Max Verstappen has come out of nowhere to win his 4th consecutive Japanese Grand Prix around Suzuka, holding off Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to give engine suppliers Honda their final Grand Prix victory at home. After two constructors’ and four drivers’ championships, Red Bull is parting ways with Honda at the end of the season, calling it a day on their successful partnership.
Outside of one tense moment on lap 22, the race was quite a calm one, with many drivers saying it was “boring” and “lonely.”
Verstappen entered the Grand Prix weekend out of sight and out of mind, with everyone tipping the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as the red hot favourites. Having taken back-to-back victories in Melbourne and Shanghai, no other driver stood a chance. But no one thought to tell Max Verstappen that. Pulling out all the stops in qualifying, Verstappen went against the grain and strapped a low-down force set-up onto his RB21. Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Red Bull’s Team Principal Christian Horner said the team “turned everything upside down to get the car into a window that Max could make use of.” With track position a premium around Suzuka in recent years, Verstappen’s hail mary move paid off, handing him his fourth consecutive Japanese pole. Commentators and drivers alike couldn’t help but awe at the reigning world champion’s banzai lap, with two-time champion Fernando Alonso among them. Just one hundredth of a second separating the Dutchman from Lando Norris in second place. Despite a slow pitstop and run-in with Norris on the exit of the pit lane, Verstappen kept a level head and ran an imperious race, reminding everyone why he is one of the greats. Just a single point separates Verstappen from championship leader Lando Norris in the Drivers’ standings. Verstappen might not have the fastest car this year, but he isn’t going down without a fight.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri came home in second and third, finishing the race right where they started. Norris was a quick off the line, reacting to the line 5 hundredths of a second faster than pole sitter Verstappen. Angling his car to the right, Verstappen managed to cover off the McLaren driver into turn 1 and was out of DRS range on the second lap. Despite having the fastest cars on the grid, Norris and Piastri couldn’t capitalise on their pace advantage, trailing Verstappen for the entire race. Desperate to overtake the Dutchman by any means, Norris went side-by-side with Verstappen out of the pits, ending up on the grass and almost crashing out of the race. Norris pulled out all the stops to get ahead of Verstappen on track, fussing and fighting with his race engineer to get the Red Bull driver handed a penalty. But Norris had bigger things to worry about behind him. Faster than his teammate and Max Verstappen come race day, Oscar Piastri spent most of the grand prix looking for an overtaking opportunity on Norris. But even with the DRS advantage, nothing presented itself to the birthday boy. Talking to McLaren’s team principal after the race, Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz asked why the team didn’t swap the cars so Piastri couldn’t hunt down and overtake Verstappen, with Andrea saying it was “simply not possible.” Dirty air off of Verstappen’s car would have hampered Piastri’s chances. Despite the turbulent air coming off of his teammate’s car, Piastri still managed to close the gap and put Norris under pressure. Piastri’s race engineer told him that Norris was driving as fast as he could on lap 44, staying well out of Verstappen’s DRS range. But Stella said this was a tire-saving move on Norris’ part.
But all eyes were on one man heading into the Grand Prix weekend. Replacing Liam Lawson after just two races, Yuki Tsunoda got the call he had been dying to hear, stepping into the RB21 for his home Grand Prix. Tsunoda was neck and neck with his world champion teammate heading into qualifying on Saturday, slowly but surely getting used to the bespoke car. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had nothing but praise for the Japanese driver after FP1, saying to Sky Sports that he was “settling into the car quite well.” Using identical modes in the first practice session, the Red Bull drivers were only a second apart. Doohan’s 51g crash in FP2 robbed Tsunoda of precious laps in the RB21, putting him on the back foot. Tsunoda put in consistent laps on hard tires in FP3, staying within touching distance of Verstappen ahead of qualifying. But it would all come unstuck. With wind all around the circuit, drivers up and down the field were finding Suzuka a handful. A snap of oversteer coming out of turn 1 saw Tsunoda bow out of Q2 and qualify behind the man he replaced, Liam Lawson, in 15th. The Japanese driver admitted in a post-race interview with Sky Sports that his mistake in qualifying “definitely” cost him a better race result. Tsunoda would move up a place to 14th after Carlos Sainz was slapped with a penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton on his flying lap. Come race day, Yuki said he was “feeling ready.” Put his qualifying performance behind him, Tsunoda said, “yesterday was yesterday and today is today.” Learning with each passing lap, Tsunoda said he felt the potential in the car. While he would pass Lawson on track and Pierre Gasly during the pit cycle, Tsunoda spent much of the race in limbo, finishing two places up from where he started in 12th. Tsunoda had mixed feelings about his race day performance and result, saying that he at least wanted a points finish for his home Grand Prix. As the race wore on, Tsunoda said he felt more and more confident with each passing lap.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver in F1 history to put in the fastest lap of a Grand Prix, beating the previous record set by Max Verstappen. Having qualified and finished better than any other rookie on the grid, Antonelli is proving Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff’s bold hiring choice right. Juggling F1 and high school at the same time, Antonelli currently sits 5th in the championship.
