Another Red Bull double at the Formula One Grand Prix in Suzuka, Japan with Max Verstappen consolidates his lead by winning ahead of teammate Sergio Perez. Third and fourth were the two Ferraris with Carlos Sainz crossing the finish line before Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen then takes his third victory of the season, also achieving the third Red Bull double since the start of the season. Lando Norris' McLaren was fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin and George Russell's Mercedes. The race was affected by a red flag at the start due to a contact between Daniel Ricciardo's RB and Alexander Albon's Williams, fortunately without consequences for the pilots, and left after about 30 minutes. The teams, therefore, had to completely review their strategies before restarting. Also in the Top Ten were Oscar Piastri in a McLaren eighth, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes ninth, and home idol Yuki Tsunoda in the RB tenth.
«We had a good race and honestly I'm very happy because it was difficult today on the track due to the degradation» he said Carlos Sainz who achieved third place, and the third podium of the season, in the Japanese Grand Prix. «Suddenly when the clouds arrived the degradation dropped a lot and at a certain point I thought we could also try a one-stop strategy which would be faster, then we stayed on the two stops, I overtook Norris at the end, I managed to finish my overtaking but it was tough”, explained the Spaniard.
«I thought it was possible to overtake, but also that it would be very difficult to aim for fourth or third place. It was very complicated to overtake the Mercedes and also follow those in front of us, we needed a big time advantage to get close to Norris and Leclerc. In the end we succeeded, andI'm fast on the hard tires and I really like the feeling they gave me to push», added the Ferrari driver. In China, in two weeks, «it will be a difficult weekend for everyone, because there will be a Sprint on a track where we haven't been for four or five years and we will only do one test. So it will be a good challenge, we're going strong so let's continue like this!”, concluded Sainz.