Max Verstappen: “I’m extremely happy”

Starting from pole position, the Red Bull driver managed the race perfectly, despite heavy pressure from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The start of the race was crucial, with Max Verstappen getting an excellent start to maintain the lead. Throughout the stints, he managed tire degradation and maintained effective race management, especially during pit stops. One of the standout moments was a tense face-off with Lando Norris as they exited the pits, but the Red Bull driver kept his composure and continued to drive with a cool head, despite giving a slight scare to his McLaren rival.

A tight battle with the McLarens

The McLarens, although fast, were never really able to challenge Max Verstappen’s first place, even with aggressive race strategies. His ability to maintain a high pace without making mistakes was a key factor in his victory.

With this victory, Max Verstappen closes in even more on his championship ranking, finding himself just one point behind Lando Norris, who remains the leader. This success in Suzuka demonstrates not only his consistency this season but also his resilience in the face of technical and strategic adversities.

For this race, Red Bull opted for a two-stop strategy with classic tire management, starting with medium tires, followed by medium tire stints, and finally hard tires for the last stint. The goal was to maximize pace at the beginning of the race while maintaining some flexibility to manage tire degradation, especially on a demanding circuit like Suzuka.

At the start, Verstappen had an excellent launch, consolidating his pole position. The first stint was crucial, as the sustained pace allowed him to build a good gap over the McLarens, although they showed great speed. The idea was to manage the medium tires in the first part of the race without pushing too hard, to avoid wearing them out too quickly. The goal was also to prepare for the pit stops without compromising the race pace.

It was difficult, I was pushing really hard. The two McLarens were putting a lot of pressure on me, so it was an intense but very fun race. I am extremely happy. The weekend started badly, but we didn’t give up, we kept improving the car, and starting from pole position, we were able to win the race, he explained.

It’s important to maximize performance, and we did that very well this weekend. [Suzuka] means a lot to me. I knew I absolutely had to stay ahead for this last race with Honda in Japan. It’s a perfect farewell.