07/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "Today was simply lovely and I really enjoyed the race.
"We stayed out of trouble in the first lap and from there, we tried to look after the tyres as much as possible. We made the right calls before we went into qualifying, which definitely helped today and it is very nice to come back and win after Australia. The car just got better throughout the race and, although it took a few laps before I got a nice rhythm as we didn't have many practices on the long runs, on the second stint the car really came alive. I could push where I needed to and I could look after my tyres well, so the race went really nicely. It was a great Team result the whole weekend and brilliant to score a one two here: our third of the season. Suzuka is always a great track to go racing at and overall I am really happy about the performance today."
Sergio Perez: "It was a good day for the Team. We had good pace today, we just struggled with the degradation initially and didn't get enough out of the medium due to the balance and track temperature. We suffered a little on the first stint, it compromised our race a little too much and with Lando pitting early. The second stint was better, but we had to get through a lot of traffic and that made our life a lot harder. On the hard we were back to our best, but things were a little out of sync by then. What is positive and an improvement is that when we have issues like on the first stint, we are able to solve them during the race, which is something we lacked last year. We are in a good place and performing at a very nice level, we just need to keep progressing. My confidence is coming back and the momentum should be with me for the coming races, if I am able to have such a consistent weekend in Suzuka it can only be positive moving forward."
Christian Horner: "It was a great team performance today; fastest lap, a one-two finish, fastest pit stop and leading first and second in the championship. So yeah, it's an amazing performance here, and one we are very proud of, particularly in Japan at the home of our engine partner, Honda. Max managed to control the race beautifully. He was away from the beginning and really looked after the tyres. But Checo has had a very strong agenda here. His qualifying yesterday was good. Better than he has managed in his career. And then his racing was fantastic. He came through the field and was very strong and maintained his pace. A brilliant race across the board, from all the Team. It is great to see."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Suzuka here.