Max Verstappen Looks Ahead To A Positive Japanese Grand Prix Weekend

“Will Max Verstappen win the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix?” “Can Max Verstappen win the Japanese Grand Prix?”

“How likely is Max Verstappen to win the Japanese Grand Prix?”

If you are someone who’s closely intrigued by the Formula 1 world, one that besides raw speed is about surprise occurrences, or even if you are someone connected in a working way with the F1 world, whether as a content creator or pundit, then any of the above catchphrases will certainly strike the mind.

There was a time where the usual pecking order in the tectonic world of Formula 1 world was about Sebastian Vettel dominating the proceedings. That was with Red Bull being and the German driver being in prime form back in 2010, 2011, 2012 and the 2013 world championship rounds.

Then came the time of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes dominance; barring Nico Rosberg, Formula 1 world champion of 2016, the usual pecking order of F1 was about Sir Lewis Hamilton and his brilliance alone; anything else was either secondary to Mercedes’ might or of relatively lesser impact when compared to Hamilton’s greatness.

While Sir Hamilton’s greatness is still very much unchallenged, the current usual order in the F1 world is about Max Verstappen on the top step of the podium with his powerful Red Bull machine, which functions much like a raging missile.

For a driver who has hardly put a foot wrong in the 2023 season so far, Max Verstappen recently endured a tough Singapore Grand Prix, one that was aced by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr.

A weak qualifying performance from Red Bull’s end actually meant that there was no way any of the two drivers was going to start strong at a venue where overtaking, if not impossible, is quite strenuous an exercise. It’s something that was quite evident in the closing stages of the Grand Prix where right after Norris realized it was hard to pass Sainz, the same was pretty evident from the point of view of Hamilton, P3 in the end, during his pursuit of the McLaren up ahead.

Having said that, Max Verstappen is now geared up for the next F1 race, one poised for September 24; the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

And while he is looking forward to that, the Dutchman didn’t quite say a lot given the lowly result at Singapore, a track where he is yet to win a Formula 1 race in his checkered career. However, he would contend with just the following:

“We have learned a bit from today and have a few ideas with what we got wrong.”

He didn’t even mince too many words about feelings and overly optimistic expressions about the next challenge, bound for Suzuka:

“I cannot go into details but I feel good about Suzuka. Nothing feels like here in Suzuka because of just the old-school nature — the gravel and the grass. You know you have to really build up your confidence and really build up to the limit.”

That being told, it was Verstappen who ruled with an iron fist the last time around that F1 went racing at the famed 5.807 km track. And heading into the next weekend, Verstappen enjoys a gap of 151 points over the second ranked driver on the standings: Sergio Perez.