Key events
Lap 53/53: Verstappen takes the win in Japan, with McLaren finishing second and third through Norris and Piastri. Leclerc and Russell round out the top five, followed by Antonelli, Hadjar, Albon and Bearman in the top ten.
Max Verstappen wins the Japanese Grand Prix
For the fourth straight year, Max Verstappen goes coast-to-coast and takes the chequered flag in Suzuka.
And fittingly, in what is Red Bull’s final year in partnership with Honda, he does it in livery in tribute to the Japanese car maker.
Lap 52/53: With one lap to go, Verstappen retains his lead and looks set to take out an iron-willed, fourth straight win at Suzuka.
Lap 51/53: Tsunoda is just over a second back of Alonso in a battle for 11th but with a further three seconds to tenth-placed Bearman after that, it doesn’t look like the Japanese driver will finish in the points in his home race.
Lap 50/53: Verstappen has extended his lead on Norris back out to almost one and a half seconds. Piastri has dropped back a bit, too, with the gap between himself and his McLaren teammate back out to over a second.
If we’re to get any changes to the order in the points in these final laps, it might come in Antonelli overtaking Russell for fifth.
Lap 49/53: The top six remains as it was when we started today – Verstappen leads from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, and Antonelli.
Lap 48/53: Piastri is gaining on Norris! Almost looking like he was set to dive past him on the home stretch before backing off.
Chris from New Zealand has emailed in to ask, in all capitals, why Racing Bulls sent Lawson back out there on softs. It certainly doesn’t look to have done the Kiwi many favours in vaulting up the order, as he’s down there in 17th.
Lap 47/53: Another tenth of a second is taken out of Verstappen’s lead by Norris. Meanwhile, the gap between our race-leader and third-placed Piastri is less than two seconds.
Lap 46/53: Verstappen’s lead on Norris is done another few tenths and is closing in on the one second mark. Piastri, though, has responded to his teammate’s pace and is back within a second.
Lap 45/53: Norris has just logged his best lap of the race as he moves a second clear of Piastri and closes to within a second of Verstappen. Does his car have another bit of pace he can extract to give us a grandstand finish?
Lap 44/53: It’s safe to say that short of disaster, Verstappen, Norris and Piastri will be on the podium – the third-placed Australian is around ten seconds clear of fourth-placed Leclerc. The question now is if the McLarens have anything up their sleeves that can spoil the world champion’s party.
Lap 43/53: Verstappen’s team promptly gets on the blower to let him know about the communications taking place between the McLaren drivers and to let him know his pace is good.
Lap 42/53: Piastri is on the blower suggesting that if Norris is maintaining a gap to Verstappen in the hopes of a strong finish, he should be released to put some pressure on Verstappen right now because he feels he has the pace.
Lap 41/53: Verstappen maintains a lead of around a second and half to Norris. Piastri is close behind in third, followed by Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.
In his first race as a Red Bull driver, Tsunoda sits in 12th, just over a second behind Alonso. Former Red Bull driver Lawson is sitting in 17th.
Lap 40/53: One potential extra wrinkle as Piastri closes in on Norris is that if Verstappen takes out this race and the Brit doesn’t come second, he’ll surrender the lead in the driver’s title race to the reigning champion.
Lap 39/53: Piastri has closed the gap on Norris to less than a second. The McLarens are under instructions to race and it looks like the Australian is going to make good on that offer.
Lap 38/53: Out in front, Verstappen is showing no signs of slowing down and this means the McLarens have been able to do little to close the gap. Overtaking has proven difficult today and there’s been little chaos to upturn the grid, either, with all 20 cars that started the race still out there.
Lap 37/53: Hamilton gets on the blower asking for information asking for information as to where he’s slowest on the track as he looks to overhaul Antonelli for sixth.
Piastri, meanwhile, is getting closer to DRS range of Norris.
Lap 36/53: The word comes in from Red Bull just to make it clear to Verstappen, they’re happy for him to push for the remainder of the race.
Lap 35/55: Verstappen maintains around a second and a half lead on Norris. Piastri sits in third with a healthy gap on fourth-placed Leclerc, who is followed by Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.
Lap 34/53: Lawson and Sainz have both pitted and both have emerged on soft tyres. Can they get 19 laps out of them? Big ask.
