Yahoo Autos F1 Japanese Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Returns To Form as Red Bull Clinches Title
Max Verstappen is back to his dominating ways as Red Bull makes history and McLaren scores a double podium finish.
Autoweek rounds up the main talking points.
Red Bull Settles Constructors Title Earlier Than Ever Before
Max Verstappen’s victory at the Japanese Grand Prix was never really in doubt.
The Red Bull RB19 was made for the sweeping curves of the glorious Suzuka circuit and in the hands of a driver of Verstappen’s caliber it simply flew. Verstappen topped all three practice sessions, scored pole position by over half a second, and dominated to claim victory by 19.3 seconds.
It was the perfect riposte after Red Bull’s unusual malaise seven days beforehand in Singapore and a result which wrapped up the Constructors’ Championship for the team.
“I played Padel tennis with Max on Wednesday and he was properly fired up,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “He made it clear and said that he wanted to win the race by 20 seconds. And in fairness he came within 0.7s of achieving that had it not been for a blue flag at the end there. You could tell from the very first lap in first practice when he was 1.8 seconds quicker than the rest of field on medium or soft tires that he was totally focused on this event. It’s a circuit that he loves and enjoys and it’s the ultimate driver’s circuit as a test round here. It was an outstanding performance.”
For Red Bull to wrap up the Constructors’ title with six events still left to run is a tremendously impressive achievement. No team has clinched a title with so many grands prix remaining in a season, and it has won 15 of the 16 races held.
“To achieve this sixth constructors’ championship is beyond our wildest dreams,” said Horner.
Added Verstappen: “It’s an incredible season for everyone involved in the team, I’m just very proud to be a part of it but very proud to be working with all these amazing people.”
Verstappen stands on the brink of clinching his third world title after his colossal advantage over Sergio Perez grew to 177 points. Perez had an utterly miserable race, copping damage at the start, earning a penalty for a Safety Car violation, before crashing into Kevin Magnussen. Perez retired, but was handed an in-race time penalty, so returned to the track 25 laps down merely to serve it and avoid any subsequent sanction.
A title-clinching event in Qatar is a formality for Verstappen and he can wrap it up as early as Saturday night’s Sprint Race if his advantage over Perez is 172 points.
McLaren’s Super Double Podium
Ever since its mid-season upgrade was introduced McLaren has gone from also-rans to Red Bull’s closest challenger on several occasions. Its MCL60 has been particularly quick at high-downforce circuits with long-radius corners, and they are prevalent at Suzuka.
Lando Norris made it back-to-back runner-up positions, continuing the rich vein of form that has seen him emerge as the second-highest points scorer since McLaren introduced that upgrade in Austria.
“In a way [this was] our most deserved [podium] in terms of we’re there on pure pace,” said Norris. “Nothing had to go our way, we’re just where we deserved to be.”
But while Norris was the quicker of the McLaren drivers in the race at Suzuka it was teammate Oscar Piastri who captured attention through the weekend.
Piastri built up through practice and qualifying and became the first rookie to qualify on the front row at a grand prix for 13 years, doing so on his maiden visit to the challenging and technical figure-of-eight circuit. The Australian has a calmness and maturity that belies his youth and inexperience, and while he is far from the finished product, he is delivering on the potential that had observers – and former colleagues in junior categories – placing him in the same bracket as the likes of Charles Leclerc and George Russell. McLaren, from its very first simulator session with Piastri, was impressed not only by his level of performance but also his attitude, self-awareness, and values.
“It’s definitely been a pretty special week, obviously with the announcement of the extension and then qualifying on the front row yesterday, first podium today,” he said. “It’s been a very fun week. I’ll enjoy it, and still a lot to learn and try and improve on. But yeah, I’ll enjoy the moment for now.”
Piastri still has to gain further understanding in race management – a trait which was exposed compared to Norris at Suzuka – but his podium was surely the first of many and emphasizes just why McLaren was so keen to tie down his services through 2026.
