GIOVANNI’S OPINION – 2025 JAPANESE GP

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The “strange” Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka resulted in a phenomenal victory by Max Verstappen. McLaren’s decision to hold positions between Norris and Piastri generated controversy, while the maturity shown by rookies Antonelli, Hadjar, and Bearman brings excitement. Ferrari delivered another lacklustre performance.

Giovanni’s opinion
The Japanese Grand Prix was a strange one. Qualifying was very interesting because three rookies made it into Q3, and at the same time, Max completed a perfect lap that no one expected, as everyone thought it would be a McLaren monopoly.

However, Sunday’s race was, in my opinion, quite boring because there were neither great overtakes nor any noteworthy events. There are only four aspects worth mentioning.

Verstappen. Max was perfect, he made absolutely no mistakes and never put his lead in doubt. Even Norris’ McLaren never managed to pose a real threat to him.

McLaren. I believe that, even if silently, McLaren has started to outline who their first and second drivers are. I think Piastri was definitely faster than Norris, although the latter was helped by the DRS. But regardless, I would have dared to let Piastri pass, so that he could try to attack Max and maybe force him into a mistake. That didn’t happen, and as I said, I think it was a silent decision, but one that shows what the future races might look like, even though, in my opinion, it’s still too early.

The Rookies. Another positive note is that three rookies (Antonelli, Hadjar and Bearman) had a great race. Unfortunately, Bearman didn’t finish in the points, though he came very close, but it’s nice to see that even the new young talents have the potential to achieve good results and show their worth.

Ferrari. Once again, for the third time this year, Ferrari delivered a lacklustre performance in both qualifying and, especially, in the race. They didn’t give any excitement: they started where they finished, they didn’t gain anything. The opposite, they lost a lot of ground to the cars ahead, so I think they need to work a lot and change their approach if they want to start getting better results.