Formula 1 in Suzuka
TV breakdown: fans miss spectacular scene at Japan-GP
04/06/2025 – 10:40 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
In the race there is an incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The emotions cook up. But the spectators on TV have little of them.
First win of the season in the third race 2025: Max Verstappen reported back to the competition at the Grand Prix of Japan and sent a sign to the competition (you can read more about this here). But with the almost undisturbed start-finish victory of the four-time world champion, there was also an excitement. The focus: Verstappen and Rival Lando Norris (McLaren). There was almost an accident.
What happened? Round 22 on the course in Suzuka. Verstappen, Norris and also Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) come into the box to change the tire at the same time. McLaren works at Norris at lightning speed, whereby the Briton, who drove into the box seconds after the world champion, drives out right next to Verstappen. Only minimally offset drive both side by side towards the pit exit. It gets tight there: Verstappen is not behind, Norris also does not want to give in small – and drives next to the exit to the grass, almost loses control, starts slipping. Ultimately, Verstappen stays in front of his rival and pulls away.
Curious: The TV viewers cannot see the whole incident live-because the transmission to which Pay TV broadcaster Sky has no influence, switches back to the pit stop from Leclerc in the middle. Only in the replay does the lightning chaos become clear in the scene.
The box radio from Verstappen and Norris glow afterwards. Both drivers are visibly upset after the narrow duel in the pit lane. Everyone sees the fault of the other. “He pushed me off,” complains Norris. Verstappen himself also reports in clear words: “He drove himself into the grass. In addition, he switched off the box limiter too early. That was by no means legal.”
The background: The pilots have to stick to a certain speed limit in the pit lane. To do this, you can switch on the box limiter at the push of a button on the steering wheel, which automatically limits the speed of the cars to the limit. The limiter may only be switched off from a certain point on the pit exit. Verbappen allegation: Norris pushed onto the button too early and thus gained an illegal advantage.
After a short examination, the race management then decides: there is no penalty for one of the two drivers. A real decision – because in the repeat you can see that Verstappen was a bit ahead when the exit was. Norris had not accelerated too early either.