© Getty ImagesVictory with Meaning: Max Wins in JapanIt was perfection under pressure as Max claimed victory in Japan, capping off a weekend to remember with a tribute win for Honda.
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After holding his pole advantage over Lando at the start, Max controlled the pace beautifully across the first stint to build a narrow gap to the McLaren driver. After shrugging off a pit exit challenge from the Briton when they made their sole pit stops on the same lap, the defending Champion hit cruise control in the final third to close out a brilliantly executed race.
“That’s perfection. Just perfection Max,” said GP as Max crossed the line.
What an unbelievable weekend! What a great turn around after the difficult start...You see – we never give up. We keep pushing together. Well done, everyone!
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After Max took the lead at the start, in the midfield, Yuki made a solid start from 14th on the grid and the Japanese driver was quickly past former team-mate Liam Lawson and closing up to the back of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. At the front, meanwhile, Max set about trying to build a gap back to the McLarens and by lap five he was 1.4 second clear of Lando, with Oscar almost a second further back.
As the opening stint headed towards the pit window, Oscar was the first of the leaders to blink, and at the end of lap 20 the Australian dived into the pit lane for a set of hard tyres. That prompted the Team to pit Max at the end of the following lap and McLaren immediately responded by pitting Lando.
With new hard tyres onboard, Max was first away from his marks and as he headed towards the pit exit on the fast lane, Lando pulled into the working lane. The McLaren driver tried to push ahead of the Red Bull but the Champion held firm and Lando was forced onto the grass on the right side of the pit exit.
Lando insisted he was alongside, but Max’s response was firm: “He drove himself into the grass”. Race control agreed, and after noting the incident they quickly returned the verdict that no investigation was needed, and Max continued at the head of the field.
Yuki, meanwhile, had been unable to get past Pierre in the first stint and the Team went for the undercut. The Japanese driver pitted ahead of his French rival and by the time Alpine responded, the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver was already past the pit straight and on his way.
With the pit stops out of the way, Max led, just 1.4s clear of Lando, with Oscar another two seconds further back in third. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc held fourth place, five seconds off the lead with Mercedes George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in fifth and sixth places. Yuki, meanwhile, had used his undercut well and was in 12th place, just over a second behind the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Then, with a little under 20 laps to go and with the McLarens close behind, GP came on the radio: “Just to confirm if it wasn’t clear before, we are happy for you to push from here”.
The Champion put his foot down but he couldn’t shake the McLarens and as the race headed for the final 10 laps, it became a case of Max requiring flawless precision if he was keep the charging orange cars at bay. And the champion delivered beautifully. Aided by squabbling between the McLaren drivers – with Lando fighting to keep the hungry Oscar behind – Max put in a perfect final 15 laps to take his first win since last year’s race in Qatar, the 64th of his career and the Teams 123rd victory.
The win capped a strong weekend and, with the stunning Japan special livery on board the RB21, marked a fitting tribute to Honda at the Japanese manufacturer’s final home race with the Team.
“It means a lot to me,” said Max. “It was in the back of my mind as well on those last few laps. I was like, “Well, I need to try and stay ahead – that would be a great story.” Our final, farewell race together with Honda here in Japan. I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved over all those years together. And I think this is like a perfect send-off.”
Behind the top three, Charles was fourth ahead of George and Kimi, while Lewis finished seventh. Isack Hadjar took an impressive eighth place for VCARB ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and the final point went to Haas’ Ollie Bearman. Yuki ended his first race for the Team in 12th place, behind Fernando.
