Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had a McLaren car that was superior to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and still couldn’t deny the Dutchman victory at the Japanese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen has poked fun at rival Lando Norris after beating the Brit to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix. In a surprise result, the Dutchman not only snatched pole position from the McLarens but converted it into his first win of 2025.
McLaren’s superior race pace meant few felt Verstappen would be able to keep them behind for 53 laps of the Suzuka track. But that was exactly what he did with Norris never able to get into striking distance as a result of low tyre degradation and the fact the Japanese track has only one DRS zone.
The result moves the four-time champion to within just one point of Norris at the top of the drivers’ standings. The other McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri, is third and 13 adrift of his team-mate.
Speaking to Dutch media after the race, Verstappen appeared to take a dig at both McLaren drivers as he reacted to his win. “I’m very happy with what I’m doing right now, but I could think what would happen when I would be in that other car,” he said.
Asked if he meant a scenario in which he was behind the wheel of the fearsome McLaren car, the Red Bull racer replied: “Yes – you wouldn’t see me anymore!”
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Clearly, Verstappen felt Norris and Piastri did not make the most of the fearsome machine under them over the Suzuka weekend. Not that he cares, having earned a first win since last year’s Qatar Grand Prix which put him hot on the heels of title favourite Norris.
He added: “The whole race I saw two orange cars in my mirror, and yeah, especially those last 20 laps, we were pushing quite hard out there. You could just feel the tyres were degrading more and more. But you had to keep on fighting it, basically being on the limit.
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“Very proud with this result. Most of it, of course, was done [in qualifying], being able to start from pole, because around here I think it’s just very hard to follow.
“You only have one DRS zone as well here, so it’s very tough. Plus, the degradation seemed quite low, so you do a one-stop. But still, we take it, we really maximised the weekend and I’m very proud of everyone.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was naturally delighted with his star driver’s performance. He said: “That was one of Max’s best weekends. We literally turned the car upside down set-up wise, he’s worked very hard with the engineering team. Finally, we were able to give him a car that he could make use of in Q3 yesterday with the most stunning lap and then convert that today in a hard-fought victory in a straight fight.
“The beginning of the weekend looked like we were out the window. We managed to get the car into a decent window and Max Verstappen demonstrated why he’s got number one on that car.”
