The Japanese Grand Prix began with Verstappen holding the lead into turn 1, but a crash between Daniel Ricciardo and Alexander Albon behind him brought out a red flag for barrier repairs. After the standing restart, Verstappen rebuilt control with Pérez running second. In the middle phase, Leclerc's one-stop strategy worked well and brought Ferrari into podium contention, while Mercedes struggled with tyre degradation after switching to hard tyres during the red flag. Late on, Sainz passed Leclerc for third and Russell overtook Piastri near the finish. Verstappen won, Pérez completed a Red Bull one-two and Sainz finished third. Yuki Tsunoda scored a home point in tenth, the first for a Japanese driver at Suzuka since Kamui Kobayashi in 2012.