Red Bull becomes world champion for the sixth time! Max Verstappen breaks the 400-point mark. A new face appears on the podium at the Japanese GP

Formula 1 visited the iconic Suzuka circuit for the 16th round of the season. After a miserable performance by Red Bull in Singapore, Max Verstappen returned to the top. Oscar Piastri scored his first career podium.

Verstappen’s false start was almost taken advantage of by Lando Norris. He entered the first corner with a slight advantage over the Dutch driver, but was unable to maintain his advantage on the outside track.

The start of the race was not without a collision. Ocon, Chou, Albon, Sargeant and Bottas had to pit with damage to their cars. Due to the large amount of carbon debris, the safety car took to the track before the end of the first lap.

Max Verstappen handled the restart perfectly and quickly built up a two-second lead on second-placed Norris. Logan Sargeant, on the other hand, had a miserable restart. While defending his position in front of Bottas, he braked his wheels and knocked the Finnish driver off the track. Due to the consequences of the crash, Bottas had to retire from the race.

Sergio Pérez had an absolutely terrible weekend. He lost eight tenths to Verstappen in qualifying and started fifth. After a collision at the start, he dropped to the tail of the field and in an attempt to fight his way back he spun Kevin Magnussen and damaged his car so badly that he had to retire from the race.

This collision resulted in a virtual safety car, which came in handy for Piastri. He was the only one of the leading drivers to pit, and gained a huge advantage when he emerged in second place after the others had stopped.

Only 15 drivers finished the race

By the end of lap 27, both Williams drivers and Lance Stroll had retired from the race for technical reasons. However, Pérez returned to the track 13 laps later, presumably in an attempt to track down a potential penalty for his collision with Magnussen so that he would not be penalized for the next race. However, he pitted back a lap later.

A tactical battle was underway between McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari for the podium places. Oscar Piastri lost a large amount of time behind Russell, who was trying to stretch out his second stint. Fortunately for him, Leclerc had more trouble overtaking the Mercedes, which was Piastri’s biggest threat.

Piastri on the podium for the first time

In the end, the Australian rookie easily held on to third place and although he lost more than 15 seconds to his teammate at the finish, he can be proud of his performance.

The battle for fifth place between Hamilton and Sainz dragged on until the last lap. The Mercedes driver easily held off the Spanish driver and scored an important 10 points for his team.

Max Verstappen escaped with the win right after the restart. He was almost twenty seconds behind second-placed Norris. By gaining an extra point for the fastest lap of the race, the Dutch phenomenon moved up to 400 points in the Drivers’ Cup.

Twenty-six points meant Red Bull won the Constructors’ Cup. It is the sixth title for the Austrian stable. Formula One now faces a two-week break, followed by the historic second VC of Qatar.

Source: F1TV