British media respond to Verstappen's 'flawless' Japanese Grand Prix drive where he 'stole' victory

07:56, 07 Apr

Updated: 08:31, 07 Apr

byToby Nixon

This Monday morning, the British media provided their opinion on Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix. The general consensus states that, despite Verstappen's 'masterful' Suzuka win, McLaren missed a great opportunity to add to their constructors' lead.

The Japanese Grand Prix wasn't a classic, but it still provided drama. After starting from pole, Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive race at the iconic Suzuka circuit. This is how the British media unpacked the third round of the 2025 season.

BBC: Max Verstappen 'stole' the race from the McLaren's through 'perfection'

According to BBC Sport, the Japanese Grand Prix was McLaren's race to lose. Verstappen's victory, however, must be respected:

"His drive on Sunday (Verstappen) - under pressure from the McLarens all race, albeit knowing that overtaking was next to impossible in cars with relatively closely matched performance - was flawless."

The broadcaster also discussed McLaren's strategy, stating that the circumstances leading up to the stop undid any opportunity of an overtake.

"Although the McLaren was faster than the Mercedes, the difficulty of overtaking meant they did not believe Piastri would have been able to pass Russell on track.

That gave the game away to Red Bull, who realised Norris would come in next time around. So they stopped Verstappen. Keeping Norris out would not have worked - he'd have lost more time on his old tyres. So he had to pit, too."

Notably, Verstappen's title chances were also discussed in detail:

"Verstappen's performance underlined just how significant a threat he remains to the title hopes of McLaren, Norris and Piastri despite Red Bull's somewhat difficult start to the season. Not least because, in what seems to be in ultimate terms the third fastest car in F1, he is now only one point behind Norris in the championship."

Verstappen won purely through his 'own brilliance'

The Telegraph discussed the 2024 season, and the different pattern that is emerging from it.

"The commonly held view is that Lando Norris lost out to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship last year because the Red Bull driver benefited from a massively superior car at the start of the season, built up an enormous points lead, and McLaren then had to take all the risks in trying to eat into it. At least, that argument was used partly to explain why McLaren kept making mistakes.

"Well, the championships have been reset now. It is McLaren who have the fastest car at the start of the year. And yet a similar pattern is emerging."

They also spoke about the strategy calls from McLaren. Although many figures from the F1 world think that they should've done something different from Red Bull, they suggest that it might not have made much of a difference anyway:

"In fact, the top six drivers all finished exactly where they started for the first time ever at a permanent circuit, rather than a street circuit such as Monaco (As Piastri was heard to comment in the green room afterwards when the edited action was replayed: “Is that all the highlights?!”) But they probably should have tried something anyway. McLaren have shown how quick they are in clean air, and yet they chose to remain in dirty air behind Verstappen for the entire race."

'Greatest of a generation' Verstappen doesn't do flukes despite 'Snarling McLarens'

The Daily Mail also gave their props to four-time world champion Verstappen. The newspaper states that they thought Verstappen wouldn't be able to hold on for victory in the Japanese Grand Prix with the prospective pace of the two McLarens behind.

"A moment of genius, we all labelled it on Saturday, when Max Verstappen plucked one of the great qualifying laps from thin air.

"But surely it could be nothing more than a moment. Surely it was impossible to make that pole stick across 53 laps of the race. Especially with two snarling McLarens, those papaya-coloured rocket ships, tattooed in his mirrors.

"But the greatest driver of his generation doesn’t do flukes. Not even when his car is struggling and far from the strongest on the grid. Not even when he doesn’t have a teammate at the front to provide some extra muscle. No need for that, anyway. Not when you drive in a different stratosphere to the rest."