Raceday Recap: the Japanese Grand Prix Snoozefest
The Japanese Grand Prix was admittedly the most uneventful F1 race we’ve seen in a while: minimal overtaking, no crashes, and only a few funny radio messages. Even the drivers admitted that they were bored during the race, and if you stayed up to watch it live, you may have fallen asleep like I did a few times. Either way, let’s review the race’s events and talk about what might play into the race in Bahrain later this week.
Seeing the return of Max Verstappen was the most notable highlight of this past weekend in Suzuka, as the Flying Dutchman took his favorite spot on the top of the podium for the first time since he dominated Sao Paulo in 2024. This also marks the 4th time that Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix. Fans have rejoiced in hearing the “F1 outro” for the first time in 2025, and even though I am not a Verstappen superfan, it was nice to hear the Dutch anthem again- almost a nostalgic feeling. McLaren continued to perform with Lando Norris finishing 2nd and Oscar Piastri in 3rd, a result by which Norris still leads the Driver’s Championship with Verstappen just one point behind. Charles Leclerc kept a high position for the majority of the race and finished in 4th for Ferrari, while George Russell and Kimi Antonelli also continue to rack up Constructor’s points for Mercedes, claiming P5 and P6 at Suzuka. Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton finished 7th after winning an overtake battle with rookie Isack Hadjar who crossed the line in P8, with Alex Albon and rookie Ollie Bearman rounding out the top 10 after solid performances from each.
Verstappen standing victorious after the Japanese Grand Prix: the world champion is back, everyone. Photo courtesy of F1.
Yuki Tsunoda, after facing high pressures for his first race at Red Bull as well as his home race, finished a disappointing 12th place, after being unqualified on Saturday by Liam Lawson, the teammate he replaced. Both Tsunoda’s teammate Verstappen and Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar achieved a better result than him, and while Tsunoda didn’t necessarily make any race-losing mistakes, his drive was simply not good enough to prove himself and land him in the points for Red Bull on Sunday. His home crowd still voted him as driver of the day to show their support, but honestly one of the stars of the race was Kimi Antonelli. At the age of 18 years and 224 days, Antonelli set the newest record for the youngest driver to lead a lap of a Grand Prix, besting Max Verstappen’s previous record by just three days. Not only did Antonelli lead the race for 10 laps, but he also set an all-time best Suzuka lap time (1:30.965 seconds) after qualifying an impressive P6. Scoring 30 points over the first three races of the season, Antonelli continues to show his talent and skill in the sport, and he is definitely a driver to watch.
Among other silly moments (Lance Stroll in last and 20 seconds behind the driver in front of him, Hadjar’s seat/seatbelt issues, and Alex Albon’s aggressive radio message), the craziest was the pit lane drama between Lando and Max: Verstappen pushed Norris wide and into the grass, not allowing him to get by and back onto the track. Both were angry in the moment, but in the press room they laughed that Norris just saw that the grass was long and wanted to cut it. Whether Verstappen did it on purpose or Norris was honestly in his blind spot, no hard feelings remained after the incident was settled. Piastri and Norris also had a tense moment on-track where Piastri seemed faster and wanted to pass to chase Verstappen for 1st, but McLaren gave orders for Norris to stay in front and take P2 instead of risking the position when Norris had been doing well the entire race.
In summary, I miss Martin Brundle commentating and this race was over by lap 30 of 53; hopes and prayers that Bahrain this week is a much more exciting and entertaining race. As always, thanks for reading, sayonara!
Lights out and away we go,
Lucy xx
