Japanese Grand Prix: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez secure another Red Bull one-two

For the 4th time in a row, Max Verstappen starts from pole position this season. Sergio Perez is alongside him on the front row, with Lando Norris starting behind Max Verstappen. The British driver had found himself side by side with the world champion at the first corner in 2023.

The lights go out and Max Verstappen gets off to a good start, Sergio Perez is unable to worry him at the first turn. Behind the Red Bulls, Lando Norris is struggling, Carlos Sainz tries to take the advantage on the inside but ends up backing off. The top 6 positions remain unchanged.

A Williams appears on screen, it’s the one of Alex Albon who is in the wall at turn 3! Just before the Esses, Daniel Ricciardo, who had a bad start, doesn’t see Alex Albon on his right and pushes him into the grass. The contact sends the 2 cars into the tire wall. The nose of the car of the Thai driver slips under the tire barrier. The red flag is raised! Daniel Ricciardo is definitely not successful this season, he who needs good results. For Williams, there have been a lot of breakages in a few weeks.

DRAPEAU ROUGE 🚩

Incident entre Albon et Ricciardo au départ 💥
Les deux pilote vont bien !#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Uxj1eeQs45

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 7, 2024

A new start stopped after the red flag.

It is the classification at the end of the first sector that serves as the new starting grid. 2:32 p.m. local time, 7:32 a.m. in France, the Grand Prix can resume after the evacuation of the two cars. Five drivers are taking the gamble to switch to hard tires before the new standing restart: the Mercedes, the Alpines, and Logan Sargeant.

Once again, the top positions remain unchanged at the start. Max Verstappen, despite a slightly more difficult start than the first one, manages to keep the first position. Yuki Tsunoda, initially 10th on the grid, then back to 12th, makes an excellent second start and gains 3 positions. At the beginning of the fifth lap, George Russell regains his position, and the Japanese driver finds himself back in 10th place.

Esteban Ocon, initially slightly squeezed by Pierre Gasly at the start, passes his teammate inside the second corner and does the same by overtaking Valtteri Bottas as well. At one point in tenth place, he does not hold off against the Finn first, then Lance Stroll, and holds the twelfth place at the start of the 6th lap.

Carlos Sainz lurking behind Lando Norris for a podium spot, indicates on the radio that his former teammate is starting to struggle with his tires. Max Verstappen discusses with his engineer that the originally understeering car is starting to oversteer. They will adjust the settings during the pit stop. George Russell is complaining of unusual vibrations on the steering wheel of his Mercedes.

Tires that suffer from heat

At the start of the twelfth round, Lando Norris stops to put on hard tires. The first pit stops ballet begins, Oscar Piastri imitates his teammate one lap later. Lewis Hamilton, on his own initiative, lets George Russell pass, who seems more comfortable in the race. Guyanu Zhou returns to the garage and retires due to a gearbox issue.

The early pit stop by Lando Norris forces him to work his way up through the pack, treating us to magnificent maneuvers, such as the outside overtake at turn 1 and 2 on Lewis Hamilton. The hard tires wear out quickly, only by the 19th lap Lewis Hamilton indicates that his tires are dead. Esteban Ocon also goes back out on hard tires, stops again on lap 20 to put on another set of hards, a sign that the tires tire quickly in much hotter conditions than the rest of the weekend.

A Ferrari-McLaren battle for the podium

Charles Leclerc, the only one who has not yet stopped, misses the braking of turn 9 and allows Sergio Perez to take his second position. Lando Norris is dangerously getting closer to the Monegasque. The two drivers stop at the same time, midway through the race, the Ferrari driver maintains his position. Lando Norris does not understand why he stopped so early to cover the Ferrari strategy, when he seemed to have more pace than the Monegasque. With just under 40 laps to go, after the second round of pit stops, the two drivers find themselves in 3rd and 4th place.

Yuki Tsunoda gets the crowd going by passing Niko Hülkenberg in the Esses, on the outside please! He is currently in 10th place, which would be his first points scored at home. Sergio Perez pits on the 35th lap of the race. Red Bull achieves the fastest pit stop of the season in 2.0 seconds. Logan Sargeant, then in 15th place, goes straight at turn 9, missing his braking point. He manages to stop before hitting the tire wall and continues without apparent damage.

Tout droit pour Sargeant dans le 42ème tour.

Le pilote Williams ressort du bac à gravier à la dernière position 🔚#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ciCUFWkqMV

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 7, 2024

Carlos Sainz overtakes Lando Norris on the start/finish straight with the help of DRS. The Ferrari driver closed the gap following Norris’ lock-up at turn 11. On the 45th lap, the Spaniard is back on his teammate’s tailpipe. Engineers inform Charles Leclerc that he is not fighting against Carlos Sainz, who is on a different strategy, but against Lando Norris. The Melbourne winner overtakes his teammate at the same spot as Lando Norris, one lap later. He climbs onto the podium.

George Russell dives inside the chicane on Oscar Piastri. The Australian is forced to cut and keeps his position. On the last lap, Oscar Piastri makes a mistake and allows George Russell to pass him to take 7th place.

One lap before the finish, Max Verstappen allows himself to increase the pace to go for the fastest lap point in the race. Done on hard tires. He wins with over 12 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz steps onto the podium for the 3rd time this season. Yuki Tsunoda scores his first points at home.

The ranking of the Japanese Grand Prix 2024

More information in a few moments…