Triple world champion Max Verstappen dominated the Japanese Grand Prix, leading a Red Bull Racing 1-2 with Sergio Perez finishing a solid podium.
Melbourne winner Carlos Sainz completed the podium ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who popped up in Perez’s race and gained several positions from his mid-pack grid spot by completing a rare Suzuka one-stop strategy.
At the first start, polesitter Verstappen easily led Perez away from the line, with the action occurring far back in the pack as the medium-starting RB cars got overtaken by soft-running rivals.
When they raced into Turn 3, Daniel Ricciardo moved over on Alex Albon – unsighted that the Williams was on his right-hand side – and the pair making contact and straight into the barriers at the start of the Esses.
The race was immediately stopped and a near 30-minute delay took place as the tyre wall was repaired.
In the second standing start, Verstappen again maintained his lead away from pole, this time moving aggressively across his teammate on the approach to the opening corners.
Perez managed to stay within a second for when DRS was activated on lap four of 57, but slipped back slightly until on lap six he ran wide out of Degner two and lost nearly a second.
The gap between the leaders continued extending until Perez stopped first for more mediums – the Red Bull duo having stayed on the mediums they had used at the initial start for the second attempt – on lap 15, where he trailed by nearly five seconds.
Verstappen was called in the next time around, but when he emerged he had a new chaser – Lando Norris, who had been the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap 11, where he took hards.
At this stage Leclerc led for Ferrari, as he stayed out longest from the leading pack – except the Mercedes cars that moved from mediums to hards during the red flag – having started down in eighth.
But by the end of lap 21 Verstappen was back to the front – after he had used DRS to easily move ahead of Leclerc on the outside line into Turn 1, and he had a 4.3 seconds lead over Norris in third, with Perez a further 1.2 seconds back.
But on the next lap, Perez dived by Norris at the chicane and so he started lap 23 with a 6.5 seconds gap to his teammate.
Over the rest of the second stint, Verstappen moved clear to an 11 seconds lead over Perez, who took several laps to catch and pass Leclerc, getting by when one-stopping Ferrari slipped off the road at Degner two on lap 26.
Checo again stopped first of the two leaders for the final pitstops, where both Red Bulls took the hards, on lap 33, with Verstappen coming in the next time by.
In the final stint, the leading duo were again initially separated by Leclerc, who had pitted for the first time at the end of the lap he slid off in front of Perez, with McLaren bringing Norris in at the same time to prevent Russell’s undercut threat in the pack behind.
Leclerc was able to run clear of Norris and cycled back to becoming a factor for Red Bull given he was not set to stop again, but the second time around, Perez was quickly by the Ferrari with a DRS run to Turn 1’s inside.
The final 15 laps kicked off with Verstappen’s lead reduced to eight seconds due to the undercuts powerful effect, but Max brought this back up to 12.5 seconds by the flag.
In the fight for the final podium position, Leclerc maintained his lead over Norris for the duration of his second stint and the McLaren’s third, but both were passed by Sainz in the closing stages after the Ferrari driver built a notable tyre offset life advantage in the middle stint of his two-stopper.
Norris finished three seconds behind Leclerc in fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who appeared to be adapting his pace late on to give the chasing Oscar Piastri DRS in his own last-gasp fight with Russell.
The pair clashed at the chicane with four laps to go, the same place where Piastri locked up on the penultimate lap and Russell was able to charge down the pit straight and gain seventh at Turn 1 at the start of the final lap.
Lewis Hamilton ended up in ninth position – his race notable for offering to allow Russell by during the initial phase after the restart – which Mercedes then enacted as it tried to replicate Leclerc’s one-stop tactic before switching its cars back to a two-stopper.
To the delight of the Japanese fans, Yuki Tsunoda secured the final point in P10, including two thrilling overtakes through the Esses complex.
The race’s other retirement was Zhou Guanyu, who stopped with a gearbox issue aboard his Sauber on lap 13.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Japanese Grand Prix. Just like last year’s Suzuka race, Carlos Sainz won the previous race and immediately the Red Bull driver strike back to be triumph. The next event is the Chinese Grand Prix and it has been four years since we last raced in Shanghai. Hopefully we get another exciting racing action.
Japanese Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:54:23.566
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull +12.535s
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +20.866s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +26.522s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +29.700s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +44.272s
7 George Russell Mercedes +45.951s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +47.525s
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +48.626s
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
17 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap
Zhou Guanyu Sauber DNF
Daniel Ricciardo RB DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF