As pretty much everyone had expected, Max Verstappen enjoyed an untroubled run to victory in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, his 13th of the season - and as a result he duly sealed the 2023 constructors championship for Red Bull.
McLaren did their best to keep Verstappen honest with Lando Norris finishing second ahead of his team mate Oscar Piastri, meaning Ferrari's Charles Leclerc just missed out on the podium.
The race saw a number of messy incidents, with Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas all retiring with damage and Lance Stroll also sidelined with a damaged rear wing.
It was a gorgeous day for a motor race in Suzuka, with hot and sunny conditions for the start of the Japanese GP. Max Verstappen was in pole position in every respect, firm favourite to win the race as he lined up at the front of the grid. But the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris pressed as hard as they could when the lights went out, forcing the Red Bull to go defensive to maintain his lead into turn 1. In the process, Norris got the better of his team mate and moved into second.
There was a safety car at the end of the first lap after an incident further back down the field, Valtteri Bottas getting squeezed by Alpine's Esteban Ocon running wide and pushed into Williams' Alex Albon on the outside. All three pitted, with Zhou Guanyu also in for a separate incident. Logan Sargeant took the opportunity to serve his ten second penalty for overnight work by the team rebuilding his car after yesterday's qualifying accident.
For the restart on lap 5, Verstappen, Norris and Piastri resumed at the front ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. A first corner collision between Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton on lap 1 had let Fernando Alonso on soft tyres get ahead; Hamilton had been able to resume in seventh but Perez had needed to pit for a front wing change.
Verstappen had no trouble holding on to the lead. Hamilton was caught napping by his Mercedes team mate George Russell at the chicane, but despite carrying damage the seven-time champion immediately fought back and recovered the position. At the back, Bottas was in the wars again after Sargeant locked up and hit him, sending the Alfa spinning. Bottas limped back to pit lane but was eventually retired, with Sargeant handed a five second penalty - as was Perez, in this case for a safety car infringement.
By lap 10, those drivers who had started on soft tyres needed to undertake their first round of pit stops. Alonso was in for a set of hards on lap 12 dropping him to P14. Perez had already used his safety car stop to switch to the hard tyres and was harrying Kevin Magnussen for position, only to lock up into the hairpin and hit the Haas. Perez had wrecked another front wing and needed to pit again, serving one penalty even as he was handed another. The team opted to retire him as a result of the accrued damage, but sent him back out later to serve the remaining penalty now rather than in Qatar.
There was a brief Virtual Safety Car to clear up debris from the Perez/Magnussen incident. Piastri picked up time by taking the opportunity to pit for hard tyres, Verstappen responding on lap 17 but staying on mediums. Hamilton was in at the same time having just run off at Degner 2 in his ongoing battle with Russell. Norris briefly inherited the lead before pitting next time around, also moving to the hards but coming out behind Piastri. The Ferraris were next in for mediums restoring Verstappen to the lead, but Russell stayed out clung on in second ahead of Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Ocon and Sainz, with Alonso in eighth ahead of Hamilton and Tsunoda.
Alonso was quickly picked off by Hamilton who also quickly dispensed with Ocon. A frustrated Alonso voiced his unhappiness with the team's strategy today - "You've thrown me to the lions by pitting me so early!' he cried - as his Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll became the third retirement as a rear wing problem emerged during his pit stop. Moments later, Sargeant became the fourth man out when he was wheeled back into the Williams garage. Albon was also retired on lap 27 due to damage incurred in his first lap incident.
At the front, Norris had moved within DRS range of Piastri. Clearly faster, he was agitating to be allowed past his team mate. The McLaren pit wall finally issued the order, the Aussie rookie understandably not happy. Norris was now 13 seconds behind Verstappen who was cruising serenely to victory, Russell having finally pitted for hard tyres on lap 25 dropping him behind Hamilton, but the only driver potentially on a one-stop strategy.
There were second stops for Leclerc and Hamilton on lap 35 for hard tyres, which triggered further stops for the other leaders. Norris briefly dropped behind Russell, but fresh tyres made it easy for him to catch and pass the Mercedes again. Russell was increasingly a sitting duck, the desperate one-stop strategy clearly not a success today.
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None of this mattered to Verstappen, who romped to victory and duly clinched the second consecutive constructors title (their sixth in total) for Red Bull with a 19.4 second margin over Norris and Piastri. Leclerc missed out on the podium in fourth ahead of Hamilton and Sainz, Russell ending up in seventh ahead of Alonso. The two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten and were the final cars in the points at the chequered flag, Lawson and Tsunoda just missing out.
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