Verstappen now the F1 title favourite? Japanese GP takeaways
F1
Is Verstappen could be F1 title favourite after his Japanese GP win; McLaren might already need to back one of its drivers; question marks over whether Red Bull made the right choice with Tsunoda. These are the main takeaways from Suzuka
Max Verstappen put in a virtuoso drive for a fourth consecutive Suzuka win
The third round of the 2025 season wasn’t much of a thriller, but fans still got to enjoy a superb performance by Max Verstappen, who managed to keep the McLarens at bay for another masterful win at Suzuka.
Here are the main takeaways from the Japanese GP weekend.
Verstappen might now be F1 2025 championship favourite
The Japanse GP podium
Red Bull
Seeing his first two races of the season, there was no doubt that Verstappen is again in top form, maximising the performance of his Red Bull as he waited for the right opportunity to beat the McLarens.
That chance came at one of his favourite circuits in Suzuka, and the world champion once again got everything out of his car to become the first driver to win at the Japanese venue for the fourth time in a row. As his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase put it after the chequered flag: “Perfection, just perfection, Max”.
Verstappen and Red Bull will be under no illusions that the upcoming races will offer him the same opening to stay ahead of McLaren. After all, the Japanese GP, an event which the Dutchman had dominated the previous three years, was an extremely close race this time, and had he not nailed his qualifying lap, we could be talking about a different winner.
Although Verstappen has so far overachieved, as long as he manages to stay within touching distance of the McLarens, the four-time champion might still be favourite for the championship if the Red Bull improves significantly in the medium term.
Milton Keynes is hopeful that the upcoming change to the regulations on flexi-wings will be a boost to its chances, but a lot will depend on how the team and its rivals manage to develop their cars throughout the year.
Regardless of its current advantage, Suzuka made it clear that McLaren cannot afford to give Verstappen any opportunities if it wants to beat him.
Red Bull was right to swap drivers, but reality still bit Tsunoda
Tsunoda found the Japanese GP weekend to be tricky
Yuki Tsunoda had said ahead of the start of his first grand prix outing with Red Bull that he hadn’t found the RB21 to be as tricky as expected during his simulator runs, and that his goal was to score points for the team in its bid to stay in the constructors’ championship fight (even though right now it admits the drivers’ title is its main focus at the moment).
Going by Tsunoda’s own goals, it’s hard to see the Japanese GP as anything but disappointing given he finished 11th positions and nearly a minute behind Verstappen and, most significantly, outside of the point-paying places. In his home race, too.
But it wasn’t all negative for the Japanese driver, as he clearly showed more confidence and better place than Liam Lawson had in the first two races with the team.
Given that it was only his first outing with Red Bull, Tsunoda’s potential to do better than the Kiwi as the season progresses is there for all to see, but the race result will still not be too easy to digest given Verstappen’s stellar performance, combined with the fact that Isack Hadjar managed to score in the car that Tsunoda had been driving until the past weekend.
McLaren could start questioning betting on its two drivers
Verstappen leads Norris and Piastri at Suzuka
Red Bull
McLaren was aware it had the fastest car around Suzuka, but it all went wrong when both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to do what Verstappen did: get the best out of their cars in qualifying.
Once the reigning champion managed to keep the lead at the start, the Woking team’s advantage didn’t appear to be sufficient to overhaul the Red Bull star. The resurfacing of Suzuka didn’t help McLaren’s cause either, as tyre degradation wasn’t much of an issue for anyone in the race.
Piastri felt he was faster than Norris after they both had made their pitstops, but the team decided against a swap and the Australian never got the chance to show whether he was right or not.
Team boss Andrea Stella defended the decision by saying that the squad didn’t think Piastri was that much faster than Norris, but as a team fighting for the title with two drivers – a problem Red Bull won’t have – McLaren could eventually be facing more difficult situations, particularly if Verstappen manages to stay in the fight by seizing every opportunity he gets.
Waiting for one of its drivers to be clearly ahead of the other in the standings before deciding to back one of them for the title could turn out to be costly.
Ferrari struggled again
Hamilton finished a distance seventh in Japan
Grand Prix Photo
That’s three races now that Ferrari has been unable to unlock the potential it believes its car has.
McLaren's dominance came to an end in Japan as Max Verstappen put on a masterclass to show the Woking team's seasons will not be the cakewalk some suspected. Here's how the world champion defeated his rivals
By
Mark Hughes
Yes, the season is very long and last year already showed that things car turn around dramatically even at the end of a rules cycle in which teams are very much on the edge of the performance limit of their cars – but Ferrari can’t afford to wait much longer, and it may soon find that its actual position is fighting Mercedes to be the one behind McLaren and Red Bull, rather than vying for the title.
Lewis Hamilton suggested after the Suzuka race that Ferrari had found “something” that, if/when fixed, could unlock some more speed, particularly in his car compared to Charles Leclerc, as the Briton suggested there was a “deficit” between his and his team-mate’s machine.
The 2025 field is extremely close and finding a couple of tenths could make a huge difference but, whatever the solution is, Ferrari needs to find it fast if it’s to stay within reaching distance of its rivals.
