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The Guardian - AU
Sport
Joey Lynch

Max Verstappen beat Lando Norris to claim F1 Japanese Grand Prix – as it happened

Max Verstappen Red Bull Oscar Piastri Lando Norris Suzuka Japan Carlos Sainz George Russell Yuki Tsunoda Mercedes
Max Verstappen celebrates in front of his Red Bull team.
Big in Japan: Max Verstappen celebrates his win in front of his Red Bull team. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Giles Richards’ report as Max Verstappen wins at Suzuka.

Updated

But that’s just about all for our live coverage. It was a race in Suzuka that wasn’t exactly high on thrills and spills… or overtakes… or perhaps some needed aggression from McLaren. But what it did provide was a reminder that Verstappen is quite good at this whole F1 driver thing – even if he doesn’t have the fastest car. It also gave us a fitting farewell for Red Bulls’ partnership with Honda.

Here’s Giles Richards’ full report from on the ground in Suzuka.

I’ve been Joey Lynch and thanks for your company.

The F1 season moves to the Middle East for the first time next week, hitting the Bahrain International Circuit. Norris will retain his lead in the drivers’ standings heading into that race but it has now been reduced to just a point over Verstappen following his win today at Suzuka. Piastri sits in third, just clear of Russell after the Mercedes driver had his streak of podium finishes broken in Japan.

Verstappen faces the cameras as a race winner for the first time in 2025.

“It was tough, pushing very hard. The two McLarens were pushing me very hard so was a lot of fun out there. I’m incredibly happy. It started out tough this weekend, but we didn’t give up, kept improving the car and starting on pole, could win the race.

“[Winning in Suzuka with Honda] means a lot to me. I knew I needed to try and stay ahead, in our final farewell race to Honda in Japan. This is the perfect send off.”

Norris is asked on the coverage about the pit lane incident between himself and Verstappen – probably the most drama-filled moment we got in an otherwise routine race.

“[That] was racing. Max is the last guy I expect to give me any space… in a good way, in a racing way.

“They deserved it this weekend. They are quick, they have been catching up and as a team we didn’t have enough this weekend so we need to work hard.”

How it finished in Suzuka

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull (25pts)
2. Lando Norris, McLaren (18)
3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren (15)
4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (12)
5. George Russell, Mercedes (10)
6. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes (8)
7. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari (6)
8. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls (4)
9. Alexander Albon, Williams (2)
10. Oliver Bearman, Haas (1)
11. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
12. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
13. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
14. Carlos Sainz, Williams
15. Jack Doohan, Alpine
16. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
17. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
18. Esteban Ocon, Haas
19. Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
20. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

Oscar Piastri is the first to face the cameras and is asked if this was a race decided by yesterday’s qualifying session.

“The pace today was really, really good. I was happy with that.

“But the track position around here is so important. I think yesterday was the day you effectively won the race, and I didn’t do a good enough job.

For all the (justified) talk of McLarens’ pace, Verstappen becomes the fourth different winner across the four different races that have been staged so far this season; Norris and Piastri winning in Melbourne and Shanghai, Hamilton taking out the sprint in Shanghai, and Verstappen winning today.

Lap 53/53: Verstappen takes the win in Japan, with McLaren finishing second and third through Norris and Piastri. Leclerc and Russell round out the top five, followed by Antonelli, Hadjar, Albon and Bearman in the top ten.

Max Verstappen wins the Japanese Grand Prix

For the fourth straight year, Max Verstappen goes coast-to-coast and takes the chequered flag in Suzuka.

And fittingly, in what is Red Bull’s final year in partnership with Honda, he does it in livery in tribute to the Japanese car maker, with the cherry blossoms in bloom overhead.

Updated

Lap 52/53: With one lap to go, Verstappen retains his lead and looks set to take out an iron-willed, fourth straight win at Suzuka.

Lap 51/53: Tsunoda is just over a second back of Alonso in a battle for 11th but with a further three seconds to tenth-placed Bearman after that, it doesn’t look like the Japanese driver will finish in the points in his home race.

Lap 50/53: Verstappen has extended his lead on Norris back out to almost one and a half seconds. Piastri has dropped back a bit, too, with the gap between himself and his McLaren teammate back out to over a second.

