Max Verstappen dominated proceedings to rebound from his retirement last time out and win Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix to lead a dominant Red Bull 1-2 finish.
The Dutchman survived two standing starts to triumph at Suzuka for the third successive season, with team-mate Sergio Perez second and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third.
Each team had saved tyres in the expectation that the race would be a two-stop and that was bound to be the case as the track temperature ramped up to 40 degrees.
The Medium and Hard compounds were set to be the preferred choice in race conditions, but Aston Martin utilised the Soft tyres that Fernando Alonso had available.
Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Logan Sargeant also opted for the Softs, with the rest on the Medium rubber.
At the start, Verstappen executed a fine launch from the line to pull clear of Perez, who slotted into second ahead of Lando Norris to preserve Red Bull’s 1-2 status.
Behind the leading trio, the order in the top nine had remained unchanged, but there was a huge incident at the back as Albon and Daniel Ricciardo’s RB came to blows.
Ricciardo had been cautious at Turn 1 and in his bid to keep Stroll behind on the approach to Turn 3 hadn’t caught Albon cutting back underneath on the right-hand side.
The finest touch resulted in the pair ending up together in the wall, bringing an end to their respective races and the first red flag of 2024 to repair the damaged barrier.
The Australian had been compromised at the opening turn when his slow-starting team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had endured a slow start, seeing him drop from 10th to 12th.
Haas was bidding to make it three points finishes in succession and Hulkenberg had optimised his Softs in the opening corners to become the occupant of 10th place.
Although the opening lap had not been completed, the FIA could define a starting grid based on the data provided from the drivers passing through the first timing zone.
The stoppage also presented the drivers with the chance to change compounds, allowing the chance for the likes of Alonso and Hulkenberg to revert from the Soft tyre.
However, both teams elected to keep their drivers on Softs. But there were changes elsewhere, with the two Mercedes’ switching to the Hards and Tsunoda to the Soft.
Following a 30-minute interruption, Verstappen led the cars out of the pit lane to conduct a second out lap that would take all the drivers to the grid for a standing restart.
Once again, the Red Bulls made a formation start approaching Turn 1 ahead of Norris and Sainz as both Mercedes cars went backwards on the Hard compound tyre.
Charles Leclerc, who was bidding to rebound from a disappointing weekend, edged past Lewis Hamilton, while Tsunoda demoted George Russell back to 10th position.
But the natural pace of their respective cars witnessed Russell regain the place into Turn 1 on Lap 4, putting him behind his team-mate and in touch with the leading pack.
The next lap around saw Stroll continue his ascent up the order to 12th place as he used the aid of DRS down the start-finish straight to pass Ocon’s Alpine into Turn 1.
Perez had slipped outside one second to his team-mate and a wide moment at Degner 1 due to understeer cost him a further second to give Verstappen breathing room.
Hulkenberg became the first driver to venture into the pits to discard the Softs for the Hard compound, prompting Sauber to respond on consecutive laps with its drivers.
The Hinwil-based squad avoided a repeat of the wheel nut problem that had plagued it across the first three rounds, with Bottas leapfrogging Tsunoda’s RB once he pitted.
Verstappen had been complaining about his RB20 switching between oversteer and understeer but that was not hampering his progress as he stretched his lead to 2.9s.
Norris had dropped near 3s behind Perez as Sainz reported over the radio that his ex-team-mate was struggling, with Leclerc beginning to pressure the second McLaren.
However, Leclerc’s endeavours to mount an overtake were thwarted as Oscar Piastri moved into DRS range on Alonso, who was still continuing to circle on the Soft tyre.
McLaren responded to its degradation concerns with a pit stop for Norris at the end of Lap 11 and a 2.3s stop from the crew boosted his chances of protecting third place.
Piastri came in the next time around to cover a possible undercut attempt from Ferrari, promoting Leclerc to close on Alonso, who had become detached from Sainz’s rear.
Hamilton had been lacking pace and with Russell remaining within a second of his team-mate, the seven-time champion had queried whether the two should switch places.
Mercedes obliged with those comments and informed Hamilton to let Russell through on Lap 14, while Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu retired from the race for a gearbox issue.
