McLaren remains the team to beat in Formula 1, but Max Verstappen’s victorious drive for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix Sunday proves only excellence is good enough. 2nd and 3rd placed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri still have the fastest all-round car for McLaren on the F1 grid.

Max Verstappen wins the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris with a superb drive from pole, as Kimi Antonelli breaks two records

The commonly held view is that Lando Norris lost out to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship last year because the Red Bull driver benefited from a massively superior car at the start of the season,