F1 Japanese GP: Verstappen breezes to victory in Red Bull 1-2

Carlos Sainz completed the podium ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who popped up in Perez's race and gained several places from his mid-pack grid spot by completing a rare Suzuka one-stop strategy.

At the first start, polesitter Verstappen easily led Perez away from the line, with the action occurring far back in the pack as the medium-starting RB cars got swamped by soft-shod rivals.

When they raced into Turn 3, Ricciardo moved over on Albon – unsighted that the Williams was on his right-hand side – and the pair speared into the barriers at the start of the Esses.

The race was immediately stopped and a near 30-minute delay as the tyre wall was repaired.

In the second standing start, Verstappen again maintained his lead away from pole – this time chopping more aggressively across his team-mate's nose on the downhill run to the opening corners.

Perez managed to stay within a second for when DRS was activated on lap four of 57, but slipped back slightly until on lap six he ran wide out of Degner two and lost nearly a second.

The gap between the leaders continued widening until Perez stopped first for more mediums – the Red Bull duo having stayed on the mediums they had used at the initial start for the second attempt – on lap 15, where he trailed by nearly five seconds.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20 (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Verstappen was called in the next time around, but when he emerged he had a new net chaser – Norris, who had been the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap 11, where he took hards.

At this stage Leclerc led for Ferrari, as he stayed out longest from the leading pack -bar the Mercedes cars that moved from mediums to hards during the red flag – having started down in eighth.

But by the end of lap 21 Verstappen was back to the front – after he had used DRS to easily breeze by Leclerc on the outside line into Turn 1 – and he had a 4.3s lead over Norris in third, with Perez a further 1.2s back.

But on the next tour, Perez dived by Norris at the chicane and so he started lap 23 with a 6.5s deficit to his team-mate.

Over the rest of the second stint, Verstappen romped clear to an 11s lead over Perez, who took several laps to catch and pass Leclerc – getting by when one-stopping Ferrari slipped off the road at Degner two on lap 26.

Perez again stopped first of the two leaders for the final pitstops – where both Red Bulls took the hards – on lap 33, with Verstappen coming in the next time by.

In the final stint, the leading duo were again initially separated by Leclerc, who had pitted for the first time at the end of the lap he slid off in front of Perez, with McLaren bringing Norris in at the same time as it was wary of Russell's undercut threat in the pack behind.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24 (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Leclerc was able to run clear of Norris and cycled back to becoming a factor for Red Bull given he was not set to stop again, but the second time around, Perez was quickly by the Ferrari with a DRS run to Turn 1's inside.

The final 15 laps kicked off with Verstappen's lead reduced to eight seconds due to the undercut's powerful effect here, but he brought this back up to 12.5s by the flag.

In the fight for the final podium spot, Leclerc maintained his lead over Norris for the duration of his second stint and the McLaren's third, but both were passed by Sainz in the closing stages after the Spaniard built a notable tyre offset life advantage in the middle stint of his two-stopper.

Norris finished three seconds behind Leclerc in fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who appeared to be adapting his pace late on to give the chasing Oscar Piastri DRS in his own last-gasp fight with Russell.

The pair clashed at the chicane with four laps to go, the same place where Piastri locked up on the penultimate lap and Russell was able to charge down the pit straight and gain seventh at Turn 1 at the start of the final tour.

Lewis Hamilton ended up ninth – his race notable for offering to allow Russell by during the initial phase after the restart, which Mercedes then enacted as it tried to replicate Leclerc’s one-stop tactic before switching its cars back to a two-stopper.

Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber C44 (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

To the delight of the home fans, Yuki Tsunoda secured the final point in 10th after an attacking driver, including two thrilling passes through the Esses complex.

The race’s other retirement was Zho Guanyu, who stopped with a gearbox issue aboard his Sauber on lap 13.

Japanese GP Results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		53	-			3	26		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		53	+12.535 12.535	12.535		3	18		Red Bull	Red Bull
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		53	+20.866 20.866	8.331		3	15		Ferrari	Ferrari
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		53	+26.522 26.522	5.656		2	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	L. Norris McLaren	4		53	+29.700 29.700	3.178		3	10		McLaren	Mercedes
6	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		53	+44.272 44.272	14.572		3	8		Aston Martin	Mercedes
7	G. Russell Mercedes	63		53	+45.951 45.951	1.679		3	6		Mercedes	Mercedes
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81		53	+47.525 47.525	1.574		3	4		McLaren	Mercedes
9	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		53	+48.626 48.626	1.101		3	2		Mercedes	Mercedes
10	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		52	1 lap			3	1		RB	Red Bull
11	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		52	1 lap			3			Haas	Ferrari
12	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		52	1 lap			4			Aston Martin	Mercedes
13	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		52	1 lap			2			Haas	Ferrari
14	V. Bottas Sauber	77		52	1 lap			3			Sauber	Ferrari
15	E. Ocon Alpine	31		52	1 lap			3			Alpine	Renault
16	P. Gasly Alpine	10		52	1 lap			3			Alpine	Renault
17	L. Sargeant Williams	2		52	1 lap			4			Williams	Mercedes
dnf	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		12	41 laps			4		Gearbox	Sauber	Ferrari
dnf	D. Ricciardo RB	3		0						Collision	RB	Red Bull
dnf	A. Albon Williams	23		0						Collision	Williams	Mercedes
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