Max Verstappen held off a strong challenge from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win the Japanese Grand Prix.
It was Verstappen’s first win of the season and his fourth in a row at Suzuka. The victory puts him just one point behind Norris in the drivers’ championship.
The race was close from the start, with Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri running within a couple of seconds of each other for most of the race.
Verstappen started on pole after a brilliant qualifying lap and managed to stay ahead through the first stint. McLaren had worried that if Verstappen led early, he’d be hard to overtake and that’s exactly what happened.
A key moment came during the pit stops. McLaren chose to pit Piastri first, which raised some eyebrows as many expected Norris to be the one to try an early stop and undercut Verstappen. Instead, Verstappen and Norris pitted together a lap later.
As they came out of the pits, Norris had a faster stop and was nearly side-by-side with Verstappen at the exit. But Verstappen didn’t leave him much space, and Norris was forced onto the grass.
After the race, the two drivers watched the incident back together, with Verstappen joking, "That’s quite an expensive lawnmower."
Norris wasn't amused, saying he was pushed off, but Verstappen said Norris drove off on his own. The stewards sided with Verstappen.
From there, the top three remained in the same order for the final 32 laps.
Norris stayed close but couldn’t get within DRS range, while Piastri seemed to have slightly better pace and hinted he could challenge Verstappen if let through.
But McLaren didn’t change anything, and the race ended with Verstappen first, Norris second, and Piastri third, all within 2.2 seconds.
Piastri’s result puts him third in the championship, just 13 points behind Norris, and ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Post-Race Comments
After the race, Verstappen said: “It was tough. The McLarens were right behind me the whole time. We worked hard to improve the car all weekend and it paid off today. Starting from pole made a big difference.”
Norris added: “The pace was too similar. We pushed all race, flat out, but didn’t have anything extra to get past Max. He deserved the win.”
The rest of the race saw little change in positions. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc held off Russell for fourth. Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli impressed with a strong final stint and finished just under two seconds behind Russell in sixth.
Lewis Hamilton finished seventh after starting eighth, passing Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar early in the race. Alex Albon had an aggressive drive and took ninth, despite arguing with his team over strategy. Oliver Bearman rounded out the top ten for Haas.
Yuki Tsunoda, in his first race for Red Bull, finished 12th. The driver he replaced, Liam Lawson, came in 17th for Racing Bulls.
