Three-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the Japanese Grand Prix hands down, his third success in four rounds this season in Formula 1, on Sunday at Suzuka. Two weeks after his unexpected retirement in Australia, the first in two years, the Dutchman took a stunning revenge on the superb Japanese track where he beat his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez and the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).
Ferrari’s paid strategy
Starting from pole position for the fourth time in four races this year, Mad Max dominated the race from start to finish and was never worried by his opponents on one of his favorite circuits where he obtained his third consecutive success . Pérez, solid throughout the weekend, allowed Red Bull to achieve a third double in four Grands Prix and takes second place in the world championship with 64 points, 13 less than Verstappen. The Spaniard Carlos Sainz, surprise winner in Melbourne, confirmed his flamboyant start to the season by taking third place, ahead of his Monegasque teammate Charles Leclerc, whom he overtook a few laps from the end of the Grand Prix.
The Scuderia had a very good race on Sunday since, thanks to a daring one-stop strategy against two for all its main competitors, Leclerc, who started only in eighth position, finished at the foot of the podium and scored valuable points for him and his team. stable. McLaren, very comfortable in qualifying with the third and sixth places on the grid of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, suffered a little on Sunday since the Briton and the Australian fell to fifth and eighth respectively.
Disappointment at Alpine
The Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) fought well and finished sixth, ahead of the Mercedes of the British George Russell (7th) and Lewis Hamilton (9th), while the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) snatched tenth place and the last point at stake, to the delight of the approximately 102,000 spectators present at Suzuka on Sunday. Alpine, on the other hand, continued its journey in Japan with the 15th and 16th places of the French Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
The race was marked by a red flag on the first lap after the collision between the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) and the Thai Alex Albon (Williams). All the other cars returned to the pits and a second start was given on the grid half an hour later, this time without incident.