Lando Norris

2025 Bahrain Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Lando Norris/McLaren/Red Bull

Bahrain’s low-speed corners will play to Red Bull’s strength over McLaren

Admin
on

Lando Norris expects Max Verstappen will be a significant threat again in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix as the track layout will play to Red Bull’s strengths.

The McLaren driver said the Red Bull’s superior performance in low-speed corners prevented him from getting close to Verstappen throughout Sunday’s race. The Bahrain International Circuit features a higher proportion of lower-speed corners than Suzuka.

“Our weakness was the slow-speed compared to them,” said Norris after Sunday’s race. “There’s a lot less high-speed [in Bahrain], so we’re kind of losing some of our strengths and we’re going more into our weaknesses.”

Norris believes Red Bull have improved their car since the beginning of the season, after Verstappen narrowly beat him and team mate Oscar Piastri to pole position in Japan.

“Clearly, they’re quick,” he said. “I feel like between Oscar and myself, we got a lot out of the car [in qualifying]. It was probably a little bit more, yes, but both our theoretical [lap times] were not that far ahead.

“So Max is doing a good job and Red Bull seemed to maybe have caught up a little bit. But they’ve also not been that bad the whole season.

“When you look at Australia, he was fighting for a win. When you look at China, he wasn’t miles away. And this weekend he’s done very good. So I expect him to be challenging us every weekend.”

McLaren have “got areas to work on” with their car, he added. “In high-speed [corners] we were very, very strong and I think definitely the strongest car out there.

“In slow-speed we’re quite a chunk off the Red Bull, and that’s where we lost in qualifying. We lost again consistently in the race. So there’s a lot of areas we have to try to work on.”

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Miss nothing from RaceFans

Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:

2025 Bahrain Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix articles

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris

Tyres overheated too much whenever I got close to Verstappen · RaceFans

Admin
on

Lando Norris said his attempts to challenge Max Verstappen for the lead of the Japanese Grand Prix were thwarted by his tyres overheating.

The McLaren driver pursued his rival throughout the 53-lap race at Suzuka. Norris appeared to come under threat from his team mate Oscar Piastri at times, but he said this was only when he’d deliberately dropped back from Verstappen in order for his tyres to recover.

“I don’t think I ever got less than 1.2 [seconds behind],” said Norris. “I would get closer and then drop back and closer and drop back. And every time I got close, the tyres would just get too hot and I would lose too much grip.

“Even when Oscar was behind me, it looked like he was quicker, but it was when I’m trying to drop back a little bit to cool the tyres and then attempt at catching up to Max. But it just never worked. I gave it a good try but I just didn’t have the speed today.”

Norris said he wasn’t able to stay close to Verstappen out of the low-speed acceleration zones, the hairpin and the chicane, which compromised his attempts to attack the Red Bull.

“The pace was too similar,” he told Viaplay. “We didn’t really have any advantage to Max.

“Maybe we were a bit better in sector one, in the high-speed corners, but he was much quicker in slow-speed corners. So we were struggling a lot there with the car, just not quick enough in the slow-speed.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“It was just difficult with him in the clean air and me in the dirty air, so close, we didn’t have enough of an advantage to do anything else.

“So nothing to complain about, [just] things to work on because we were struggling a bit today with the slow speed corners. But really Max won the race yesterday in qualifying. It’s the way it is sometimes.”

Norris indicated McLaren made some concessions in its set-up for the wet conditions which were forecast for today’s race. However the showers which did hit the track passed well before the start and the track remained largely dry throughout.

“We thought there would be maybe some more rain today,” said Norris. “Maybe we were not in the optimal range yesterday for qualifying, thinking that it was going to rain a little bit today, but we did our best still, so that’s all I can ask.”

Miss nothing from RaceFans

Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Formula 1/Lando Norris/McLaren

McLaren deny making error with Norris’s Japanese GP strategy · RaceFans

Admin
on

McLaren insist it did not make a mistake by calling Lando Norris into the pits on the same lap as leader Max Verstappen during the Japanese Grand Prix.

Norris spent the entire race trapped behind Verstappen. Despite looking potentially quicker than the Red Bull driver at times he was never able to get close enough to attack him for the lead.