Perez and Sainz both pitted at the end of Lap 15, but McLaren’s earlier stop had got Norris ahead of the Red Bull despite the Austrian outfit servicing its driver in 2.1s.
Norris had latched onto Hamilton, who had reported troubles with understeer, and the McLaren driver swung round the outside of the Mercedes into Turn 1 for fourth.
Perez committed a brave overtaking move on Hamilton into the high-speed 130R on the next lap, while the race leader had pitted for the first time and came out second.
The Mexican’s overtaking exploits were not done as he repeated that move on the other Mercedes one lap later, with a replica move on the inside at the left-handed 130R.
Mercedes’ strategic gamble to run long on the more durable Hard compound was not proving to be beneficial at this stage as Sainz became the next to demote Hamilton.
Verstappen had closed on Leclerc at a rapid rate with fresher rubber and used DRS to pull alongside the Ferrari before sweeping past into the first turn to seize the lead.
Hamilton had complained that a change was needed right as Alonso blasted past, while Sainz had overhauled Russell on the approach to Spoon Curve moments before.
Mercedes cut short its extended stint with Russell pitting at the end of Lap 22 and Hamilton following a lap later, with both going onto another set of the Hard compound.
Leclerc remained ahead of Perez into Turn 1 on Lap 26 but ran wide at the first Degner and allowed the Red Bull through, with Norris now right on his tail in a fight for third.
Both teams decided to pit that lap. Ferrari posted a two-tenth faster stop than McLaren, which saw Leclerc emerge in clear air as Norris ended up behind Russell in eighth.
However, Norris wasted no time in displacing Russell and remaining in touch with Leclerc in the battle for a net third as he surged past Russell around the outside of Turn 1.
Leclerc’s remarkable run to a potential one-stop race had put him in place to secure a potential podium once the cars ahead – including his team-mate – pitted once more.
Piastri was stationed in front of Leclerc but McLaren opted not to use the Australian as a possible roadblock to help his team-mate close on the Ferrari as he stopped.
Perez had come out behind Norris once he made his second stop but made a simple pass using DRS on the approach to Turn 1 and then repeated that move on Leclerc.
Sainz’s pace had begun to slow on his ageing rubber and he pitted for the final time at the end of Lap 36, returning to the track in seventh, behind Hamilton’s Mercedes.
The Spaniard, who was aiming to climb back through towards a potential podium place, dispatched the man replacing him at Ferrari in 2025 with DRS into the first turn.
Sainz was on a charge and was told that he would not be held with team orders provided he could get past Norris, who was in a Ferrari sandwich in the battle for third.
Logan Sargeant had been running an encouraging race until his car got upset on the kerb approaching Degner 1 and he ran wide into the gravel and dropped to last place.
Norris had a wide moment at Turn 11, providing the chance for Sainz to use DRS to overtake the McLaren going into Turn 1, then took third from Leclerc a few laps later.
Russell on the Medium compound had closed on Piastri and attempted a late dive into the final chicane that resulted in the McLaren using the run-off to keep seventh.
The FIA Stewards noted Russell for forcing another car off the track, but Piastri had remained ahead and then defended to the inside line at Turn 1 to retain his position.
Piastri had run wide into the chicane at the end of the penultimate lap and that enabled Russell to be close enough onto the final lap to edge ahead into Turn 1 with DRS.
Verstappen had held concerns over Red Bull’s race runs through practice, but he was unopposed as he sauntered to a third win of 2024 to extend his championship lead.
Perez trailed 12s further back and was pipped to the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race, with Sainz making it three podiums from three for him to start the season.
Norris was unable to repeat his podium exploits from last term as he settled for fifth, with Alonso securing a sixth-place finish as the sole Aston Martin driver in the points.
Mercedes had encountered a challenging race once again, but Russell capitalised on Piastri’s mistake to seize seventh, with Hamilton struggling to ninth place at Suzuka.
Despite an eventful race, Tsunoda converted his top-10 starting position into a point on home soil for the first time to complete the drivers who scored in the Japanese GP.
