Max Verstappen and Red Bull proved Australia was just a hiccup as the reigning World Champion obliterated the opposition to triumph in Japan. Autoweek rounds up the main talking points from Suzuka.
Dominant Verstappen Returns to Form
After a rare mechanical failure in Australia, Max Verstappen and Red Bull were back to their crushing best in Japan.
The RB20 was expected to fly at the high-speed figure-of-eight Suzuka circuit, where Verstappen dominated in the wet in 2022 and dry in 2023, and such predictions duly came to fruition. Verstappen beat Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to claim pole position and controlled a two-stop race that took place in slightly warmer conditions than anticipated, leading to higher tire degradation.
Verstappen greeted the checkered flag 12.5 seconds clear of Perez, making it a third Red Bull 1-2 in four races to start the season, and he was 20.8 seconds in front of the next-best non-Red Bull car, which was third-placed Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
Just nine cars finished on the lead lap.
The margin of victory was not far removed from the 19.3 seconds he finished in front of the best non-Red Bull car, McLaren’s Lando Norris, at Suzuka’s last race in September, albeit with the caveat that Sainz had a slightly harder time of it this year because of strategy and getting stuck in traffic.
“It was great to bounce back after the DNF in Australia, after such a great start to the season, it was important to bounce back quickly,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “I think that we’ve done that emphatically here at Suzuka this weekend. It’s a great performance. We had a front row lockout, 1-2 finish, fastest lap and the fastest pit stop. So overall, a great team performance.”
Mercedes’ High-Speed Struggles Exposed
Ferrari finished as the second-best team once more, with the two-stopping Carlos Sainz third, and the one-stopping Charles Leclerc fourth.
It was a strong race by both.
Leclerc rose from eighth on the grid and conceded afterwards that he needs to work on one-lap pace, having missed the optimum tire window in both Australia and Japan. Meanwhile, McLaren took a conservative approach with Lando Norris, as he dropped from third to fifth, but he accepted that Ferrari was faster anyway.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was sixth, and that left Mercedes as only the fifth-best team at Suzuka as its high-speed struggles were exposed once again.
George Russell, front, held off teammate Lewis Hamilton at Suzuka.
“The car is correlating well in the low speed and the medium speed, but we’re a long way off in the high speed compared to what we’re seeing back at base, so we need to get on top of that,” said Mercedes driver George Russell. “When you get to qualifying and the fuel comes out the speeds are going higher and higher that runs away from us slightly.”
Mercedes’ started seventh and ninth on the grid, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Russell, and they finished in the same positions in the race, albeit with Russell in front of the seven-time champion as they swapped places.
“We need to keep working hard as today, our pace was likely only good enough for P6,” said Hamilton. “If we want to move up the grid, then we will need to add more performance to the car.”
Understanding the high-speed weaknesses are one thing, addressing them another, particularly with the simulations not correlating with reality. Mercedes is only fourth in the championship, and its points total is already less than half of third-placed McLaren, while Aston Martin is only a point behind despite being hamstrung by the ineffective Lance Stroll.
Haas Puts Positive Spin on No Points
Haas F1 Team left the Japanese Grand Prix empty-handed, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda claiming the final point on offer inside the top 10, once more fronting the battle between the top five teams that he also spearheaded in Australia.
It was a positive outcome for the throng of enthusiastic Japanese fans in attendance, with Tsunoda pulling off some excellent moves.
Despite being beaten by Tsunoda for the last spot in the points, it was an encouraging weekend for Haas. The team was braced for a struggle at Suzuka, given the layout of the circuit, with the VF-24’s limitations expected to be particularly punished through the rapid changes of direction in the opening sector. But Haas came away with 11th and 13th-place finishes in a race with 17 finishers.
Nico Hulkenberg has scored just three points this season for Haas F1 Team.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg five seconds behind Tsunoda. That was despite Hulkenberg slumping to the back on the opening lap, when the anti-stall kicked in, while Magnussen lost a couple of positions in the pit lane.
“What I take from today is that we have a package that we can fight the other midfield teams with,” said Hulkenberg. “To be honest, it felt even better than what I expected.”
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu was also lifted by the outcome.
“This circuit is the worst for us so far,” said Komatsu. “I always said we needed four or five races to see where the car is, this is the worst circuit by far, and then if in the worst circuit you can do this, that’s very positive.”
Haas remains in seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Ricciardo, Williams Take Another Hit
Two parties having tricky starts to the year had a further setback in Japan as RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Williams’ Alex Albon clashed on the opening lap.
The two made contact into Turn 3 and suffered hefty impacts with the barrier after the innocuous contact, and while the drivers were fortunately injured, it was another disappointing outcome for Ricciardo, a red flag, and another repair bill for Williams.
This hits just keep on coming for Williams as Alex Albon and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo go out on the first lap at Suzuka.
“I think today is a singular moment,” said Ricciardo. “I don’t look at today and think ‘oh man this year, like when it rains, it pours,’ or whatever. I feel it was just one of those things. We know in 24 races, it’s probably likely that maybe I’m involved in another lap one incident, you know, it’s just probability in that. So these things kind of happen.”
Albon conceded that he was already thinking about Williams’ spare parts situation in the brief moment between the clash and the impact. The full extent of the damage to Albon’s car has not yet been assessed, and although there is a bit of breathing room between now and China, it leaves Williams with another repair job, all while it is still trying to prepare its spare chassis—which will not be operational until Miami at the earliest.
“We’re not hiding from it, it is just a lot of time and effort to repair, rather than to develop [the car], and then focus on the upgrades,” said Albon. “It will pay its toll later on into the season.”
Results
F1 Japanese Grand Prix
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 53 laps, 1:54:23.566
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +12.535 seconds
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +20.866
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +26.522
- Lando Norris, McLaren, +29.700s
- Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin, +44.272
- George Russell, Mercedes, +45.951
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +47.525
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +48.626
- Yuki Tsunoda, RB, +1 lap
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1 lap
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1 lap
- Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber, +1 lap
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1 lap
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +1 lap
- Logan Sargeant, Williams, +1 lap
- Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber, +41 laps
- Daniel Ricciardo, RB, +53 laps
- Alexander Albon, Williams, +53 laps
FI Drivers Standings
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 77
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 64
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 59
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, 55
- Lando Norris, McLaren, 37
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren 32
- George Russell, Mercedes, 24
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 24
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 9
- Yuki Tsunoda, RB, 10
- Oliver Bearman, Ferrari, 6
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, 3
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas, 1
- Alexander Albon, Williams, 0
- Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber, 0
- Daniel Ricciardo, RB, 0
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine, 0
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 0
- Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber, 0
- Logan Sargeant, Williams, 0
F1 Constructors’ Standings
- Red Bull 141
- Ferrari 120
- McLaren 69
- Mercedes 34
- Aston Martin 33
- RB 7
- Haas 4
- Williams 0
- Kick Sauber 0
- Alpine 0
U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.
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