Japan - Race

The fourth Grand Prix of the year began about as dramatically as it could when the viewers saw a crash in the very first lap. The incident occurred when Alex Albon tried to overtake Daniel Ricciardo and ended with both drivers out of the session. The damage caused to the cars and barriers was severe enough to bring out a red flag. The race continued after a standing restart, which occurred a little more than half an hour after the lights went out for the first time. 

The top remained relatively unchanged for the first few laps, with the first change occurring once Leclerc overtook Hamilton. Verstappen dominated the rest of the field, setting one fastest lap after another and increasing the distance between himself and Perez. At that time a few of the drivers who began the race on soft tyres decided to go in for early pit stops. For a while, it seemed like everything was going smoothly in the Kick Sauber garage, as we saw both their drivers pit with fairly decent cars (4s and 5.4s). Less than a third of the race in, Zhou retired because of a problem with his gearbox. 

Throughout the race, we saw multiple overtakes at varying unexpected points of the track, resulting in a general shakeup in the order of the drivers. By lap 19, the top five consisted of Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Perez, and Russel, with Hamilton and Sainz close behind. Out of the drivers contending for a podium, Leclerc was the only one who decided to go for a one-stop race. He lost the lead to Verstappen and for a while fought to keep P2, however, after a while, he went wide on a turn, giving the Red Bull driver a perfect opportunity for an overtake. 

Then he worked to keep the 3rd place from McLaren's Lando Norris. Both drivers pitted on the same lap. Upon exiting the pit, George Russel managed to separate the two, although not for long since Norris was quick to overtake him. When it comes to the pit lane, what is also worth mentioning is the moment we saw five different cars enter all at once, creating chaos toward the middle of the gird. Yuki Tsunoda was the driver who gained the most from the unexpected situation as, thanks to RBs great pitstop, he was the first out of the five to get back on track. 

The second round of pitstops shook up the order once again. With Verstappen and Perez both pitting earlier than him, Sainz found himself in the temporary lead of the race. It didn't take long for both the Red Bulls to find their way back to the very front of the pack, especially after the Ferrari driver was called to box. Upon returning to the track with a fresh set of hard tires, the Spaniard found himself in 7th, although it wasn't long before he managed to move up to fifth as two Mercedeses were called into the pits. 

Just as the fight for the podium began getting heated, a yellow flag appeared in sector two. It was brought out by Logan Sargeant whose wheel had locked up and who drove onto the gravel. He was able to recover the car and was quickly brought into the pit to bolt on new, soft tires for the last few laps of the race. 

Back at the front, Sainz, whose tires were 10 laps fresher than those of Norris and Leclerc, managed to get past both of them. He was faster, but it should be mentioned that the Monegasque was given a team order not to race his teammate. Alonso found himself in P6 while Russel and Piastri fought for P7, with the Brit even forcing his opponent off track at one point. In the end, Russel managed to overtake Piastri on the very last lap, securing some much-needed points for the team. The last two pointed positions went to Hamilton and Tsunoda, who the Japanese fans were thrilled to see score in his home race. 

Max Verstappen secured his third victory of the season, this time with a 12-second lead over his teammate in P2. The Dutchman also achieved the fastest lap of the race, scoring the maximum of available points points. Ferrari also celebrated as Sainz closed out the podium, and Leclerc not only finished fourth but was also voted 'driver of the day', thanks to his incredible show of tire management. 

Order of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Sergio Perez

3. Carlos Sainz

4. Charles Leclerc

5. Lando Norris

6. Fernando Alonso

7. George Russel

8. Oscar Piastri

9. Lewis Hamilton

10. Yuki Tsunoda

11. Nico Hulkenberg

12. Lance Stroll

13. Kevin Magnussen

14. Valtteri Bottas

15. Esteban Ocon

16. Pierre Gasly

17. Logan Sargeant

DNF Zhou Guanyu, Alex Albon, Daniel Ricciardo