Japanese Grand Prix 2025: Max Verstappen denies McLaren with a stunning drive

Max Verstappen holds off Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win the Japanese Grand Prix

For the first time this Formula 1 season, a McLaren will not start on pole position for a Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen surprised the grid, and himself, by snatching pole position ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the Japanese Grand Prix. While Verstappen admitted earlier this week that he was lacking “confidence” in the RB21, Red Bull’s challenger for the 2025 season, the defending Drivers’ champion delivered one of his most impressive qualifying performances, taking P1 away from the blazing McLaren duo.

Still, Norris and Piastri will be right behind him when the lights go out in Suzuka, looking to make it three wins in three grands prix for McLaren this season. Norris took the win in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and Piastri took victory at the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Here is the provisional starting grid for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix:

If you are looking for tire strategies for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, we have you covered here.

We will be covering the race live when lights go out at 1:00 a.m. Eastern, so come back early and often!

Updates are either in Eastern time (pre- and post-race) or by Lap number.

Live updates for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix

2:43: Hey, if you have made it this far, thank you so much for following along! The fact that anyone stays up with me to read this truly means the world.

Back at it next week with the Bahrain Grand Prix! We’ll be covering it all week long as always!

2:42: Here are the provisional results from the Japanese Grand Prix:

2:37: “It was tough,” begins Verstappen. “The two McLarens were pushing me very hard. It was a lot of fun out there ... I’m incredibly happy. Started out quite tough this weekend, we didn’t give up, we kept improving the car, and today it was in its best form.”

“It’s very important to always try and maximize your performance,” continues Verstappen. “And I think we did that this weekend.”

2:35: “Yeah, I guess just lost out yesterday. Max drove a good race today, no mistakes, the pace was just too similar today to do anything more,” begins Norris. “Nothing special that we had that we can get Max on. They were quick ... he deserved it.”

Asked about the pit lane incident with Verstappen, Norris describes it as “racing.”

“He was still ahead,” says Norris. “Max is the last guy I expect to give me any space. In a good way, in a racing way, nothing more than that.”

2:33: “The track position around here is just so important,” says Piastri. “I think yesterday was the day where you effectively won the race, and we didn’t do a good enough job.”

Asked about pitting first, Piastri thinks it was about “trying to cover the guys behind,” and notes that he was starting to “struggle” at that point in the race.

Piastri also notes that there “wasn’t much” of a debate to swap with Norris in the late stages. “That’s what happens when you qualify behind.”

2:32: Time for trackside interviews with James Hinchcliffe. Up first: Oscar Piastri.

2:31: Antonelli is now also the youngest driver to record the fastest lap in a Grand Prix in F1 history.

2:29: Yuki Tsunoda is your Driver of the Day, as voted on by the fans.

Lap 53: Your provisional points finishers:

Verstappen
Norris
Piastri
Leclerc
Russell
Antonelli
Hamilton
Hadjar
Albon
Bearman

Isack Hadjar has scored his first points in F1.

“That’s perfection. Just perfection Max,” is the call from Gianpiero Lambiase to Verstappen. Christian Horner hops on the radio to call his drive “inspirational.”

Lap 53: Max Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix.

Lap 53: The final lap is underway. Verstappen remains in the lead.

Lap 52: Norris has gotten to within 1.1 seconds of Verstappen, but time is running out.

Jolyon Palmer is convinced on F1TV that McLaren might wonder what might have been when the checkered flag comes out.

Lap 49: Five laps to go. Norris still inching toward Verstappen — and is the strongest in the first sector — but he has Piastri all over his rear wing.

Should Verstappen hold on, there will inevitably be questions about whether McLaren should have released Piastri to go chase down Red Bull.

Lap 46: Norris is just outside DRS range now.

F1TV cameras showing a bunch of jittery team members in both the Red Bull and McLaren garages.

Lap 45: Norris is inching closer to Verstappen, probably in part to convince McLaren not to give the order to swap places.

Lap 43: Alex Jacques just mentioned the legendary 2005 Japanese Grand Prix. For those who need a refresher, I wrote about that earlier this week.

Piastri radios in to McLaren that if Norris is “saving,” then it is time to go get Max.

Lap 40: Piastri has closed to within DRS range of Norris.

Does McLaren release Piastri to give him a chance to chase down Verstappen?

Lap 39: Charles Leclerc will not engine brake into Turn 1, thank you very much.

Lap 38: “My tires are fine,” says Norris to McLaren.

The gap from Verstappen to Norris is 1.2 seconds. Then the gap from Norris to Piastri is around one second.

Leclerc is almost eight seconds behind Piastri, so barring something stunning this is a three-car sprint to the end.

Lap 36: Red Bull tells Verstappen “we are happy for you to push from here.”

Lap 33: Norris has closed to within 1.2 seconds of Verstappen.

Lap 32: Antonelli pits and comes back out in P6.

The top six is as it stood when the lights went out: Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, and Antonelli.

Lap 31: Hamilton comes in for his pit stop, and exits with a set of mediums.

Antonelli remains in the lead, followed by Verstappen and then Norris. Norris is within 1.5 seconds of Verstappen in front of him.

