Verstappen Extends Championship Lead in Japan

Max Verstappen returned to his winning ways in Japan after a sensational performance at Suzuka. Red Bull put together a brilliant strategy to best both Mclaren’s and return Verstappen to the top of the box. Red Bull have been operating in a performance deficit in comparison to the McLarens over the first few races of the season. To make matters worse, Red Bull’s shot at winning the constructors championship took another blow after Yuki Tsunoda failed to finish in the points despite Verstappen winning the race. It was a small victory for Red Bull but the team still hasn’t seemed to find a rhytym.

Verstappen said, “We couldn’t have wished for a better result today in our final race with Honda here together. It’s been amazing and I’m really proud of what we have done this weekend. We made all of the right calls during the race, were constantly pushing and our tyres weren’t overheating so much due to the colder tyre temperature which helped us. Yesterday was a beautiful day for us and the key to the win was to start from pole. We maximised everything we could and to follow this up with the win is fantastic. We know our limitations and still have work to do.

We are just finding where we can push the car to the limit and need to maximise everything that we can to get the best out of the car and make it more balanced. Finally, this is a perfect send off for Honda and our relationship is something I will never forget. I’ve enjoyed my time with them and how they work: they are so professional and dedicated and they have given me so much. Together to win four Driver’s Championships and two Constructors’ Championships is unbelievable. It did cross my mind whilst driving that it would be insane to win here today and at a home track for Honda, so that gave me a bit of motivation as well. It’s a proper send off and we couldn’t have wished for a better weekend.”

Verstappen winning the Japanese Grand Prix in an inferior car raises questions as to whether Red Bull is making true gains with closing the performance gap to McLaren. Next up is Bahrain

Japanese Grand Prix Results