Max Verstappen makes a cold comment about Lando Norris as he insists nobody would have seen him at the F1 2025 Japanese GP if he was driving the McLaren instead of the Red Bull after a thrilling victory in Suzuka.
The four-time champion took a surprise pole position and wasted little time converting it into a Formula 1 win on Sunday as he repelled both Norris and Oscar Piastri in what is widely agreed to be a notably slower car.
Error free and consistent, the Dutchman used free air as the perfect weapon to fend off his chasing rivals to claim his first win of the season and move to within second place in the drivers’ standings be the Brit.
Whilst the current championship leader, who also admitted in the race he didn’t have the pace to overtake, confessed he isn’t shocked that the 27-year-old defending champion produced such a performance, the kindness wasn’t reciprocated.
Verstappen insists he would have dominated the F1 2025 Japanese GP in the McLaren, in a cold comment offering brutal assessment of the performance Norris produced in Suzuka.
“I’m very happy with what I’m doing right now,” Verstappen told Viaplay on April 6. “But I could think what would happen if I would be in that other car.
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“You wouldn’t see me anymore.”
Verstappen’s astonishing Suzuka form after F1 2025 Japanese GP
The defending champion is clearly under no illusion that the McLaren is quicker than the Red Bull and isn’t lacking self-confidence despite taking just three Grand Prix victories since the Spanish GP in June 2024.
To be fair to him, when he had the package underneath him to do so, he has thoroughly dominated the Japanese GP in recent years. His winning margin in 2022 was 27 seconds, in 2023 it was 19 seconds, and in 2024 it was 20 seconds to the next non-Red Bull car of Carlos Sainz.
He will look to take momentum into the F1 2025 Bahrain GP weekend from April 11-13 as he bids to assume control of the championship lead for the first time since December.
“We are not where we want to be in terms of performance,” Verstappen told media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “I think that’s no secret, but this weekend has just been really, really nice.
“Sometimes you have those kind of moments where then you get some really great laps out of it. Luckily the balance also got a bit more together throughout qualifying.
“So you just have to keep on working. I mean, it’s nice. I don’t listen to the positives and the negatives. I’m just in the middle, so I just focus on my own performances and just keep working. Keep grinding.”