If we’re to get any changes to the order in the points in these final laps, it might come in Antonelli overtaking Russell for fifth.

Lap 49/53: The top six remains as it was when we started today – Verstappen leads from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, and Antonelli.

Lap 48/53: Piastri is gaining on Norris! Almost looking like he was set to dive past him on the home stretch before backing off.

Chris from New Zealand has emailed in to ask, in all capitals, why Racing Bulls sent Lawson back out there on softs. It certainly doesn’t look to have done the Kiwi many favours in vaulting up the order, as he’s down there in 17th.

Lap 47/53: Another tenth of a second is taken out of Verstappen’s lead by Norris. Meanwhile, the gap between our race-leader and third-placed Piastri is less than two seconds.

Lap 46/53: Verstappen’s lead on Norris is done another few tenths and is closing in on the one second mark. Piastri, though, has responded to his teammate’s pace and is back within a second.

Lap 45/53: Norris has just logged his best lap of the race as he moves a second clear of Piastri and closes to within a second of Verstappen. Does his car have another bit of pace he can extract to give us a grandstand finish?

Lap 44/53: It’s safe to say that short of disaster, Verstappen, Norris and Piastri will be on the podium – the third-placed Australian is around ten seconds clear of fourth-placed Leclerc. The question now is if the McLarens have anything up their sleeves that can spoil the world champion’s party.

Lap 43/53: Verstappen’s team promptly gets on the blower to let him know about the communications taking place between the McLaren drivers and to let him know his pace is good.

Lap 42/53: Piastri is on the blower suggesting that if Norris is maintaining a gap to Verstappen in the hopes of a strong finish, he should be released to put some pressure on Verstappen right now because he feels he has the pace.

Lap 41/53: Verstappen maintains a lead of around a second and half to Norris. Piastri is close behind in third, followed by Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.

In his first race as a Red Bull driver, Tsunoda sits in 12th, just over a second behind Alonso. Former Red Bull driver Lawson is sitting in 17th.

Lap 40/53: One potential extra wrinkle as Piastri closes in on Norris is that if Verstappen takes out this race and the Brit doesn’t come second, he’ll surrender the lead in the driver’s title race to the reigning champion.

Lap 39/53: Piastri has closed the gap on Norris to less than a second. The McLarens are under instructions to race and it looks like the Australian is going to make good on that offer.

Lap 38/53: Out in front, Verstappen is showing no signs of slowing down and this means the McLarens have been able to do little to close the gap. Overtaking has proven difficult today and there’s been little chaos to upturn the grid, either, with all 20 cars that started the race still out there.

Lap 37/53: Hamilton gets on the blower asking for information asking for information as to where he’s slowest on the track as he looks to overhaul Antonelli for sixth.

Piastri, meanwhile, is getting closer to DRS range of Norris.

Lap 36/53: The word comes in from Red Bull just to make it clear to Verstappen, they’re happy for him to push for the remainder of the race.

Lap 35/55: Verstappen maintains around a second and a half lead on Norris. Piastri sits in third with a healthy gap on fourth-placed Leclerc, who is followed by Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.

Lap 34/53: Lawson and Sainz have both pitted and both have emerged on soft tyres. Can they get 19 laps out of them? Big ask.

Updated

Lap 33/53: On a set of medium tyres that should see him to the end of the race, Hamilton is looking to close the gap on sixth-place Antonelli.

With 20 laps to go, Vestappen looks to be in a very strong position out in front. McLaren will need to produce something different than what they’ve shown thus far for either Norris or Piastri to overhaul the world champion.

Lap 32/53: So, after a bit of drama, we’re as we were before all the pit stops, just with the leading cohort now on hard tyres. Verstappen leads from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Lawson (who is still yet to pit).

Lap 31/53: Antonelli is finally forced to pit and after something of a slowish stop comes out back in sixth, behind Russell. Verstappen has regained the lead and the clear air that comes with it.

Updated

Lap 30/53: After locking up just in front of Verstappen on the final turn, Hamilton dives into the pit lane to change his hard tyres – Antonelli on his mediums retains the lead, great stuff from the youngster – and he comes out in seventh-place.

