2025 Japanese Grand Prix – McLAREN Race Report "A good haul of points and a nice result for the team"
Suzuka Circuit, Sunday, 6 April
Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella, after the Japanese Grand Prix.
As it happened
• Clean start for Lando and Oscar as both drivers hold position through the first lap
• Oscar pits ahead of the leaders for a set of Hard tyres
• Lando and Verstappen pit simultaneously for Hard tyres, remaining very tight together
• The race settles down with the papaya boys running in close proximity to the leader
• Lando and Oscar finish on the podium, in P2 and P3 respectively, extending our lead in the Constructors' Championship
| Started | 2nd |
| Finished | 2nd |
| Fastest lap | 1m31.116s on Lap 51 (+0.151s, 5th) |
| Pit stops | 1, Lap 21 [Medium/Hard] (2.3s) |
"A tough race today, it was flat-out from start to finish but the pace was too similar to do anything. Max drove a good race with no mistakes, and it ultimately came down to Qualifying positions today. It’s still been a very good weekend for the team securing more points together, but we will continue to work hard as we head to the next one in Bahrain."
| Started | 3rd |
| Finished | 3rd |
| Fastest lap | 1m31.039s on Lap 53 (+0.074s, 2nd) |
| Pit stops | 1, Lap 20 [Medium/Hard] (2.2s) |
"A good haul of points and a nice result for the team. I think the pace today was really good and I was very happy with that. We got close for the overtake a few times, but track position around here is just so important. I think yesterday was the day where you effectively won the race, and we just didn’t put it all together, so I'll absolutely take the podium. We go to Bahrain with a lot of positives, and ready to challenge again."
Limited edition Japan cap
"A double podium finish is a positive result for the team. We felt the victory was possible but yesterday, we missed out on Pole Position by a few milliseconds, and today the Qualifying order was the dominant factor for the final outcome of the Grand Prix. We will review to see if there were some variables we could have played with this afternoon, but degradation was low and a one-stop race didn’t give us many strategic options.
"Overall, we have scored good points in both Championships and executed a very smooth weekend thanks to the trackside team, and everyone back at the factory. We’re now looking forward to Bahrain."
