Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will not like Christian Horner’s ‘clear’ Red Bull admission after the Japanese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen got his first win of the 2025 F1 season at the Japanese Grand Prix last Sunday to see the Red Bull driver slash McLaren ace Lando Norris’ championship lead.

The four-time reigning champion now trails last term’s runner-up by just a point after three rounds of the 2025 F1 season. Norris gained the lead of the F1 drivers’ championship for the first time in his career by winning the Australian Grand Prix and is so far yet to be surpassed.

Norris securing the lead even saw Verstappen fall from the top step of the standings for the first time in 1,029 days. But the Dutchman has overcome his tricky Red Bull RB21 to remain a constant thorn in the Briton’s side and beat Norris to pole and the win at the Japanese GP.

Christian Horner admits Max Verstappen’s drivers’ title bid is Red Bulls’ ‘clear’ focus

Verstappen took pole for the 2025 Japanese GP from Norris and Oscar Piastri by only 0.012 and 0.044 seconds after the McLaren teammates had topped the timesheets all weekend up to the end of Q3. The 27-year-old also used his clean air to win at Suzuka rather unopposed.

Also, Suzuka’s resurfaced first section negated McLaren’s tyre wear advantage to Red Bull given the reduced degradation from the new asphalt. But it was Verstappen who made the difference in the RB21, as Yuki Tsunoda ended the Japanese GP in P12 on his Red Bull debut.

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Red Bull only having one car finish the Japanese GP and the third straight round of the 2025 F1 season in the points has left team principal Christian Horner to admit their ‘clear’ focus is on seeing Verstappen win the drivers’ title rather than to fight McLaren in the constructors’.

“For us, it’s clear,” Horner said, via quotes by Sport.de. “The focus is on the drivers’ title. The constructors’ title will be tougher, but we’ll never give up. It’s a long year.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will not like Christian Horner sacrificing the teams’ title

Red Bull demoted Liam Lawson back to Racing Bulls after just two rounds at their main team after failing to score points in Australia and China. But Tsunoda could not claim a top 10 spot on his debut in Japan to see Red Bull sit 50 points behind McLaren for the constructors’ title.

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McLaren would even lead the teams’ standings as they attempt to retain their first title since 1998 if Red Bull and Ferrari combined their respective 61 and 35 points so far this year. Their combined efforts would fall one point shy of McLaren’s 111 points for the first three rounds.

So, while it is not impossible for Red Bull to overcome their deficit like McLaren did last year after trailing the Milton Keynes team by 42 points after the first three rounds, Horner’s view that Verstappen’s title bid is their primary goal is a natural response to his victory at Suzuka.

But Norris and Piastri will not like Red Bull going all-in on Verstappen’s title challenge when McLaren cannot match it with both of their drivers in the mix. It was also clear at Suzuka as McLaren rebuffed Piastri’s desires to swap positions with Norris to try and fight Verstappen.