2024 F1 Round 4, Japanese GP: Verstappen Makes It Three Straight Suzuka Wins from Pole, Ricciardo and Albon Crash Out on Lap One, Tsunoda Scores First Home Point in Tenth

The 2024 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, round four of the season, concluded after 53 laps at Suzuka on the afternoon of 7 April Beijing time. Starting from pole, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the way to the chequered flag, completing a third consecutive pole-to-win victory at Suzuka and setting the fastest lap. Team-mate Sergio Pérez finished second, 12.535 seconds behind, to secure a Red Bull one-two. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who had reached the podium in every race he had contested so far that season, was third.

As in the previous year, there was a crash on the opening lap. Approaching Turn 3, Daniel Ricciardo’s right-rear wheel made contact with Alexander Albon’s left-front wheel. Both cars went through the gravel and into the barrier, retiring from the race. The red flag was shown while the cars were recovered and the barrier repaired, with the interruption lasting around 28 minutes.

The race resumed with a standing start. Yuki Tsunoda, starting tenth, made a poor getaway and was passed by Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg. He recovered one place when Hülkenberg made a major mistake at the restart, but George Russell passed him on lap five. Tsunoda’s lap-23 pit stop was crucial to his home point: Kevin Magnussen, Bottas, Logan Sargeant and Tsunoda all stopped together while fighting for the final points position, and the RB crew’s efficient tyre change sent him back out ahead of all three rivals. On lap 34, he brilliantly passed Hülkenberg, who was running a different strategy, through the S-curves to move into tenth. He finished there to score his first point at his home Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s two cars showed strong race pace after a disappointing qualifying session. Charles Leclerc used what was effectively a one-stop strategy to climb from eighth on the grid to fourth. Sainz passed his team-mate at Turn 1 on lap 46 to take third. Lando Norris, who had qualified third, was overtaken by both Ferraris and ultimately finished fifth. Fernando Alonso minimised his losses despite a disadvantage in his available tyre sets and finished sixth.

Mercedes’ strategic experiment failed to pay off, leaving Russell seventh and Lewis Hamilton ninth. With four laps remaining, Russell made light contact with Oscar Piastri at the final chicane and was summoned by the stewards after the race over potentially forcing his rival off track. He passed Piastri on the final lap to finish seventh. On lap 42, Sargeant went off at Degner 2 and became stuck in the gravel, briefly bringing out yellow flags. He eventually finished 17th. Zhou Guanyu was called into the pits to retire with a gearbox problem on lap 14.

In contrast to the previous two days, Suzuka was sunny for the race, with an air temperature of 22°C and a track temperature of 40°C. Pirelli supplied its hardest range of tyres, C1 to C3. Among the top ten starters, only Alonso chose soft tyres. Among those starting below 12th, only Magnussen and Zhou used mediums.