Red Bull and Max Verstappen hit back in emphatic style after their shock Melbourne DNF with their third one-two of 2024; Carlos Sainz edges out Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc for final podium berth; Race red-flagged on first lap for collision between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon
Sunday 7 April 2024 18:08, UK
Max Verstappen returned to winning ways to head a resounding Red Bull one-two in a Japanese GP that was restarted following a big first-lap crash involving Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon.
A fortnight after suffering a shock first race retirement in two years in Australia in a race won by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Verstappen hit back in dominant style at Suzuka with the world champion beating team-mate Sergio Perez by 12 seconds.
Verstappen had to navigate two getaways on the grid from pole position after the race was originally red-flagged on its first lap after RB's Ricciardo tangled with Williams' Albon and both spun off into heavy impacts with the barriers.
After a 30-minute delay while the stricken cars were cleared away and the Turn Three barrier repaired, Verstappen again saw off Perez at the second start and set off into the lead in a race dominated by differing tyre strategies through the top 10.
Sainz took third to maintain his 100 per cent podium-finishing record in 2024, although had to overtake his team-mate to do so after Charles Leclerc impressed on an unconventional one-stop strategy after a poor qualifying had left him eighth on the grid.
McLaren's Lando Norris had started third but was leapfrogged by both Ferraris through the race and finished fifth with the MCL38 not having the race pace to hold off the red cars.
Fernando Alonso capped an impressive weekend in the Aston Martin to hold off seemingly faster cars behind with sixth place.
The Spaniard came under late pressure from the similarly two-stopping Oscar Piastri and Mercedes' George Russell, who had made a later second stop for tyres, but successfully held off both cars.
Unable to find a way past Alonso, Piastri ultimately fell into Russell's clutches and was overtaken for seventh by the Mercedes at the start of the final lap into the first corner.
The pair had clashed three laps earlier as Russell initially attempted a move down the inside of the chicane, with McLaren forced wide and off track and keeping position. A post-race stewards investigation ruled no further action was required.
Lewis Hamilton finished close behind that trio in ninth having endured a disappointing race from seventh on the grid.
With Mercedes using the advent of the lap-one red flag to switch both their cars to the hard tyre in order to try a one-stop, Hamilton - on his own accord amid a struggle with understeer - let Russell through in the first stint when the sister car was running close behind and then was unable to make up the ground thereafter.
And Yuki Tsunoda gave the passionate Japanese crowd reason to cheer by taking the final point in 10th.
In the Drivers' Championship, Verstappen increases his lead after four races to 13 points with Perez reclaiming second from Leclerc, who is five further points adrift, ahead of F1's return to China next time out on April 19-21 live on Sky Sports F1.
Ricciardo and Albon tangled on the approach to Turn Three as the pack snaked through Suzuka's iconic Esses for the first time.
Starting on harder and therefore less grippy tyres from 11th on the grid compared to many of the cars around him who were on the faster softs, Ricciardo was overtaken by several cars before Turn One and then found himself being challenged by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Albon's Williams.
Approaching the left-handed third turn, and with Stroll on the inside and Albon looking at a possible overtake on his outside, Ricciardo came across to the right to take the usual racing line but his RB's right-rear tyre tagged the Williams' left-front and the contact sent both cars off track and into the barriers.
"I think Ricciardo reacts to Stroll on his left-hand side," said Sky Sports F1's Anthony Davidson. "That's unfortunate. It wasn't Albon's fault and it wasn't Ricciardo's.
"Ricciardo is going for the racing line and three into one doesn't really go. It's a racing incident and wrong place, wrong time for Albon."
Stewards placed the incident under investigation but, after speaking to both drivers afterwards, viewed it as a racing incident.
After Verstappen had swept to his fourth successive pole at the start of the new season on Saturday, quizzical eyebrows were raised after qualifying when the Dutchman and team-mate Perez had suggested that their RB20's race pace might not be as supreme as normal around the figure-of-eight Suzuka layout.
However, once they had navigated the two starts either side of the lap-one red flag still in formation at the front of the field, the timesheet told a familiar story with Verstappen steadily pulling away from Perez, who himself was building a healthy advantage over third-placed Norris.
Attention therefore turned to the battle behind with Ferrari in particular looking to gain at least one podium position after a disappointing qualifying had left them only fourth and eighth.
With lead runner Sainz on the conventional two-stopper, the team gave Leclerc the challenge of just pitting once in order to try and move up the order. And to Leclerc's immense credit, it's a challenge he rose to as he kept his pace - and crucially his tyres - intact across a mammoth 27-lap opening stint on the medium compound.
As Leclerc's long running brought him into contention and ultimately moved up the order at the expense of Alonso, Piastri and the Mercedes', Norris initially kept track position over the Ferraris but earlier visits to the pits at both of his stops but his track position was not ultimately enough to keep either at bay with the red cars clearly the faster package.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull 1st - "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, I don't know if it had to do with the clouds coming in.
"Everything went well - pit stops, strategy. It couldn't have been any better.
"The last race was a little hiccup but very happy we are here back on top."
Sergio Perez, Red Bull - 2nd - "I think we paid the price a little bit because we were a little bit off balance during that first stint, which meant we couldn't keep it alive. We had to box and we were undercut by Lando and then I had to push too much on that medium stint.
"But then on the hard stint, I was a lot more comfortable. The pace came back. But I think I suffered a bit from that first stint a bit on balance."
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari - 3rd: "I'm very happy because it was quite tough out there with the degradation but then the clouds came and the degradation went a lot lower and I thought one-stop was quicker and we were on the two [stopper].
"I thought it was on but thought it would be very difficult to get back into third given how tricky it was to overtake the Mercedes in the second stint and how difficult it was to follow.
"I knew I needed a very big delta to approach Lando and Charles. In the end, we managed it. I was quick on the hard tyre. I really liked how the hard tyre gave me a feeling to push and I got the moves done and got the podium."
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