@Max33Verstappen leads home @RedBullRacing 1-2 victory at the #JapaneseGP. #F1
Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, celebrates on the podium after winning the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Japanese Grand Prix 2024, Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie-Prefecture, Japan. Image credit to Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images. Verstappen Japanese GP Victory, 2024 Japanese GP, 2024 Japanese GP Results, F1 Japanese GP Results, 2024 Formula 1 Japanese GP Results.
Verstappen Japanese GP Victory – Max Verstappen lead from team-mate Sergio Perez to take his 57th-career victory and for a Red Bull one-two in power-unit supplier Honda’s backyard as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three.
When the 53-lap Japanese GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen gets a solid getaway to cut off his team-mate Perez into the opening corner as Sainz attempted to overtake Norris into turn one, but the latter managed to cover the Ferrari to keep third place.
Behind the frontrunners, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo collided with Williams’ Alexander Albon crashing into the turn three barriers bringing out the red flag.
Replays showed Albon coming up on the outside of Ricciardo’s VCARB01 racer, who had to move across slightly as he was squeezed by other cars – Albon’s front wing clipped the rear right of Ricciardo and that was enough for both to lose control and go straight into the barriers.
The rest of the field returned back to the pits and parked up for a decent delay.
When the race was restarted with a standing start following a 20-minute delay as both Albon and Ricciardo’s cars were cleared, Verstappen once again got a great start covering team-mate Perez into turn one, with Norris holding off former-mate Sainz and the order remaining stable.
The beginning of lap four saw Verstappen 1.086 seconds clear of team-mate Perez, with Norris third, Sainz fourth and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completing the top five.
A tour later Mercedes’ George Russell made his way ahead of home favourite Yuki Tsunoda to take ninth place.
On lap seven, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas pitted for a fresh set of hards, suffering a slow pit-stop and emerged in 17th behind Williams’ Logan Sargeant.
Lap 10 saw race leader Verstappen’s gap to team-mate Perez up to 2.890 seconds, with Norris third, Sainz fourth as Alonso rounded out the top five.
In the battle for sixth place, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is in DRS range of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with the latter covering the Monegasque driver into turn one.
Further down the order, Sargeant with DRS assistance breezed his way past Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and passed the A524 racer down the main-straight into turn one to grab 13th place.
A tour later, Norris pitted from third to perform the undercut on Sainz for a fresh set of the harder compound and came out in tenth place behind Stroll.
On lap 13, Piastri also opted to stop to undercut the other Ferrari of Leclerc, putting on a fresh set of harder rubber and emerged in 12th place behind Sargeant.
A tour later, Alonso stopped from fourth, swapping his softs for mediums and came out in eighth place behind Norris.
The 15th tour saw Verstappen’s lead increased to 5.071 seconds over team-mate Perez with Sainz and Leclerc third and fourth respectively and the Mercedes pairing of Russell and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top six with all those drivers yet to pit.
Meanwhile Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu was the third retiree of the race due to a gearbox issue.
Both Perez and Sainz pitted from third and fourth respectively for their fresh sets of mediums and both emerged in fifth and sixth behind Norris.
On lap 17, Verstappen stopped from the lead for his fresh set of the C2 yellow-marked mediums and came out in third behind the yet-to-pit Russell.
Verstappen made his way past Russell rapidly into second, whilst Norris got ahead of the other Mercedes F1 W15 entry of Hamilton to jump to fourth.
Perez got into the slipstream of Hamilton down the back straight and went to the inside of the Mercedes making a bold move through the rapid 130R left to take fifth place from the Briton.
On lap 18, Perez made almost the same identical move on the other Mercedes of Russell, but just before 130R to take fourth place.
On lap 19, in the short battle for sixth, Sainz made short work of Hamilton passing the Mercedes on the inside of Spoon Corner after the rundown of a wheel-to-wheel battle from the Casio Hairpin.
On the 20th lap, the yet-to-pit Leclerc was held 0.300 second lead over Verstappen with Norris third, Norris fourth as Russell rounded out the top five.
A tour later, with DRS assistance, Verstappen reclaimed the lead passing Leclerc’s Ferrari from the outside and into turn one.
Behind them in the fight for fifth, Sainz caught up to the rear of Mercedes F1 W15 entry of Russell into the Casio Hairpin making a late lunge, then Russell covered the SF-24 out of the hairpin – Sainz then got into the slipstream of the Silver Arrow and dived up the inside to take place from Russell to move up into fifth.
On the 23rd tour, Perez got into the slipstream of Norris’ MCL38 entry and passed the Briton on the inside into the Casio Triangle to take third.
Russell finally made his stop from seventh for a fresh set of hards and came out in ninth behind Piastri.
On lap 24, Hamilton also stopped from seventh for his fresh set of the white-branded compound and emerged in ninth place behind his Mercedes team-mate Russell.
Lap 25 saw Verstappen’s lead up to 6.844 seconds over the yet-to-pit Leclerc with Perez closely behind the Ferrari in third, Norris fourth, Sainz fifth as Alonso completed the frontrunners list.
The 26th tour in the battle for second, Perez have a close look on Leclerc into turn one with the latter covering the former – Leclerc made an error into Degner Two running deep and dipping his tyres into the gravel, allowing the Red Bull driver to move up into second place.
On the 27th lap, Leclerc and Norris both pitted for a fresh set of hards and came out in sixth and eighth respectively as Norris came out behind Russell.
A lap later, Norris with DRS assistance got into the slipstream of Russell on the main-straight and made an overtake on the outside of the F1 W15 entry into turn one to take seventh place off his fellow British-compatriot.