Both McLaren drivers ran close behind Verstappen in the first stint and the team brought in Oscar Piastri first for his pit stop. Red Bull reacted by bringing Verstappen in on the next lap but Norris surprisingly followed him in.

Other drivers, such as Andrea Kimi Antonelli, stayed out much longer in their first stint. However McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said doing the same for Norris would not have given him a better chance to win.

“We saw that staying out would have not been faster than pitting,” he told Sky. “We saw that from Russell, as soon as he pitted and he went on the new hard [tyre] he was very fast.

“So clearly there wasn’t the possibility, like there is sometimes, to go for what’s called the ‘overcut’: You stay out, you try to go faster than the car that pitted. Today it was not possible.”

He pointed out the characteristics of Suzuka have changed since the first third of the track was resurfaced, contributing to considerably quicker lap times.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“The degradation, with the new Tarmac, Suzuka has changed completely its personality. The degradation is now very low, and this means that it gets very difficult to overtake if you are on the same strategy. It takes like eight tenths of a second to be able to even attack the car ahead.”

Stella said the team’s strategy was dictated by the lack of opportunities to pit their drivers into free air earlier in the race.

“The race was mostly decided yesterday when, for a matter of a few milliseconds, Verstappen managed to score the pole position. He defended it in the first lap today, and then there wasn’t much action going on.

“I think the pit stop timing was pretty much set by the other people pitting. There was not much to play with and it just ended up with the same result as qualifying.”

Despite failing to win a grand prix for the first time this year, McLaren extended their lead in the constructors’ championship. Verstappen cut Norris’s lead in the drivers’ championship to a single point.

“It’s a good result, still, for us,” said Stella. “A lot of points for the constructors and a lot of points for both our drivers.

“It’s encouraging, again, the indications from the performance of our car. But clearly we see that the others are not far and sometimes even ahead.”

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Miss nothing from RaceFans

Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/alexander albon/Andrea Kimi Antonelli/carlos sainz jnr/charles leclerc/Driver of the Weekend/Esteban Ocon/Fernando Alonso/Gabriel Bortoleto/George Russell/Isack Hadjar/Jack Doohan/Lance Stroll/Lando Norris/Lewis Hamilton/Liam Lawson/Max Verstappen/Nico Hulkenberg/Oliver Bearman/Oscar Piastri/Pierre Gasly/Yuki Tsunoda

Vote for your 2025 Japanese Grand Prix F1 Driver of the Weekend

Admin
on

Start, Suzuka, 2025


Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend?

It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Suzuka.

Driver performance summary

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Gabriel Bortoleto (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Alexander Albon (0%)
  • Yuki Tsunoda (6%)
  • Isack Hadjar (11%)
  • Oliver Bearman (0%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Pierre Gasly (0%)
  • Jack Doohan (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (0%)
  • Lance Stroll (0%)
  • George Russell (0%)
  • Andrea Kimi Antonelli (17%)
  • Liam Lawson (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (67%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (0%)
  • Charles Leclerc (0%)
  • Oscar Piastri (0%)
  • Lando Norris (0%)

Total Voters: 18

Loading ... Loading …

A RaceFans account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here
When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles

Debates and polls

Browse all debates and polls


2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris/Max Verstappen

Verstappen defies Norris to win Japanese Grand Prix after pit lane skirmish · RaceFans

Admin
on

Max Verstappen resisted the McLarens to score his first victory of 2025 in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Lando Norris finished second ahead of Oscar Piastri as the top six drivers came home in the order they started.

McLaren’s hopes of getting either of their drivers ahead of Verstappen ended when their drivers made their first pit stops. Piastri, running third, was the first of the trio to pit, but was unable to gain an advantage on the cars ahead.

Norris, surprisingly, followed Verstappen in on the same lap. McLaren produced a quicker pit stop than Red Bull, and Norris emerged alongside the world champion, but ran onto the grass at the pit lane exit and fell back in behind him.

That set the order until the end of the race. Norris made a late attempt to chase Verstappen down, but never got within DRS range of his rival. Piastri stalked his team mate to the flag and the trio took the chequered flag covered by just 2.1 seconds.

Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari ahead of George Russell, neither having the pace to join the three-way fight at the front. Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the middle part of the race, running long on his first set of medium compound tyres, but fell back to sixth after his pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton tried to make progress starting on the hard tyres, while those ahead chose mediums, but wasn’t able to extend his first stint longer than Antonelli’s. He passed Isack Hadjar for seventh place, the Racing Bulls driver claiming his first points with eighth.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Williams drivers Alexander Albon was unhappy with gearshift problems and his team’s strategy, but scored points for the third round in a row with ninth. Oliver Bearman took the final point in 10th.

All 20 cars finished the race, and Lance Stroll was the only driver to be lapped by the leaders.

Miss nothing from RaceFans

Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Formula 1/Lando Norris

Norris says McLaren’s car is “a lot more back to my liking” in Suzuka · RaceFans

Admin
on

Lando Norris missed pole position by a slim margin at Suzuka, but said he feels more confident at the wheel of his McLaren than he did at the previous round.

“I’m much happier than in China,” said Norris. “The car’s a lot more back to my liking.

“I’ve got some front end in the car and I’m much, much happier with that. I’ve been feeling confident all weekend.”

In China, Norris only qualified sixth on the grid for the sprint race and third for the grand prix. He said in Japan the field has closed up more because they have the usual three practice sessions for preparation.

“If quali was in FP1 and it was a sprint race, I feel like I’d be much further ahead,” he said, “but everyone’s good enough that by the time you get to quali, they kind of catch up a bit.

“I’ve been feeling good, the car’s been feeling good from the off as well. We’ve been chipping away.”

The McLaren drivers were quickest in all three practice sessions and the first two phases of qualifying. Norris admitted it was therefore a “little frustrating” Max Verstappen beat him to pole position by a hundredth of a second.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Norris said there are still some aspects of his car’s handling he’d like to improve. “The corners I still struggle with, the corners I’m still not happy with, are the corners I still just don’t have the front end and I don’t have the grip in the car when I need it from the front,” he explained.

“It’s clear what suits me and what doesn’t, or just what allows me to be quick and what doesn’t. China was one of those weaker tracks, and we come here and the car’s a lot more how I want it. Much better again.”

His first lap in Q3 left him only fifth. Norris said he held back a little on his final lap.

“I was pretty happy with my lap, honestly. I tried pushing on a good amount more in Q3 run one and it didn’t work out, clearly, so I just had to kind of peg it back a lot.

“I was happy with the balance and happy with the car at the end. The margin is so small – I think it was a hundredth in it – and you’d probably say yes [pole was possible], but just not enough for pole.”

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

Miss nothing from RaceFans

Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris/Practice reports

Norris completes practice sweep for McLaren after more grass fires at Suzuka · RaceFans

Admin
on

McLaren completed a sweep of the three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix as Lando Norris narrowly led team mate Oscar Piastri in the final hour before qualifying.

The two MCL39s were separated by just two hundredths of a second at the top of the times. However the session came to an early end due to another grass fire next to the track, the fourth of the weekend.

Norris’s lap of 1’27.965 is the quickest seen so far this weekend. Only the McLaren drivers dipped under the 1’28 mark, as George Russell led the charge for Mercedes a tenth of a second behind.

Charles Leclerc was fourth-fastest for Ferrari, though he was displeased to encounter a Williams in the high-speed Esses section during one run. Lewis Hamilton was just a tenth of a second behind his team mate.

The two Ferraris were separated by Max Verstappen, who spent much of the session running on the hard tyres and lingering near the bottom of the times in his Red Bull. Despite a late improvement bringing him to half a second off the McLarens, Verstappen remained concerned about his car’s balance, telling race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase it felt “all over the shop.”

There was some good news for Red Bull, as Yuki Tsunoda lapped within three tenths of a second of his team mate. They were separated by Alexander Albon’s Williams and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Isack Hadjar was a mere thousandth of a second off Tsunoda in 10th place. The Racing Bulls driver pitted early in the session due to an unspecified problem in his cockpit which Hadjar warned his team was “bad”.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Jack Doohan completed a trouble-free session in his repaired Alpine. Fernando Alonso also logged useful laps after causing a red flag yesterday. His team mate Lance Stroll was only 19th, however, his rear wing DRS flap visibly fluttering at one stage.

