It is the third victory in four races this season for the triple world champion of Formula 1, and also him third double for Red Bull, after those achieved in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
“Mad Max'” and Red Bull have only missed victory in the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago, where the Dutchman could not finish due to mechanical problems.
Verstappen won in a clear and dominant manner, relegating his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez more than 12 and a half seconds.
“The key to the race was to keep your head at the start. After doing that, the car got better and better,” he said. Verstappen. “Everything worked perfectly. You couldn’t ask for anything better,” he insisted.
“There was a small setback in the last race, but I am very happy that we are back at the top,” insisted the Dutchman.
‘Checo’ Pérez highlighted for his part that Red Bull maintained “a good dynamic” in Suzuka. “It was a good weekend,” summarized the Mexican.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz completed the podium, who was again ahead of his Ferrari teammate, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (4th), two weeks after his victory in Melbourne.
The British Lando Norris (McLaren), the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), the Englishman George Russell (Mercedes), the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), the also British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) They completed the Top 10.
With this result, Verstappen He establishes himself as the leader of the drivers’ World Championship with 77 points, followed by ‘Checo’ Pérez (64), Leclerc (59) and Sainz (55), while Alonso occupies eighth place with 24 points, the same as Russell.
In the Constructors’ World Championship, Red Bull is 21 points ahead of Ferrari (141 to 120), followed by McLaren (69), Mercedes (34) and Aston Martin (33).
Verstappen He started from pole position for the fourth time in four grands prix this year and dominated the entire race from start to finish at one of his favorite circuits, where he achieved his third consecutive victory.
Perez was on point all weekend, helping Red Bull to achieve his third double in four grand prix.
Finally, after a very complicated start to the weekend, Ferrari successfully made the save on Sunday, putting both of its drivers ahead of the pack.
Quite the opposite of McLaren, very fast in qualifying, but who had worse race pace.
Much of the success was also due to the strategy adopted by the ‘Scuderia’, with a single stop in the pits, when the rest of the competitors stopped on at least two occasions.
Third place “is very satisfactory,” he said. Sainz, who missed the Saudi Arabia GP due to an appendicitis operation.
“We knew that our race pace was better than that of the qualifications, although probably not good enough to aspire to victory. Given the pace of the Red Bull, it was almost impossible to win,” added the Spaniard.
The veteran Alonso, At 42 years old, he fought the entire race with the Mercedes with an a priori inferior car, although in the end he finished ahead of Russel and of hamilton and allows Aston Martin to be close to the German brand in the constructors’ classification.
The race in Suzuka was marked by the accident on the first lap between the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) and the Thai Alez Albon (Williams) which forced the race management to raise the red flag and stop the race for half an hour.
The next race will be the weekend of April 19-21 in China.
FORMULA 1.avif
Classification
1. Max Verstappen (Neederland/Red Bull) 307.471 km in 1 h 54:23.566; 2. Sergio Pérez (Mexico/Red Bull) at 12,535; 3. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain/Ferrari) 20,866; 4. Charles Leclerc (Monaco/Ferrari) 26,522; 5. Lando Norris (Great Britain/McLaren-Mercedes) 29,700; 6. Fernando Alonso (Spain/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 44,272; 7. George Russell (Great Britain/Mercedes) 45,951 8. Oscar Piastri (Australia/McLaren-Mercedes) 47,525; 9. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain/Mercedes) 48,626; 10. Yuki Tsunoda (Japan/Racing Bulls-Red Bull) 1 lap away; 11. Nico Hülkenberg (Germany/Haas-Ferrari) 1 lap away; 12. Lance Stroll (Canada/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1 lap away; 13. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark/Haas-Ferrari) 1 lap away; 14. Valtteri Bottas (Finland/Sauber-Ferrari) 1 lap away;15. Estéban Ocon (France/Alpine-Renault) 1 lap away; 16. Pierre Gasly (France/Alpine-Renault) 1 lap away; 17. Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams-Mercedes) 1 lap away
Dropouts: Alexander Albon (Thaiandia/Williams): accident 1st lap; Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/Racing Bulls-Red; Bull): accident 1st lap; Guanyu Zhou (China/Sauber): 13th lap
drivers world championship
1. Max Verstappen (Neederlan) 77 points; 2. Sergio Pérez (Mexico) 64; 3. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) 59; 4. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) 55; 5. Lando Norris (Great Britain) 37; 6. Oscar Piastri (Australia) 32; 7. George Russell (Great Britain) 24; 8. Fernando Alonso (Spain) 24; 9. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) 10; 10. Lance Stroll (Canada) 9; 11. Yuki Tsunoda (Japan) 7; 12. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain) 6; 13. Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) 3; 14. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) 1;
15. Alexander Albon (Thailand) 0; 16. Guanyu Zhou (China) 0; 17. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) 0; 18. Estéban Ocon (France) 0; 19. Pierre Gasly (France) 0; 20. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 0; 21. Logan Sargeant (USA) 0.
Constructors’ World Cup
1. Red Bull 141 points; 2.Ferrari 120; 3. McLaren-Mercedes 69; 4. Mercedes 34; 5. Aston Martin-Mercedes 33; 6. Racing Bulls-Red Bull 7; 7. Haas-Ferrari 4; 8. Williams-Mercedes 0; 9. Sauber-Ferrari 0; 10. Alpine-Renault 0
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
