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Max Verstappen delivered a dominant drive to claim a victory in the recently concluded Japanese Grand Prix. He started from pole, held on to his race lead, and came home as the winner. Following the race finish, Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen's race engineer, took to the team radio to congratulate Verstappen and hail him with a "perfection" tag.
The Red Bull driver had a stunning final flying lap on Saturday, where he got the better of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Starting from the front, the Dutchman made no mistake going into turn 1, and from there on, it was a classy and calculative Max Verstappen who brought the car home.
Once he crossed the Checkered Flag, Verstappen claimed his first victory of the season and 64th of his career. As congratulations began to pour in, it was Verstappen's closest aide in F1, Lambiase, who was the first to hail the four-time world champion.
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Reacting to the win, Lambiase said over the team radio,
"That's perfection, just perfection Max."
Replying to it, Verstappen said:
"Yes, let's go! What a lap."
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, then took on the honor of hailing his driver,
"What a lap Max, unbelievable. You've done it."
Verstappen crossed the finish line in the same order, ahead of Norris and Piastri. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc came home in P4, ahead of the Mercedes duo in P5 and P6.
Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari ended the race in P7, ahead of Isack Hadjar in P8. Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman rounded out the Top 10.
Max Verstappen shared his feelings after emphatic Japanese GP victory
Max Verstappen let his emotions flow in the post-race interview at the Suzuka Circuit. Speaking about how the race was for him, and how he managed to hold on to the lead and finish on top, the Red Bull ace said:
"[Suzuka] means a lot to me. I knew I needed to try and stay ahead, in our final farewell race to Honda in Japan. This is the perfect send off. It is important to maximise your performance, and we did that very well this weekend."
"It was tough, pushing very hard. The two McLarens were pushing me very hard so was a lot of fun out there. I'm incredibly happy. It started out tough this weekend, but we didn't give up, kept improving the car and starting on pole, could win the race," he further added.
Thanks to the victory, Max Verstappen (61) reduced his Championship gap to Lando Norris (62) by just one point. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren extended their lead further to 111 points against Mercedes' 75 points. Formula 1 moves to Bahrain up next for the fourth race of the 2025 season.