Updated

Lap 29/53: Verstappen is now getting his first taste of some traffic and dirty air in front of him as he closes in on Hamilton in second place. Hadjar has gone around Sainz and moved into ninth.

Lap 28/53: Antonelli remains out in front on his mediums. His doing a great job of saving them and taking advantage of the clear air he’s receiving out in front.

Here’s the incident between Verstappen and Norris coming out of pit lane if you want another look.

Lap 27/53: Antonelli is on the radio saying he’s happy with his mediums and is content to stay out there and push things for now. His gap over Hamilton and his hard tyres is just over four seconds.

On the commentary, Jacques Villeneuve is perplexed as to why Norris was brought into the pit lane rather than try something else and force the issue.

Lap 26/53: Stewards have indicated that there will be no action taken on the fracas between Verstappen and Norris as they came out of pit lane. Thank goodness it happened because we didn’t have much to get excited about to that point.

Updated

Lap 25/53: Stewards have “noted” the incident involving Verstappen and Norris coming out of the pit lane. Meanwhile, Verstappen is lapping faster than Norris and Piastri on the hard tyres.

Lap 24/53: After all the pits, we’ve got a new race order. Antonelli leads from Hamilton and Hadjar – the trio yet to pit. Verstappen has maintained his lead on Norris and Piastri and is fourth, while Leclerc, Russell, Lawson, and Sainz round out the top ten.

Updated

Lap 23/53: Current vibe of the coverage is that Verstappen won’t have much to worry about with the incident with Norris. We’ve had no word from the stewards yet if they’re having a look at anything.

Updated

Lap 22/53: Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc all come into the pits. Antonelli goes into the lead for the first time in his F1 career.

Norris gained a second in the pit stop and came out looking for an overtake but he goes off onto the grass coming out of the pit lane!

Norris immediately gets on the radio saying he was forced off and follows that up a few moments later by saying that Verstappen say him alongside, with the pit lane replying that they’re “on it”.

Replays seemingly show that Verstappen just maintained his line and he gets on the blower saying Norris drove himself off. Drama.

Updated

Lap 21/53: Piastri is the first of the McLarens to come into the pits, emerging on a set of hard tyres in ninth, just in front of Alonso as they’d hoped.

Lap 20/53: Russell comes out in 13th on a new set of hard tyres, between Tsunoda and Lawson

Verstappen gets on the radio asking if he’s to come in or push and the answer is to push.

Lap 19/53: Ferrari are on the radio telling Leclerc that, right now, there’s no proper gaps for them to target coming out of the pits so, right now, the best play is to stay out there.

Conversely, Russell has just come in so perhaps the Mercedes has spied something.

Lap 18/53: We’re approaching the point wherein the leaders on their mediums might now start looking to come into the pits.

Norris’ team gets on the radio telling him to pit and the crew comes out but it’s quickly revealed to be a dummy.

Lap 17/53: Tsunoda is inching towards Gasly as he looks to gain another position. Up the top of the grid, Piastri has backed off Norris a bit as he looks to save his own tyres.

Updated

Lap 16/53: Doohan, the other driver to start on soft tyres, comes into the pits. His tyres lasted around six laps longer than Stroll’s and he emerges in front of the Aston Martin when he comes out on a set of hard tyres.

Updated

Lap 15/53: Verstappen leads from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.

Lap 14/53: Not much in the way of overtakes or incidents to report amongst the leaders, with Verstappen retaining his lead over the McLarens.

Perhaps the most intrigue at the moment surrounds Hamilton, who is the only driver in the top 16 who started on hard tyres.

Lap 13/53: Verstappen continues to set the pace with all his clear air out in front and for all their speed this season, the McLarens haven’t been able to find a way to properly close the gap. Piastri has just set the fastest lap of the race but finds himself behind Norris.

Lap 12/53: Tsunoda has opened up more than a three-second gap on Lawson down in 13th and is now looking to try and find a way past Gasly for 12th.

Stroll, meanwhile, has fallen well to the back of the grid after having to stop and replace his soft tyres. The gamble hasn’t paid off for the Aston Martin driver.

Lap 11/53: Albon is on the radio telling his garage that his gear shifts are “s**t”. The Williams’ garage responds by asking him to be more specific.

Us Australians have a whole scale that “s**t” can slot into if they want some help.

Lap 10/53: A clean race thus far in Japan, with all 20 drivers still out there racing.

Verstappen leads from Norris and Piastri. Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman make up the rest of the top ten.

Lap 9/53: Russell’s team is on the radio to let him know that they’re expecting a smattering of rain to fall at around the 20th lap. For now, at least, that’s not enough to change Mercedes’ plans for the race.

Lap 8/53: Verstappen’s lead over Norris is now up over two seconds as the Brit backs off a bit to ease the pressure on his car and tyres. Piastri, for his part, remains within a second of his McLaren teammate.

At the back of the grid, Bortoleto has fallen to the back of the grid.

Lap 7/53: Verstappen is back on the radio and his gearshifts are starting to feel a lot better.

Hamilton, meanwhile, is lapping at around the same speed as his teammate Leclerc despite starting on a hard tyre to his teammate’s medium.

Updated

Lap 6/53: Verstappen is slowly extending his lead on Norris, the gap from first to second now almost two seconds.

Piastri remains third, followed by Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.

Lap 5/53: Hamilton uses his DRS on the home straight to move past Hadjar into seventh-place. Further ahead, Russell is all over the back of the Ferrari of Leclerc but, as yet, can’t find a way past him into fourth.

Lap 4/53: Verstappen has moved a second and a bit clear of Norris but there’s no such luxury for the second-placed driver, who has his teammate Piastri all over the back of him.

Lap 3/53: Verstappen is on the radio telling the garage “My upshifts are really bad.” Another challenge for the world champion to overcome as he looks to hold off the two McLarens behind him.

Lap 2/53: So as we settle in, Verstappen leads Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, and Russell in the top five. Next comes Antonelli, Hadjar, Hamilton, Albon, and Bearman.

Tsunoda, meanwhile, has got ahead of Lawson in the battle of the once and current Red Bull drivers.

Lap 1/53: Verstappen with a strong start and he immediately cuts Norris off to shut down any thoughts of a turn one overtake! On a track where overtaking can prove a difficult task, that could prove huge for the Dutchman.

Pretty much everyone got off to a strong start, in fact, as we haven’t had any kind of incidents that will cause any kind of stoppages in the first lap.

Lights Out! We are underway in Suzuka!

We are off and racing in Japan!

Updated

The Formation lap is underway in Suzuka. The front of the grid is almost exclusively starting on medium tyres, with the lone exception being Hamilton in eighth, who will start on hards. Gabriel Bortoleto and Esteban Ocon will also start on hard tyres further down the grid, while Jack Doohan and Lance Stroll on the final row are on the softs.

Sam has hit me up on the old Tweeter machine, asking what the ramifications for Red Bull could be if Lawson outperforms Tsunoda in today’s race.

The most obvious short-term outcome is that it will heap further pressure on Red Bull brass over a decision that was seen as shocking when it was made and has drawn the ire of their crown jewel in Verstappen. It will also show just how much the talent of the world champion has papered over the cracks in their car and empower the Kiwi – and perhaps even Sergio Pérez – to feel they’ve been made a scapegoat.

On a longer-term, though, it will only add to the doubts and questions that continue to dog the team. And that, inevitably, will attract the interest of rivals keen to get Verstappen behind the wheels of their cars.

Updated

A one-stop race seems to be de jour strategy for today’s race, with it likely that those starting on a medium tyre will look to start pitting around the 20 lap mark to put some hard tyres on. For those going from hards to medium, conversely, it’s likely that they’ll start coming in around the lap 30 mark.

For those looking to leap up the grid such as Tsunoda, starting on softs to make some early ground and then pitting early to put some hards on and undercut the field as they start to come in could be an option as well.

Of course, if the rains do come during the race teams will need to adapt.

After both its drivers were disqualified in Shanghai – somewhat spoiling Lewis Hamilton’s sprint race win – Ferrari will be looking to bounce back in a big way in today’s race.

Charles Leclerc will start next to Piastri on the second row as he pursues this rebound and has spoken about his belief that his race pace is quicker than his one-lap pace. If that will be sufficient to stay with the McLarens, though, is another matter entirely.

