Max Verstappen moved to within range of a hat-trick of world titles by returning to winning ways at the Japanese Grand Prix as Red Bull clinched the constructors’ championship.
The Dutchman backed up his searing pace in qualifying by easing to victory by a massive 19.387 seconds a week on from seeing his record 10-race winning run ended in Singapore.
Lando Norris finished second ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and George Russell seventh for Mercedes.
Verstappen has won 13 of 16 rounds this season, extending his lead to 177 points over team-mate Sergio Perez – who endured a miserable afternoon – and he will have the chance to wrap up his third title at the Qatar Grand Prix in two weeks, potentially even in the Saturday sprint by outscoring Perez by three points or more.
While it was serene at the front, the race behind was thrilling as Perez was involved in two early collisions before retiring – only to briefly return – and Mercedes team-mates Hamilton and Russell scrapped with each other.
Red Bull are the first team in Formula One history to win the team championship with six races to spare as Verstappen’s victory moved the Milton Keynes-based team 318 clear of second-placed Mercedes in the standings. It is Red Bull’s sixth constructors’ title since their debut season in F1 in 2005.
Norris predicted after qualifying that if Verstappen led after the 277-metre dash down to turn one, there would be nothing the rest of the field could do.
The McLarens put up a strong fight, sandwiching Verstappen as Norris surged around the outside to go second, but the pole-sitter emerged from the first corner ahead.
Perez was overtaken by Ferrari’s Singapore winner Carlos Sainz and drifted into Hamilton, forcing the seven-time world champion onto the grass.
The safety car was deployed before the end of the first lap due to debris on the track after heavy contact between Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon.
Perez pitted under the safety car on lap three to replace a damaged front wing and fit the hard tyres but re-joined 17th.
The race resumed on lap five and Verstappen blasted clear of Norris.
Perez’s miserable start continued as he was handed a five-second penalty for overtaking under the safety car as he entered the pits.
It soon went from bad to worse as he suffered more front-wing damage in a collision with Kevin Magnussen, forcing him to pit again on lap 13, and was given another five-second penalty for causing the contact.
The Mexican was put out of his misery on lap 15 as Red Bull retired the car. Remarkably he was briefly sent back onto the track on lap 40, with the team keen for him to serve his outstanding penalty.
Elsewhere it was a story of battling team-mates.
Hamilton was soon engaged in a thrilling scrap with Russell, who slid up the inside at the final corner but Hamilton blasted back ahead down the pit straight.
The battle soon resumed as Hamilton ran wide and had to defend fiercely against Russell, forcing the 25-year-old off the track at the Spoon Curve.
“Who do we want to fight here, each other or the others?” Russell asked his team.
Hamilton’s defence was investigated but cleared by the stewards as he pitted first.
Meanwhile, Piastri had gained an advantage by pitting just as a virtual safety car was called, leapfrogging Norris after his pit stop.
Norris was soon on his team-mate’s gearbox, urging McLaren to act.
“The longer I stay behind the worse you are going to make the race for me,” Norris said, adding “What’s he doing?” before McLaren allowed him through.
Russell rolled the dice by attempting a one-stop strategy on an afternoon where tyre degradation was an issue for all the teams at a baking hot Suzuka.
But he was swallowed up by both McLarens, Charles Leclerc and team-mate Hamilton – with Russell urging his team to get Hamilton to give him DRS to defend from Sainz, as the Spaniard did a week ago to thwart Russell.
But Sainz moved past to take sixth as Ferrari gained the edge on Mercedes in the battle for second in the constructors’ standings.
Norris 'not comfortable' despite setting pace in Belgium practice
Lando Norris admitted he was "not comfortable" despite being fastest in the Belgian Grand Prix second practice.
McLaren finished first and second on Friday, with Norris finishing just 0.215 seconds ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Max Verstappen finished third, but despite an impressive performance, his 10-place grid penalty will affect his result.
Norris finished second in the Hungarian Grand Prix last week, behind Piastri, in a race overshadowed by a radio spat between the Brit and the pit wall.
Having put that behind him, even after a confident practice session on Friday, Norris is not willing to rest on his laurels with Red Bull showing their threat.
"Red Bull are very quick at the minute," Norris said. "So, tricky, but I've just not felt very comfortable today with the car.
"So hopefully I just wake up [on Saturday] and feel a bit more comfortable with it. But we'll try and improve a few things and see again.
"I know it looked good on the timesheets, but I've not felt super comfortable in just going out and doing it. So, hopefully, I can just get in a bit more of a rhythm and feel a bit better out there."
