Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Japanese GP, his third win of the season. Carlos Sainz finished on the podium for the fourth time in five races.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth on a one-stop strategy. McLaren wasted a podium with Lando Norris on a different strategy. Williams will eventually run out of parts after Alex Albon destroyed his car in testing. The misfortunes of Alpine and Williams also caught the attention of the editorial staff after the race.