Sports

Dominant … ferocious Verstappen in Suzuka, Red Bull also champion in the manufacturers

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After fifth place in Singaporewhere he missed the podium for the first time this year, o Max Verstappen showed who is the ultimate boss in Japanese Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver dominated from start to finish taking his 13th win in 16 races this year of the championship. At the same time, he gave his team the constructors’ title from now on, since the difference that exists (318 points) is impossible for Mercedes to cover in the remaining races. This was Red Bull’s sixth constructors’ title and second in a row.

Excellent image from the McLarenwho completed the podium, with Lando Norris to be second for the second race in a row, while the young Australian Oscar Piastri he climbed to the podium for the first time in his career, with the third place he took. THE Charles Leclerc was fourth, o Lewis Hamilton he defended to the end the fifth place from Carlos Sainzwhile o George Russell he finished seventh, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gaslywho completed the rated ten.

There are six more matches left to complete the league and the next one will take place on October 8 in Qatar.

The race

The start was quite episodic, since Verstappen may have defended the first place he had from pole position, but behind him followed… chaos. Perez and Hamilton both saw their cars touch their wheels, with the Briton off the track, while both Alfa Romeos suffered damage, with Bottas undergoing a full-time pit stop. After the safety car came in for around three laps to clear the track of debris, Verstappen consolidated his lead ahead of the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri, with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Saint following.

The champion opened his gap to two seconds, the moment Bottas entered the pits again and was forced to retire for good on the seventh lap, telling the team radio that his car was no longer drivable. Peres had the same fate on the 13th lap, after contact with Magnussen and having received a five-second penalty for illegal entry into the race after a pit stop. Hamilton, who had lost ground in the first laps, managed to recover it and climb sixth, while in fourth place climbed the second Mercedes, of Russell, which began to threaten Piastri and Norris to get on the podium.

Entering the final ten laps of the race, Verstappen had extended his lead to over 16 seconds counting down for his 13th championship win. Norris looked to have cornered second place, with interest focused on positions 3-7 where Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton and Carlos Sainz battled it out for the final podium spot, all five seconds apart. McLaren’s young Australian made history with his first podium, ahead of Leclerc who was fourth, while Hamilton was fifth ahead of Saint and Russell seventh.

The standings at Suzuka:

The drivers rating:

Japanese Grand Prix: Verstappen wins

The manufacturers rating:

Japanese Grand Prix: Verstappen wins

Source: Sport Fm

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