Japanese Grand Prix team by team

SUZUKA, Japan : Team by team review of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, round four of the 24-race season (listed in current championship order):

RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 2)

Max Verstappen secured his third straight victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, with team mate Sergio Perez in second. It was Red Bull's third 1-2 finish in four races this season and sent them 21 points clear of Ferrari.

Verstappen started on pole for the 36th time in his career, with Perez alongside, and cruised to a dominant 57th career win. Perez was also comfortable in second place and pulled off two excellent overtakes at the 130R corner, hurtling past Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in back-to-back laps.

FERRARI (Carlos Sainz 3, Charles Leclerc 4)

Starting in eighth, Charles Leclerc was voted Driver of the Day after executing a one-stop strategy to perfection as he battled it out for 27 laps on mediums before pitting.

Leclerc was unable to keep pace with the Red Bulls but held firm in third place until the 46th lap, when team mate Sainz passed him on a set of fresh hard tyres to finish on the podium.

Sainz did well to cleverly manage his tyres and aggressively chased down McLaren's Lando Norris in the latter stages of the race, before breezing past Leclerc.

MCLAREN (Lando Norris 5, Oscar Piastri 8)

Norris was aiming for a spot on the podium having started third on the grid, but found himself behind Leclerc after pitting on lap 12.

The Briton was frustrated by McLaren's decision to call him into the pitlane right behind Leclerc, which scuppered his plans to overtake the Monegasque.

Piastri looked in line for a seventh-placed finish, but he was unable to hold off a charging George Russell, who overtook him on the straight heading