Hadjar in the points while Tsunoda and Lawson struggle at Suzuka

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led home McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after 53 laps of gripping racing at Suzuka. In doing so, he clinched his fourth consecutive victory at the iconic Japanese venue.

Despite never pulling away significantly, the Dutchman delivered a flawless performance on the tricky Suzuka track. He laid the foundations with a superb pole position effort on Saturday.

When the lights went out, Verstappen immediately defended his lead into Turn 1, with Norris slotting into second and Piastri holding third, ahead of Charles Leclerc. The field cautiously navigated the slick but drying conditions, all starting on dry tyres—most on mediums—and made it through the opening corners unscathed.

Kiwi driver Liam Lawson started the race P13 in front of home hero Yuki Tsunoda in P14. Carlos Sainz, who had initially qualified P12, was handed down a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton during qualifying, moving the pair up a spot.

On the first few laps of the race, Tsunoda gained a place on Lawson at Spoon Curve. As the rear of Lawson’s car snapped mid-corner, the Racing Bulls driver had to lift, opening the door for Tsunoda to slip through into 13th.

Though dry in most areas, damp patches lingered on parts of the circuit following a light pre-race drizzle. However, the racing line cleared up quickly, confirming that slicks were the right call.

Out front, Verstappen capitalized on the clear air to edge out a 1.7-second lead over Norris after six laps. Piastri, running third, was right in the hunt, sitting within DRS range of his teammate. The McLarens gradually eased away from Leclerc, who had drifted 1.2s behind the pair.

“Verstappen mentioned over his team radio, My upshifts are again really bad”, and the team responded, saying they would look into it and try to improve them.

The gap at the front held steady, suggesting a game of pace management orchestrated by Verstappen. Behind them, Lawson headed a DRS train in 14th, with Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Jack Doohan, Lance Stroll, and Gabriel Bortoleto stacked up behind.

Stroll, who had started on softs, was the first to blink, pitting on Lap 9 for hards to escape the train.

The early phase was marked by strategic tension, with the leaders holding station and waiting for the field to spread before considering stops. Verstappen didn’t push flat-out but applied enough pressure to limit McLaren’s strategy options, nullifying their two-car advantage.

Doohan, another soft-tyre starter, boxed after 15 laps, rejoining just ahead of Stroll. Clearly, the undercut hadn’t worked well for Aston Martin.

On Lap 18, McLaren tried to bluff Red Bull with a fake pit call for Norris, who stayed out while Verstappen didn’t fall for the bait.

George Russell was the first frontrunner to stop, diving in after 20 laps from fifth and rejoining narrowly ahead of Tsunoda.

That triggered Verstappen to up the pace, while McLaren brought in Piastri, who emerged in ninth just ahead of Fernando Alonso and 3.5s behind Oliver Bearman. It was a move that left McLaren fans scratching their heads.

A lap later, both Norris and Verstappen stopped together, with Leclerc also diving in. McLaren’s slightly quicker stop saw Norris released as Verstappen passed, the two exiting side-by-side. Norris briefly ran onto the grass to avoid contact. Both drivers complained about the other over the team radio, but the stewards deemed no further action over the incident was necessary.

Lawson was back in 8th position, still needing to pit. The Racing Bulls risked a bold strategy for the Kiwi, who was racing in a car that was still relatively foreign to him. Lawson was behind Russell but on worn medium tyres and lost 1.5-2 seconds per lap to Russell, yet Racing Bulls kept him out, forever hoping for a safety car.

At that point, rookie Kimi Antonelli inherited the lead—his first time at the front in Formula 1—before boxing on Lap 31, handing the top spot back to Verstappen, with Norris second and Piastri close behind.

Lawson eventually pitted after 34 laps on the medium compound tyre, opting for the softs to take him to the end of the 53-lap race.

Back in clean air, Verstappen maintained his narrow lead, keeping just outside of DRS range. He wasn’t comfortable but never under real threat.

Norris, meanwhile, had his mirrors full of Piastri. The young Aussie began closing in with about a dozen laps to go, prompting Norris to tell the pit wall he had the pace to challenge Verstappen if freed.

Norris pushed hard, trimming the gap to the leader to 1.1s by Lap 46 as he simultaneously responded to the pressure from his teammate. Piastri had sized up a move for second, but Norris’ response—his fastest lap of the race—kept him just ahead.

In the closing laps, the battle for second fizzled out as Verstappen held his nerve to take the win by a slender margin, with Norris and Piastri completing the podium.

Leclerc took fourth ahead of Russell, followed by Antonelli, Lewis Hamilton, Isack Hadjar, Alex Albon, and Bearman rounding out the top ten.

Further down, Jack Doohan dropped behind Sainz late on to finish 15th, while Lawson ended 17th, stuck in the DRS train behind the Australian.

“I don’t know what the hell that was,” said Lawson over the team radio, disappointed in his performance.

Tsunoda previously stated he was hopeful for a podium finish in front of his home crowd but could only finish 12th in the race.

Formula 1 heads to Bahrain next weekend. The race, which is scheduled for 3 a.m. NZT, is not very favourable for Kiwi fans.