Max Verstappen Wins Japanese GP – 2024-04-09 11:12:51

Red Bull racer Max Verstappen. (AFP/YUICHI YAMAZAKI)

Three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen won the Japanese GP on Sunday (7/4), ahead of teammate Sergio Perez to see the Red Bull team finish in first and second place.

Verstappen failed to finish at the Australian GP two weeks ago, but he controlled the entire race at Suzuka following starting from pole position and recorded his third win in four races this season.

The Dutch racer finished with a 12.535 second advantage over Perez. Perez himself finished in second place ahead of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz who was in third place.

Verstappen returned to his best following suffering brake problems in Melbourne, which saw him fail to finish the race for the first time in two years.

As reported by Antara, Verstappen started from pole position for the fourth time in four races this season, and confirmed his dominance in this race by outperforming Perez from the first corner.

Verstappen said this week that Suzuka was one of his favorite circuits, and he has now won the Japanese GP three times in a row.

Also read: Max Verstappen is fastest in final free practice for the Japanese GP

Sainz, who finished in third place, was ahead of his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc. McLaren driver Lando Norris, was in fifth position, ahead of Fernando Alonso who races for Aston Martin.

Mercedes driver George Russel beat Oscar Piastri to take seventh, while Lewis Hamilton took ninth for Mercedes.

Home driver Yuki Tsunoda was tenth for Red Bull. He recorded points for the first time while racing at home. The race was marked by a red flag on the second lap, following
Drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon from Williams collided with each other.

Also read: Sergio Perez can’t wait to try out the Red Bull Team’s new car in Bahrain

The front wing of Albon’s car got caught in the back of Ricciardo’s car as they dueled for the best position, and both hit the barrier. After that, both drivers had to leave the race.

The competition between the remaining drivers then continued, and Verstappen accelerated to leave Perez behind.

Leclerc briefly took over the leading position following Verstappen entered the pit on lap 17, but he was able to reclaim that position four laps later.

Also read: Perez is determined to end Verstappen’s dominance in Formula 1 2024

Verstappen and Perez competed hard to win pole position, so Norris struggled to maintain third position from the two Ferrari drivers. Unfortunately, Norris’ wrong decision meant that the McLaren driver failed to finish on the podium.

Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu had to leave the race due to a gearbox problem on the 19th lap.

Formula 1 will resume in two weeks at the Chinese GP, in Shanghai. It will be the first time Formula 1 takes place in China since 2019, before the country was not chosen to host due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Z-6)