Verstappen cruises to victory ahead of a missed opportunity for McLaren

Meghana Sree
1 day ago
3 min read

Written by Meghana Sree

After a suprise pole position, Max Verstappen effortlessly executed a lights-to-flag fourth consecutive win at Suzuka, keeping the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at bay.

Following a night of rain, the scene was set in Suzuka for the third round of the 2025 season. A clean opening lap saw the top six maintain formation into the first turn and out of the esses, an order that remained in the same positions all the way to the chequered flag.

A drive worthy of all-time greats, the Dutchman closed the door on Norris and any chance of an overtake, driving resolutely to the end — fitting of Red Bull’s last race in Japan with Honda. The four-time champion becomes the third different Grand Prix winner this season, denying the arguably faster Papaya cars of a third consecutive victory.

Norris and Piastri completed the podium, with possibilities of a swap during the last few laps that didn't amount to any change in positions. Piastri indicated that he had the pace to chase Verstappen down, yet ultimately a switch was off the cards.

Early promises of rain also let up, saving the teams of chaos in the wet.

However, a spicy moment between Verstappen and Norris on Lap 22 was almost race defining, as the two rivals were inches close to contact while they exited the pitlane sidelong. Norris claimed that the Red Bull driver forced him off, but Verstappen retorted that Norris drove himself onto the grass, holding that it was no fault of his own. Eventually, the incident was dismissed with no further investigation.

As the rest of the pit stops shook out behind the top three contenders, Charles Leclerc maintained fourth, fending off George Russell’s attacks and an undercut attempt.

Russell's new teammate Kimi Antonelli was the driver of the moment, becoming the youngest driver in Formula One’s history to lead a race. The Italian driver also clinched the fastest lap. His predecessor at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, finished behind him in seventh for Ferrari, making up a position against Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.

Hadjar collected his first points of the season and of the four Red Bull-backed drivers, had the second best finish. His former teammate, the freshly fitted Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, climbed up from 14th to 12th in his first race with the team and home Grand Prix. Being one of the key stories heading into this weekend, Tsunoda proves that there’s still much work to do to catch up to his race-winning teammate.

Ahead of Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman completed the points-scoring positions in ninth and tenth respectively, completing a solid weekend for Williams and Haas.

The first round of this triple header will certainly be a race of many learnings for McLaren, as they clearly had the faster car but were unable to pull together a performance worthy of dethroning Verstappen’s consecutive win record at Suzuka, which now stands at four in a row.

The Drivers’ Championship sees the Suzuka master close down the gap to Norris in the lead, with just one point separating the two. For Verstappen in a far less superior car, this is definitely a statement made. Piastri jumps up to third, ahead of Russell and Antonelli, followed by Leclerc in sixth.

As for the Constructors’, McLaren maintains a confident lead, ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.

Japanese Grand Prix Final Results

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2. Lando Norris, McLaren

3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

5. George Russell, Mercedes

6. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

7. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

8. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls

9. Alexander Albon, Williams

10. Oliver Bearman, Haas