On lap 30, race leader Verstappen’s gap was up to 10.762 seconds over Red Bull team-mate Perez with Sainz a further 5.456 from the Mexican in third, Alonso fourth, Piastri fifth as Leclerc completed the top six.
A tour later, Leclerc is told on his radio “Everyone in front needs to stop again” with both Ferrari drivers running split strategies with both cars having solid race pace.
With 20 laps remaining, Piastri stopped from fifth to put on his fresh set of the C1 white-marked hards and emerged in ninth behind Mercedes’ Hamilton.
On lap 34, Perez and Alonso stopped from second and fourth respectively for the hards and the former came out in fifth place behind Norris and the latter in eighth place behind Hamilton.
A tour later, Verstappen pitted from the lead also for a set of hards and emerged in second behind the yet-to-pit Sainz meanwhile behind them Perez made short work of Norris to take fourth place.
On lap 36, with DRS assistance and on his fresher rubber, Perez got into the slipstream of Leclerc passing the Ferrari on the inside into the first corner to grab third place.
Replays also showed race leader Sainz suffer a lock-up into the Casio Triangle chicane.
Lap 37 saw Sainz make his second stop and came on the C1 white tyre and came out in seventh place behind Hamilton.
In the short battle for sixth on lap 38, Sainz with DRS breezed his way past Hamilton on the pit-straight to take the position whilst Russell made his final stop for the C2 yellow side-walled mediums to come out in ninth place behind Piastri.
The 40th tour saw Hamilton box from sixth for his set of the mediums and emerged in ninth behind team-mate Russell.
On lap 41, Verstappen’s lead over team-mate Perez was up to 9.225 seconds with Leclerc third, Norris fourth as Sainz rounded out the top five.
On lap 42, Sargeant suffered a lock-up into Degner Two and went into the gravel trap avoiding the wall. The American managed to reverse back onto the track and continued on.
With ten laps remaining Norris also suffered a lock-up into the Casio Hairpin making Sainz be a lot closer to the McLaren.
And with DRS assistance on the main-straight, Sainz got into the slipstream of Norris and overtook the McLaren on the inside before reaching turn one to move up into fourth place.
With seven tours left, Sainz with DRS overtook team-mate Leclerc on the pit-straight around the outside before reaching the first corner to move up into the final podium place.
With five laps remaining, Verstappen’s lead over team-mate Perez increased to 11.758 seconds with Sainz third, Leclerc fourth as Norris rounded out the top five.
A three-car battle for sixth was brewing between Alonso on 14 lap hards, Piastri on 15 lap hards, and Russell on 11 lap mediums.
Russell made a late lunge on the inside of Piastri into the Casio Triangle Chicane as the duo made slight contact running through the run-off area – Russell then with DRS attempted an overtake on the McLaren into turn one, but Piastri managed to hold position.
Russell’s incident with Piastri was noted from the race stewards.
On the penultimate tour, sixth-placed Alonso put both Piastri and Russell into DRS assistance to make all three drivers hold line astern into turn one.
The final lap saw Russell with DRS assistance make a move on the outside of Piastri to move past the McLaren to take seventh place.
Verstappen crossed the line to take the Japanese GP victory by 12.535 seconds over team-mate Perez for a Red Bull one-two in power-unit supplier Honda’s home Grand Prix as Sainz completed the top three.
Leclerc came home fourth in the other SF-24 entry as McLaren’s Norris was fifth, Alonso took sixth as Russell placed seventh in the classification.
Piastri settled for eighth place as Mercedes’ Hamilton took ninth and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda took the final point place at his home Grand Prix in-front of the Japanese faithful.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished outside the top ten in 11th and 13th places respectively as Aston Martin’s Stroll split the pairing in 12th.
Sauber’s Bottas took 14th and ahead of Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly who were 15th and 16th respectively as Williams’ Sargeant brought up the rear.
2024 Japanese GP – The Top Three
2024 Japanese GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20:
“It was very nice; the critical bit was the start – to stay ahead. And after that, the car got better and better for me throughout the race. Pit stops went well, strategy went well, couldn’t really have gone better. The last race was a little hiccup but happy to be back here and back on top. It’s fantastic to win here!”
2nd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, +12.535s:
“It was a good weekend for the team, especially with the start and restart. My second start was better but not enough to get Max. We were undercut by Lando, so I had to push too much on the medium stint, but on the hards I was able to push and come back. I think we are in a good momentum, here last year was probably my worst weekend so if we are strong in places like this, I think we can be strong everywhere.”
3rd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24, +20.866s:
“I had a good race so I’m very happy. It was quite tough out there with the degradation, but the clouds came, and the degradation got easier so I thought the one-stop might be better. I had to overtake today, and overtaking isn’t easy, it was tough out there. I knew I needed a very big delta to approach Lando and Charles and in the end, we managed it, and I could get that podium.”
Formula 1 MSC Cruises Japanese Grand Prix 2024 Race Results Classification (53 Laps)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 53 | 1:54:23.566 | 26 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 53 | +12.535s | 18 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 53 | +20.866s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 53 | +26.522s | 12 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 53 | +29.700s | 10 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 53 | +44.272s | 8 |
| 7 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 53 | +45.951s | 6 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 53 | +47.525s | 4 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 53 | +48.626s | 2 |
| 10 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 52 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| NC | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 12 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 0 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 0 | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1232/japan/race-result.html
Round four of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China for the first time since 2019 for the Formula 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix 2024 from Friday April 19-Sunday April 21.
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