“Totally flawless” Max Verstappen “could have gone faster” in Japanese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has been described as “totally flawless” following his third victory of the season at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Verstappen dominated Sunday’s race by over 12 seconds ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

It means Verstappen has won three of the opening four races as he looks to claim a fourth drivers’ title in 2024.

After the race at Suzuka, Sky Sports pundits Bernie Collins and Damon Hill heaped praise on Verstappen.

Collins labelled Verstappen’s display as “totally flawless”.

“To have a faultless weekend… we’ve seen it time and time again,” Collins said. “He put the laps in where it matters, with very little knowledge of this race. 

“Wind conditions changed during the race, temperature changed during the race.

“He seems to be totally flawless. To win by such a margin again? Fantastic.”

Hill, who won the 1996 world championship with Williams, thought Verstappen’s 12.5s margin over Perez could have been significantly greater.

“I think Max could have gone a lot faster, is the bad news for everyone,” Hill explained.

“He very easily put in the fastest lap, by some margin. The point was made by Ferrari and by Checo - once you get into traffic, you lose loads of time to the guy in clean air.

“The secret is always to be in clean air. The only way you can do that is to be leading.”

Verstappen’s third win at Suzuka in a row meant he matched Michael Schumacher’s record of consecutive wins at the famous Japanese Circuit between 2000 and 2002.

Reflecting on the race, Verstappen told Sky: “Only the first stint, it took a few laps to get into a nice rhythm. It’s the same for everyone because we didn’t have a lot of practice time.

“After that, we made little changes for the second stint and the car really came alive.

“I could look after the tyres when I wanted to. And push when I wanted to. It was a really good feeling, again.”