2025 Japanese Grand Prix

Championship standings

Norris leads on 44 points, eight ahead of Verstappen and nine ahead of Russell in third.

Previous race

Piastri won in China from his maiden career pole position, becoming the first driver to claim pole and victory at their first sprint race venue. Norris finished second despite suffering a worsening brake issue. Following the race, Leclerc and Gasly were disqualified for underweight cars — the first Ferrari double disqualification from a Grand Prix in the team’s history — and Hamilton was excluded for excessive plank wear.

Between-race developments

Liam Lawson has been demoted from Red Bull Racing back to Racing Bulls following analysis of his performance in the opening two rounds and testing. Yuki Tsunoda makes his Red Bull Racing debut this weekend in Lawson’s place.

Entrants

This is the 1,100th Formula One World Championship start for Scuderia Ferrari as a team. Ryō Hirakawa replaces Doohan in FP1 for Alpine as part of the team’s mandatory rookie running.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the three hardest compounds in their range — C1, C2 and C3 — designated hard, medium and soft.

Practice

Norris topped FP1 ahead of Russell and Leclerc. FP2, topped by Piastri, was severely disrupted by four red flags: Doohan crashed heavily into the barriers at turn 1; Alonso spun into the gravel at the Degner curves; and two separate grass fires broke out on the infield. Two further grass fires, at turns 12 and 15, triggered two more red flags in FP3. Norris set the fastest time in the final session, ahead of Piastri and Russell.