Red Bull’s Max Verstappen kept both McLarens at bay to take a fourth successive victory at the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman led comfortably with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri following the Red Bull ace in formation throughout, but unable to mount serious pressure.
In a close one, two, three, Verstappen led Norris and Piastri coolly to take a surprise victory nobody would have guessed coming into the weekend.
It was a dry start at Suzuka, with the rain arriving overnight and the radar suggesting no more would intervene.
All but five drivers started on Medium Pirelli tyres with the resurfaced asphalt greasy ahead of lights out.
Lewis Hamilton started from eighth in a Ferrari running with Hard tyres, with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas’ Esteban Ocon starting with the same compound from 17th and 18th respectively.
At the back of the grid, Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll started on Softs.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen usurps McLaren duo to steal pole in Japan
Verstappen was poised from pole position ahead of lights out, following his incredible lap record run in Saturday’s qualifying session, alongside McLaren’s Norris with Piastri just behind on the second row.
Verstappen leads from lights out
At lights out, Verstapen cut cooly across Norris with Piastri following the two in formation and little movement in the top-10 throughout the first sector.
In the second half of the field, Fernando Alonso pipped Pierre Gasly for 11th at Spoon Curve as Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda did the same to the Racing Bulls machine of Liam Lawson for 13th.
Verstappen led the field into Lap 2 of 53 ahead of Norris, Piastri, Charles Leclerc and George Russell.
That top five had broken away from the rest of the pack by Lap 3, enjoying a 1.31s buffer to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in sixth.
“My upshifts are again, really bad,” warned Verstappen, at this point, the early race leader, uneasy despite breaking the DRS of Norris behind on Lap 4.
Norris, meanwhile, had his team-mate for close company, just 0.9s behind, but the McLaren duo no doubt sought to hold formation, bide their time and maintain tyre life to attack Verstappen later on.
One driver attacking early was Hamilton on Lap 6, passing Isack Hadjar into Turn 1 to take seventh.
Verstappen’s upshift issue appeared to be easing by Lap 7, by which point his lead over Norris had crept up to 2s.
“Possible rain, Lap 20,” Norris was told by his Race Engineer Will Joseph on Lap 10, but with the context, it wouldn’t be hard enough or last long enough to change matters.
Norris took the fastest lap of the race at this point, eating a tenth into Verstappen’s lead as Stroll abandoned his Soft tyres for Hards, returning to the action in last place.
In the middle of the pack, an exasperated Alex Albon, in ninth, complained profusely over his radio comms about gear shift issues.
Exasperation could be the theme of the day, as everyone held station, managing tyres, unable to make an impression on the driver ahead as the pit-stop window approached.
The second Soft shod runner, Doohan, lasted way longer than Stroll, pitting for Hards on Lap 16, but it gained him just eighth-tenths over Stroll when he exited pit lane in 19th.
On lap 18, Joseph called to Norris, “Box to overtake Verstappen!”
But the McLaren driver, although confirming the radio message, passed by his pitcrew for another flyer, a dummy call to perhaps entice Red Bull.
Norris had, however, drawn within 1.5s of Verstappen and broken free of Piastri to the tune of 2.5s.
“Lando, mate, this pace is really strong, keep it up,” said his engineer.
Verstappen asked his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase if he could push, and the Dutchman’s wish was granted.
Russell was the first of the frontrunners to make a pit stop on Lap 20, pitting from fifth and coming out in clear air behind Tsunoda on Hards.
Piastri was in a lap later and returned to the action on Hard tyres in ninth place, in front of Alonso and enjoying a three-car buffer to Russell.
Pit lane exit drama between Verstappen and Norris
Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc all pit in unison, on Lap 22 in response to Piastri, and there was chaos on the exit.
Norris gained a second with his stop and exited the pits alongside Verstappen, but almost lost it in the grass, claiming the Dutchman forced him off track.
Still, there was little room for Norris to find, and Verstappen said over the radio, “he drove himself into the grass.”
Both covered off Piastri, however, who in turn held his position ahead of Leclerc.
Verstappen was quick to pass Albon, and Norris lost two seconds until the Anglo-Thai driver pitted, albeit under duress as he fumed when released in 13th place and outside of the points paying positions.
So, on Lap 28 of 53, Verstappen was the net race leader in third, 2.3s ahead of Norris, who was 1.8s ahead of Piastri.
Antonelli was the actual race leader, yet to pit and now holding the accolade of the youngest driver to lead a Grand Prix.
40-year-old Hamilton toured behind the Italian teenager, albeit on the Hard compound, but both were extending their opening stints well.
Elsewhere, Albon’s anger could well have subsided as he made moves to creep up the order to 11th, with Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz ahead of him yet to pit.
A lock-up in the final chicane prompted Hamilton to pit on Lap 31, switching his Hards for Mediums and returning to the action in seventh, six seconds ahead of Lawson, who was soon passed by his team-mate Hadjar, who had already stopped.
Antonelli finally gave up on his Mediums on Lap 32, pitting for Hards and coming out in sixth, a second ahead of Hamilton.
On Lap 33, as Esteban Ocon pitted from Hards to Mediums, dropping from 13th to 18th, only two runners had yet to visit pit-lane.
Those two drivers were Lawson, in 10th, having been recently passed by Albon, and Carlos Sainz, in 11th.
They completed the pit-lane action on Lap 34, both putting on the Soft tyre and returning to the action in 16th and 17th respectively.
McLaren mounts a late charge
Back at the front of the action, Verstappen was told he could push on Lap 36, as he held a 1.5s advantage over Norris, who had Piastri 1.2s behind him.
Piastri had cut his gap to Norris in half by Lap 43, imploring the team to tell his McLaren peer to stop conserving and push the pace upon Verstappen out front.
The Aussie was told, “this is Lando’s pace,” and he implied a swap was needed, feeling he had the pace to challenge the Dutchman in the lead.
But Norris responded, gapping Piastri by a few tenths and gaining a similar amount over Verstappen.
Still, Piastri was able to get back into Norris’ DRS range on Lap 47 and try as he might, the Briton couldn’t do the same with the race leader.
Nothing could be done to change the order, and Verstappen took a fine victory to close within one point of Norris in the Drivers’ standings.
Norris and Piastri completed a podium, but it was a disappointing result for the much-fancied McLarens.
Leclerc was a distant fourth ahead of the Mercedes duo of Russell and Antonelli as Hamilton crossed the line in seventh.
Hadjar, Albon and Bearman completed the top-10.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Japanese Grand Prix – Race Results
