Max Verstappen joins ‘elite club’ involving Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel after Japanese GP victory
Max Verstappen has joined an Elite Club following his comfortable victory at the Suzuka Circuit on Sunday. The Dutchman claimed his third win of the season, as Red Bull also completed their third 1-2 finish of the season, with Sergio Perez bringing his car home to a P2 finish.
Following his early retirement at the Australian GP, Max Verstappen stamped his authority over the weekend. The three-time F1 champion bagged the pole position, and claimed his third victory of the season. The Red Bull driver now becomes only the fourth driver in F1 history to have led as many as 3,000 laps.
Max Verstappen has established his dominance on the grid over the past couple of years, as he has led most of the races from start to finish. Only Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher have managed to lead more than 3,000 laps in F1.
Max Verstappen claims third victory of the season at the Japanese GP
Max Verstappen is off to a terrific start in the Championship, claiming 76 points from 4 races. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was delighted after a magnificent weekend for the team, after their one-off outing in Australia.
Christian Horner heaped praise on both the drivers for their race management. He applauded Sergio Perez for securing his first front row start in almost a year, and coming through the field in Sunday’s main race. The Chinese GP will take place a couple of weeks from now, as the race returns to the calendar after almost half a decade.
“It was a great team performance today; fastest lap, one-two finish, fastest pit stop and first and second in the championship. is a great achievement that we are very proud of, especially in Japan, where our motorcycle partner Honda has its home base. Max managed to control the race beautifully. He was away from the start and really took good care of the tires. Checo has it did very well here too. His qualifying yesterday was good, better than he has done in his career, and then his race was fantastic. He came through the field, was very strong and kept his pace. A brilliant race from the whole team .That’s great to see,” said Horner.
