F1 Japanese GP: Verstappen fends off McLaren pair for flawless victory

Max Verstappen held off the 2 McLarens all through the Japanese Grand Prix to clinch his first System 1 victory of 2025 in a flawless efficiency, crossing the road with a 1.4s benefit.

The Purple Bull driver capitalised on his spectacular qualifying run to place collectively a managed drive on the entrance of the order, guaranteeing that he didn’t wilt beneath the scrutiny from the 2 McLarens behind – as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri couldn’t prise open an opportunity to cross Verstappen.

Verstappen put a 2s hole over Norris within the opening laps to beat back any early threats beneath DRS, and didn’t reply to McLaren’s obvious dummy name for Norris to pit – as engineer Will Joseph prompt his driver might “field to overhaul”, however the Briton subsequently stayed out.

McLaren tried to pressure a response by stopping Piastri on the finish of the twentieth lap, and Verstappen did certainly pit – however Norris adopted him into the pitlane. The McLaren pit crew discovered a second on its Purple Bull counterparts within the field, placing Verstappen and Norris stage on the exit, however Norris didn’t have area to go two-wide on the exit and ran throughout the grass.

His try to attract the stewards’ consideration on the radio didn’t come to cross because the incident was waved off, leaving his solely alternative of securing a second win of 2025 to return with an on-track overtake.

However, over the next 30 laps, Norris was unable to discover a method to get inside DRS vary of Verstappen, and will solely match the Purple Bull driver for tempo. This left McLaren with a quandary, as Piastri was fortunately sitting inside a second of Norris and angling for a change in positions.

McLaren didn’t elect to drag the set off regardless of Piastri’s higher tempo, which left Verstappen untouched in entrance; the orange vehicles had been left to flank the four-time champion on the rostrum.

Charles Leclerc clinched fourth place, preserving his grid place to beat the Mercedes duo; though the earlier-stopping George Russell bought to inside 1.2s of the Ferrari driver by the tip, he was unable to seek out any additional floor on the Monegasque regardless of providing early strain. Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed sixth with an extended medium-tyre stint, and completed an extra 1.3s behind his extra skilled team-mate.

Lewis Hamilton’s contra-strategy, beginning on the arduous tyres, paid off to a point with seventh, having gained a place on rookie Isack Hadjar – who scored his first F1 factors with eighth.

Alex Albon claimed ninth regardless of his complaints on the radio about gearshifts and his pitstop timing, whereas Oliver Bearman clinched the ultimate level over Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda.

F1 Japanese GP – race outcomes