Verstappen won the race, Red Bull won the cup

Sunny. Dry. Air +28…27С, highway +45…36С

The stands in Japan are always completely full, and this year we were also lucky with the weather: it was dry and warm all weekend. On hot asphalt, tire wear increased even more – and this factor became one of the most important.

The unique Japanese circuit is not suitable for all cars; on Friday the teams experimented with the configuration, but the leader remained the same. After a surprising setback in Singapore at Suzuka last week, Max Verstappen led practice and won qualifying comfortably.

Verstappen and Piastri started the race from the front row of the starting field, Norris and Leclerc from second, Perez and Sainz from third.

Sargent crashed the car seriously during qualifying, the team had to assemble a new one for him in a closed park, causing him not only to start from the pit lane, but also to receive a ten-second race penalty for actually using the third car.

Shinnik brought a ‘hard’ trio of compounds to Japan – C1, C2 and C3 in the Hard, Medium and Soft roles.

Tsunoda, Alonso, Lawson, Bottas, Stroll, Hulkenberg and Zhou chose Soft for the first part of the race, the rest started on Medium.

Verstappen retained his lead at the start. Norris defeated Piastri. Perez lost two positions. Ocon, Bottas and Albon collided. A safety car was deployed on the highway due to the debris. One of the pieces hit Zhou’s car.

Hamilton and Perez collided and the front wing of Sergio’s car was damaged.

Ocon, Zhou, Albon, Bottas and Perez drove into the pits and continued the race after repairs. At the same time, Sergio Alonso overtook behind the safety car and received a five-second time penalty.

Top ten in round 3: Verstappen – Norris – Piastri – Leclerc – Sainz – Alonso – Hamilton – Russell – Lawson – Tsunoda.

Sargent replaced the tires.

A restart was announced on the 5th lap. Verstappen retained the lead. Bottas flew off the track after making contact with Sargent. The stewards gave Logan a five-second penalty.

Russell passed Hamilton at the chicane, but Lewis immediately regained the position.

On the 6th lap Sargent changed tires, on the 7th – Bottas.

On lap 8, Perez passed Zhou for 16th place.

On the 9th lap Hulkenberg changed the tires and Bottas stopped and put the car in the pits.

On the 10th lap, Tsunoda made a pit stop, on the 11th – Lawson and Zhou, on the 12th – Alonso.

On lap 12, Perez and Magnussen collided for position. Kevin spun, both drivers pulled into the pits and continued the race. Sergio received a five-second time penalty.

On lap 14 Piastri changed the tires. The race director announced a virtual safety car for one lap to clear the debris. Albon made a pit stop.

On the 15th lap, Stroll made a pit stop and Perez stopped and put the car in the pits.

Hamilton went onto the grass and lost a few tenths, Russell immediately attacked, both went off the track.

On the 17th lap, Verstappen and Hamilton changed tires, on the 18th – Norris and Leclerc, on the 19th – Sainz and Gasly.

By the 19th lap, Leclerc was ahead of Alonso and Ocon, and Verstappen ahead of Russell in the battle for the lead.

On lap 20, Gasly overtook Zhou for 14th place, while Sainz overtook Alonso and Ocon.

On lap 21, Stroll put the car in the pits and retired. Hamilton is ahead of Alonso and Ocon.

On lap 22, Hulkenberg and Sargent switched tires.

On lap 23, Gasly overtook Lawson for 16th place.

On the 24th lap, Sargent put the car in the pits and retired.

On lap 25, Russell was the last to make the first pit stop and then overtook Alonso.

Top ten in round 26: Verstappen – Piastri – Norris – Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Ocon – Russell – Alonso – Gasly.

On lap 26, Alonso and Lawson switched tires.

On the 27th lap, Piastri was asked to let Norris, who was going faster, pass – and they switched positions.

On lap 28, Albon pulled the car into the pits and stopped.

Alonso overtook Tsunoda, Lawson overtook Magnussen. Fernando was asked not to attack the curbs to avoid damage – his teammate retired due to a broken rear wing.

On the 30th lap, Zhou changed tires, on the 31st – Tsunoda, on the 35th – Leclerc, Hamilton and Gasly, on the 36th – Piastri, on the 37th – Norris, on the 38th – Verstappen, taking the lead in the race kept.

On lap 38, Norris passed Russell for third place.

On lap 39, Hulkenberg and Sainz made a pit stop.

On the 40th lap, after a long break, Red Bull decided to bring Perez back to the track – with a lead of 26 laps. Sergio had to serve a five-second penalty for the incident with Magnussen, so that he would not be carried over to the next race. On lap 41, Perez pulled into the pits and served his penalty, and a lap later he stopped in the pits.

On lap 42, Piastri overtook Russell for third place.

Top ten in lap 43: Verstappen – Norris – Piastri – Russell – Leclerc – Hamilton – Sainz – Alonso – Ocon – Gasly.

On lap 45, Leclerc overtook Russell for fourth place.

Hamilton overtook Russell, who was driving on worn tires, and Sainz approached them from behind. George was asked to let Lewis pass – and on the 49th lap Hamilton took the lead.

On lap 50 Sainz passed Russell for sixth place.

Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix, achieving his 13th victory of the season and 48th of his career.

At the home circuit, Honda Red Bull Racing won the constructors’ championship ahead of schedule – the sixth in its history.

Lando Norris finished second, Oscar Piastri finished the race in third, achieving the best result of his career.

In two weeks we wait for the Qatar Grand Prix with the Saturday sprint.

Race results

Best round: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:34.183 (lap 39, 221.963 km/h)

Reasons for the meetings

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship position: Constructors’ Championship