The Japanese Grand Prix, held at the Suzuka Circuit, saw Max Verstappen claim a dominant victory, his first of the season and 64th career win. No one was expecting a return of the Max and Red Bull winning ways of yore but that’s exactly what happened and one wonders if this is track-specific or have they unlocked performance?
Max led Lando Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri home for the podium. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli also shone, leading laps and setting the fastest lap, breaking records as the youngest driver to do so.
Win
Win- Max Verstappen (Red Bull): Delivered a masterful drive, holding off pressure from McLaren to secure the win. Wehn Red Bull seemed to be off the pace on Friday, Max and team found the pace to take pole and the win which is a welcome return for the team. The question is, was this track-specific performance or have Red Bull unlocked pace in their RB21?
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): Impressive stint leading the race, setting the fastest lap, and leading the rookies. Kimi’s long stint suggested that perhaps it might have been something that would have been successful for McLaren to do but regardless, finishing on George Russell’s heels is exactly where the team wanted him and signals that there is something very special about this young driver.
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls): Achieved a strong 8th place, showcasing speed and race craft. Sure, his first bobble in Australia was tough and the seatbelts on Saturday were even tougher but I admire this young man’s determination and race craft and he’s doing a terrific job!
- Ollie Bearman (Haas): Scored points with a 10th-place finish, exceeding expectations…especially fo rHaas. Like Isack Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman is impressing and creating a good case for why he might be a nice replacement for either Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc.
Fail
Fail- McLaren: Despite a fast car, strategic decisions and a pit stop incident cost them the win, finishing 2nd and 3rd. Sky Sports argued they left too much on the table for not splitting their strategy but in a text thread with our own Paul Charsley, he reckons the team played the Constructor’s Championship long game and held station for the points and to avoid driver drama.
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull): Disappointing home race, finishing 12th after starting 15th. Yuki started the weekend off strong but as the days progressed, he lost pace and ended up offering a Perez or Lawson style performance. At the risk of sounding contrary given the team’s lack of patience with Liam Lawson, I’d suggest they need to give Yuki some time and there could be his car development skills that might come into play later in the season.
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin): Struggled, starting last and finishing a lap down. What a bad day at the office for Lance.
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls): Overshadowed by teammate, finishing 17th after starting 14th. It’s a tough go for Liam with Hadjar a long ways up the grid but I do think there was atalk of a DRS issue early on. Not sure if that played into his issues or not.
Pirelli Report:
15 drivers, all on the top eight rows, lined up on the starting grid having chosen the Medium for the opening stint. The only exception was Hamilton who opted for the Hard. On the back two rows, the places were split between Hard and Soft: Ocon and Bortoleto chose the C1, Stroll and Doohan the C3.
Almost the entire field made just the one stop, the quickest strategic option according to analysis of Friday’s data. The Hard compound was the near universal choice for the second stint, although Sainz and Lawson ran the race without using the hardest tyres, going for a Medium-Soft strategy instead. Stroll was the only driver to run all three compounds.
The longest stint of all came courtesy of Doohan who ran a set of Hards for 38 laps, while Sainz and Lawson went all the way to lap 33 on the Medium before pitting.
Japanese GP Results:
| Position | Driver (Team) | Time Delta to Car Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen (Red Bull) | 1:22:06.983 |
| 2 | Lando Norris (McLaren) | +1.423s to P1 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri (McLaren) | +0.706s to P2 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) | +13.968s to P3 |
| 5 | George Russell (Mercedes) | +1.265s to P4 |
| 6 | Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) | +1.309s to P5 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) | +10.511s to P6 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) | +7.952s to P7 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon (Williams) | +3.233s to P8 |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman (Haas) | +14.162s to P9 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) | +2.804s to P10 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) | +1.068s to P11 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly (Alpine) | +3.721s to P12 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz (Williams) | +12.007s to P13 |
| 15 | Jack Doohan (Alpine) | +7.185s to P14 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) | +0.643s to P15 |
| 17 | Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) | +0.777s to P16 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon (Haas) | +0.704s to P17 |
| 19 | Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) | +0.459s to P18 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) | +1 lap |
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Super impressed with Hadjar, I’ll admit that I was very skeptical about him when he was announced as their driver, but I’ve been impressed with him since day one, yeah he binned it in Aus but so did a lot of more experienced drivers.
Disappointed with Doohan, thought he would do more.