Max Verstappen dominated the Japanese Grand Prix for Red Bull in Formula 1. He easily overtook Sergio Perez in a race that was stopped early due to a collision between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon.
Carlos Sainz secured third place ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who made significant gains in Perez’s wake, advancing several positions from his starting position in the middle of the pack by executing a rare one-stop strategy at Suzuka.
At the start, Max Verstappen started from pole position. Easily pushed Perez off the line, while the real action took place further down the grid. Because Red Bull cars starting on medium tires were overwhelmed by their soft-shod rivals.
As they approached Turn 3, Ricciardo inadvertently pushed Albon into the barriers. Unaware that Williams was on his right, this resulted in a collision at the start of the Essay.
The race was promptly halted, with a nearly 30-minute delay occurring as repairs were made to the tyre wall.
During the second standing start, Verstappen once again maintained his lead from pole position. This time taking a more aggressive approach to defend his position from his team-mate on the way down towards the opening corners….
Perez managed to stay within a second until the activation of DRS on lap four of 57 but gradually fell behind until lap six when he lost nearly a second after running wide out of Degner two.
The gap between the leaders widened till then. By the time Perez made his first pit stop on lap 15 for medium tires, nearly five seconds were left behind.
Verstappen followed suit the following lap, but upon rejoining the race, he found himself pursued by Norris, who had been the first frontrunner to pit on lap 11, opting for hard tyres.
At this stage,
At this stage, Leclerc led Ferrari. Those who have been out of the pack for the longest time. Except for Mercedes cars that change from medium to hard during red flags. Starting from eighth on the grid.
However, by the end of lap 21, Verstappen overtook Leclerc in Turn 1 with DRS assistance. Establishing a 4.3-second lead over Norris in third, Perez was another 1.2 seconds back to take the lead.
On the following lap, Perez passed Norris at the chicane, starting lap 23 with a 6.5-second deficit to his teammate.
During the second stage, Verstappen extended his lead over Perez to 11 seconds. It took several laps to overtake Leclerc, successfully passing him at this point. When the one-stop Ferrari ran wide on Degner Two on lap 26.
Perez made the first pit stop of the two leaders on lap 33 last time out. Both Red Bulls opted for the hard tyre, with Verstappen following suit on the next lap.
During the final stint, the leading pair were initially separated by Leclerc. Who was the first to go down the field before slipping in front of Perez, while McLaren brought Norris along as well. Beware of the threat from behind Russell.
Leclerc managed to stay ahead of Norris, but Perez quickly overtook the Ferrari with a DRS run into Turn 1.
The last 15 laps
The last 15 laps saw Verstappen’s lead reduced to eight seconds due to the powerful effect of undercuts, but he extended it to 12.5 seconds by the end of the race.
In the battle for the final podium spot, Leclerc held off Norris on his second lap and McLaren on his third. But in the final stages both were left behind by Sains. Because the Spaniard gained a significant tire life advantage between his two laps. Stopper
Norris finished fourth, three seconds behind Leclerc, ahead of Fernando Alonso. Joe appeared to adjust his pace late in the race to enable Oscar Pastry to get the DRS in his final battle with Wrestle. HD Live Sports
The pair collided at the chicane with four laps remaining, where Piastre closed on the final lap. This allowed Russell to overtake him at Turn 1 at the start of the final lap.
To the delight of the home fans, Yuki Tsunoda secured the final point in 10th place after an aggressive drive, including two thrilling passes through the Esses complex.
The only retirement of the race was Zhao Guanyu. Joe retired on lap 13 with a gearbox problem on his Saber.