Japanese Grand Prix 2025

While the 2025 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix proved to be slightly boring on track, there were some key moments to be noted off track! 

Max Verstappen from Red Bull claimed his fourth victory in a dominant performance at the Suzuka Circuit! Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from McLaren Racing achieved a 2-3 podium finish! Verstappen also narrowed the championship gap to just one point behind Norris.

The weekend kicked off with some bizarre scenes during practice and qualifying sessions, where patches of grass alongside the track caught on fire (as reported by Norris every time), causing brief red flag interruptions. Practice 2 was also interrupted by a major incident involving Jack Doohan from Alpine, who suffered a heavy crash, registering a significant 50G impact. It was also seen that the driver had trouble getting out of the car post race. This raises the question of whether Doohan was really fit to drive an entire race after such a bad crash. 

Carlos Sainz received a three-place grid penalty for the race for impeding Lewis Hamilton during qualifying. He also faced repercussions before the race on Sunday, receiving a fine from the FIA for failing to attend the mandatory pre-race national anthem ceremony, despite being ill. 

When the lights went out for the race, Verstappen made a clean getaway and began to build a commanding lead, while Sainz started further back due to his penalty. The top three: Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri, showcased incredible pace, crossing the line with an average of seven to eleven seconds ahead of the fourth-placed car of Charles Leclerc. The top six drivers also finished in the same positions that they started in, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth, Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in fifth and sixth respectively.

One of the major talking points mid-race was the performance of rookie Kimi Antonelli from Mercedes. He briefly led the Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver in Formula 1 history to lead a race lap, breaking Verstappen’s record. He also set a new track record, breaking Hamilton’s record of 2019. Antonelli’s consistency so far has also made him the first driver since 2007 to score points in his first three F1 races.

Adding to the little drama on track, Norris went through the grass at the pit lane exit, which later, was joked by both Verstappen and Norris as a “lawn mowing” incident. It is possible that Norris may have suffered some tyre damage due to fresh tyres going off track, but nothing significant was noted. 

Verstappen’s win at the Japanese Grand Prix broke Schumacher’s record of three consecutive victories at Japan from 2000 to 2002.

Three rookies also made it into points, two of which are from mid-field teams. Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman both made it into points, a big moment for each driver and team!

Williams also achieved a notable milestone by securing three consecutive points for the first time since 2017. Alex Albon’s performance and skill must be applauded! 

As always, McLaren Racing’s strategy had fans questioning the pit wall. They made a dummy pit call to Norris, hoping that Red Bull would fall for their bluff, but were unsuccessful. Their strategy to pit Norris at the same time as Verstappen proved to be inadequate. Another controversy amongst the fans was related to team orders. Piastri said on the radio that he seemed to be faster than Norris and might be able to overtake Verstappen for the win. The team only responded with “This is Lando’s pace.”, neither confirming nor denying any possible driver swaps. Norris was not made aware of this, and only pushed more to attempt to catch Verstappen. Piastri was within DRS range of his teammate multiple times, but was unable to overtake him. Some fans believe that McLaren should have given Piastri the chance to attempt to overtake Verstappen, and should have made the team order call. Others believe that the way the team went about was fair, and that if Piastri had the pace to overtake the lead driver, he could start with overtaking his teammate. 

This season is already proving to be interesting, with three different winners in the past three races, and a close championship battle!