Verstappen holds off McLarens to win F1 Japanese GP

SUZUKA, Japan - Red Bull's Max Verstappen held off the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to take his first win of the 2025 Formula 1 season in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit.

A scintillating performance on Saturday had seen Verstappen take an unexpected pole position, and the Dutchman held his lead on lap 1, as the top ten drivers completed the opening stages without changing positions.

The race's critical moment occurred when Verstappen and second-placed Norris both pitted on lap 22. With Norris's stop slightly faster, the two were almost neck-and-neck when they left the pit lane, forcing the Briton to take to the grass as the road narrowed.

Though Norris complained that he had been forced off track, stewards decreed it was a fair move and took no action against Verstappen.

Norris then settled down to chase Verstappen once again, but despite encouragement from his team, the Briton was unable to mount a serious challenge for the lead, never coming within one second of the Red Bull, and Verstappen ultimately took his 64th career win.

"It was tough. The McLarens were pushing me very hard. It was a lot of fun but not easy pushing the tyres. I am incredibly happy," said Verstappen, whose win was his fourth in a row at Suzuka, and came with Red Bull sporting a special white livery to mark their final year of partnership with Japanese automaker Honda.

"This weekend started off quite tough but we didn't give up, and kept improving the car. Today it was on its best form. Starting on pole made it possible to win."

On a circuit where overtaking is difficult, questions may be asked of why McLaren did not extend Norris' opening stint on Medium tyres to allow him to build a gap and then try to pass Verstappen after making a later stop.

Similarly, despite Piastri twice closing on Norris and professing that he had the pace to challenge Verstappen, McLaren elected not to swap their two drivers around to give Piastri the chance to reel in the Dutchman.

Behind the top three, Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari, ahead of the two Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, who became the youngest driver ever to lead an F1 race when he briefly ran first before taking his pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton had a low-key run to seventh in the second Ferrari, with Isack Hadjar taking his first ever F1 points finish in eighth.

Alex Albon finished in the points for the third consecutive Grand Prix with ninth, and Ollie Bearman rounded out the top ten.

Outside the top ten, Verstappen's new teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished a low-key 12th on his first outing for Red Bull, after being unable to make much headway in the race from his disappointing 14th slot on the grid.

In the Drivers' Championship, Norris still leads with 62 points, but Verstappen has closed to within one point of the Briton, with Piastri third on 49 points.

In the Constructors' standings, McLaren leads the way with 111 points, with Mercedes second on 75 points, and Red Bull third, with Verstappen having scored all the drinks-backed squads points so far.

The fourth round of the 2025 F1 World Championship is next weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir Circuit.