Hamilton, meanwhile, wasn’t able to nail his final qualifying as his teammate did and will start in eighth, tasked with getting past Hadjar and the Mercedes’ of Russell and Antonelli if he’s to link up with his stablemate.

Updated

Pole is always important, of course, but it could prove especially so for Verstappen today.

The Dutchman has gone coast-to-coast from the front of the grid in the last three races in Suzuka and while he hasn’t had to deal with the kind of gap between himself and a rival’s car like experiencing this season with the McLarens, his drive to secure pole yesterday shows you right him off at your peril.

Updated

Looking at the latest weather update from Suzuka, it’s currently 14 degrees Celsius (58 in freedom units) with about a 40% chance of rain in the coming hours.

Forecast rain did hit the track this morning and that will have something of an impact but it appears to be drying rather rapidly.

Importantly, that coating of precipitation will have also dampened the grass surrounding the circuit and, hopefully, that will prevent the outbreak of the kind of spot fires that erupted during practice and qualifying and led to delays.

Updated

While most of the attention sent Racing Bulls way in the build-up to this race has centred on former-driver Tsunoda and new-driver Lawson, it was Isack Hadjar that stole the show in qualifying on Saturday; repeating his exploits from Shanghai by qualifying in seventh.

The 20-year-old did this despite being in visible discomfort and repeatedly getting on the radio to complain about an issue in the cockpit, which was quickly determined to surround his seatbelts were fastened in an uncomfortably tight manner across his torso and… ahhh… other sensitive areas.

“I had issues with the seatbelts so I had to jump out, jump back in and it was fine,” he said.

“It compromised my first run in Q1, then it was driveable thankfully on that final lap in Q1 to get through to Q2. I was in pain a bit and then for the rest I could reset and just focus on driving fast, and it worked.”

Giles Richards’ is in Suzuka to cover this weekend’s events, here’s his report on Verstappen guiding his temperamental Red Bull to a remarkable pole.

What does Red Bull’s 2025 F1 season have in common with Manchester City’s 2024-25 campaign? More than you might think.

Giles Richards explains.

You’ll notice that there’s been a change in the grid order from how they qualified, as Carlos Sainz was hit with a three-grid-place penalty following qualifying’s conclusion when stewards adjudged him to have impeded Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari during Q2.

The Grid in Suzuka

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. Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls

8. Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari

9. Alexander Albon - Williams

10. Oliver Bearman - Haas

11. Pierre Gasly - Alpine

12. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin

13. Liam Lawson - Racing Bulls

14. Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull

15. Carlos Sainz - Williams

16. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber

17. Gabriel Bortoleto - Sauber

18. Esteban Ocon - Haas

19. Jack Doohan - Alpine

20. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin

Preamble

Howdy one and all and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the third race of the 2025 Formula 1 season, coming to you this afternoon from the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

Splitting wins in Melbourne and Shanghai between them across the opening two races of the season, qualifying began yesterday with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to set the pace at this famous track. The papaya-clad drivers had tipped the Mercedes of George Russell as having the ability to upset their plans. But Max Verstappen had other ideas.

The reigning world champion stunned the field with a remarkable flying lap in Q3 yesterday to secure a fourth-straight pole in Japan, logging a 1:26.983 lap that Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner called “one of his best laps in qualifying ever” to pip Norris by 0.012s and Piastri and 0.044s.

If the Red Bull has the race pace to keep Verstappen ahead of the McLarens when we go lights out looms large over today.

Looming, too, is the pace of Verstappen’s new stablemate Yuki Tsunoda. The hometown hero was able to get the second Red Bull car into Q2 for the first time this season on Saturday but that was quickly overshadowed when he ultimately qualified behind the man he replaced at Red Bull, now-Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson.

The Kiwi driver’s rapid demotion from Red Bull has proven an early season flashpoint and fuel will only be poured onto the fire if Tsunoda ultimately can’t find a way past him today.

Add to this George Russell seeking to extend his podium streak, rookies Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar starting in the top ten, the early-season pace issues of the Ferraris, and plenty more, there’s going to be plenty to keep our attention today. And that’s not even mentioning the potential wet conditions that could circle!

Lights Out: 2pm JST /10pm PT/6am BST/3pm AEST

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