Verstappen Bounces Back to Take Dominate Japanese Grand Prix Victory
It was both a simply lovely and straightforward afternoon for Max Verstappen as the 3-time World Champion bounced back in style to take victory at Suzuka! Sergio Perez completed a 1-2 for Red Bull whilst Carlos Sainz made it 3 Podiums from 3 to continue his impressive start to the season.
The Biggest Talking Points
Max Verstappen got off the line well and the same could be said for most of the 20 drivers. However, a collision between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon saw both men crash into the wall at Turn 3 which ultimately resulted in a Red Flag being brought out. If I was to blame anyone, it would be Danny Ric in this scenario. However, as it’s a first-lap incident, I’m willing to be a bit more lenient. When the race got back underway the second time, Max once again got off the line well and all the action tended to come from Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were getting breezed past by their faster rivals. Behind this, there were plenty of good battles between Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant, and more before most drivers made their first pitstops. Zhou Guanyu was also forced to retire early on with gearbox issues, so his frustrating start to the year continues! Nearly everyone was on 2 stops besides Charles Leclerc, and arguably the biggest talking point of this race came when McLaren decided to pit Lando at the same time as Charles, meaning Leclerc had effectively “jumped” Norris by doing one less stop.
Towards the end of the Race, Carlos Sainz came flying back through on his offset strategy and it ultimately allowed Sainz to easily pass both Norris and teammate Leclerc to move back into the Podium places. We then got George Russell quickly catching both Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri, and quite geniusly, Alonso kept Piastri in DRS range in order to help Oscar stay ahead of George. In the end, a mistake on the penultimate lap by Piastri allowed Russell through and into P7 anyway, but it was still brilliant by Fernando either way!
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve only given out one 10 for today’s Grand Prix and that is obviously for Max Verstappen. Max dominated today’s proceedings, which included 2 Race starts which deserves a lot of praise (even if he does win almost all the time). I also thought Carlos Sainz had a great Race for scoring yet another Podium whilst Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, and Yuki Tsunoda all had really good Races (even if things didn’t go to plan for all of them).
Drivers who had a Shocker
Amazingly, I haven’t given out a single 1 for today’s Australian Grand Prix. However, I still thought that Pierre Gasly and Logan Sargeant had disappointing days, especially Logan who made a silly mistake late on, whilst Esteban Ocon also confirmed Alpine’s struggles are still very much there!
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10 (FL)
Sergio Perez: 8
Carlos Sainz: 9
Charles Leclerc: 8
Lando Norris: 8
Fernando Alonso: 8
George Russell: 6
Oscar Piastri: 5
Lewis Hamilton: 4
Yuki Tsunoda: 8
Nico Hulkenberg: 7
Lance Stroll: 4
Kevin Magnussen: 5
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Esteban Ocon: 3
Pierre Gasly: 2
Logan Sargeant: 2
Zhou Guanyu: - (DNF)
Daniel Ricciardo: - (DNF)
Alex Albon: - (DNF)
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