Max Verstappencontrolled the Japanese Grand Prix to take a comfortable victory ahead of team mate Sergio Perez at Suzuka.
The Red Bull driver extended his championship lead by bouncing back from his retirement at the previous round in Australia in winning style.
Perez finished over 10 seconds behind his team mate in second, while Carlos Sainz Jnr took the final podium position in third after passing Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc in the closing laps.
A crash at the start between Daniel Ricciardo and Alexander Albon on the opening lap sent both cars into the barriers at turn three, bringing out a red flag. The race was suspended for around half an hour, before a second standing start resumed the race on lap three with the top six drivers on the grid all retaining their positions.
Much warmer track temperatures than the opening two days of the weekend led to tyre degredation being high, with the majority of the field making at least two green flag pit stops. Verstappen controlled his pace comfortably out front, taking the chequered flag over ten seconds ahead of Perez for his third win of the season.
Sainz was around 10 seconds behind Perez at the finish, while Leclerc finished in fourth after being the only driver in the top ten to make just one stop after the restart. Lando Norris finished fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso in sixth and George Russell in seventh after passing Oscar Piastri for the position on the final lap.
Lewis Hamilton came in ninth after allowing his fellow Mercedes driver by early in the grand prix. Yuki Tsunoda claimed the final point in 10th to score his first top ten finish at home. Zhou Guanyu was the only other retirement after the restart, being stopped by his Sauber team with a gearbox problem.
Verstappen claimed the bonus point for fastest lap, meaning his lead in the championship has increased to 13 points over Perez, who has moved up to second ahead of Leclerc.
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix
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