Race Recap: Highlights from the Japanese Grand Prix

I must admit I do usually enjoy a weekend off F1 every now and again as depending on times and sprint races etc, it can take up the whole of your weekend, however when it comes to the weekend and there being no F1 I end up missing it and wishing for the next one to come round. It’s been another weekend of early starts, though, with the next one in Japan, and Tsunoda makes his first debut as a Red Bull driver. Who saw that coming? The Suzuka track made its first grand prix debut in 1987, and the length of the track is 5.807km. It has since gained a reputation of being one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar due to it’s high speed corners. Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most pole positions here, and Lewis Hamilton has the fastest lap record set in 2019 and with a time of 1m 30.983s. Red Bull has won the last three Suzuka races, while Mercedes won all six races at the track before 2022. Ferrari has not taken victory here since 2004, so with that in mind, let’s see how the action unfolded.

Practice sessions were a bit of a shambles, especially free practice 2 with four red flag stoppages. Several grass fires have been the reason behind those, and Doohan, with his heavy shunt, questioned whether his car would be repaired in time for the final free practice. Both McLaren drivers were showing good pace over the three practice sessions as well as Mercedes driver George Russell. After practice 3 the drivers and teams then had a chance for a final debrief before the qualifying took place. Again, both Norris and Piastri were dominating Q1, Q2, and what looked to be Q3 too, until Max pulled out a lap from nowhere and stormed to a surprise pole position, beating Norris by just 0.012s while Piastri had to settle for third. Leading for Ferrari, Leclerc took them into P4 and Russel following in P5 following a messy moment on his flying lap. Antonelli took an impressive P6 and impressing Isak in P7. We then had Lewis claiming P8, Albon claiming P9, and to finish the top 10 and another rookie, was Bearman.

Honestly, even trying to summarize race day in one paragraph is going to be hard, let alone two, as the whole thing was a total snooze fest. I’d of rather watched back to back episodes of bargain hunt. The good news is Alonso managed to finish his first race of the season, and there was not one single DNF, and yes, that is including Doohan in that. I must admit I am kind of routing for the Aussie to do better. The real drama happened between Max and Norris when exiting the pit lane just after the 20th lap. Max and Norris were pretty much level at the exit although in my opinion Max was slightly in front from looking at the different replays and Norris tried to go alongside Max however ran out of room and ran across the grass. The incident was noted, however, concluded that no further investigation was needed and rightly so. Over the 30 laps, Norris was still unable to get within the DRS range of Verstappen for an overtake, which led Max, claiming victory of the Japanese Grand Prix. Norris took second, and Piastri took the final podium position in third.

George Russell got to within 1.2s of Charles Leclerc towards the end of the race. However, it was the Ferrari driver who claimed the battle for fourth. Antonelli finished in 5th, just behind his more experienced Mercedes teammate with a 1.3s gap between them. I would just like to add that the rookies driving has been outstanding so far in his first season and has 30 points already sitting in fifth in the championship standings. He’s more than proved himself deserving of the second seat. In seventh, we have Hamilton, who was 1 of 5 drivers who actually gained places in the whole race. Doohan was one of those drivers who actually moved up the grid the most places, finishing 15th four places higher than where he started in P19. To complete finishing in the top 10 in eighth, ninth and tenth were Hadjar, Albon, and Bearman ending their race in the same positions they qualified in. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but how this track is a fan favourite is beyond me as it was definitely not worth getting up for.

One of the drivers’ performances that stood out to me was obviously Max Verstappen. I think it’s clear the car is not the best on the grid this season but the guy has talent and is dragging the car to still be up there fighting for another championship, which I would say is pretty impressive. I think we should also give Antonelli a mention as well. Being one of the newcomers into the season, I would say to be able to hold 5th position throughout the entire race is an achievement. There are drivers that have been in the sport for years, and he is outperforming them, so it’s definitely worth a mention. I guess Albon is also worth mentioning just for the pure fact that he has gained a few more points for Williams, who must be delighted this year as they aren’t looking like one of the weakest cars on the grid. Unfortunately, the race was a drag, with quite an obvious lack of overtaking, George Russell has even blamed the tyre changes for the lack of action on the track.

Despite some controversy as to whether McLaren should have swapped Norris and Piastri around Andrea Stella, the team principal has spoken out on his thoughts of the weekend. He said “”It’s important that when we are not in condition to win, we keep racing in a robust way,” following up with “Like if you can’t win, finish on the podium. In the long term, if you keep performing like this, I think this will be rewarding.” Although I understand to an extent what he’s saying, I’m pretty sure every driver on that track is there to win or wants to win because what’s the point if not? Speaking out on his Instagram (if you don’t follow him, then do!), James Vowles has said the following “Two more valuable points in our Championship battle. Alex drove an excellent race, finishing in his qualifying position. For Carlos, he is making strides in the car and with the team, and I’m excited to see him continue to progress.” This is the kind of principal you want, someone who is positive and supportive.

Overall, obviously, I’m pleased that Max won, and there is only one point separating him and Norris now, which is exciting. I did read that Verstappen made a comment on how if he was in a McLaren, he would be long gone, and no one would be able to see him, and I believe him, to be honest, haha. The race was very forgettable, though, but Bahrain is next, and this should be a lot better. As for Yuki Tsunoda, I think it’s too early to really comment about him replacing Liam Lawson and how I think he’s doing. I feel he will complete this season at Red Bull, but I’m not sure anything beyond that, we will have to see how the rest of the season pans out. The same goes for Liam Lawson, I’m not sure about his future beyond this season. Isak Hadjar, however, is really achieving some impressive results in his last two races if you take out of the equation his first race. If he carries on like he has been doing, then I can’t see why his future wouldn’t be at VCARB or even at Red Bull at this rate.

Current Driver Standings

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Car	Pts
1	Norris	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	62
2	Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	61
3	Piastri	AUS	McLaren Mercedes	49
4	Russell	GBR	Mercedes	45
5	Antonelli	ITA	Mercedes	30
6	Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	20
7	Albon	THA	Williams Mercedes	18
8	Hamilton	GBR	Ferrari	15
9	Ocon	FRA	Haas Ferrari	10
10	Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	10
11	Hulkenberg	GER	Kick Sauber Ferrari	6
12	Bearman	GBR	Haas Ferrari	5
13	Hadjar	FRA	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	4
14	Tsunoda	JPN	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	3
15	Sainz	ESP	Williams Mercedes	1
16	Gasly	FRA	Alpine Renault	0
17	Alonso	ESP	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	0
18	Lawson	NZL	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	0
19	Doohan	AUS	Alpine Renault	0
20	Bortoleto	BRA	Kick Sauber Ferrari	0