F1: Max Verstappen and Red Bull STORM to win Japanese GP 2024, equals Michael Schumacher's record

Max Verstappen and Red Bull racing bounced back from their “hiccup” in Australian GP as they crushed the opposition enroute to their third win of 2024 Formula 1 season. The win means that Max Verstappen has equaled Michael Schumacher's record of three straight victories at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka International Circuit. 

Sergio Perez finished P2 to seal a 1-2 finish for Red Bull racing. This is the first time in Formula 1 history that two constructors have finished at 1-2 in four consecutive races during a season. 

The race started in dramatic fashion after a massive crash involving Daniel Ricciardo’s RB and Alex Albon’s Williams. The two cars damaged the barrier and a red flag was called in the first lap itself.

After a lengthy delay the race was resumed and Max Verstappen maintained his advantage at the start and put in a dominant drive to inch further ahead in the Drivers Championship. The victory was sweet for both Max and Red Bull as the team bounced back from a horrid show by their standards in Australia where Max was forced to retire the car.

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Ferrari and Carlos Sainz once again put in a splendid drive as the Spaniard came home to complete the podium. Charles Leclerc finished P4 after running a lot of the race on P3 but got pipped by his teammate towards the end.

This marks Sainz’s third visit to the Podium this F1 season and he backed up his race win in Melbourne with another solid outing in Suzuka. If teams weren’t paying attention to signing Carlos for an F1 seat in 2025 then they definitely will do now.

For McLaren and Lando Norris it turned out to be an extremely frustrating affair after starting their race with a lot of promise. Lando was looking certain for a Podium but had no grip during his final stint on the Hard Tyres and lost out to the Ferraris as he finished P5.

Fernando Alonso had another decent outing with Aston Martin as he finished P6. His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll however was left frustrated by having a different setup on his car compared to Alonso as he finished outside of the points in P11.

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It was another dull outing for the Silver Arrows as the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton finished P7 and the Mercedes of George Russel finished P9.

Yuki Tsunoda in his home Grand Prix continued his impressive start to the season as his RB once again finished in points with the final points scoring spot in P10. Tsunoda became the first Japanese driver to finish in points at Suzuka in the last 12 years. 

Daniel Ricciardo crashed out at the start as the pressure continues to mount on Australian. 

Here is the entire race classification for F1 Japanese GP 2024