Red Bull In Power, Verstappen And Perez Win The Top Podium Of The Japanese GP

(Instagram/@maxverstappen1)

JAKARTA - Max Verstappen showed his class at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, April 7. The three-time world champion is the fastest, ahead of Sergio Perez, Red Bull's second-placed teammate.

Quoting Antara, Verstappen failed to finish at the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago, but he controlled the entire race in Suzuka after starting from pole position and recording his third win of four Grand Prix this season, according to reports from AFP.

The Dutch racer finished with a 12.535 second lead over Perez. Perez himself finished second by beating Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz who was in third place.

Verstappen returned to his best form after experiencing a brake problem in Melbourne, which saw him fail to finish the race for the first time in two years.

He started from pole position for the fourth time in four races this season, and confirmed his dominance in this race by beating Perez since the first corner.

Verstappen said this week that Suzuka is one of his favorite circuits, and he has now won the Japanese Grand Prix three times in a row.

Sainz, who finished third, is ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's racer Lando Norris, is in fifth position, ahead of Fernando Alonso who raced for Aston Martin.

Mercedes driver George Russel outperforms Oscar Piastri to be in seventh place, while Lewis Hamilton is ninth for Mercedes.

Host racer Yuki Tsunoda is in tenth position for Red Bull. He put the points for the first time on a grand Prix at home.

The race was marked by a red flag on the second lap, after racers Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon from Williams collided with each other.

The front wing of the Albon car was caught on the back of the Ricciardo car as they dueled to find the best position, and both hit the barrier wall. After that, the two riders had to get out of the race.

The competition among the remaining riders was then continued, and Verstappen sped up to leave Perez.

Leclerc took the lead after Verstappen was pitted on lap 17 but was able to reclaim the position four laps later.

Verstappen and Perez competed to take the lead, so Norris fought hard to defend the third position of the two Ferrari riders. Unfortunately Norris' wrong decision made the McLaren racer fail to finish on the podium.

Sauber racer Zhou Guanyu had to leave the race due to a Birbox problem on lap 19th.

Formula 1 will resume in two weeks at the Chinese Grand Prix, in Shanghai. That will be the first time Formula 1 has taken place in China since 2019, before the country was not selected to host due to the pandemic.