McLaren remains the team to beat in Formula 1, but Max Verstappen’s victorious drive for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix showed only excellence is good enough. Ahead of this week’s Bahrain Grand Prix, here are five takeaways from Suzuka:

Max Verstappen of Red Bull won Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix and broke a “mini-slump” of only two wins in his previous 16 races. It was the Dutch driver's fourth straight victory on the Suzuka circuit in central Japan and breaks the momentum of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri,

Max Verstappen wins the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris with a superb drive from pole, as Kimi Antonelli breaks two records