Max Verstappen bounced back from his retirement in Australia to put in a perfect weekend in Suzuka, taking a comfortable victory in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, with team mate Sergio Perez making it a Red Bull 1-2.
The pair had locked out the front row in yesterday's qualifying session, and twice pulled off perfect starts (the second coming after a red flag for an early accident further back) to take early control of proceedings.
Verstappen didn't quite manage to lead from lights to flag, as an unexpectedly long first stint for Charles Leclerc meant he took the lead for four laps when Verstappen was first to pit for fresh tyres.
He was ahead again even before the Ferrari eventually made its deferred stop. Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz also had a lap in the lead under similar circumstances, but otherwise it was plain sailing for Verstappen.
He ultimately came home 12 and a half seconds clear of Perez, who himself was a further eight seconds up on Sainz who joined the Red Bull pair on the podium after the chequered flag.
“It was very nice," said a delighted Verstappen when interviewed in parc ferme. "I think the critical bit was of course the start, to stay ahead, and after that the car got better and better for me throughout the race.
“I don’t know if it had to do with the clouds coming in, but yeah, very nice," he continued. "Everything just went really well, the pit stops went well, the strategy I think worked out well. It couldn’t have been any better."
It was certainly a lot better than his last outing in Australia which saw him forced to retire after just two laps because of a brake fire, his first DNF in 46 races.
“It was a little hiccup of course, the last race," he acknowledged. "But very happy that we are here back on the top. Great for fans in front of Honda as well, [so] it’s fantastic to win here."
The points gap had narrowed after Australia but Verstappen has now pulled away with his victory and a bonus point for the fastest lap meaning he's 13 points ahead of Perez and 18 in front of Charles Leclerc after four rounds.
Perez said he struggled with his medium tyres over the first stint, which he feels compromised any chance he had of challenging Verstappen for victory in today's race.
“It was a good weekend for the team," he said, explaining that having to go through a restart procedure had been the most critical part of the race.
“I think obviously with the starts, doing that risk again, it’s always quite hard to keep the focus for such a long period of time," he noted. “My second start was a little bit better, but just not enough to get Max.
"I think we paid the price a little bit because we were a little bit off-balance in that first stint, which meant we couldn’t keep it alive," he continued. “We had to box and then we were undercut by Lando and I had to push too much on the mediums.
"Then on the hard stint I was a lot more comfortable, the pace came back. I think I suffered a bit from the first [proving] a bit unbalanced," he mused. "It worked alright.
With Perez finishing second ahead of Sainz, Leclerc and Lando Norris, the gap between Red Bull and Ferrari in the constructors standings is now back out to 21 points heading to China in two weeks time.
"We haven’t been there for a while," noted Verstappen, with Shanghai having been off-limits since 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. China will also see the first sprint race weekend of the 2024 season.
“It’s going to be quite hectic anyway with the Sprint weekend," Verstappen said. "Only one practice session to really get into it again, so I think it will be quite interesting.”
Meanwhile Perez is hoping to build on the progress that he's made over the opening rounds of the season. “I think we have good momentum,” he said. "If you remember here last year, it was probably my worst weekend.
"If we are as strong in places like this with a lot of high speed content, medium speed, I think we can be strong anywhere else. It’s been a good weekend.”
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