‘Spectacular’ Verstappen a certain for fourth straight title
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insists Max Verstappen’s fourth consecutive title is already a foregone conclusion after the Red Bull driver cruised to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen returned to winningways in dominant fashion as the reigning drivers’ champion triumphed atSuzuka.
Having retired last time out in Australia, it was normal service resumed for the dutch man as he led home a Red Bull one two with sergio perez finishing second.
Verstappen twice led into the first corner off the line after the race was restarted following a first-lap incident which saw both da ni elricciar do and alex Albon crash out after making contact.
From there, Verstappen controlled the pace and the result never looked in doubt, as he took the cheque red flag and the fastest lap to open up a 13-point lead at the top of the drivers' championship.
His brake failure in Melbourne aside, Verstappen has looked imperious in the opening four rounds of 2024.
In what is formula one’ s longest-ever
season there are still 20 races remaining, but Wolff was in no doubt that he feels Verstappen will once again be untouchable.
“No one is going to catch Max this year,” he said.
“His driving and the car are just spectacular. You can see the way he manages the tyres and basically this season now is best of the rest.
“If I was to look from a pure sporting point of view it is P1 what matters, not P 2, P 3 or P 4 but this is the reality that we are facing at the moment.
“We’ re trying to do thebes tout
of this new reality and that is to beat our competitors whilst acknowledging that somebody is just doing a better job and setting the benchmark that we eventually need to set ourselves again.”
Wolff’s prediction of another year of Red Bull dominance was brushed aside by opposing team principal Christian Horner.
Horner and Wolff have history as rivals and have never been shy of mixing words.
“It’s very early to write off the year,” Horner said.
“There’ s still 20 races togo. i’ ve learned not to listen too much to what to to says over the years.
“It was great to bounce back after thednf in australia, after such a great start to the season, it was important to bounce back quickly.
“I think that we’ve done that emphatically here at Suzuka this weekend. It's a great performance.”
V er st a pp en, meanwhile, took the statement in a lighter mood: “Lately Toto’s been really nice! Saying a lot of nice things about me.”
Meanwhile, car loss ainz took the last step on the podium with a strong strategy from Ferrari enough for him to leapfrogl an do Norris, withMc la r en misjudging a call top it the Brit on early for his final stop.
A strong showing from Ferrarisaw the sister car of charles Leclerc come home fourth ahead of Norris, Fernando Al on so hung onto take sixth for Aston Martin with a late push from George Russell seeing him pass the second Mclaren of Oscar Piastri on the closing lap to secure seventh.
Lewis hamilton had said after qualifying that his Mercedes felt better than it had in the last three years but he struggled for genuine pace and dropped back through the field during his first stint, eventually having to settle for ninth.