Max Verstappen quipped that Lando Norris’s McLaren was “quite an expensive lawnmower” after their near miss at the pit exit during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Red Bull driver Verstappen collected his first victory of the F1 2025 season in Sunday’s Japanese GP, seeing off the threat of Norris and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Max Verstappen wins the Japanese GP after Lando Norris pit exit skirmish

In a mostly routine race, one of the few dramatic moments occurred when Verstappen and Norris both pitted at the same time after Piastri launched an undercut attempt.

Norris and Verstappen were alongside each other at the end of the pit lane, with the McLaren taking to the grass at the exit as the track narrowed.

The incident was noted by the stewards, who saw no grounds for a further investigation.

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Verstappen went on to win the race by 1.423 seconds from Norris, who retains the lead of the World Championship by a single point ahead of next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

All three drivers discussed the incident in the cooldown room ahead of the podium ceremony, with Piastri first to bring up the subject as Verstappen arrived.

Piastri said: “I had a good seat to watch the pit exit. That was close! As I was coming down the straight, I saw grass everywhere. I was like: ‘Oh.’”

Verstappen laughed and replied: “Something happened!”

The drivers were then seated before watching a highlights reel of the race with Norris and Verstappen having a brief exchange when their skirmish appeared on screen.

Norris: “I saw that wall coming quite quickly.”

Norris: “Bet I got track limits for that.”

Verstappen: “It’s quite an expensive lawnmower.”

Norris: “Had a floor specially made for it.”

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With few highlights from the race itself, Piastri was left shocked that the clip ended so soon.

He said: “That’s all the highlights? That’s all that happened in that race?

Norris replied: “Nothing happened. I don’t think there was one overtake.

Piastri: “For a race that felt like it was pretty flat out, nothing happened.”

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