SUZUKA
\nMax Verstappen says that the Japanese Grand Prix is one of his favourite races, but his chances of a fifth straight victory at the weekend look vanishingly slim as his Red Bull struggles with Formula One\u2019s sweeping new regulations.
\nMercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will carry their early dominance into Suzuka with Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton their nearest challengers.
\nRed Bull and Verstappen are scrambling to recover from a disastrous start to the Formula One season, as are McLaren whose drivers \u2014 world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri \u2014 both failed to start in China with separate technical problems.
\nVerstappen, the four-time world champion, finished sixth in the opening grand prix in Australia after crashing in qualifying.
\nHe then limped home ninth and out of the points in the Shanghai sprint before retiring from the main race.
\nVerstappen has raged against the 2026 regulations and new car designs, branding them \u201canti-racing\u201d and likening them to the Mario Kart video game with their electrical boost and overtake modes.
\nThe Dutchman sought a change of scenery by competing at a four-hour race in Germany last weekend, but even that did not lift his gloom as he was disqualified after winning.
\nVerstappen has been unbeaten in Japan for the past four years and he clinched his second world title there in 2022.
\nHis problems in China, where he was ordered to retire on lap 46 of the grand prix because of a cooling issue, suggest his Suzuka dominance could end on Sunday.
\n\u201cGetting on top of our problems is not easy,\u201d Verstappen said in Shanghai.
\n\u201cIt would help if we would just have a normal start \u2014 I\u2019ve been every time dropping to last.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SUZUKA Max Verstappen says that the Japanese Grand Prix is one of his favourite races, but his chances of a fifth straight victory at the weekend look vanishingly slim as his Red Bull struggles with Formula One\u2019s sweeping new regulations. Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will carry their early dominance into Suzuka with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n