Max Verstappen and Red Bull winning Formula 1’s 2023 Japanese Grand Prix by a commanding 19.4-second margin might sound a very familiar tale, but this was coming one week on from their shock defeat in the Singapore race.
There was therefore plenty of attention being paid to the potential true impact of the twin technical directives now in force covering flexing wings and floors. But Red Bull utterly rebuffed this intrigue with its RB19’s display back at a smooth, sweeping course where the car was designed to thrive. His usual advantage restored, Verstappen was devastatingly good, while team-mate Sergio Perez had another poor weekend.
McLaren took up the chase, with Ferrari slipping back to third quickest but showing good progress in an important area. Then there were a few themes of the Singapore weekend cropping up again, plus the latest on Daniel Ricciardo’s injury recovery, the final moves in the driver market and a bizarre Alpine team orders spat.
All that and more is included here in the pick of what we learned from F1's latest visit to Suzuka.