The 2025 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2025) was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

motor race held on 6 April 2025 at the

Suzuka International Racing Course The , the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. It is most well known by its use by both th ...

in Suzuka,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was the third round of the

2025 Formula One World Championship The 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship is a motor racing championship for Formula One cars and the 76th running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governin ...

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

took

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

for the race, which he went on to win, with the two

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

s of

Lando Norris Lando Norris (; born 13 November 1999) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Norris was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and has won Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix ...

and

Oscar Piastri Oscar Jack Piastri ( ; born 6 April 2001) is an Australian racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Piastri has won Formula One Grands Prix across three seasons. Born and raised in Melbourne, Piastri began his career in radio-co ...

completing the podium.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli Andrea Kimi Antonelli (; born 25 August 2006) is an Italian racing driver who competes in Formula One for Mercedes-Benz in Formula One, Mercedes. Born and raised in Bologna, Antonelli is the son of sportscar racing driver Marco Antonelli. Afte ...

of Mercedes became both the youngest driver to lead a race and to set a fastest lap in Formula One history.

Background

The event was held at the

in Suzuka for the 35th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 4–6 April. The Grand Prix was the third round of the

and the 39th running of the

Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix () is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-de ...

as a round of the Formula One World Championship. This race was

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari (; ), currently racing under Scuderia Ferrari HP, is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "the Pranc ...

's 1100th start in a World Championship event as a team.

Championship standings before the race

Going into the event,

led the Drivers' Championship with 44 points, 8 points ahead of

in second, and 9 ahead of George Russell in third.

, with 78 points, entered the race as the leader in the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes in second with 57 points, and

third with 36 points.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list with one exception.

Liam Lawson Liam Lawson (born 11 February 2002) is a New Zealand racing driver who competes in Formula One for Racing Bulls. Born in Hastings, New Zealand, Hastings and raised in Pukekohe, Lawson began competitive kart racing aged seven. Lawson—who is ...

, who previously raced for

, swapped teams with

Yuki Tsunoda is a Japanese racing driver who competes in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Born in Sagamihara and raised in Tokyo, Tsunoda began competitive kart racing aged nine. Supported by Honda since 2016 through the , Tsunoda graduated to junior formu ...

Racing Bulls Racing Bulls S.p.A., competing as Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team (shortened to Racing Bulls or VCARB), is an Italian Formula One racing team and constructor that has been competing since the season. It is one of two Formula One construct ...

. Tsunoda made his Red Bull Racing debut.

Ryō Hirakawa is a Japanese racing driver who is currently competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He was Super GT GT500 champion in 2017 Super GT Series, 2017, and finished runner-up in Super Formula Championship, Super For ...

took part in the first free practice session for

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

in place of

Jack Doohan Jack Doohan ( ; born 20 January 2003) is an Australian racing driver who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Doohan competed in Formula One at seven Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix from to . Born and ra ...

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...

brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (the three hardest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.

Practice

Three

free practice Formula One race weekend refers to an auto racing event which takes place over three days (usually Friday to Sunday), with a series of practice and qualifying sessions prior to the race on Sunday. Current regulations provide for two free practi ...

sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 4 April 2025, at 11:30 local time (

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

), and was topped by

ahead of George Russell of Mercedes, and

Charles Leclerc Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari. Leclerc was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari, and has won Grands ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 15:00 local time, and was topped by

of McLaren ahead of his teammate Norris and

Isack Hadjar Isack Alexandre Hadjar (, ; born 28 September 2004) is a French and Algerian racing driver who competes Formula One drivers from France, under the French flag in Formula One for Racing Bulls. Born and raised in Paris to an Algerian family, Hadj ...

. Four red flags were observed, heavily disrupting the session: the first due to

crashing heavily into the barriers at turn 1, the second due to

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

spinning into the gravel around the Degner corners, and the final two due to two separate grass fires. The third free practice session was held on 5 April 2025, at 11:30 local time, and was topped by Norris ahead of his teammate Piastri and Russell. Two more patches of grass, this time at turns 12 and 15, respectively, caught fire, facilitating two red flags.

Qualifying

Qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

was held on 5 April 2025, at 15:00 local time (

), and determined the starting grid order for the race.

Qualifying classification

Notes * – Carlos Sainz Jr. received a three-place grid penalty for impeding

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

in Q2.

Race

The race was held on 6 April 2025, at 14:00 local time (

), and was run for 53 laps.

Race report

from pole position went on to win the race, with the two

s of

and

completing the podium.

of Mercedes became both the youngest driver to lead a race and to set a fastest lap in Formula One history.

Race classification

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...