Did McLaren hand victory to Red Bull? ‘Operational error’ highlighted

McLaren made an “operational error” in their defeat to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix, it has been claimed.

Verstappen fended off a challenge from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to claim his first victory of the 2025 season in Sunday’s race at Suzuka.

Despite having what is regarded as being only the fourth-fastest car, Verstappen produced a truly astonishing lap to take pole position, which he masterfully converted into the win despite race-long pressure from the quicker McLarens behind.

McLaren’s strategy came under fire, as did their decision not to swap their drivers and enable Piastri - who appeared faster in the closing stages - to try and put pressure on Verstappen.

"This is what happens when you are dealing with the Dutch lion that is Verstappen. If you get outqualified by him, you lose the race,” Sky Sports F1 pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz said.

"This has got to be the first operational error by McLaren this year - but what a drive by Max.”

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve said: “McLaren don’t seem overly disappointed which is strange as they should have been first and second.

"They were not slow but beaten by a team and driver who were better than them and that should hurt.”

The result strengthened McLaren’s position at the top of the constructors’ world championship.

McLaren are 36 points clear of Mercedes and 50 ahead of Red Bull.

However, Verstappen’s first win of 2025 has moved him to within a point of early championship leader Norris.

Piastri has moved up to third in the drivers’ standings, 13 points behind his McLaren teammate.

McLaren explain strategy

“Certainly the race was mostly decided yesterday when Verstappen managed to score the pole position,” team principal Andrea Stella told Sky Sports.

“There wasn't much action going on in the race. I think the pit stop timing was pretty much set by the other people pitting, not too much to play with, and we ended up with the same result as qualifying.

“A good result still for us. We got a lot of points and so it was encouraging again for our car but we see the others are not far behind and sometimes ahead.

"We saw that staying out would not have been faster than pitting. We saw that from [Mercedes'] George Russell, who was fast on the hard tyres after pitting.

“Clearly there wasn’t the possibility like there is sometimes to go for the overcut. You stay out and you try to go faster than the car that pitted. But today it was not possible.”

Asked why McLaren did not let Piastri have a go at attacking Verstappen, Stella replied: "It takes about eight tenths of a second to attack the car ahead.

“As soon as you get within one second you have dirty air and performance drops. It’s fair that Oscar makes the comment but I think that today it was not possible to overtake.”