Max Verstappen‘s fourth consecutive Japanese Grand Prix victory last weekend was a little different from the three preceding. It was done without the fastest car.
By late 2022, Ferrari‘s early-season pace challenge had faded, as the Red Bull had been put on a diet and very productively developed while the Ferrari had suffered two competitive blows. There had been an enforced turning down of the power units after a couple of catastrophic failures revealed a problem which couldn’t be fixed until the following season. Then there were the tech directives from Spa onward concerning the mounting of the planks, which hurt Ferrari’s ability to control the aerodynamic bouncing, obliging it to run greater ride heights.
Nonetheless, around Suzuka ’22, Charles Leclerc was able to make Verstappen sweat for it in qualifying, lapping to within 0.01sec. In the pouring rain of race day, they duked it out down to Turn 1, Leclerc marginally ahead on the inside but Max sitting it out on the grippier (in the wet) outside line to take up his position at the head of the pack. It was a similar story on the restart as they pulled away from the field at up to 2sec per lap initially, but then the Ferrari’s front tyres gave out and that was that. Verstappen clinched his second consecutive title.
Red Bull’s dominance in ’23 was almost total, with only Singapore not being taken by either Verstappen or team-mate Sergio Perez. That rare defeat (by Carlos Sainz‘s Ferrari) came just a week before Suzuka and had coincided with a new technical directive about flexible bodywork. Rivals were quick to point out the correlation. This just made Verstappen, coming into Suzuka, all the more determined to show the competitive blip had nothing to do with the tech directives. His first flying lap in practice was 1.3sec faster than anyone else’s. He won the race by 20sec.
A fourth consecutive Suzuka win put Verstappen one point behind championship leader Lando Norris
Red Bull
For ’24, the race was switched from its traditional October slot to April. So, not so much had changed between the ’23 and ’24 events. Red Bull’s domination had barely broken stride and Verstappen’s winning margin was again 20sec – this time over Perez in the other RB20. It would have seemed ridiculous to have believed this would be one of the last expressions of Red Bull dominance for a long time. But it was. Max would romp to a comfortable win in China a couple of weeks later, but thereafter Red Bull would lose its fastest car status to McLaren. Dominance can last a long time in F1, but when it goes it can happen fast.
McLaren's dominance came to an end in Japan as Max Verstappen put on a masterclass to show the Woking team's seasons will not be the cakewalk some suspected. Here's how the world champion defeated his rivals
By
Mark Hughes
Coming into last weekend, Red Bull had looked like the fourth-fastest car, competitive with Ferrari and Mercedes but still lagging behind McLaren. It looked something of a handful through the practices but a rethink into Saturday, a stripped-back wing level and a better balance gave Verstappen all he needed to weave his magic. His pole lap was one of his greatest and his conversion of that into victory was flawless.
When a great driver is in the fastest car, dominance is the natural outcome. But when a great driver is squeezing wins from a car it doesn’t deserve on merit, there’s an excitement about the human element making the difference.
Verstappen’s performance at Suzuka last weekend gave that sense, even if the race itself was one of the least eventful in history.
