Current form
It has been advantage McLaren so far in 2025, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri claiming one win apiece in Australia and China respectively, the second of which saw the Woking-based outfit score a 1-2 result to strengthen their lead over Mercedes in the Teams’ standings.
Things have not gone entirely their way, however; Piastri’s off during treacherous conditions in Melbourne has left him with points to make up if he hopes to catch his championship leader team mate, while Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint victory in Shanghai hinted at untapped potential from Ferrari.
The Suzuka Circuit is one that McLaren have performed well at in the past, having taken a 2-3 finish at the event in 2023 – but so has Max Verstappen, the man who beat them to P1 that day and has a total of three wins under his belt at the track. Can the Red Bull driver keep his title defence alive with a strong result?
On the other side of his team’s garage, Yuki Tsunoda will make his debut for the squad following the decision to demote Liam Lawson back to Racing Bulls following a tough opening two races for the New Zealander. With Red Bull aiming to reclaim the Teams’ crown that they lost last year, can Tsunoda help them to boost their points tally going forwards?
Over at Ferrari, the high that came from Hamilton’s Sprint win last time out in China was followed by a nightmare end to Sunday, with both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc being disqualified for separate technical breaches. Losing those points has seen them drop down to fifth in the standings, meaning that a good result will be much needed in Japan.
Elsewhere there is plenty to keep an eye on; Mercedes will be hoping to build on their promising performances from the first two races, while the midfield battle looks to be incredibly close, with only Alpine yet to get off the mark at the bottom of the Teams’ standings.
