P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Max Verstappen secured his third successive Japanese GP victory, becoming the first driver to do so since Michael Schumacher two decades ago.
Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix effortlessly, extending his championship lead over team-mate Sergio Perez to 13 points. Verstappen’s dominance was highlighted by his 57th F1 career victory and his third consecutive win in Japan. The race was marked by intense battles and strategic tire offset maneuvers among the teams behind the Red Bull duo. Carlos Sainz secured third place, with Charles Leclerc impressively finishing fourth on a one-stop strategy. Lando Norris dropped to fifth, while Lewis Hamilton struggled to ninth place, and Yuki Tsunoda scored his first home race points in tenth. Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon’s crash triggered a red flag, causing a 28-minute delay and a standing restart. Despite no changes in the top positions, the crash shuffled the field, impacting drivers like Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso. Mercedes’ strategy to switch Hamilton and Russell to hard tires did not pay off, with Hamilton losing places at the restart.
