The third round of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship saw the drivers take on one of the most historical venues in the calendar, as well as what is usually described as a special track, at the Japanese GP.
Let’s go through each of the sport’s protagonists’ performance at the Suzuka in order, grading them on a scale of one to ten.
Classic Verstappen is back, first points for Hadjar: what a weekend from Bearman and Antonelli!
Verstappen 10: Qualifying decided his weekend, based on how difficult it was to overtake in the race; and on Saturday he was absolutely brilliant. Never put a foot wrong after that: a true Champion’s performance.
Norris 8: Had a messy qualifying, making a mistake in his first run in Q3. Got out-qualified by Verstappen in a faster car than him and never seemed able to challenge him for the win. P2 is still a good result for his Championship ambitions though.
Piastri 8: Arguably the faster driver of the weekend overall, had to settle for a P3 in the end.
Leclerc 7.5: A very, very quiet performance because of his struggling Ferrari. Maximized the potential of the car, but it’s impossible to give him a higher grade for a P4.
Russell 7: His worst race result of the year is still solid and in line with Mercedes’ performance. There’s not much more to say, it’s basically the same as Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli 8: Came back strong after a difficult start to the weekend on Friday. Two tenths behind Russell in qualifying is a decent gap and only fell short by 1 second in the race, managing the medium tyres better than everyone else. A very solid performance for a rookie.
Hamilton 6: Struggled all the way throughout the weekend, finishing a long way behind teammate Leclerc. Nothing too special from the seven-time World Champion.
Hadjar 9: A best of the rest performance once again, this time in the race as well, bringing home his first points in Formula 1. And definitely not the last…
Albon 8.5: Once again absolutely clear of new teammate Carlos Sainz, maximized the potential of his Williams. A quiet but pretty decent weekend.
Bearman 9.5: Pretty much the same as what we said about Albon, but it’s definitely more impressive for a rookie who never raced around Suzuka in a Formula 1 car before. Destroyed Ocon and brought home a solid point.
Alonso 6.5: Nothing too special, but surely an improvement compared to his awful start of the year in Melbourne and Shanghai.
Tsunoda 5.5: Wasn’t quite able to score points at home, but has already shown more potential than Lawson in the Red Bull. Qualifying out of the top 10 wasn’t ideal by any means.
Gasly 6: A very quiet performance because of an underperforming car.
Sainz 5: We don’t know what’s wrong with him, but something definitely is…
Doohan 4.5: The crash in FP2 was his fault and totally unnecessary: is Colapinto knocking at Alpine’s door?
Hulkenberg 6: Same as Gasly: the car just isn’t good enough, at least he beat Bortoleto.
Lawson 4: Awful performance in the VCARB as well, finishing more than 45 seconds behind Hadjar. Has to show promising signs in the next few races, otherwise his F1 career could be at serious risk.
Ocon 3.5: Far, too far away from Bearman all weekend long. It’s fair to expect much more from a driver like him.
Bortoleto 5.5: Got close to Hulkenberg, but he wasn’t able to beat him in the end. Still a decent performance, considering it was his first time in Suzuka and the Sauber’s lack of pace.
Stroll 3: Made a mistake in Q1, which basically compromised his whole weekend. Will he come back stronger in Bahrain?
Formula 1 will be back in a few days time, with the teams heading to Bahrain for the second race of the first triple-header of the season.
Do you agree with our ratings for the Japanese GP? Let us know in the comments section!
