Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the 2023 Japanese in what began as a moderately contested race but eventually wound up being a snoozefest for Verstappen as the McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were a distant second and third, respectively, to finish out the podium places.
Verstappen began the race on pole position and immediately was put under pressure by both Norris and Piastri but was able to fend off both of them briefly as tire degradation played an early factor on the warm day in Suzuka and shuffled the order of the podium positions between Verstappen, Norris, Piastri and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Jr. along with the Mercedes of seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and his teammate, George Russell.
But by Lap 20, Verstappen reclaimed the lead and never relinquished it for the remainder of the race with Norris finally claiming second position on Lap 40 and never relinquishing that spot with Piastri joining him on Lap 43 and holding that spot for the last laps of the race.
With the victory, Red Bull officially clinches the 2023 team title while Verstappen extends his leads in the driver’s championship to 177 points – 400 points to teammate Sergio Perez’s 223 points – as Hamilton remains in third with 188 points.
