F1 Today | Verstappen triumphs in Japan as McLaren rue over missed opportunity

22:00, 06 Apr

byToby Nixon

This Sunday, the Japanese Grand Prix took place, and Max Verstappen converted yesterday's blistering pole position into an impressive victory. Just behind him was the McLaren pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. In a hugely busy day of F1 action, catch up with the top stories of the day right here on GPblog.

See the full results for the Japanese Grand Prix by clicking here

Verstappen takes victory at Suzuka

Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix after a commanding performance. The Dutchman won his fourth consecutive race at Suzuka while managing to keep the McLarens, faster on paper, at bay for the entire race. Despite one hairy moment with Lando Norris, Verstappen managed to keep his buffer until the end.

On lap 20, Oscar Piastri pitted for the hard tyres. And at the end of lap 21, Verstappen and Norris came in together. Red Bull took 1 second longer than McLaren, which gave the Briton the illusion of a chance at an overtake. As he went for it, Verstappen did not move, leaving the Briton to end up biting the grass. Despite complaining on the radio, the issue was thrown out by the stewards who deemed no investigation was necessary on the incident.

As the race came to its final stages, Oscar Piastri started attacking teammate Lando Norris. At one point he was even within the DRS range. He then reached out to the team to let him pass, to go fight the win from Verstappen.

However, Norris started to pick up the pace, reeling Verstappen in one-tenth at a time. In the remaining 8 laps the question remained: Had McLaren left the charge too late?

See the full race report here

Norris and Verstappen react to their race incident

As mentioned, Norris and Verstappen early came together during tje Japanese Grand Prix, but both shared a joke about the moment after the race. After the race, in the cool down room, Verstappen, Norris, accompanied by P3 Oscar Piastri, sat down to watch the highlights of the race. The Australian made a reference to the amount of grass the incident between the two had blown up into the air.

Verstappen, upon reviewing the incident several times, quipped to Norris: "That's quite an expensive lawnmower," to which Norris replied: "We had a floor specially made for it!" There's no bad blood between the pair, who are set to battle each other once again at the Bahrain International Circuit next weekend.

Hamilton hoping for Ferrari's improvements

Lewis Hamilton has reflected on his Japanese Grand Prix performance, admitting that he would like to see some positive changes for the next few races with Ferrari. The seven-time world champion finished in seventh place after qualifying in eighth at the Iconic Suzuka Circuit. Despite a sprint win in China, it hasn't been the easiest start to life for Lewis Hamilton at the Italian outfit. The 105-time Grand Prix winner sits in eighth place in the drivers standings, on 15 points.

"I'm happy I moved forward. I think I'm really hoping in the next race we'll see hopefully some positive changes. Through the first three races, there's been a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage on an element of the car," he explained in the paddock. See the Brit's full conclusion by clicking here.