
Max Verstappen achieved his fourth consecutive victory at the Japanese Grand Prix with a solid lights-to-flag win at Suzuka. The Red Bull driver fending off the McLarens to score his first win of the 2025 season.
In the beautiful white Red Bull as a celebration from Honda, the defending world champion put together a controlled drive at the front of the order, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could not mount a challenge to pass Verstappen.
Verstappen pulled a two-plus-second gap over Norris in the opening laps to fend off any early threats under DRS, and did not respond to McLaren’s apparent dummy call for Norris to pit – as engineer Will Joseph suggested his driver could “box to overtake”, but Lando subsequently stayed out.
McLaren tried to force a response by stopping Piastri at the end of lap 20, and Verstappen did indeed pit – but Norris followed him into the pitlane. The McLaren pit crew found a second on its Red Bull rival in the box, putting Verstappen and Norris level at the exit, but Norris did not have space to go two-wide on the exit and ran across the grass.
His attempt to draw the race stewards’ attention on the radio did not come to pass as the incident was not serious, leaving his only opportunity of securing a second win of 2025 to come with an on-track overtake.
But, over the following 30 laps, Norris was unable to find a way to get within DRS range of Verstappen, and could only match the Red Bull driver for pace. This left McLaren with a problem, as Piastri was happily sitting within a second of Norris and trying to arrange a switch in positions.
McLaren did not elect to pull the trigger despite Piastri’s better pace, which left Verstappen untouched in front – the Papaya cars were left to finish behind the four-time champion.
Charles Leclerc clinched fourth place, preserving his grid position to beat the Mercedes duo; although the earlier-stopping George Russell got to within 1.2 seconds of the Ferrari driver by the end, he was unable to find any further ground on Charles despite offering early pressure. Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed sixth with a long medium-tyre stint, and finished a further 1.3 seconds behind his more experienced teammate.
At least Kimi Antonelli had the honour of leading a couple of laps for Mercedes and become the sport’s youngest leader.
Lewis Hamilton’s alternative strategy, starting on the hard tyres, paid off to some degree with seventh, having gained a position on rookie Isack Hadjar – who scored his first Formula 1 points with eighth.
An irascible Alex Albon claimed ninth despite his complaints on the radio to his Williams team about gearshifts and his pitstop timing, while Haas driver Oliver Bearman clinched the final point over Fernando Alonso and Red Bull debutant Yuki Tsunoda. Liam Lawson was P17 on his return to Racing Bulls.
So not the most exciting Japanese Grand Prix but in terms of drive and achievements, Max Verstappen delivered the result in the beautiful white Red Bull. That’s four straight wins at Suzuka and such a fitting tribute to sign off Honda by finishing in first position.

Japanese Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:22:06.983
2 Lando Norris McLaren +1.423s
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +2.129s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +16.097s
5 George Russell Mercedes +17.362s
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +18.671s
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +29.182s
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +37.134s
9 Alexander Albon Williams +40.367s
10 Oliver Bearman Haas +54.529s
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +57.333s
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +58.401s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +62.122s
14 Carlos Sainz Williams +74.129s
15 Jack Doohan Alpine +81.314s
16 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +81.957s
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +82.734s
18 Esteban Ocon Haas +83.438s
19 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +83.897s
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap