- World champion delivers again after tight battle at the front
- Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez in second place at Suzuka
With four from four, Max Verstappen remains unbeaten over the single lap this season having claimed pole for the Japanese Grand Prix. Imperious at a track for which he has a great affection, the world champion put his Red Bull through its paces at Suzuka with an ease that belies this formidable challenge. With his teammate Sergio Pérez also claiming second, there was an undeniable sense that Red Bull’s early season superiority was confirmed with no little finality in Japan.
Verstappen has taken the top spot at all four meetings this season and he did not look at any time that he had taken his eye off the ball this weekend in Suzuka. He was pushed hard by Pérez who was six-hundredths back but the closest of the rest of the field was McLaren’s Lando Norris, who put in a fine run to take third but was still almost three-tenths off the front two.