Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix at a canter to claim Red Bull’s second consecutive Constructors’ championship.

It was an easy afternoon for Verstappen, whose only brief scare came off the line when both McLaren drivers took him side by side into the first turn. Oscar Piastri, starting from the front row, had to yield from the inside line, but Lando Norris swept from third around the outside and threatened to take the lead. Verstappen, however, positioned his car perfectly to force Norris to slot behind him through Turn 2, from where he was uninhibited to build an insurmountable margin.

A brief safety car to clear first-lap debris was only a momentary interruption, with the Dutchman charging to a formidable 19.3s victory. With Ferrari and Mercedes scoring only minor points, Red Bull Racing comfortably secured its sixth teams championship with six rounds remaining for the season.

Max Verstappen dominated the fight for pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of rookie Oscar Piastri, who took his first grand prix front-row start at Suzuka.

Verstappen steamrolled the competition on his way to an advantage of more than half a second at the end of the hour to put his Red Bull team on track to win the constructors championship on Sunday.

The only wrinkle in an otherwise easy day for the Dutchman came in Q1, when Williams rookie Logan Sargeant crashed out of the session without a time, causing an almost 15-minute suspension.

Max Verstappen completed a practice clean sweep of the Japanese Grand Prix but with a reduced margin to Lando Norris in second.

Verstappen left it late to set his final flying lap, logging a 1m30.267s, the fastest time of the weekend so far. But Norris and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were within striking distance in second and third with newfound performance gains the long first sector.

Norris was 0.24s off Verstappen’s pace, with Piastri just 0.048s further back.

Max Verstappen topped second practice at the Japanese Grand Prix with a reduced margin ahead of Charles Leclerc after a clumsy Pierre Gasly crash ended practice early.

Gasly was following teammate Esteban Ocon through the second Degner corner where he understeered off track and through the gravel, where he dragged his left-front wheel along the barriers and snapped his suspension. With less than two minutes left on the clock, the session ended with the flying of red flag to collect the stricken Alpine.

The shortened session was of no consequence to Verstappen, who ended Friday on top with an ultimate time of 1m30.688s, heading Leclerc and the rest of the field by 0.32s.

Max Verstappen set a foreboding pace in an overcast first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix. The Dutchman fired early, taking top spot just minutes into the hour-long session and improving his time with every stint on fresh tires.

The Red Bull driver started on the hards, switched to Pirelli’s experimental medium tire and concluded with a blistering time on the softs. His final time of 1m31.647s blitzed Ferrari’s Singapore Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz by 0.626s, the world champion fastest in every sector in part thanks to a brand-new Honda power unit bolted to the back of his car.

Lando Norris was third quickest for McLaren, 0.745s behind Verstappen after a late lap on fresh softs but 0.182s quicker that Charles Leclerc, who was 0.927s adrift.