Winners and losers from F1’s 2025 Japanese Grand Prix

A qualifying lap for the ages and an impressive batch of rookies brightened up Formula 1’s tepid Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Here’s who impressed us at Suzuka and who didn’t make the grade

Winner: Max Verstappen

There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Verstappen’s Japanese Grand Prix performance. Much has been made of Red Bull’s second car failures, with Yuki Tsunoda making an encouraging yet point-less start. But that car has historically also been a good barometer of just how difficult the Red Bull is to drive, and it sure looked a handful in Suzuka as well.

Things improved on Saturday with a better car balance, but still Verstappen had no right to come out on top against the quicker McLarens. Yet somehow he put it all on the line and bagged his fourth consecutive pole in Japan. His emotional reaction underlined how much it meant, and just how surprising it was even to him.

If Saturday’s one-lap wonder was a swashbuckling performance, then Sunday’s grand prix was just a cool and calculated afternoon drive, safe in the knowledge that track position is key at Suzuka when tyre degradation isn’t much of a factor. Verstappen never seemed anything but totally in command and appeared to have pace in hand for when Lando Norris came too close for comfort.

Once again, he has reminded his rivals he can and will feast on the tiniest breadcrumbs they leave for him to gobble up, even if he hates how his car behaves. Simply faultless.

Loser: McLaren

It’s all relative, isn’t it. McLaren has come away from Japan as the biggest scorer with 33 points, extending its constructors’ lead on Mercedes by 15. But F1 is about winning, and in truth the team should have scored another 1-2 here.

That victory likely wasn’t lost in the race as, in Verstappen’s dirty air, Norris and Oscar Piastri could have probably never put a flawless Dutchman under real pressure. But you would have liked to see McLaren at least try and do something different with its strategy rather than focusing on safeguarding its double podium. After the only pitstop sequence, there was still enough time to give Piastri a shot at fighting Verstappen and then swap positions if the Australian had also been unsuccessful.

The real difference was made in qualifying, though, where both Norris and Piastri left enough time on the table to open the door for a stellar Verstappen pole that should have been out of his reach. We are talking about centimetres here, but the fact is Verstappen extracted the maximum and they didn’t.

Yes, things are still looking rosy for McLaren in the bigger picture, but this was an opportunity wasted. Suzuka’s high-speed swoops suited McLaren’s car very well, with no guarantees that other circuits will follow the same formbook, especially if rival teams improve their cars.

Winner: Isack Hadjar

Hadjar did well over an impressive Chinese Grand Prix, only to be thwarted by strategic errors, but in Japan the French Racing Bulls rookie scored his first-ever points and firmly put his dramatic Australian GP exit in the rear view mirror.

There was no question the F2 runner-up is quick, but few expected him to settle at the highest level so quickly, pairing his raw speed with measured drives thus far. Taking seventh on the grid, overcoming some excruciating seatbelt issues in Q1, further highlighted how quickly he is maturing.

He will be a tough nut to crack for the returning Liam Lawson, who had a more muted Suzuka debut in the 2025 Racing Bulls car, although his race looked worse than it was due to a strategy gamble that backfired. If Red Bull had some initial doubts over whether or not Hadjar was ready for F1 promotion, it looks like we have the answer.

Loser: Lance Stroll

Stroll impressed in Melbourne’s rain race, scoring the only points of Aston Martin’s disappointing season thus far, but the Canadian was just woeful in Japan, I’m afraid.

It all came undone in qualifying, where he was (un)comfortably last and a full second behind Fernando Alonso, with the team explaining he was caught up by a gust of tailwind in Turn 6. As with most other drivers, there were no strategic miracles on the table on Sunday, but he couldn’t make up positions by starting on soft tyres and was the only car to finish off the lead lap.

It compared unfavourably with Alonso, who almost scored a point in a mediocre car after keeping Tsunoda’s quicker Red Bull behind.

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

Japan didn’t look like it was going to be Antonelli’s weekend. The Mercedes youngster struggled throughout practice and even admitted to being “very lost” on the technically demanding Suzuka circuit. Yet, when it mattered, the 18-year-old applied everything he had learned and strung a quick lap together that elevated him to sixth on the grid alongside George Russell.

He looked more and more at ease during the race, extending his first stint to comfortably defend sixth from his predecessor Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari. Setting the record for youngest race leader and fastest lap setter is a nice little bonus, but that will be quickly forgotten. What really matters is that Antonelli is displaying some real grit to work through difficult weekends, with his character building F2 campaign at Prema seemingly paying off.

Loser: Sauber

Sauber capitalised on the rain in Australia, but a high-speed circuit like Suzuka further confirmed the team has a lot of work on its plate, in spite of bringing a first batch of upgrades to Japan. From 16th and 17th on the grid, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto went on to finish 16th and 19th respectively in what appears to be the slowest car on the grid on balance.

Things could have looked a little bit better if Hulkenberg had hooked up his Q1 lap, having narrowly been dumped out by Lawson after a massive oversteer moment in one of the Degners, but direct rival Haas has scored a point yet again while the Swiss outfit stumbles on.

Winner: Oliver Bearman

It was a good day for rookies, with Bearman the third young gun making our list this week. Here was another driver who qualified out of position – in a good way – on a track he had never seen before, emphatically quicker than experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon. Bearman said he was surprised to make Q2, never mind reaching Q3.

He then drove a lonely race to remain where he started in 10th, having nothing for the faster cars driven by Hadjar and Alex Albon, but equally not coming under pressure from Alonso behind. As with Hadjar, his messy Melbourne start has been drowned out by two impressive weekends.

“It’s amazing – it’s the most fun I’ve had probably in my life,” Bearman said after his qualifying run. “This car in qualifying on low fuel on a track like this is just incredible.” Good lad.

Loser: Carlos Sainz

Funnily enough, the last spot was another toss-up between Alpine and Sainz as it was in China. Individually, Jack Doohan was also a contender after a costly mistake led to a huge shunt in FP2, but he did recover well during the race and, unlike Stroll, he did use the softs to move up early doors.

So, Sainz it is then, continuing what has been a slower than expected or desired adaptation period for the experienced Spaniard at his new Williams squad. Sainz has openly admitted that he has had to break down four years of muscle memory driving the Ferrari’s lineage of cars, which is very different to the handling traits of the Williams.

There were hints of progress in Japan, getting much closer to Albon on one-lap pace before being handed an unfortunate grid penalty. But so far Williams is entirely relying on Albon to bring in points as it fights Racing Bulls in the midfield, notwithstanding Sainz’s point in China after disqualifications for three drivers ahead of him.

There is no question that signing the quick and technically savvy Sainz was a coup for Williams, and it will pay dividends later. But it appears the team is paying a small price of admission for it over these early races.

Who made the grade on your list, and who should have featured in the loser category? Let us know below.