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Monday, Apr 21, 2025
Verstappen crossed the line for his 64th grand prix victory to a huge ovation from the 115,000 crowd, some 1.4 seconds ahead of McLaren's championship leader Lando Norris in second place.
Verstappen recorded a time of one minute 26.983 seconds in the last lap to earn the pole position for Red Bull at Suzuka.
The title gap blew out to 62 points with three rounds remaining and 86 points still to be won.
Horner, whose team is currently leading both championships, had denied the accusations.
The Dutchman grimly hung on to claim his sixth victory from nine races this season and the 60th of his Formula One career.
The victory extended Verstappen's championship lead to 48 points, with Leclerc now his closest rival after Red Bull's Sergio Perez started 11th and finished only eighth.
The comfortable victory from pole position at a Shanghai circuit that last hosted a Grand Prix in 2019 was Verstappen's fourth in five races in 2024 and came after he also won the season's first Saturday sprint.
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.
Sergio Perez was runner-up under the Jeddah Corniche floodlights, last year's winner taking the chequered flag 13.643 seconds behind his triple world champion teammate who now has a 15-point lead in the standings.
Verstappen senior also denied involvement in the anonymous email.
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