Max Verstappen swept to victory in a dominant Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
The reigning champion survived an assault from the McLarens into Turn 1 but was untroubled from that point on as he returned to winning ways after the blip in Singapore.
Lando Norris produced another stellar drive to claim second with Oscar Piastri completing a double McLaren podium in third.
Race Review
Verstappen had to fend off both McLarens at the start with Norris able to jump Piastri at Turn 1 for second.
Chaos behind as Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton all touched, damaging the Red Bull’s front wing and requiring a pit stop.
Behind, Esteban Ocon also triggered contact between Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon on the run to Turn 1, with the debris also damaging Zhou Guanyu’s front wing behind.
The Safety Car was called to clear the debris on the pit straight.
On soft tyres, Fernando Alonso made up four places at the start as Liam Lawson also jumped up into the points ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Verstappen retained the lead at the restart as George Russell dived past Hamilton at the final chicane. The seven-time world champion immediately responded on the pit straight with an aggressive move to reclaim seventh.
Logan Sargeant, who served a pre-race 10-second penalty under the Safety Car, collided with Bottas at the hairpin to further ruin the Finn’s race.
In hot temperatures, the soft tyre starters began to pit around Lap 10 with Alonso the last one to stop on Lap 12.
Perez’s bad day got worse with a five-second penalty for overtaking behind the Safety Car and then colliding with Kevin Magnussen at the hairpin.
A Virtual SC was called to clear the resulting debris with Piastri taking the chance to pit onto hard tyres.
In contrast, Norris was held up behind the damaged Perez, who later retired, losing him several seconds to Verstappen.
The Dutchman had to pit early to defend from Piastri’s undercut, while Lando dropped behind his teammate after his stop a lap later.
The two Mercedes’ continued their feud as Hamilton ran wide at Degner 2, putting Russell on his tail.
Lewis then pushed his teammate off track as they went side-by-side into Spoon curve.
Alonso’s early stop jumped him upto sixth briefly, but he wasn’t able to hold off those on fresh tyres, including Hamilton who overtook into 130R.
Russell was the only driver to try a one-stop strategy and ran second ahead of Piastri before making his sole switch onto hard tyres.
Norris quickly caught Oscar ahead and was eventually allowed through upto P2 as the Australian began to struggle.
Charles Leclerc and Hamilton triggered the second round of stops, with the two McLarens responding on consecutive laps to avoid the undercut.
Norris then quickly overhauled the one-stopping Russell to reclaim second, while Ferrari held Sainz out longer, demoting the Spaniard to seventh after his stop.
Verstappen also pitted for a second time and resumed in the lead, while teammate Perez had to rejoin the race to serve a five-second penalty for his earlier incident with Magnussen.
Piastri was next to attack Russell and swept through at Turn 1 to take third, with Leclerc following through a few laps later.
Hamilton then caught George but had to be ordered past his teammate, who then asked for DRS help from Lewis from Sainz behind, but it was no use as the Ferrari flew past to take P6.
At the front, however, Verstappen eased to victory by almost 20 seconds, securing Red Bull their sixth Constructors’ Championship.
Norris claimed second as Piastri secured his first F1 podium in third.
Leclerc was fourth as Hamilton just held off Sainz and Russell in seventh. Alonso took eighth as the two Alpines completed the top with Esteban Ocon ahead of Pierre Gasly.
