Norris admits staying close to Verstappen was 'impossible' during Japanese Grand Prix

09:55, 06 Apr

byToby Nixon

Lando Norris has reflected on his second-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix, admitting that there wasn't much opportunity for him to overtake race winner Max Verstappen after McLaren failed to secure pole yesterday.

Norris finished over a second behind the Dutchman, who picked up his first race win of the season and his fourth consecutive Japanese Grand Prix. After three races in 2025, three different drivers have picked up race victories.

Speaking about his race on Sky Sports, championship leader Norris commented on the pitlane incident he had with his rival. "I never expected to come out ahead of him there. Not because I deserved to, but just he had the right of line, he had the space, he had the position, I wanted to give myself a chance of being there, but I didn't expect him to give any room," Norris began.

Norris: 'Nothing to complain about'

The Brit is not upset after having to take to the grass at the pitlane exit. "Nothing to complain about, just some nice racing and a bit of action for the team. But that was it. They've (Red Bull) been pretty good the whole weekend and we just didn't have enough of an advantage today. I think we were probably a little bit quicker, with just Max in clean air and not making any mistakes, was enough to stay ahead today."

Norris also felt like he was quicker than the race winner in certain parts of the circuit, but due to today's circumstances, there was no chance to overtake. "I mean I was quicker in sector one, so I could catch, but the Red Bull is a lot quicker than us in slow-speed corners," he explained.

Staying close is almost 'impossible'

"So even if I got close, staying close in the hairpin and the final chicane would have been impossible. It's just too difficult to overtake here and kind of our strengths and weaknesses are a little bit in the wrong spots at times. We got away with this low speed in qualifying. But really we lost the race yesterday in qualifying."

Lando Norris has a quick opporutnity to get one back on Max Verstappen next week at the Bahrain International Circuit.