Lap 33/53: On a set of medium tyres that should see him to the end of the race, Hamilton is looking to close the gap on sixth-place Antonelli.
With 20 laps to go, Vestappen looks to be in a very strong position out in front. McLaren will need to produce something different than what they’ve shown thus far for either Norris or Piastri to overhaul the world champion.
Lap 32/53: So, after a bit of drama, we’re as we were before all the pit stops, just with the leading cohort now on hard tyres. Verstappen leads from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Lawson (who is still yet to pit).
Lap 31/53: Antonelli is finally forced to pit and after something of a slowish stop comes out back in sixth, behind Russell. Verstappen has regained the lead and the clear air that comes with it.
Lap 30/53: After locking up just in front of Verstappen on the final turn, Hamilton dives into the pit lane to change his hard tyres – Antonelli on his mediums retains the lead, great stuff from the youngster – and he comes out in seventh-place.
Lap 29/53: Verstappen is now getting his first taste of some traffic and dirty air in front of him as he closes in on Hamilton in second place. Hadjar has gone around Sainz and moved into ninth.
Lap 28/53: Antonelli remains out in front on his mediums. His doing a great job of saving them and taking advantage of the clear air he’s receiving out in front.
Here’s the incident between Verstappen and Norris coming out of pit lane if you want another look.
Lap 27/53: Antonelli is on the radio saying he’s happy with his mediums and is content to stay out there and push things for now. His gap over Hamilton and his hard tyres is just over four seconds.
On the commentary, Jacques Villeneuve is perplexed as to why Norris was brought into the pit lane rather than try something else and force the issue.
Lap 26/53: Stewards have indicated that there will be no action taken on the fracas between Verstappen and Norris as they came out of pit lane. Thank goodness it happened because we didn’t have much to get excited about to that point.
Lap 25/53: Stewards have “noted” the incident involving Verstappen and Norris coming out of the pit lane. Meanwhile, Verstappen is lapping faster than Norris and Piastri on the hard tyres.
Lap 24/53: After all the pits, we’ve got a new race order. Antonelli leads from Hamilton and Hadjar – the trio yet to pit. Verstappen has maintained his lead on Norris and Piastri and is fourth, while Leclerc, Russell, Lawson, and Sainz round out the top ten.
Lap 23/53: Current vibe of the coverage is that Verstappen won’t have much to worry about with the incident with Norris. We’ve had no word from the stewards yet if they’re having a look at anything.
Lap 22/53: Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc all come into the pits. Antonelli goes into the lead for the first time in his F1 career.
Norris gained a second in the pit stop and came out looking for an overtake but he goes off onto the grass coming out of the pit lane!
Norris immediately gets on the radio saying he was forced off and follows that up a few moments later by saying that Verstappen say him alongside, with the pit lane replying that they’re “on it”.
Replays seemingly show that Verstappen just maintained his line and he gets on the blower saying Norris drove himself off. Drama.
Lap 21/53: Piastri is the first of the McLarens to come into the pits, emerging on a set of hard tyres in ninth, just in front of Alonso as they’d hoped.
Lap 20/53: Russell comes out in 13th on a new set of hard tyres, between Tsunoda and Lawson
Verstappen gets on the radio asking if he’s to come in or push and the answer is to push.
Lap 19/53: Ferrari are on the radio telling Leclerc that, right now, there’s no proper gaps for them to target coming out of the pits so, right now, the best play is to stay out there.
Conversely, Russell has just come in so perhaps the Mercedes has spied something.
Lap 18/53: We’re approaching the point wherein the leaders on their mediums might now start looking to come into the pits.
Norris’ team gets on the radio telling him to pit and the crew comes out but it’s quickly revealed to be a dummy.
Lap 17/53: Tsunoda is inching towards Gasly as he looks to gain another position. Up the top of the grid, Piastri has backed off Norris a bit as he looks to save his own tyres.
Lap 16/53: Doohan, the other driver to start on soft tyres, comes into the pits. His tyres lasted around six laps longer than Stroll’s and he emerges in front of the Aston Martin when he comes out on a set of hard tyres.
Lap 15/53: Verstappen leads from Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman.
Lap 14/53: Not much in the way of overtakes or incidents to report amongst the leaders, with Verstappen retaining his lead over the McLarens.
Perhaps the most intrigue at the moment surrounds Hamilton, who is the only driver in the top 16 who started on hard tyres.
