Red Bull wants just one point more than Mercedes at Suzuka on Sunday 24 September to retain its Formula 1 constructors’ name and spark celebrations following last weekend’s crash in Singapore.
After a first failure this season and 15 consecutive victories since the end of last year, the champions regain their dominance in Japan.
Last year, in a rain-shortened race, Max Verstappen sealed his championship and teammate Sergio Perez completed the one-two.
The championship leader, now 151 points ahead of Perez, has to wait a little longer to clinch his third title, but Red Bull is about to achieve part of an inevitable one-two at a track owned by his spouse Honda.
They currently have a 308-point lead over Mercedes and 332 points ahead of Ferrari, with only 309 problems (adding up those of the speed races and fastest laps) in play after Suzuka.
Another victory for Verstappen, who turns 26 on September 30, would be the Dutch driver’s thirteenth victory and would prepare him for a birthday party likely to bear his name in Qatar in October.
“We will be fast at Suzuka,” Verstappen said on Sunday.
“It deserves to be smart for our car. It’s a lot of fun to drive the track, so hopefully as soon as we have the car on track, it’s in a smart window. “
Suzuka is decidedly old-school, designed by Dutchman John Hugenholtz with an eight-man design, and punishes mistakes.
If Red Bull does not return to its former dominance, the questions raised in Singapore about the effect of a recent technical directive on curved bodies will be even stronger.
This directive was issued just before Singapore.
“I know everyone would like to blame the TD, but unfortunately we can’t even blame it because it didn’t replace a single component of our car,” Horner said after Singapore ended Verstappen’s record run of 10 consecutive wins.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, winner in Singapore, will be looking for his third consecutive pole as Ferrari looks to reposition Mercedes in second place in the championship.
“We’ve had two wonderful weekends in a row, but the two circuits we drove suited our car,” said the Spaniard.
“I would be surprised if (Red Bull) won the last races of the season again. I think Singapore gave us a chance and we did well. “
“But I still think the Red Bulls will be the most sensible for the rest of the season and will be very, very, very, very difficult to beat. “
Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin hope to fight for the podium.
Norris, still seeking his first F1 win, said he laughed when he saw camera footage aboard Verstappen about Red Bull’s bad behaviour in Singapore.
“Max laughed about it too. So we’ll see next weekend. I think they will probably be back on top,” said the Briton.
New Zealander Liam Lawson will back injured Australian Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri, while Canadian Lance Stroll returns to Aston Martin after missing the race in Singapore due to a drop in qualifying.
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