Red Bull have won the 2023 Formula One constructors’ championship after Max Verstappen claimed victory at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman and the Austrian team were back on the top step of the podium at Suzuka following an awful Singapore Grand Prix where both lost their record win streaks.
Verstappen took pole by over half-a-second and comfortably drove off into the sunset on Sunday, finishing over 18 seconds ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – the latter recording his first ever F1 podium.
Red Bull only needed to outscore Mercedes by one point and not be outscored by Ferrari by 24 points or more to win the title, and though Sergio Perez had an awful race and retired, Verstappen’s points haul was enough to seal a sixth constructors’ title.
‘Let’s go guys! Another win. Unbelievable,’ the 25-year-old told his team over the radio.
‘You deserve that. What an unbelievable season we are having.
‘You can all be very proud here at the track and back at the factory. You guys built a rocketship of a car.’
‘Unbelievable weekend. To win here was great. The car worked really well on every compound,’ he later added post-race.
‘The most important thing was to win the constructors. Very proud for everyone working at the track and at the factory. We are having an incredible year.
‘I had too much wheelspin at the start but after that it was a very straightforward race.’
The title in was an inevitability from the start of the season, with the RB19 so, so much quicker than anyone else on the grid, with the team enjoying an imperious campaign, winning 15 of the 16 races so far in 2023.
‘It’s been the most amazing race for us and most amazing year. It’s a testament to these guys – all the men and women back in the factory at Milton Keynes,’ Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.
‘To Red Bull and all our partners, it’s a collection of an incredible effort of everyone doing their bit to achieve results like we have done and Max is on just another level at the moment.’
It wasn’t such a good day for the other Red Bull of Perez however, who retired early on after picking up damage from multiple collisions.
The Mexican tangled with Sir Lewis Hamilton at the start before receiving a penalty for a safety car infringement before bizarrely ramming into the side of Kevin Magnussen as he attempted to battle his way back up the grid.
That earned him another penalty, but the 33-year-old retired his car soon after, with his failure to score points meaning it is all but guaranteed that Verstappen will win the drivers’ title at the next race in Qatar.
Red Bull had previously won the constructors’ title four times in a row between 2010 and 2013 and last year also, though they still trail Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Mercedes and Lotus in the all-time rankings.
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