Max Verstappen wins Japanese GP ahead of Norris and Piastri

Max Verstappen celebrates winning the 2025 Japanese GP. — Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Max Verstappen kickstarted his title defence with a dominant victory ahead of the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Having started on pole, Max held onto the lead as the lights went out and despite a scare at the pits, was relatively comfortable ahead of Lando Norris in P2 and Oscar Piastri in P3.

The two McLaren's put pressure on throughout the race but never really looked like making a move.

It was a pretty uneventful race, with all the action occurring in the pits. Oscar came in first from the leading pack but was quickly followed by Max and Lando, the lap after.

With Max and Lando only separated by 2 seconds as they came in, Max's slightly slow stop saw them come out wheel to wheel, with Lando having to go onto the grass.

Lando complained about Max's driving at the end of the pitlane, claiming the Dutchman pushed him into the grass, however the stewards waved his claim away. Lando admitted after the race Max had done nothing wrong.

Max held on to the lead and led till the end. He did look somewhat under threat at times from Norris, however, it looked more likely that Piastri would, in fact, get past his teammate.

Questions will be asked about McLaren's wishy-washy strategy which didn't take advantage of having two cars in the fight as opposed to the sole Red Bull.

It means Max Verstappen is now just 1 point behind Lando Norris in the championship, whilst Oscar jumps a position to move to P3, 13 points off Lando.

Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and a Red Bull team member stand on the 2025 Japanese GP Podium.

Speaking afterwards, Max said: "It was tough, just pushing very hard on the last set. The two McLarens were pushing me very hard.

"I'm incredibly happy. It started off quite tough this weekend but we didn't give up, we carried on improving the car and today it was in its best form. Starting on pole was very important."

Elsewhere, Leclerc, Russell and Antonelli saw out the top 6, making the race the first in F1 history to have an unchanged top 6 on a permanent track.

Hamilton made up a place early on to take P7. Lewis started on the hard tyre as he looked to do something different; however, with no safety car or incidents, there were no opportunities.

Hadjar drove a strong race for RB to hold on to P8 for his first points in F1 whilst Albon finished 14 seconds ahead of Bearman for P9 and P10.

Outside the points, Fernando Alonso made up a place at the start on Pierre Gasly, however, couldn't get close enough to the Haas of Ollie Bearman to take the final points-paying position.

Home hero Yuki Tsunoda had a relatively okay race as he made up a couple of positions, notably on Liam Lawson at the start, however couldn't make the inroads he would have liked as he crossed the line P12. He did though take the Driver of The Day award.

Alpine remain the only side not to have scored a point this season, as Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan finished P13 and P15 respectively.

Carlos Sainz sandwiched the Alpine pair, who were ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in P16, Liam Lawson in P17, Esteban Ocon in P18, Gabriel Bortoleto in P19 and Lance Stroll in P20.

Want to find out the SheF1 Driver Rankings for the Japanese GP and who tops the charts after three rounds? Click here.

Drivers Standings post Japan

1) Norris 62 pts

2) Verstappen 61 pts

3) Piastri 49 pts

4) Russell 45 pts

5) Antonelli 30 pts

6) Leclerc 20 pts

7) Albon 18 pts

8) Hamilton 15 pts

9) Ocon 10 pts

10) Stroll 10 pts