Max Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix, with teammate Sergio Perez finishing in second place, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third.
The start of the race was quickly red flagged as Daniel Ricciardo and Alexander Albon heavily crashed. The Australian driver squeezed in front of the Williams, who made contact with his front wing, sending both out of control and into the barriers.
The race resumed almost half an hour later, but with a much cleaner start that saw no incidents. It was Max Verstappen, the original pole-sitter, at the top, with Sergio Perez chasing behind.
Esteban Ocon reported to his engineer that teammate Pierre Gasly made contact with him from the side, but no damage was caused, further extending their internal rivalry.
Sauber driver Guanyu Shou retired on lap 14 due to a gearbox problem. He was called into the pits by his engineer.
The first pit stops were completed halfway through the race. The leadership in the timing charts briefly changed as both Red Bull cars went in, but they then quickly recovered their 1-2 dominance with Verstappen leading by over 10 seconds to his teammate.
The second stop window began on lap 34 when Perez and Fernando Alonso were called into the pits by their teams. Verstappen and Sainz then followed laps later.
At the back, the Alpines continued struggling and filled the last spots in the charts, with William’s Sargeant ahead of them.
The Mercedes weren’t able to get past Sainz in P5. Lewis Hamilton decided to be conservative with his tires until his second stop, allowing teammate George Russell ahead of him. However, that strategy didn’t quite work the way the 7-time World Champion expected.
Sargeant went off the track at turn 9, but managed to reverse his way from the gravel into the track, although his re-join was rather unsafe. He then fitted new tires straight after.
In the end, it was Verstappen who took victory of the Japanese Grand Prix, with Perez in second and Sainz third.