formula 1
Verstappen cannot be beaten in training in Japan
Before the fourth round of the season, Max Verstappen leads the championship standings with 51 points, just ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Peréz. photo
© Hiro Komae/AP
Max Verstappen lives up to his role as favorite right from the start. In Japan, the world champion is faster than anyone else in the first training session. An accident causes delays.
World Champion Max Verstappen drove the fastest lap in the first Formula 1 training session before the Japanese Grand Prix.
In Suzuka, the Dutch Red Bull driver won in 1:30.056 minutes, 0.181 seconds ahead of his Mexican teammate Sergio Peréz. The Spaniard Carlos Sainz took third place in a Ferrari. Nico Hülkenberg drove his Haas racing car to 13th place. The 36-year-old from Rhineland also received a warning because he crossed the white line at the pit exit to overtake a car.
After half an hour, training had to be interrupted because the American Logan Sargeant in the Williams crashed into the barrier after a driving error and clean-up work was then necessary. “I’m okay,” the 23-year-old radioed to his team. Sargeant recently had to take a break from the race in Melbourne. After his teammate had an accident, he had to give his car to Alex Albon. Albon’s badly damaged chassis was taken out of circulation for the rest of the weekend following the training crash in Australia. The financially strapped traditional racing team did not have a third chassis on site.
Before the fourth round of the season on Sunday (7 a.m./Sky), Verstappen leads the championship standings with 51 points, just ahead of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (47) and Peréz (46). Verstappen did not finish in the last race in Australia due to a technical defect, but is also the big favorite on the traditional track in Japan. He has won the Grand Prix in each of the past two years.