Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez secured another Red Bull double, this time at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen took the top spot on the Japanese Grand Prix podium on Sunday ahead of Sergio Perez as Red Bull claimed another double, their third in four races.
The three-time world champion quickly took the lead in the world championship, before the fifth race in China in two weeks.
A look at the talking points from the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix:
Verstappen returns to the podium
The Dutchman said after his victory at Suzuka that it was “a very long season” and that he wanted to “take it race by race”.
But Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has already said “no one will catch Max this year”.
Wolff said the rest of the drivers were competing to be “the best of the rest”, and Verstappen’s dominant victory made it easy to see why.
After the failure in Australia, Verstappen never seemed to be bothered by controlling the race from start to finish and crossed the finish line 12.5 seconds ahead of teammate Perez.
“Whenever I needed to go faster I could, whenever I needed to take care of my tires I could,” Verstappen said.
“It’s always a great feeling to get when you’re driving.”
However, Red Bull’s success on the track has been somewhat overshadowed by team disunity and allegations against team boss Christian Horner.
There were no obvious signs of trouble at Suzuka, with Verstappen saying he was “very happy” with the team. But he has remained tight-lipped about what will happen when his contract expires in 2028.
Mercedes remains stuck. Again
Mercedes had another disappointing weekend, a collapse for the once-mighty Silver Arrows.
George Russell finished seventh, two places ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had tire and steering problems.
Wolff attempted to put a positive spin on the weekend, saying the weekend had been “better than the final results suggest.”
“From what we’ve seen here, we can say the car is getting faster,” he said.
Hamilton, however, seems unconvinced: “If we want to get on the grid, then we will have to add more performance to the car. »
The build-up to the race was dominated by discussions over Hamilton’s successor, who will join Ferrari at the end of the season.
The Briton is reportedly keen to go out on a high, but the chances of that happening appear slim on current evidence, despite some tentative signs of improvement.
Tsunoda surpasses Ricciardo
Yuki Tsunoda was everywhere at Suzuka – three giant banners emblazoned with his face hung from the grandstand and fans held up posters of him at every corner of the track.
The Japanese favorite rewarded his support by finishing 10th – the first time he had scored points at his home Grand Prix.
Tsunoda started from 10th on the grid but fell back before the race was red flagged on the opening lap.
His RB team helped him reclaim his position with a lightning-quick pit stop.
“Our mechanics did a fantastic job. It was such a quick pit stop that allowed us to pass two cars, and it’s crazy,” he said.
“Without that it would have been much more difficult to score points today, so the team deserves a lot of credit.”
Tsunoda also scored points by finishing seventh in Australia two weeks ago.
With experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo struggling, Tsunoda is emerging as RB’s main man – at least in the eyes of Japanese fans.
(with contributions from AFP)
