World champion Max Verstappen made the most of his surprise pole position when he ended McLaren's early Formula One season dominance with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen's Red Bull had enough race pace to claim a 64th career victory, a fourth in a row in Suzuka, and first of the season ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the latter turning 24 on the day.
The closest McLaren got was in the pit lane when Verstappen and Norris exited almost side by side after getting fresh rubbers. But the champion was slightly ahead and Norris was forced into the grass.
A few accusations flew back and forth but no action was taken.
Victory was a boost for Verstappen and his team in a season where some had predicted that McLaren would run away with the title, and Norris and Piastri had won the first two races.
"There's no better tonic for motivation than winning. Verstappen is like Mr Motivator," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky TV.
The four time reigning champion Verstappen moved within one point of leader Norris in the championship which continues next weekend in Bahrain, but Verstappen said that "we need more" to be a real contender.
Qualifying the key
"Starting on pole made it possible to win," Verstappen said. "This weekend started off quite tough but we didn't give up, kept improving the car. Today it was on its best form."
McLaren agreed they lost the race on Saturday where Verstappen had beat them by less that five hundredths of a second for pole.
"I guess I just lost out yesterday. Max drove a good race today, no mistakes. The pace was too similar today to do anything more," Norris said.
The pit lane incident
Looking at the pit lane incident, he said: "It’s racing. He was still ahead, and Max is the last guy I expect to give me any space ... in a good way, in a racing way."
Verstappen meanwhile quipped in the direction of Norris when the scene was shown on the screen in the cool down room: "That's quite an expensive lawnmower."
The win also came after Red Bull had been in the spotlight for dumping their second driver Liam Lawson after poor results to sister team Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda going the other way.
Tsunoda finished outside the points in 12th and Lawson 17th.
"I'm happy with the race in terms of my performance but in terms of results it's quite tough especially for my home grand prix. I was definitely expecting more, I at least wanted to finish in the points," Tsunoda told Sky.
The race
Verstapped won the start which went without incidents despite some remaining damp patches after earlier rain.
The pit lane incident between Verstappen and Norris provided the biggest drama in a race with little overtaking.
The pit stops swept Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli into the lead, which made the Italian the youngest driver to lead an F1 race at 18 years 224 days. He then also became the youngest driver to claim the fastest lap in a grand prix.
McLaren too cautious?
The original order was restored later, ...
