Max Verstappen won his fourth Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday and held the McLaren duo from Lando Norris and Oscar Piatri.
It was the first win of the season for Red Bulls Verstappen, the reigning Formula -1 Champion.
Verstappen started from the Pole position on the Suzuka Circuit after Norris, who headed the driver’s driver in qualifying on Saturday, and he spent the entire race on Sunday to hold the McLaren. Verstappen ended 1.4 seconds before Norris.
Norris and Verstappen were apparently in a dead heat when they left a Pitstop, but Norris could not avoid Verstappen when they entered the route again and landed on the grass on the side of the route.
McLaren complained to Race Stewards and said Verstappen had not left any room, but they did not take any measures.
“We didn’t have enough today, nothing special to catch Max and he didn’t make any mistakes,” said Norris. “He pressed me in the Pitlane, but he is the last guy you expect to give you a place – it is running.
“It was a very good weekend, we fight for victory every week, but they deserve it.”
Piatri took third place and was 2.1 seconds back, with a large gap separating the top three from the pack.
Ferraris Charles Leclerc was fourth, 16.1 seconds, followed by the Mercedes couple George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
Verstappen was satisfied with how he managed the pressure of the McLaren team.
“I was pretty quiet,” said the Dutchman. “I’ve been to this position before, but I only tried to concentrate on my own rounds so as not to make mistakes.”
“But we did everything really well and only very satisfied with this result,” he added. “And then of course with this pit track, yes, it was tight.”
He said he was happy to get the best out of his performance.
“I only have very hard, especially on the last sentence (from tires),” he said. “The two McLarens pushed me very hard and it was a lot of fun out there.
“Of course not easy to manage the tires, but I’m incredibly happy. It started pretty hard this weekend, but we didn’t give up, we have improved the car again and again and today it was in its best shape. Of course it was really possible to win this race.”
After three races, Norris has 62 points for Verstappen 61.
In the team race, McLaren has 111 points on 75 for Mercedes and 61 for Red Bull.
-Media on the Level field
