2023 F1 Japanese GP results: Max Verstappen wins

Verstappen’s lead was challenged on the run to the first corner by the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri but he clung on to his advantage and dominated from there.

Piastri got ahead of Norris when he benefited from a virtual safety car while in the pits, but Norris was faster in the middle stages of the race, so McLaren swapped their positions.

Mercedes’ George Russell looked to be a threat to McLaren’s 2-3, due to gambling on a one-stop strategy, but was passed in the late stages by Piastri, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).

2023 F1 Japanese Grand Prix results

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Laps	Gap
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	53	-
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	53	-19.387
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	53	-36.494
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	53	-43.998
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	-49.376
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	53	-50.221
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	53	-57.659
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	53	-1'14.725
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	53	-1'19.678
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	53	-1'23.155
11	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	52	-
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	52	-
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	52	-
14	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	52	-
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	52	-
-	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	26	-
-	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	22	-
-	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	20	-
-	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	15	-
-	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	7	-

How the 2023 F1 Japanese Grand Prix unfolded

Polesitter Verstappen, who started on mediums like most of the top 10, was almost beaten to the first corner by the fast-starting McLarens of Piastri and Norris, the latter sweeping through to second ahead of his team-mate.

The safety car was required almost immediately, as a clash between Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Alex Albon (Williams) before the first turn left debris strewn all over the track, which also damaged Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) also touched in a four-wide moment with the Ferraris, which caused Perez to pit for a new front wing.

Leclerc held fourth from Sainz, with soft-shod Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) getting ahead of Hamilton – who had sustained slight damage – and Russell (Mercedes).

A lap after the restart, Russell and Hamilton swapped places at the chicane and Turn 1, while Bottas was punted into a spin at the hairpin by the other Williams of Logan Sargeant.

Alonso pitted on lap 12, switching from softs to hards, while Perez’s recovery drive – which already included a 5s penalty for a safety car infringement – ended soon after he smashed into Kevin Magnussen’s Haas at the hairpin.

Piastri pitted from third on lap 14, just as a brief virtual safety car was required to allow track cleaning.

Under green, Verstappen pitted on lap 17 for more mediums, as Norris stayed out to lead for a lap from the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz. Norris and Leclerc stopped a lap later, with Norris falling back behind Piastri due to the Australian’s VSC pitstop advantage.

Sainz led for a lap before pitting, and then Russell inherited the lead for half a lap before Verstappen regained top spot at the hairpin. Sainz passed Alonso at Spoon, and Hamilton overtook the struggling Alonso with a brave move at 130R.

Russell was the last of the frontrunners to stop on lap 25, going for a one-stop strategy, dropping to ninth. Verstappen was 11s clear of Piastri by half distance, with Norris – who set fastest lap at this point despite running hards – running right behind his team-mate.

McLaren swapped the cars over on lap 27, although it appeared to take a lap for Piastri to comply, much to Norris’s chagrin.

Leclerc and Hamilton pitted again on lap 35, with Piastri stopping a lap later and Norris the tour after that. Verstappen made his final stop on lap 38, setting fastest lap to lead by over 15s from Norris, with Sainz stopping with 15 laps to go.

The fresher-tyred Piastri grabbed third from Russell around the outside of Turn 1 on lap 42, and Leclerc did likewise a couple of laps later to take fourth.

Hamilton and Sainz caught Russell with five laps to go, with Russell being ordered to give up fifth to Hamilton. Sainz passed Russell a lap later for sixth.

Verstappen won by 19s from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz and Russell, which wrapped up the constructors’ championship for Red Bull.

2023 F1 Japanese Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Km/h
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'34.183		221.963
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'35.247	1.064	219.484
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'35.611	1.428	218.648
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'36.187	2.004	217.339
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1'36.328	2.145	217.021
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'36.362	2.179	216.944
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1'36.371	2.188	216.924
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'37.203	3.020	215.067
9	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	1'37.250	3.067	214.963
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	1'37.398	3.215	214.636
11	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'37.653	3.470	214.076
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'37.768	3.585	213.824
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'37.791	3.608	213.774
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1'37.842	3.659	213.662
15	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'38.267	4.084	212.738
16	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	1'38.848	4.665	211.488
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'39.050	4.867	211.057
18	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	1'39.185	5.002	210.769
19	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'39.704	5.521	209.672
20	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	2'02.755	28.572	170.300