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- Report: Verstappen defies Norris to win Japanese Grand Prix after pit lane skirmish
- 2025 Japanese Grand Prix race result and championship points
- Rate the race: 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen wins the Japanese Grand Prix! That’s his fourth victory in a row at Suzuka. More reaction coming here shortly.
Norris has fallen back from Verstappen over the last lap and his challenge for the lead appears to be over.
L49 Piastri is right on Norris’s tail, the way Norris wishes he could be with Verstappen.
L47 Norris has picked up the pace but hasn’t been able to get within DRS range of Verstappen yet. Stroll let the three leaders past with no trouble on the pit straight.
Piastri telling McLaren Norris should start pushing soon instead of saving his tyres.
L40 Lambiase tells Verstappen he may have an “issue with the flap” after his pit stop.
L37 Norris has Verstappen’s lead down to just under 1.3 seconds but the chance of him making an attack appear slim. They may only lap one driver at this rate before the end of the race, which is Stroll.
With 17 laps to go, the top 10 are all in the same order they started, with the exception of Hamilton who’s in front of Hadjar.
Gasly is told to let Doohan through for 15th. Sainz appeared to let Albon by earlier so we’ve had a spate of post-pit stop team orders.
Ocon is asked to let Bearman past. “Probably next lap I’ll let him past.”
L32 Antonelli relinquishes the lead so Verstappen is back at the front, 1.3 seconds ahead of Norris, Piastri another 2.2s back.
L31 Hamilton locks up in front of Verstappen at the chicane and dives into the pits. Antonelli is still leading on his original set of medium compound tyres.
L29 Verstappen is now drawing close to Hamilton, who is second, while Norris closes on him.
Sainz has been noted for potentially gaining an advantage by leaving the track.
L27 Joseph to Norris: “They said no further action on the pit exit, just means we’ll have to overtake him on track.”
Albon is furious about his tactical situation, berating his team for not pitting him before Bearman, though he is still ahead of the Haas driver after coming in.
L24 Antonelli is now leading the driver he replaced at Mercedes – Hamilton – the pair separated by four seconds are yet to pit. Hadjar, third,
The puzzling question there is why McLaren brought Norris in on the same lap as Verstappen, which was always going to make it harder to jump him ahead.
Verstappen: “He pressed the pit limiter off too early. There’s no way that was legal.”
Norris came out halfway alongside Verstappen, accelerated away from the pits slightly better, but ran out of asphalt and drove onto the grass. “He drove himself into the grass,” Verstappen observes, quite accurately.
McLaren did a great pit stop for Norris, they leave the pits side by side and Norris is on the grass. “He forced me off,” Norris tells Joseph.
L22 Red Bull react – and Norris follows him in!
L21 McLaren go for it with Piastri, he’s in, it’s a smooth stop and he heads out on a set of hards. But will that give him an undercut advantage on Norris – and will McLaren restore the original running order between them if it does?
Verstappen: “You want me to push or not?” Lambiase: “Yeah, push now.”
L19 Norris is now pushing, he’s 1.5s behind Verstappen. Joseph tells him his pace is “really strong”. Russell pits and comes out behind Bearman and Alonso.
L18 Norris brings Verstappen’s lead down to 1.7 seconds. Verstappen will potentially have a gap to pit and come out in the Alonso-Bearman area, especially if either of those look like they’re about to pit.
L16 Doohan becomes the second driver to pit.
L15 Verstappen responds with his best lap time so far.
The McLaren drivers are picking up the pace now, potentially in anticipation of pit stops. Personal best for Norris, fastest lap for Piastri.
Joseph to Norris: “No sign of graining on any compound. This is a rear thermal limiting race.”
Norris gives a clue to his real pace by not letting the gap grow larger than two seconds and producing the fastest lap of the race.
L11 Albon is also unhappy with his gearshifts – and rather more frustrated than Verstappen.
L10 Stroll discards his softs for a set of hards. Can he reach the end without pitting again?
Joseph tells Norris they expect a brief sprinkling of rain: “There is possible rain, lap 20, class one, one lap, doesn’t change our plan.”
L8 Norris is now two seconds behind Verstappen. Is he unable to match the Red Bull’s pace? The field isn’t spreading out much behind them, so Verstappen could be managing his tyres at this stage, and Norris avoiding his wake/ But he won’t want the gap to get much larger than it is now.
L6 Hadjar was slightly wide in Spoon on the previous lap, bringing Hamilton within range, who passes him easily with DRS on the pit straight for seventh.
Lambiase to Verstappen: “Shifts should improve over the next two or three laps.”
Sainz passed Hulkenberg for 15th at the hairpin.
L5 Norris has fallen out of DRS range of Verstappen but Piastri is close to him now.
Verstappen: “The upshifts are worse in the first sector.”
L3 Verstappen: “My upshifts are again really, really bad.”
Antonelli cuts the chicane at the end of the second lap but the run-off is very kind there and he has no problem rejoining.
L2 Verstappen is just under a second ahead of Norris. No one in the top 10 changed position at the start.
Lawson gets a snap in the middle of Spoon and Tsunoda passes him for 13th.
The 2025 Japanese Grand Prix is go! Verstappen keeps his lead ahead of Norris.
Verstappen and Norris have pointed their cars at each other.
The drivers are forming up on the grid ready for the start.
Dudley to Russell: “Currently no rain on the radar.”
The drivers’ tyre choices for the start are as follows:
Softs: Doohan, Stroll
Hards: Hamilton, Bortoleto, Ocon
Mediums: Everyone else
“The rain came less than expected which I think is good for me,” says Lando Norris on his way to the grid.
Max Verstappen’s superb qualifying lap yesterday has set up a fascinating grid as the McLarens immediately behind the pole-winner are expected to be stronger over a race stint. But don’t forget Verstappen was matching their pace at the end of the last race in China – and told his team on the radio during it that he could have pushed harder than he did during the first stint. The Red Bull may have more potential than we’ve seen from it so far, and if it does rain Verstappen usually excels in those conditions.
One major question everyone is asking before the race is whether any rain is going to arrive. Conditions are dry at the track at the moment but there is still a chance a shower will hit before the grand prix starts, or soon afterwards.
We’re one hour away from the start of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix.
2025 Japanese Grand Prix
- “I’d really like info where I’m slow”: Hamilton’s struggles with his car at Suzuka
- “I think the pace was there”: Did Tsunoda’s race justify Red Bull’s Lawson swap?
- Hirakawa leaves Alpine to join Haas as test and reserve driver
- 2025 Japanese Grand Prix weekend F1 driver ratings
- Did McLaren miss a chance to beat Verstappen? Japanese GP data analysed