The stewards will investigate Verstappen and Piastri for potentially failing to comply with the race director’s instructions in incidents which appeared similar to those involving Hamilton and Stroll yesterday.

After the end of the session an FIA spokesperson said it will continue dampening the grass around the track before the start of qualifying in an effort to prevent any further fires occuring.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times

P.#DriverTeamFP1 timeFP2 timeFP3 timeGapLaps
14Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.5491’28.1631’27.96553
281Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1’29.7081’28.1141’27.9910.02655
363George RussellMercedes1’28.7121’28.5671’28.0770.11257
416Charles LeclercFerrari1’28.9651’28.5861’28.4140.44954
51Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’29.0651’28.6701’28.4970.53253
66Isack HadjarRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’29.2251’28.5181’28.7860.55356
744Lewis HamiltonFerrari1’29.0511’28.5441’28.5240.55952
823Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1’29.3921’29.0231’28.5540.58940
930Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’29.5361’28.5591’29.1040.59445
1010Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1’29.5471’28.7571’28.6030.63851
1122Yuki TsunodaRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’29.1721’30.6251’28.7850.82052
1255Carlos Sainz JnrWilliams-Mercedes1’29.3331’28.8321’28.8460.86759
1327Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’30.0231’29.0621’30.6211.09750
1412Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes1’29.2841’29.7331’29.1261.16161
1514Fernando AlonsoAston Martin-Mercedes1’29.2221’29.9781’29.7721.25747
165Gabriel BortoletoSauber-Ferrari1’30.1471’29.3351’30.1341.37052
1762Ryo HirakawaAlpine-Renault1’29.3941.42924
1831Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1’30.1231’29.5071’30.1831.54251
1987Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1’30.0771’29.6541’30.0841.68944
2018Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’29.7581’30.8451’30.2671.79353
217Jack DoohanAlpine-Renault1’31.6591’29.7671.80219

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris/Practice reports/Yuki Tsunoda

Norris quickest in first practice as Tsunoda makes a strong start at Red Bull · RaceFans

Admin
on

Lando Norris led the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix while Red Bull’s new driver made a promising start.

Yuki Tsunoda ended the first hour of practice just one tenth of a second behind team mate Max Verstappen. Both reported some unusual behaviour from their RB21s over the course of the session. “I found the car interesting on the track,” reported Tsunoda as he headed to the pits, Verstappen having previously described his handling as “super-weird” as “the car is just flexing a lot.”

The two Red Bulls, in their one-off white and red liveries, occupied fifth and sixth on the timing screens at the end of the session. Verstappen was half a second off Norris’s pace.

The McLaren driver did not look entirely comfortable, however. He went off at the exit of the chicane earlier in the session and complained about graining during his final laps on medium rubber before taking the chequered flag. His team mate Oscar Piastri was a lowly 15th.

George Russell had good pace earlier in the session on the medium tyre compound but couldn’t quite match Norris on the soft rubber. He ended the session a tenth of a second behind in second place. His team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was half a second off him in ninth place, having skidded into the gravel trap at the hairpin towards the end of the hour.

There was little to separate Ferrari’s drivers through much of the session. Charles Leclerc ended up narrowly ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the pair third and fourth ahead of the Red Bulls.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Isack Hadjar continued to demonstrate the Racing Bulls’ pace, setting the eighth-quickest time, just three thousandths of a second off Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. Liam Lawson, back at Racing Bulls, was three tenths off his team mate in 13th.

Behind Antonelli, Carlos Sainz Jnr took the final place in the top 10, despite a gaffe when he drove past Williams’ pit box. His team mate Alexander Albon also went off at the hairpin like Antonelli.

Alpine test driver Ryo Hirakawa enjoyed a trouble-free run to the 12th-fastest time, almost a second ahead of Pierre Gasly in the other A525. Haas brought a new floor for their VF-25 but their drivers ended the session ahead of only Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2025 Japanese Grand Prix articles