Max Verstappen takes home clear Suzuka win
Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Red Bull take home an easy and predictable win in Suzuka, dominating all weekend.
Dominating all but the FP2, Max Verstappen alongside his teammate Sergio Perez, made Suzuka a walk in the park for Red Bull. They qualified P1 (Verstappen) and P2 (Perez), making it the first time in the season they lockout the front row. In the race it was more of the same, Max only lost the lead due to the change in strategies everyone suffered due to degradation. However, his win was never in real danger.
Red Bull ended the race with a P1 and P2 just as they started, with Verstappen taking the fastest lap. On the other hand, Carlos Sainz took a very well-fought P3. With this, Sainz has now appeared on the podium in each race he has started this season and even won the Australian GP after Max’s DNF.
Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo had an incident in the first few corners of the race ending the race for both. Ricciardo now sits on a fine line after this DNF and his poor performance during the season so far. Yuki Tsunoda, his teammate, has been better in every race so far, even scoring points in his home grand prix, while Daniel watched from the garage.
Hopes of a not-very-dominant season are now further away and even Toto Wolff claims it.
“No one is going to catch Max this year,” Wolff said after the race. “His driving and the car are just spectacular. You can see the way he manages the tyres and basically this season now is best of the rest.”
Will this season be dominated just like the last one by Red Bull?