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton finished in 10th after struggling to match the pace set in the second session.
Mercedes have been credited for their improvement in recent weeks, with Hamilton winning at Silverstone before finishing third at Hungaroring last Sunday.
However, he was also left disappointed on Friday and said he was hoping for the forecast rain over the rest of the weekend to give the team more of an edge.
"It was a pretty bad day," Hamilton said.
"I don't really know what to say! Obviously, it's been feeling great in the past couple of races, but it just felt completely different today.
"We worked on it. The first session was not great, but then in the second session we made some changes, and it started off great, and then when I got to the soft tyre I just couldn't improve and there were a bunch of balance issues we had through the lap.
"It was better through this session, but everyone else went even better. So, to be 1.2s behind is not great.
"If it rains, then that opens it up a little bit and, hopefully, we can do a better job. I think the car should be better in the wet than it is in the dry."
Perez '100% certain' of Red Bull stay after Belgian Grand Prix
Sergio Perez is confident he will still be at Red Bull after this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix regardless of the result.
There has been a lot of speculation over the Mexican's future in recent weeks following a series of poor results at recent races, despite him signing a two-year extension with the team just last month.
Since coming fourth at the Miami Grand Prix in May, Perez's best finish has been seventh, both in Austria and Hungary, and he failed to advance beyond Q1 in four of the last six races.
His drop in form has allowed McLaren to close the gap to Red Bull in the constructors' championship to just 51 points.
With the four-week break soon approaching, both RB driver Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull's reserve driver Liam Lawson have been linked with Perez's seat.
However, the 34-year-old is certain he will still be competing alongside Max Verstappen when the season resumes.
"I am 100% sure," Perez said.
"Because I know basically what's in my contract and I know what the team trusts in me. And I know where is the main focus, which is on delivering on the track.
"It's no different to what it was in Hungary or [at the first race] in Bahrain or how it will be in Zandvoort or the rest of the year," Perez said.
"Every single weekend we've got to deliver the maximum, especially now that, with McLaren catching up in the constructors, it's really important to put everything together if we can achieve it.
"I'm not worried about it. Like I said, I know where I stand. That's not my concern. My only concern I have is to get my season back on track. The rest, I'm pretty chilled about."
McLaren to discuss whether to prioritise Norris over Piastri, says Brown
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has said meetings will take place to discuss whether to prioritise Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri for the remainder of the season.
The issue arose following last week's Hungarian Grand Prix, which saw Piastri's maiden win in Formula One overshadowed by Norris' radio spat with the pit wall.
Piastri had led much of the race before a bizarre pit-stop call by McLaren allowed Norris to take the lead, but was ordered to give the lead back to his team-mate.
Norris initially refused to do so, but with three laps remaining, handed the place back to the Australian as McLaren secured a first one-two since Monza in 2021.
Piastri's win at the Hungaroring made him the seventh different winner in 2024. It is the 16th different year with at least seven winners, the first since 2012 (eight).
But one of Norris' protestations before giving the position back was his battle with Max Verstappen in the Driver's Championship.
Despite scoring his eighth podium of the season in Hungary, the Brit remains 76 points behind the three-time world champion.
Brown, who wasn't on the pit wall in Hungary but is back for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, said the decision would ultimately fall to team principal Andrea Stella.
He told Sky Sports F1: "That's ultimately going to be Andrea's call. We want to get through the first half of the season, see where we end up this weekend.
"I think the Constructors' Championship, while it's definitely not going to be easy, is well within reach.
"I think the challenge on the drivers' front is Max's bad days are second and third places, so (it's difficult) to make those claw backs that we're making on the constructors' that we can do because (Sergio) Perez is struggling at the moment, we also know he's capable of turning it on at any moment.
"That will be something I think we discuss over the summer break."
McLaren's recent pace and form has seen them have a driver on the podium in the last nine races, cutting the gap to Red Bull in the Constructor's Championship.
The British team have another excellent opportunity to cut the gap in Spa, with Norris' championship rival Verstappen receiving a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race by exceeding his engine allowance for the season.
But the Dutchman topped the first practice on Friday, with Piastri finishing 0.531 seconds behind with Norris down in ninth, 0.512secs off his McLaren team-mate.
And Verstappen's showing has left Brown refusing to rule out the possibility of the three-time world champion claiming an eighth win of the season.
"It's a tricky track with how much downforce you want versus speed," Brown said.
"You have to assume Max is on for pole, which is P11.
"It would be a big mistake to think he can't go from P11 to P1 but we have to take every advantage you can."
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