past Russell, having told his team “They are using my tricks against me!”
Sainz admitted that he found the scenario unfolding in front of him amusing.
“Yeah, I found it [funny], actually,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com about his comment.
“I was laughing in the car because I could see Lewis backing off in 130R to give the DRS to George.
“And I was like, I need to make sure I attack George into the chicane. If I don’t throw him offline, it’s going to be impossible to pass them.
“And I went very deep into the chicane, managed to get a bit of a switchback, and then I used the DRS, slipstream on everything to pass him. It was good fun. And yeah, it nearly cost me my own position with my own tricks.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sainz-laughing-in-the-car-as-mercedes-repeated-drs-trick/10524761/
Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen recounted a “tight” Japanese Grand Prix first-corner battle with the McLaren duo, feeling “lucky” he had enough grip on Turn 2’s inside line.
Verstappen was largely unchallenged throughout the Suzuka race en route to a commanding win but faced a battle against the fast-starting pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris into the first corner.
Front-row starter Piastri flanked Verstappen as the race began with third-placed Norris on the Dutchman’s left, which Verstappen reckoned gave him limited space to work with to ward them both off.
Explaining his defensive efforts, Verstappen explained that both McLaren cars had made a “jump” off the line and that keeping the inside line from Piastri’s clutches was his first port of call.
“Of course, the start was a bit tight in the first two corners, but after that, the car was very nice to drive again,” Verstappen said.
“I saw in the right mirror that Oscar had a little bit of a jump on me, but then at the same time, I saw in my left mirror that Lando had a real jump on me.
“I tried to close off Oscar but he was still there, and then I saw on the left side Lando coming with a lot more speed.
“He then moved a bit to the right and I was like, ‘I can’t go more to the right!’. So I was trying to get it straightened and luckily, nothing happened.
“It all got quite close, but that’s racing, that’s how it goes at the start. We had a good battle also into Turn 1, into Turn 2. But I was lucky, I think, that there was a bit more grip in Turn 2, just on the normal line instead of trying to go around the outside.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-explains-tight-mclaren-battle-into-f1-japanese-gp-first-corner/10524802/