How Japanese Grand Prix unfolded

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A return to winning ways for championship leader Max Verstappen after his disappointment in Melbourne last time out.

Round five of the 2024 season arrives at the Shanghai International Circuit after a four-year hiatus for the Chinese Grand Prix.

This may be a good thing, it may be a bad thing, but the next race is a sprint weekend - the first of six this campaign.

Set your alarms for 04:30 BST on Friday, 19 April for the only practice session teams and drivers will get. And remember, the order has slightly changed for this year's sprint events.

Sprint qualifying will take place on a Friday and the sprint race will be the first track action on Saturday, before qualifying for the main grand prix.

Thanks for joining us, folks. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

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BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson is ready to answer your questions after the Japanese Grand Prix.

You might have thoughts on the opening crash between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon. What impact does another crash have on Williams? Will this incident harm Ricciardo's chances of keeping his seat for the 2025 season?

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Keep an eye out for the replies early next week.

Lando Norris finished in fifth after starting in third, he told Sky Sports: "It was a tough race I think comparing to those guys who had better pace, compared to the Ferraris was not enough so I think everything just fell back in line, in terms of Red Bull, Ferrari, us. It doesn't feel great which is a shame when you start third and just go backwards and just fighting a bit of a losing battle between these guys because they can just go longer."

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Red Bull's one-two today gives the constructors' champions a 21-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari in second.

McLaren stay in third, 35 points clear of Mercedes in fourth spot and Aston Martin sit in fifth position, one point off the Silver Arrows.

That home point for Yuki Tsunoda puts RB onto seven.

1. Red Bull - 141

2. Ferrari - 120

3. McLaren - 69

4. Mercedes - 34

5. Aston Martin - 33

6. RB - 7

7. Haas - 4

8. Williams - 0

9. Sauber - 0

10. Alpine - 0

Japan has delivered Max Verstappen a boost to his title defence, as the Red Bull driver also collected the extra point for fastest lap. Team-mate Sergio Perez jumps back into second place, 13 points behind Verstappen, after his runners-up spot at Suzuka.

Another podium finish for Carlos Sainz isn't quite enough to move him clear of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, but the gap between the pair is just four points.

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 77

2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) - 64

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 59

4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) - 55

5. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 37

6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 32

7. George Russell (Mercedes) - 24

8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) - 24

9. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 10

10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - 9

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Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who finished in third: “I had a good race to be honest I’m very happy, it was quite tough out there with the degradation but then suddenly the clouds came and the degradation went a lot lower and suddenly I felt that maybe a one-stop was quicker, we were on the two and I had to overtake a lot of cars today and yeah overtaking was tricky. Always at Suzuka you have to nail the last chicane to get a good run into Turn One, I could finish my moves but it was tough out there.”

On the tyres and track conditions, he added: “Honestly I thought it was on but I thought it was going to be very difficult to get back to fourth, or P3 with how tricky it was to overtake the Mercedes on the second stint and how close it was to follow, I knew I needed a very big delta to approach Lando and Charles and in the end we managed.

"We were really quick on that hard tyre, I liked how it gave me good feelings to push, and I could get the moves done and get that podium.”

On racing in China in a two weeks’ time, he said: “I think it’s going to be a tough weekend for everyone when you do a Sprint to a track that we haven’t been to in four or five years, only one hour of practice is going to be a challenge.”

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Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who finished second at the Japanese Grand Prix: "It was a good weekend for the team first of all. Doing the restart again, it's always hard to keep focus for such a long period of time.

"My second start was just a little bit better, just not enough to get Max. I think we paid the price a little bit, we were a little bit off-balance, we couldn't keep it alive. We were undercut by Lando.

"I had to push so much on the medium stint, but on the hard stint i was a bit more comfortable. I think I suffered a bit from that first stint.

"We are in a good momentum, last year here was probably my worst weekend. I think if we are strong in places like this, we can be strong anywhere else. It's been a good weekend."

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who wins the Japanese Grand Prix: “It was very nice I think the critical bit was the start to stay ahead but the car got better and better for me throughout the race, it maybe had to do with the clouds coming in but it was very nice, everything went really well, pit-stops went well, strategy. It couldn't have been any better.”

On the car being unstoppable and after the retirement in Australia, he added: “It was a little hiccup in the last race but very happy that we are here back on top, great fans in front of Honda as well, it’s fantastic of course to win here.”

On the first sprint of the year, he said: “It’s going to be quite hectic with any way with the Sprint weekend but then of course we haven’t been there for a while, only one practice session to really get into it again and I think it will be quite interesting.”

How would you rate the Japanese Grand Prix? Let us know via the little thumbs at the bottom of this entry.

While you give us your opinion, let's have a look at what the top three had to say...

Here comes the champagne! The three drivers celebrate on the podium, soaked in the sparkly stuff, while the Red Bull crew below toast Max Verstappen's 57th career victory.

Three consecutive pole positions and victories for Max Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix. That retirement in Australia two weeks ago hasn't put a dampener on the Dutchman's season.

Our top three are sitting in the cooldown room, watching the highlights of today's race. The replay of the opening-lap crash between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon is shown on screen and Verstappen observes: "You can see Daniel looking at the left side".

Sorry, Spanish national anthem. It's back to the Dutch theme.

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11. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

12. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

13. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

14. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

15. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

16. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

17. Logan Sargeant (Williams)

DNF. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

DNF. Alex Albon (Williams)

DNF. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Lando Norris (McLaren)

6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

7. George Russell (Mercedes)

8. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

9. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

10. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)

It always is super special in Japan, the fans absolutely love it and they might have not of had a battle for the win but there was certainly a great battle for the final place of the podium.

The incident between George Russell and Oscar Piastri towards the end of the race is going to be investigated by the stewards.

Yuki Tsunoda the Japanese home hero gives the fans something to get up on their feet and smile and cheer about as he takes one precious point for RB.

Fourth place goes to Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris is in fifth and Fernando Alonso avoids any late overtakes and seals sixth position.

There was contact I think George won't be owed the place back there, he did make contact with Piastri, it was a really late move. Oscar did give him space in the inside and George did make contact with the McLaren and sent him wide.

I love Fernando Alonso, he's just so intelligent and so clever, I reckon he's possibly almost backed Oscar some way into George Russell because now Fernando is gone laughing up the road, he's opened up a slight gap.