Japan GP

Review

Cars went racing again on the streets of Suzuka for the 49th
Japanese Grand Prix. A close battle was expected as Sainz
was coming off a win in Australia and Red Bull had a dismal
race there. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as Red Bull found back
their mojo and got to winning terms again by registering their
third 1-2 of the season.

Qualifying Report
Max Verstappen continued his streak of pole positions after
posting pole lap of 1:28.197s. His teammate, Perez came very
close after an insane lap but fell short by 0.066s. Norris was the
closest to the Red Bulls as he qualified third and the last race
winner, Carlos Sainz managed to slot his car at P4.
The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc only managed a meagre
P8 despite showing great pace in the practice sessions earlier.
He later said in the post-quali interview, “I’m not happy with our
qualifying today. The feeling in the car was quite good, but the
pace was just not there, so we will look at the data and assess
what exactly this was down to.”

Veteran Fernando Alonso continued his great run at Suzuka

after grabbing the fifth spot on the grid. On the contrast, Stroll
was eliminated in Q1 itself leaving the Aston Martin team with
many questions regarding their car’s performance.
Lean patch for the Alpines continued despite the updates as
Ocon and Gasly started in P15 and P17. Surprisingly, Gasly is
yet to qualify for Q2 this year.

The Silver Arrows had decent pace which saw them qualifying
P7 and P9 on the grid. Piastri continued his run of consistent
performances as he qualified P6 whereas the other Australian,
Ricciardo missed out Q3 and qualified P11 after being pushed
down the elimination zone by his teammate and local-boy,
Tsunoda.
Race Report

Verstappen and Perez got off to a great start after keeping

Norris at bay who in turn was under pressure from the Ferrari of
Carlos Sainz. But the action didn’t continue for long as
Ricciardo and Albon crashed during the opening lap itself
causing a red flag and bringing the action to a standstill.

Ricciardo commented on the incident post-race, “After

yesterday, where we made some steps in the right direction, I
was really excited to come racing today to have a good day. In
Turn 2, the tyres settled a little bit, but I still felt like I was sliding
and then saw an Aston on the outside of me. I was watching
him but when I was preparing to enter Turn 3, without using all
the track as it was the first lap, Albon got alongside me and had
a better exit from Turn 2. I didn’t see him and we touched.”

The incident provided an opportunity for all the teams to grab a

free pit stop.
Everybody in the Top 5 followed a similar tyre strategy with
them starting on the Medium compound. Alonso took a brave
call by switching to Softs whereas the Mercedes drivers started
on Hards.
Zhou retired a few laps after citing a gearbox issue.

Lando was one of the earlier cars to pit in the race in hope of
undercutting the Ferraris but huge tyre degradation saw him
falling behind the Ferraris. At the end, he managed to bring
home P5 for the team. Meanwhile, his teammate wasn’t able to
do anything too significant as he spent the majority of laps
behind the car of Alonso and ultimately got overtaken by
Russell during the final laps of the race which saw him finishing
8th.

Piastri reflected back on the race and said, “It was a difficult
afternoon. Things didn’t quite click into place and we weren't
fighting for the positions we wanted to. However, it's four points
finishes on the bounce this year and there’s plenty to take
away.”
The Italian outfit of Ferraris were the second best team on the
race day. Although Leclerc started 8th on the grid, he managed
his tyres beautifully and stopped only once after the red flag
and led an amazing drive to P4. Sainz too showed great pace
and got himself on the final step of the podium.

The Silver Arrows too got themselves a handful of points as

George and Lewis finished P7 and P9, respectively. They
seemed to be looking for a one-stopper in the race but neither
car had the race pace to match the rest of the grid which
eventually caused them to switch to a two-stop strategy.
Interestingly, Lewis conceded his track position to Russell in
the race claiming that George was much faster and had a
better shot at chasing the guys ahead.
The oldest driver on the grid continued to impress the fans by
his consistent performances for the British team. Starting at P5,
Alonso managed to keep at bay the pursuing Mclaren of Oscar
Piasttri for most of the race. During the final moments, George
was quickly approaching Alonso and Piastri but Alonso
strategically kept Piastri in the DRS zone to defend against the
oncoming Mercedes. At the end, he did manage to finish P6.
The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll fought with the lower half
of the grid and did almost manage to break into the top 10 but
missed out and finished P11.

The local Japanese, Tsunoda kept his starting position in the

race result, too and won a solitary point after finishing 10th at
his home Grand Prix.
Jubilant after the race, he made these comments, “A big thank
you to everyone at Honda, Red Bull and Visa Cash App RB
who have been involved and supported me throughout my
journey. I don’t feel like I scored P10 today but P1 – it’s a great
feeling.”

Verstappen and Red Bull returned to their original winning

ways. Good start both the times saw Max building a decent gap
from the rest of the pack. Albeit, Checo had to grind a bit after
being undercut by Norris for P2 but once he did reclaim his
position he continued to drift away from the pack and gain a
comfortable lead.
Teams will go racing again in the streets of Shanghai in two
weeks’ time as the Chinese Grand Prix returns to the Formula 1
calendar after a break of five years.