Max Verstappen dominated 2023 Japanese Grand Prix to wrap up the 2023 Constructors’ title for Red Bull.
Verstappen led from lights to flag to secure the Constructors’ title for Red Bull ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who secured McLaren a first double podium finish since 2021 Italian GP.
Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez meanwhile retired from the race with damage following two separate incidents, which all but mathematically ended his title ambitions.
Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten, with only Russell on an one-stop tyre strategy.
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen now holds a 177-point lead over Perez and can seal the title with a podium finish in the Qatar Sprint next month, whilst Hamilton leads Alonso by 16 points in their scrap for third place.
Norris moved above Russell into seventh position in the standings, whilst Piastri has risen up to ninth with his third-placed finish in Suzuka.
At lights out, Verstappen swept across from pole position to cut off a fast-starting Piastri which allowed Norris a run into Turn 1, but Verstappen had the correct line to hold his lead ahead of the McLaren pair.
Mayhem however ensured behind as Sainz and Leclerc squeezed Perez who nudged Hamilton wide as the latter pair picked up damage, whilst Guanyu Zhou hit Alex Albon which caused the Safety Car to be deployed due to debris.
Alonso meanwhile was one of seven drivers to gamble on a soft tyre start rather than medium tyres and immediately benefitted from the chaos to climb to sixth.
Zhou, Albon, Sargeant and Perez all pitted under the Safety Car which ended on Lap 5, with Verstappen comfortably leading everyone back racing, although Valtteri Bottas got spun at Turn 11 by Logan Sargeant which ultimately ended their races with damage.
Perez meanwhile received a five-second time penalty for overtaking Albon upon rejoining the track, which wouldn’t be his only penalty after he spun Magnussen at Turn 11 on the inside on Lap 12, in a clash which left his car undrivable despite rejoining to serve his second penalty.
Up front, Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and Alonso was the first soft tyre runners to pit whilst Piastri became the first driver in the top three to pit, as he stopped on Lap 14 and rejoined in eighth as the Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed on that lap.
Piastri eventually was able to undercut Norris when the Brit pitted on Lap 18 but neither driver were able to mount much challenge to Verstappen, who cruised to victory unchallenged despite on a two-stop strategy.
McLaren however found themselves in a mid-race conundrum as Norris had the better race pace and asked to pass his Australian teammate on Lap 25 but had to fight for one further lap, before Piastri allowed him past at the start of Lap 27.
Russell meanwhile was on an one-stop strategy which saw him switch from medium to hard tyres on Lap 25. and he briefly led on Lap 19 as Sainz pitted from the lead after Verstappen had stopped two laps earlier.
His tyre gamble however failed to pay off for Russell as the two-stop strategy proved best at dealing with the high tyre degradation, which eventually saw him finish seventh despite holding Hamilton up for two laps until his teammate and Sainz got through for fifth and sixth on Laps 49 and 50.
Alonso eventually was the only initial soft tyre runner to finish in the top ten after he managed an eighth-placed finish, in spite of a pit stop timing strategy error which limited his chances to fight Mercedes towards the end of the race.
Alpine’s Ocon and Gasly rounded out the top ten ahead of AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson, who might of drove his final race with Daniel Ricciardo set to return in Qatar.
F1 now heads to Qatar across weekend of 6-8 October where Verstappen can wrap up the title with a podium finish in the Sprint Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 53 | 1h 30m 58.421 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 53 | + 19.387 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 53 | + 36.494 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 53 | + 43.998 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 53 | + 49.376 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 53 | + 50.221 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 53 | + 57.659 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 53 | + 74.725 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 53 | + 79.678 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 53 | + 83.155 |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romo | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Alex Albon | Williams | 26 | Damage |
| RET | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 22 | Damage |
| RET | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 20 | Rear Wing |
| RET | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 15 | Damage |
| RET | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 7 | Damage |
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