Max Verstappen made one surprising wish before the Japanese Grand Prix, he ‘smashed it out the park’

Max Verstappen returned to his best at the Japanese Grand Prix as he claimed his first win of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

It has been a difficult start to the season for Red Bull, with the RB21 having clearly regressed in performance over the winter compared to their rivals. It could even be argued that the Milton Keynes-based outfit have the fourth-fastest car behind McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.

Their struggles were made apparent by the dismal form of Liam Lawson, who was dropped after two races by Red Bull. He failed to reach Q2 in Australia and China – qualifying last twice in the latter – as he was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Verstappen disagreed with Lawson’s demotion as he felt the New Zealander’s results would have been stronger had the car been better. The Dutchman even said his teammate would fare better at Racing Bulls as the VCARB 02 is much easier to drive than the RB21.

While the reigning four-time champion has also been struggling with his 2025 machine, he has continued to extract the maximum from the car. Verstappen certainly showed that at Suzuka as he produced a stunning effort all weekend to claim victory.

Max Verstappen wished to make it to Q3 at the Japanese Grand Prix – he ‘smashed it out the park’

The Dutchman took pole position from Lando Norris by just 12 thousandths of a second, with teammate Oscar Piastri only 32 thousandths behind the Brit in third. In what was a fairly uneventful race, Verstappen held off McLaren’s relentless pressure to win by 1.4 seconds from Norris.

Peter Windsor lauded Verstappen’s ‘astounding’ lap in qualifying that set him up for success in the Grand Prix. According to Naomi Schiff, he exceeded his own expectations with his performance.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ The F1 Show, the pundit shared what the Red Bull duo had wished for before the race at Suzuka. Verstappen had surprisingly wished to make it to Q3 – something he has done at every race thus far.

“So, fun fact, I don’t know if you guys managed to catch my Yuki driver room tour. The tour of his driver room and there was a Daruma doll in his room and apparently Max had one as well.

“They each filled one eye in which is what you do with them. You colour one eye in when you make your wish and you colour the second one in when your wish has been granted.

“And apparently, Yuki had wished for opening a restaurant and also owning land in Japan. And apparently Max’s wish was getting into Q3. So I guess he smashed that one out the park didn’t he?”

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Could McLaren open the door for Max Verstappen to win the 2025 title?

Verstappen’s win now puts him just a point behind Norris in the drivers’ championship ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The title fight is certainly on – and McLaren may hand their rival a clear advantage.

F1 fans were furious about the dirty air problem at Suzuka, as Norris and Piastri could not get close to Verstappen while the Red Bull driver was in clean air at the front. However, McLaren did not help themselves with another missed opportunity with strategy.

Norris could have undercut Verstappen had he stopped a lap earlier as he was a second quicker in the box. Instead, Piastri pitted first, with Jacques Villeneuve criticising McLaren for not being bold enough with their strategy.

It is clear McLaren still have a problem with their drivers and which one to prioritise in the championship fight. This could open the door for Verstappen as Tsunoda is unlikely to mount a serious challenge at Red Bull – none of the Dutchman’s teammates have matched him since 2019.

Helmut Marko is hopeful McLaren will take points off themselves with their drivers battling on track for the championship. If the Woking-based outfit cannot decide on their number one driver is, they could fail to capitalise on the pace of the MCL39.