Verstappen beats McLarens in Japanese GP after Norris pit run-in

Max Verstappen held off the McLaren duo in the Japanese Grand Prix for his and Red Bull's first win of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Weather forecasts for Sunday from earlier in the weekend had hinted at a potential repeat of the dry-wet season opener in Australia, but after dampening the track in the lead-up rain stayed away - turning the grand prix into a conventional, largely processional one-stop race for 19 of the 20 drivers.

In what was a largely static first lap all throughout the field, Verstappen covered off Norris right away off the line and consolidated the lead - which he quickly eked out into a solid buffer.

It hovered around two seconds for much of that first stint, with Piastri closer to Norris than Norris to Verstappen, but the championship leader did attempt to put some pressure on Verstappen later on, pushing closer up as McLaren made a bluff pitstop call on lap 18.

But George Russell pitting out of fifth the following lap meant the real strategies had to play out then and there, with Piastri stopping to cover off the Mercedes' potential undercut - which meant both Verstappen and Norris were called in the next lap.

The pitstop flashpoint

Verstappen's victory bid nearly went begging then and there - as his tyre change was a second slower than Norris', timed at 3.3s versus 2.3s by McLaren.

It meant Norris drew alongside as he darted out of McLaren's pitbox at the end of pitlane, though Verstappen's front wheels remained well ahead - and as they arrived at pitlane exit, Norris refused to back out and went skipping over the grass towards Turn 1.

It incensed Norris, who felt Verstappen "forced me off" - but replays showed the Dutchman never made a deliberate move to squeeze off Norris, instead simply staying on his pit exit line for a little longer (rather than darting towards the racing line) to ensure his rival ran out of room.

The stewards felt this was fair game, with the incident 'noted' but quickly dismissed as not requiring further investigation.

Piastri swap request

The second stint ultimately echoed the first in outcome - but Norris generally stayed much closer to Verstappen throughout, and Piastri put more pressure on, too.

At one point, the Australian even suggested to his McLaren team that he felt he had the pace to take on Verstappen for the win - but McLaren never went for the swap and Piastri had a couple of attempts at closing in on Norris before ultimately having to settle for third behind the leading duo.

"I at least asked the question and I think it was the fair response," Piastri acknowledged after the race.

It means Norris - who locked up and had to cut the chicane slightly on the final lap as he chased Verstappen - now leads Verstappen by only one point in the standings, while Piastri is 13 points back from his team-mate.

Charles Leclerc finished fourth in the Ferrari, followed by Russell, whose early undercut bid ultimately amounted to nothing.

Youngest-ever race leader

Russell's rookie Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli was sixth after extending his opening stint - through which he became the youngest-ever driver to lead a lap in an F1 race, taking the honours from Verstappen and his 2016 Spanish Grand Prix win.

Antonelli had a strong end to the race, too, ending up 1.3s back from Russell after pushing on on fresher hard tyres - and completing a top six unchanged from the starting grid

Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the Ferrari, having made progress early on on an alternate strategy - running hards-to-mediums while all of his direct rivals went mediums-to-hards.

Having mediums late on was no real benefit to Hamilton, however. He briefly put pressure on Antonelli after the pitstop, but then faded massively, finishing over 10 seconds behind the rookie.

Another rookie Isack Hadjar was an impressive eighth for Racing Bulls, followed by Williams driver Alex Albon - who grew repeatedly agitated on team radio over strategy matters during the race - and Haas driver Ollie Bearman.

Tsunoda's Red Bull debut

Yuki Tsunoda's first race as a Red Bull driver was a largely unmemorable one, yielding a 12th-place finish - a marked improvement on what predecessor Liam Lawson had been managing, but still continuing Red Bull's run of scoring no points with its 'other' car in 2025.

Tsunoda had inherited one place from qualifying due to Carlos Sainz's grid penalty for impeding so started 14th, overtook Lawson on the opening lap at Spoon and undercut past Pierre Gasly during the pitstop phase.

But points never really looked on, and he finished a second back from 11th-placed Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin in the end.

Lawson, for his part, had a muted return to Racing Bulls, running a medium-to-soft strategy that yielded 17th.

All 20 finishers

Apart from some corner-cutting and the brief pit exit controversy, there were no incidents of note during the race - with all 20 cars reaching the finish.

Lance Stroll was the only driver to end up on a two-stop, rounding out the order for Aston Martin one lap down.

Japanese GP result

1) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2) Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.4s
3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +2.1s
4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +16.0s
5) George Russell (Mercedes) +17.3s
6) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +18.6s
7) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +29.1s
8) Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +37.1s
9) Alex Albon (Williams) +40.3s
10) Ollie Bearman (Haas) +54.5s
11) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +57.3s
12) Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +58.4s
13) Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +62.1s
14) Carlos Sainz (Williams) +74.1s
15) Jack Doohan (Alpine) +81.3s
16) Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +81.9s
17) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +82.7s
18) Esteban Ocon (Haas) +83.4s
19) Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +83.8s
20) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) + 1 lap