Japanese GP: Verstappen back in charge with Suzuka victory

After Red Bull's rare stutter in the previous race, it was back to business as normal for Max Verstappen who pulled off a smooth victory in the Japanese Grand Prix with his team mate Sergio Perez making it a 1-2 for the squad. A lengthy first stint allowed Charles Leclerc to briefly take the lead before the midway point, but it was his Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz who ended up in the final podium position at the finish ahead of Leclerc and Lando Norris. The race had seen an early red flag after contact between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon on the first lap saw both cars end their day in the tyre wall. Sauber's Zhou Guanyu was also retired from the race with gearbox issues. 2024 Japanese Grand Prix - Race results Conditions in Suzuka for the start of the Japanese Grand Prix were light years away from Friday afternoon's practice washout. Umbrellas were up but this time to provide shade from the sunshine and blue skies which were the order of the day, with much warmer temperatures. Lashings of cherry blossom in the air made the venue of the fourth round of the F1 world championship visually unmistakably springtime in Japan. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez led the field to the starting grid hoping to avoid a repeat of Melbourne's problems, while Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz ready right behind them in case there was. The majority of cars in the top half of the grid had opted to start the race on medium tyres. When the lights went out, Verstappen duly leapt away and took control of the long run into turn 1 to convert pole to an early lead. There was some jostling between Norris and Sainz over third but in the end everyone in the top ten made it through in start order except for local favourite Yuki Tsunoda losing out to Haas' Nico Hulkenberg. Even so, there was a rapid display of red flags for an incident further back with Alex Albon lightly rear-ending Daniel Ricciardo's RB going into turn 3 after Ricciardo suffered a poor start making him slow into the first corner with his hands full getting squeezed from all sides. There was a lengthy half-hour stoppage to undertake repairs to the barrier, with some teams used the opportunity to take fresh sets of tyres such as Mercedes opting to change Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to the hard compound. for the standing restart. Verstappen was forced to cover off any threat from Perez into turn 1, but the Red Bulls were clearly in command and already pulling away from Norris, Sainz and Alonso. Leclerc had been able to get ahead of Hamilton thanks to the different compounds in use between the Ferrari and Mercedes cars while Tsunoda had a similar opportunity to briefly get ahead of Russell. Overall it had been a clean restart, although Esteban Ocon complained of light side contact from his Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly, and Hulkenberg had suffered terrible wheel spin off the grid. Seven laps into the race, verstappen had a two second lead over Perez who had lost time getting out of shape and kicking up the dirt in turn 9. He was still well out of DRS range of Norris and Sainz, as more drivers who had started on the soft tyre headed to pit lane for their first service, encouraged by the pace of the two Mercedes cars now the hards were getting up to temperature. Norris was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of lap 11, similarly swapping to the hard compound dropping him to tenth. His team mate Oscar Piastri was in next time by, as was Lance Stroll who had used his initial set of softs to make it into the top ten but who now fell all the way to the back as a consequence, after Zhou Guanyu was retired by Sauber for gearbox issues having originally started from the back. Perez and Sainz were both in on lap 16 to exchange their worn mediums for hard tyres. The Red Bull came out behind McLaren which meant Norris had effectively undercut Perez with his early stop but was now on older tyres. Both were soon able to pass Hamilton who was struggling with tyre degradation and had already allowed Russell to go in front. Sainz was also soon able to pass Hamilton, while Norris and Perez were up to third and fourth respectively with clinical passes on Russell. With Sainz soon catching and passing Russell, any thought of Mercedes running to the end with just one stop were new discarded as a stern Hamilton commanded "Change this strategy!" as he continued to drop like a stone. Verstappen was next to come in for service on lap 17 handing the lead temporarily to Leclerc. Even before Ferrari could call their man in for a pit stop, Verstappen was back in DRS range and breezing past Perez into turn 1 to resume at the front on lap 21, while Perez dispatched Norris for third on lap 23. Leclerc was still out on his worn mediums but Russell and Hamilton had both pitted again for new sets of hard tyres Kevin Magnussen, and Logan Sargeant were also in. Stroll was back for a new set of softs and Tsunoda gained two places from his own swift stop, while it yet was another sluggish service from Sauber for Bottas. Half distance saw Leclerc's tyres finally exclaim that enough was enough. The Ferrari lost grip and ran wide, kicking up dust and dirt. It forced the team's hand and they summoned him to pit lane on lap 27, the same time as Norris was called in for his second stop. They came out either side of Russell, and Norris soon picked off the Mercedes for P7 in turn 1 on lap 28. It was Leclerc in sixth who looked to have a strong hand with everyone ahead of him still needing another pit stop before the chequered flag - assuming that he himself could hold on after his marathon first stint on mediums. Sure enough, Piastri soon exited stage left for a new set of hard tyres on lap 33 and both Perez and Alonso in on the next lap, promoting Leclerc to third ahead of Norris with Perez slotting back in behind the McLaren and ahead of the two Mercedes drivers. Verstappen was in on lap 35, momentarily handing the lead to Sainz until the Ferrari came in on lap 37 dropping him to seventh. With Perez passing Leclerc, the Red Bull hegemony at the front of the race was now restored with Leclerc third ahead of Norris, Russell, and Hamilton who was soon under heavy pressure from Sainz and Alonso, with Piastri and Tsunoda rounding out the final top ten points paging positions with 15 laps remaining. Sainz wasted no time putting Hamilton in his wake, and Russell read the writing on the wall and came in for a fresh set of mediums rather than becoming the next victim of the swift Spaniard which dropped him to ninth between Piastri and Tsunoda. Hamilton was in on lap 40, making the same move to mediums as Russell, but a slow stop meant he came out behind his team mate. With Verstappen and Perez now well ahead of the field, the main battle was for the remaining podium spot between Leclerc, Norris and Sainz, with Alonso ten seconds further back in a private battle with Piastri and Russell in no mans land as a frustrated Hamilton expressed his unhappiness at dropping so far back as a result of his stop. There were yellow flags out at Degner 2 on lap 42 as the Williams locked up and ran off the track into the gravel. The Williams was able to reverse out and set off back to pit lane, but in the process he scattered dirt all over the track in front of the Piastri/Alonso duel. Norris also had a moment on lap 44 which dropped him away from attacking Leclerc, and left him defending from Sainz instead. It didn't last long before Sainz blasted past the McLaren meaning it was now a battle between the Ferrari team mates over the final podium spot. The pit wall was more concerned with ensuring they held off Norris for third and fourth, and team tactics meant Sainz was duly allowed to pass the slower Monegasque for position. Behind this battle, Alonso was watching a fierce battle rage between Piastri and Russell play out on his rear view mirror, which saw them make wheel-to-wheel contact on lap 51. Piastri maintained the position but was forced to cut the corner, which the stewards took a look at but declined to order him to hand the spot to Russell. The battle meant that Hamilton was now rapidly arriving on the scene, giving the final minutes of the race an exciting flourish as a mistake at the end of the penultime lap allowed Russell to get a superior exit and make best use of DRS down the straight to snatch seventh. There was no question of Verstappen and Perez clinching a Red Bull 1-2 with Sainz securing the final podium position ahead of Leclerc who had been able to fend off Norris. Alonso led Russell and Piastri to the chequered flag with Hamilton in ninth meaning that Yuki Tsunoda had secured a first championship point in his home race, leaving Hulkenberg, Stroll, Magnussen and Bottas out of luck this weekend. It was another rotten weekend for Alpine with Ocon and Gasly 15th and 16th respectively ahead of Sargeant as the last car still running. Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter The post Japanese GP: Verstappen back in charge with Suzuka victory appeared first on F1i.com.