SUZUKA – No Formula One driver will be able to compete with Red Bull’s three-time world champion Max Verstappen this season, Toto Wolff, team boss of their closest rivals last season Mercedes, said on April 6 after the Dutchman dominated the Japanese Grand Prix.

His frank assessment came after Verstappen finished the Suzuka race almost 13 seconds clear of his teammate Sergio Perez and 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

“No one is going to catch Max this season. His driving and the car are just spectacular,” Wolff said.

“Basically this season now is best of the rest...

“Hopefully we catch up to the McLarens and then the Ferraris and fight for P2. This is what it is this year.”

Mercedes just pipped Ferrari to second in the constructors’ championship last season with 409 points but were miles off Red Bull’s 806-point haul.

The team that boast seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton have had a troubled start to 2024, lying fourth in the standings behind also Ferrari and McLaren.

Hamilton finished ninth at Suzuka, with his teammate George Russell in seventh, after a tyre strategy that backfired.

Wolff said that, despite the poor results, the team had taken strides forward in terms of getting a better feel for the car, with Hamilton saying after practice it was the best he had felt in the car in years.

But Wolff said he took little satisfaction knowing the title race was effectively over already.

“If your expectation is to eventually race for wins and championships, then you can say we are in a bit of a no man’s land,” Wolff added.

“We are in this bunch, but it is not satisfying... If I was to look from a pure sporting point of view, it is P1 that matters, not P2 or P3 or P4,” he said.

Asked about Wolff’s comments, Red Bull boss Christian Horner praised Verstappen’s confident performance but said it was too early in the season for other teams to throw in the towel.

“It’s very early to write off your year, there are still 20 races to go. I’ve learnt not to listen too much to what Toto has said over the years,” Horner said.

Verstappen, who becomes only the second driver to win three consecutive Japanese Grands Prix alongside seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, now has a 13-point lead in the drivers’ standings over Perez.

“You know it was a little hiccup, of course, the last race, but very happy that we are here back on top,” said Dutchman Verstappen, who finished 12.535sec clear of his teammate and also had the fastest lap.

Red Bull lead the constructors’ standings on 141 points, ahead of Ferrari (120) and McLaren (69).

“I think we have good momentum,” said Perez, who jumped ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ standings.

“I think if we are strong in places like this with a lot of high-speed corners... we can be strong anywhere else.”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Leclerc finished third and fourth respectively.

Leclerc said he was pleased with Ferrari’s execution of their one-stop strategy, but conceded he had left himself with too much to do after struggling in qualifying.

Starting eighth, Leclerc completed 27 laps on a set of medium tyres before switching to hards and defending tenaciously to hold off McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“We did an amazing strategy, amazing time management, amazing pace, but it’s just not enough when you’re starting from eighth,” Leclerc told Sky Sports.

“It’s not very often in my career that I had to focus on qualifying days because this normally is one of my strengths. But Australia and here, this is where I’ve been struggling, so I’ll focus on that.

“But normally when I work on something I get better quite quickly, so I’m confident.”

Norris was fifth, Fernando Alonso took sixth place in his Aston Martin while Oscar Piastri was eighth in the other McLaren, as Yuki Tsunoda of Visa Cash App RB rounded off the point scorers in 10th. REUTERS, AFP