After Red Bull's rare stutter in the previous race, it was back to business as normal for Max Verstappen who pulled off a smooth victory in the Japanese Grand Prix with his team mate Sergio Perez making it a 1-2 for the squad.
A lengthy first stint allowed Charles Leclerc to briefly take the lead before the midway point, but it was his Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz who ended up in the final podium position at the finish ahead of Leclerc and Lando Norris.
The race had seen an early red flag after contact between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon on the first lap saw both cars end their day in the tyre wall. Sauber's Zhou Guanyu was also retired from the race with gearbox issues.
Conditions in Suzuka for the start of the Japanese Grand Prix were light years away from Friday afternoon's practice washout. Umbrellas were up but this time to provide shade from the sunshine and blue skies which were the order of the day, with much warmer temperatures. Lashings of cherry blossom in the air made the venue of the fourth round of the F1 world championship visually unmistakably springtime in Japan. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez led the field to the starting grid hoping to avoid a repeat of Melbourne's problems, while Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz ready right behind them in case there was.
The majority of cars in the top half of the grid had opted to start the race on medium tyres. When the lights went out, Verstappen duly leapt away and took control of the long run into turn 1 to convert pole to an early lead. There was some jostling between Norris and Sainz over third but in the end everyone in the top ten made it through in start order except for local favourite Yuki Tsunoda losing out to Haas' Nico Hulkenberg.
Even so, there was a rapid display of red flags for an incident further back with Alex Albon lightly rear-ending Daniel Ricciardo's RB going into turn 3 after Ricciardo suffered a poor start making him slow into the first corner with his hands full getting squeezed from all sides. There was a lengthy half-hour stoppage to undertake repairs to the barrier, with some teams used the opportunity to take fresh sets of tyres such as Mercedes opting to change Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to the hard compound. for the standing restart.
Verstappen was forced to cover off any threat from Perez into turn 1, but the Red Bulls were clearly in command and already pulling away from Norris, Sainz and Alonso. Leclerc had been able to get ahead of Hamilton thanks to the different compounds in use between the Ferrari and Mercedes cars, while Tsunoda had a similar opportunity to briefly get ahead of Russell. Overall it had been a clean restart, although Esteban Ocon complained of light side contact from his Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly, and Hulkenberg suffered terrible wheel spin off the grid.
Seven laps into the race, verstappen had a two second lead over Perez who had lost time getting out of shape and kicking up the dirt in turn 9 but was still well out of DRS range of Norris and Sainz. Norris was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of lap 11, swapping to the hard compound but dropping him to tenth. His team mate Oscar Piastri was in next time by, as was Lance Stroll, but Zhou Guanyu was retired by Sauber for gearbox issues having originally started from the back.
Perez and Sainz were both in on lap 16 to exchange their worn mediums for hard tyres. The Red Bull came out behind McLaren which meant Norris had effectively undercut Perez. Both were soon able to pass Hamilton who was already struggling with tyre degradation and had allowed Russell to go in front. Sainz was also soon able to pass Hamilton, while Norris and Perez were up to third and fourth respectively with clinical passes on Russell. Any thought of Mercedes running to the end with just one stop were new discarded as a stern Hamilton commanded "Change this strategy!".
Verstappen was next to come in for service on lap 17 handing the lead temporarily to Leclerc. Even before Ferrari could call their man in for a pit stop, Verstappen was back within DRS range and breezing past Leclerc into turn 1 to resume at the front on lap 21, while Perez dispatched Norris for third on lap 23.
Half distance saw Leclerc's tyres finally exclaim that enough was enough. The Ferrari lost grip and ran wide, kicking up dust and dirt and was forced to pit on lap 27. By this time Russell and Hamilton had both pitted again for new sets of hard tyres, while Tsunoda gained two places from his own swift stop and there had been another sluggish service atSauber for Bottas.
Leclerc looked to have a strong hand in sixth with everyone ahead of him still needing another pit stop before the chequered flag. Piastri was in on lap 33, Perez and Alonso pitting on the next lap with the Red Bull slotting back in behind the McLaren and ahead of the two Mercedes drivers promoting Leclerc to P3. Verstappen was in on lap 35, momentarily handing the lead to Sainz until the Ferrari came in on lap 37 dropping him to seventh behind Hamilton. Sainz wasted no time dispatching the seven-time champion and both Mercedes were soon back in pit lane for sets of softs to see them to the finish.
There were yellow flags out at Degner 2 on lap 42 as Logan Sargeant locked up and ran off the track into the gravel. The Williams was able to reverse out and set off back to pit lane, but in the process he scattered dirt all over the track in front of the Piastri/Alonso duel over sixth place. Russell soon caught the pair and pressed Piastri into a mistake that saw the McLaren cut the apex, but retaining the position. However it was second time unlucky for Piastri who ran wide at the final corner on the penultimate lap, Russell's much better exit then allowing him to use DRS to take seventh place down the main straight.
There was no question of Verstappen and Perez successfully clinching a Red Bull 1-2. The main battle in the closing laps had been for the remaining podium spot between Leclerc, Norris and Sainz. Norris had a moment on lap 44 which dropped him away from attacking Leclerc and left him defending from Sainz instead, but Sainz was too fast. Ferrari opted to allow him past Leclerc as well in order to consolidate third and fourth for the team ahead of Norris and Alonso who led Russell and Piastri to the chequered flag. With Hamilton finishing in ninth, Tsunoda had secured a first championship point in his home race, leaving Hulkenberg, Stroll, Magnussen and Bottas out of luck this weekend and the Alpines slowest except for Sargeant after the William's run-off.
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