Supreme Verstappen fends off McLaren duo to win Japanese GP

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made the most of his standout pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix to gift Honda its final home race win at Suzuka with Red Bull.

The flawless Dutchman also denied McLaren a third consecutive win this season, although Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished hot on the heels of the day’s victor.

While the latter ran nose to tail in the closing stages of the race, with Piastri seemingly slightly faster than his teammate, there was no team order forthcoming from the McLaren pitwall to execute a swap between the two contenders, something that will surely be debated at length in the papaya camp.

• Results to follow...

From the outset, Verstappen was a man on a mission, blasting off the line, carving out a two-second cushion over Norris in the opening laps to neutralize any DRS threats.

McLaren tried early on to unsettle the Red Bull charger with a cheeky radio feint – engineer Will Joseph teasing a pit stop for Norris, but the Brit stayed out. Undeterred, Verstappen stuck to his guns, his focus unshaken.

When McLaren finally pitted Piastri on lap 20, Verstappen responded, only for Norris to shadow him into the pits. A slick McLaren crew shaved a second off Red Bull’s stop, leveling the duo at the exit.

Norris, desperate, lunged for position but clipped the grass, his radio pleas for a penalty falling on deaf ears. Verstappen, cool as ever, held firm.

Over the next 30 laps, Norris shadowed the Dutchman but couldn’t breach the DRS zone. Piastri, lurking within a second of his teammate, hinted at a swap, yet McLaren hesitated. Verstappen, untouchable, cruised to victory, flanked by the papaya duo on the podium.

Leclerc Holds Firm, Rookies Shine

Behind the leaders, Charles Leclerc delivered a steely albeit uneventful fourth, staving off a late charge from George Russell, who closed to 1.2 seconds but couldn’t pounce.

Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli impressed, nursing his mediums to sixth, 1.3 seconds adrift of Russell.

Lewis Hamilton’s bold hard-tyre gamble lifted him to seventh, overtaking debutant Isack Hadjar, who bagged his first points in eighth.

Alex Albon, despite a fiery radio rant about gearshifts and pit timing, snatched ninth for Williams. Haas’s Oliver Bearman rounded out the points, edging out Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Liam Lawson, back with Racing Bulls, languished in 17th.

Verstappen’s Suzuka masterclass reaffirmed his pedigree, leaving McLaren to ponder what might have been in a race that crackled with tension in its final leg.

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