Lap 28: Antonelli has become the youngest driver to ever lead an F1 race.

This is also the last race he has to eclipse Verstappen’s record of being the youngest driver to win an F1 race. Antonelli still need to pit, so that record is unlikely, but he at least has the lap lead record under his belt.

So that is something.

Lap 26: And rather quickly, race officials have decided the incident between Norris and Verstappen requires no further action. Game on.

Lap 25: Race officials have “noted” the pit lane exit incident between Norris and Verstappen.

Also, Alex Albon is HEATED with the strategy calls made by Williams so far.

Lap 24: It should be noted that Kimi Antonelli is your new race leader. Antonelli still has to make his pit stop.

Lap 23: On the replays it looks like Norris simply ran out of road. Jolyon Palmer on F1TV notes that Norris is “naturally headed to the grass.”

Lap 22: Verstappen and Norris both pit. The two nearly come together on the pit lane exit, but Norris radios in that Verstappen forced him off. Verstappen’s stop was one second longer.

To the replays!

Lap 21: Piastri pits first, likely to cover off Russell’s stop. Piastri comes out with a set of hards, and down in P9.

Lap 20: Mercedes calls Russell in, and he stops and comes out on a set of hards.

Red Bull tells Verstappen that he can push to try and match Norris, who has closed the gap over the past two laps.

Lap 19: It was a dummy call. Norris stays out to start another lap.

Lap 18: McLaren tells Norris to box to try and undercut Verstappen. We’ll see if this is a dummy call or not.

Lap 16: We have entered the pit stop window for the teams at the front that started on the mediums.

It will be fascinating to see how McLaren plays this.

Jack Doohan pits at the back of the field, giving up his set of softs and bolting on a set of the hards.

Lap 13: McLaren tells Norris that there are no signs of any tire graining on the circuit, from any of the drivers. We are firmly in one-stop range right now.

Norris has slowly chipped away at Verstappen’s lead over the past two laps.

Lap 11: Most intriguing fight right now — besides me versus fatigue — is probably Leclerc and Russell. The Mercedes driver closed to within .5 seconds of Leclerc on Lap 10, and is keeping the pressure on.

Norris just posted the fastest lap of the race, taking that title away from Verstappen. Note however that there is no longer the bonus point for the fastest lap this season, another rule change implemented before the start of the year.

Lap 10: Your first pit stop comes from Lance Stroll, who comes in to change from the softs to the hards.

It is worth noting that Stroll put in a massive 36-lap stint on the hard compound to start the Chinese Grand Prix, that convinced the rest of the grid that a one-stop strategy could work in Shanghai.

Lap 9: McLaren tells Norris that some rain is now expected around Lap 20, and that it will last about one lap.

They also tell Norris that the expected rain does not change their plan.

Lap 8: Verstappen has extended his lead over Norris to over two seconds. The current top ten: Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.

Lap 7: Lewis Hamilton, starting on the hard compound, has picked up a spot and is in P7, behind a pair of Mercedes drivers.

Lap 5: Verstappen is told that the upshift issue should improve over the next few laps.

He has pulled out of DRS range to Norris behind him, who remains in P2. Piastri is within DRS range of his teammate in P3. One wonders how McLaren is going to play this with both Norris and Piastri on the medium compound to begin the race.

Lap 4: Verstappen radios in again that the upshifts are worse in the first sector.

Lap 3: Verstappen radios in that his upshifts are “again really bad.”

Lap 2: Update to the pre-race tire choices. Esteban Ocon, running down in P17, is also on the hard compound.

Lap 1: Verstappen holds onto the lead over Norris. The Red Bull driver angled his RB21 towards the inside line when pulling into his spot on the grid, and was able to slam the door on Norris off the line. Norris has settled into P2 behind Verstappen, with Piastri in P3.

Lap 1: They are racing in Japan.

12:59: For those wondering about tire choices. Lance Stroll and Jack Doohan (starting P20 and P19, respectively) are on the softs. Lewis Hamilton and Gabriel Bortoleto are on the hards, and everyone else is on the C2 medium tire.

12:51: I should warn you all that I spent the hours ahead of this race finalizing our taxes for the past year. So if I seem snarkier or more on edge than usual ... there you go.

12:47: Christian Horner tells F1TV that McLaren has the “dominant” car right now, and for Max Verstappen to keep Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind him will require one “hell of a job.”

12:45: Anthem time in Suzuka.

12:41: Speaking with James Hinchcliffe, Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes indicates that it will likely be a one-stop race today in Japan.

12:26: F1TV reports that Isack Hadjar’s seat inside his VCARB02 is “moving.”

This comes after Hadjar was dealing with a seat belt issue during qualifying that was causing him some pain and discomfort in a rather ... sensitive area.

12:21: Well, we’re awake and writing. Technically speaking that is.

Anyway, reconnaissance laps are underway at Suzuka. The rain has come and gone in Japan, and all the drivers are on slick tires for their warm-up laps. Looks like everyone will be on the slicks to begin.

Again, for information on the tire strategies available for the Japanese Grand Prix, we have you covered here.