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Red Bull's Max Verstappen fended off a race-long challenge from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Dutchman's fourth consecutive victory at Suzuka was his first of the year and moves him to within one point of Norris at the head of the drivers' championship.

Verstappen's drive was cool under intense pressure, with rarely more than two seconds between him and Norris, and founded on a quite brilliant pole position lap on Saturday.

McLaren had feared that the Red Bull would be difficult to pass if Verstappen held the lead at the start, and so it proved.

Rain overnight and on the morning of the race helped ensure there was no repeat of the grass fires that affected practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday.

Verstappen led the two McLarens for the entire first stint, the three lapping closely together.

There were questions as to why McLaren pitted Piastri first, when it might have made sense to attack Verstappen with Norris making an earlier pit stop, potentially giving the Briton the opportunity to get ahead.

McLaren had already radioed Norris for a 'dummy' stop two laps earlier and Norris was within 1.5 seconds of Verstappen - theoretically just about within range of an undercut - on the lap Piastri stopped.

McLaren said they had to pit Piastri because he was at risk of being undercut by Mercedes' George Russell, who stopped on lap 19 and was quick on his hard tyres.

Verstappen and Norris stopped on the same lap, one later than Piastri, and there was an immediate flashpoint.

As Verstappen and Norris pitted, they were separated by just 1.5 seconds. McLaren's stop was faster by a second, and as they left the pits the McLaren was halfway alongside the Red Bull.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri took a controlled, dominant victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix to close on team-mate Lando Norris in the world championship.

The Australian was serene in the lead, calmly keeping himself out of reach of his rivals, as Mercedes' George Russell held off an assault from the second McLaren of Lando Norris for second.

Norris, fighting back from sixth on the grid and a five-second penalty for a false start, had a chance to pass Russell going into the final lap, but could not make it work.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth, passed by Norris with eight laps to go, ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a lonely fifth.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen could only take sixth place from Alpine's Pierre Gasly on the final lap, a week after his brilliant victory in Japan.

The result, the first time McLaren have won the home race of their Bahraini main shareholders, leaves Norris three points ahead of Piastri at the head of the championship.

Verstappen, anonymous and uncompetitive, is eight points off the lead in third.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri took his third win of the year and with it the world championship lead at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Piastri benefited from a penalty for Red Bull's Max Verstappen to take control of the race and score his second win in a week.

Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for illegally keeping the lead from Piastri by going off the track at the first corner but had more than enough pace to keep second place.

McLaren's Lando Norris recovered from 10th place on the grid after his crash in qualifying to finish fourth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Norris, on an off-set tyre strategy, was closing in on Leclerc as the race reached its closing stages but his medium tyres lost their edge of pace and the Ferrari driver was able to hold him back.

Piastri's third win in five races so far this season puts the Australian 10 points clear of Norris in the championship, with Verstappen just two points further adrift.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri won for the fourth time in six races this year as he beat team-mate Lando Norris in an action-packed Miami Grand Prix.

Both McLaren drivers fought intense battles with early leader Max Verstappen's Red Bull as they moved up to the front of the field.

Piastri, who started fourth, drove a race of clinical excellence to pass both Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and then Verstappen to assume the lead, before managing his gap to his pursuers to the end.

Norris, who dropped back to sixth on the first lap after running wide while battling for the lead with Verstappen, was also decisive in making up for his earlier misfortune.

Norris ate into Piastri's lead through the second half of the race but the Australian kept him at arm's length.

Mercedes' George Russell benefited from one of three virtual safety-car periods to vault ahead of Verstappen and take the final podium place, similarly keeping the Dutchman at bay over the closing laps.

And there was tension at Ferrari as the team first rejected and then accepted Lewis Hamilton's request to be allowed past team-mate Charles Leclerc as they raced on divergent tyre strategies.

Hamilton was let past to try to challenge Antonelli's Mercedes ahead of him, but failed to catch the Italian, or pull significantly ahead of Leclerc.

Great race and no controversy. It's good to see Red Bull nudged off the top and having a real challenge this season.

I'd like to see Hmilton bow out gracefully, he's had his day.

But he had to drive for Ferrari just to say so.