SUZUKA, Japan — Max Verstappen's record-breaking dominance in Formula 1 resumed on Sunday with his victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, leading almost the entire race on a sunny day in central Japan.

His abrupt breakdown two weeks ago in Melbourne, Australia, looks like a blip in his total command over F1. He was out on the fourth lap when his rear brakes caught fire.

Nothing like that this time.

Verstappen basically led from start to finish except for falling back briefly after a pit stop. He was followed across the finish line by Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez — 12.5 seconds behind — and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari. Sainz was 20 seconds off the pace.

The three-time defending F1 champion is again this season's points leader and now has won 22 of the last 26 races dating from the start of the 2023 season. Only two other drivers have won in that span — Red Bull teammate Perez and Sainz, the winner in Australia two weeks ago.

"That was a very lovely race," Verstappen said on the team radio after crossing the line.

A red flag went up just seconds into the tightly packed first lap when Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo clipped each other on the second turn and sent both crashing out of the race.

"The critical bit was the start to stay ahead and after that the car just got better and better," Verstappen said later. "It couldn't have been any better."

Both drivers walked away, apparently without serious injuries. The restart was delayed 30 minutes to get the cars off the track and clear debris.

Verstappen pushed his season points total to 77 and is 13 clear of Perez with 64. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc follows on 59, with Sainz on 55.

The next race is in two weeks' time at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. F1 has not run a race there since 2019 with four races called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's going to be quite hectic," Verstappen said. "We haven't been there in a while — only one practice session to get into it again. So I think it will be quite interesting."

The race was run under sunny skies amid the cherry blossom season across Japan. The Suzuka track was built by Honda, which powers Red Bull, and is still run by the Japanese car builder. It's set southwest of Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city, in a center of heavy industry.

Verstappen, 26, dismissed rumors last week that he might leave Red Bull, possibly for Mercedes.

"From my side, I'm very happy where I am. And, yeah, we want to keep it that way," he said. He even hinted at an early retirement.

"I have a contract with Red Bull until '28," he added. "After that, I first want to see if I actually even want to continue. That's for me the most important."

Norris frustrated

McLaren's Lando Norris said it was disheartening to fight a losing battle against Ferrari on Sunday, and that it was clear the Italian team still has the edge when it comes to pace.

Norris had been upbeat about challenging for victory at Suzuka after qualifying third fastest, but on race day the Briton was nowhere near the two Red Bulls, who finished 1-2, and finished fifth behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

"Ferrari is clearly ahead, they've been ahead all year," Norris told Sky Sports. "They're still ahead. We've not changed anything. There's no reason why we should be ahead.

"It doesn't feel great when you start third and just kind of go backward and kind of feel like you're just fighting a bit of a losing battle against these guys.

"They can just do a lot more, you know. It's hard to fight on a track like this, but we gave it a good shot."

Norris was in Leclerc's rearview mirror for a large portion of the race before he was overtaken by Sainz on the 44th lap.

The 24-year-old said he was not convinced about McLaren's decision to have him pit at the midway point of the race when he was hot on Leclerc's heels.

"This is something we'll discuss after in the briefing," Norris added.

"Maybe a discussion of if we could have done a better job for people, but it's always difficult to make those decisions at the time."

Norris is fifth in the drivers' standings, 18 points behind Sainz in fourth.

Agencies