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RED Bull’s Max Verstappen fended off a race-long challenge from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win the Japanese Grand Prix yesterday.
The Dutchman’s fourth consecutive victory at Suzuka was his first of the year and moves him to within one point of Norris at the head of the drivers’ championship.
Verstappen’s drive was cool under intense pressure, with rarely more than two seconds between him and Norris, and founded on a quite brilliant pole position lap on Saturday.
McLaren had feared that the Red Bull would be difficult to pass if Verstappen held the lead at the start, and so it proved.
Verstappen led the two McLarens for the entire first stint, the three lapping closely together.
There were questions as to why McLaren pitted Piastri first, when it might have made sense to attack Verstappen with Norris making an earlier pit stop, potentially giving the Briton the opportunity to get ahead.
McLaren had already radioed Norris for a “dummy” stop two laps earlier and Norris was within 1.5 seconds of Verstappen – theoretically just about within range of an undercut – on the lap Piastri stopped.
McLaren said they had to pit Piastri because he was at risk of being undercut by Mercedes’ George Russell, who stopped on lap 19 and was quick on his hard tyres.
Verstappen and Norris stopped on the same lap, one later than Piastri, and there was an immediate flashpoint.
As Verstappen and Norris pitted, they were separated by just 1.5 seconds. McLaren’s stop was faster by a second, and as they left the pits the McLaren was halfway alongside the Red Bull.
But Verstappen held his line, and Norris ran out of track, taking to the grass.
Norris complained about Verstappen’s driving, saying he had been pushed off, while Verstappen countered by saying his rival had driven off by himself. The stewards agreed with the four-time world champion.
After the race, Norris said: “He had the position and he had the right to do what he did, so fair play.”
From then on, Norris and Piastri tracked Verstappen for the final 32 laps, with just over two seconds separating them most of the time.
But Norris could not get within a second of Verstappen, and in fact it was Piastri who looked to have the best pace, sometimes closing to within 0.5secs of his team-mate.
Piastri suggested to the team that he felt he had the pace to beat Verstappen – a thinly veiled request to be let past.
But McLaren did not interfere in their battle and the first three drivers crossed the line in the order they had held all race, separated by just 2.2 seconds. Piastri moves into third place in the championship ahead of Russell, and is 13 points behind his team-mate. Verstappen said: “It was tough, just pushing very hard on the last set. The two McLarens were pushing me very hard.
“I’m incredibly happy. It started off quite tough this weekend but we didn’t give up, we carried on improving the car and today it was in its best form. Starting on pole was very important.”- BBC Sport/Sports Reporter.
Online Reporter