F1 LIVE: Max Verstappen digs out Sergio Perez as Red Bull star suffers Japan DNF | F1 | Sport

Max Verstappen has talked through his start to the Japanese Grand Prix after he saw off the threat of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

“Of course, the start was a bit tight in the first two corners, but after that, the car was very nice to drive again,” said the Dutchman.

“I saw in the right mirror that Oscar had a little bit of a jump on me, but then at the same time, I saw in my left mirror that Lando had a real jump on me. I tried to close off Oscar but he was still there, and then I saw on the left side Lando coming with a lot more speed.

“He then moved a bit to the right and I was like, ‘I can’t go more to the right!’. So I was trying to get it straightened and luckily, nothing happened.

“It all got quite close, but that’s racing, that’s how it goes at the start. We had a good battle also into Turn 1, into Turn 2. But I was lucky, I think, that there was a bit more grip in Turn 2, just on the normal line instead of trying to go around the outside.”