The Japan Grand Prix was the most entertaining of the season to date, due to the epic nature of the track, its elevation, and figure eight layout.
Suzuka is a true driver’s track, and never fails to result in championship deciding moments.
Moving it earlier in the calendar definitely loses its significance in the grand scheme of 24 races but allows the fans and teams alike to discover the real battlers and threats on the grid.
Starting with a red flag caused by Williams driver Alex Albon and Racing Bulls driver Daniel Ricciardo, the Japanese Grand Prix had a slow start.
This played into the hands of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who was enabled to only make one pit stop in what is usually a two-stop race. Leclerc placed fourth after a poor qualifying in which he started eighth.
Another notable performance was that of Sergio Perez, fighting against the Ferrari’s, Mercedes’ and McLarens in order to secure second place, despite the lengthy gap to his teammate Max Verstappen.
The World Champion seemed back to his usual antics, leading a race by over ten seconds and only needing to fight with Ferrari’s C-squared duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
McLaren seemed to have taken to Ferrari’s strategy from last year, pitting without paying attention to the actual race.
The team pitted extremely early for a car equipped with a hard tire, which caused Norris to miss out on another third place finish.
Oscar Piastri also had a small fight with Mercedes driver George Russell, who almost involved the Aussie in his classic “last lap crash” technique during the final chicane.
Speaking of the Mercedes, both seem to be in a rut they can’t get out of. Russell fought well, and definitely impressed, but only manages to show real fight when he’s almost pushing another driver off the track.
Despite that, he has Hamilton covered on every level, even to the point of Hamilton offering to let Russell through, something he never would have done eight to ten years ago against former teammate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton finished in ninth, showing a disappointing result for the Brit.
The Aston Martins showed the absolute power of Fernando Alonso, qualifying fifth as opposed to teammate Lance Stroll who qualified 16th.
Alonso finished sixth, with radio from Stroll exclaiming about the lack of pace the Aston Martin’s have down the straights.
Stroll did well, gaining to 12th, but for the supposed fourth fastest car to finish 16th behind both a Racing Bull and a Haas, it raises questions about Stroll’s involvement in the team.
The most impressive driver to me, which may come as a shock to others, was Haas driver Nico Hulkenburg.
He had a fantastic start before the red flag, going from 12th to tenth ahead of Q3 finisher Valtteri Bottas and hometown hero Yuki Tsunoda, setting himself up well for points, before a so-close-yet-so-far eleventh place finish.
Maybe Steiner’s departure is the best thing for the American team?
So, everything we learnt from the Japanese Grand Prix: Red flags can change a race, but not make anyone win.
When Perez is on, he can absolutely dominate a track with the right team support.
McLaren have taken on Ferrari’s strategy from last season, which they will hopefully learn from for future races.
The era of Mercedes dominance is over, and Russell has Hamilton covered every day of the week.
Fernando Alonso’s skill ages the same as Paul Rudd’s face, and Haas are massively improved by the promotion of Ayao Komatsu.
Sarah Thomas
Roar Rookie
Absolutely. It's why Norris is such a competent driver considering the speed of the McLaren. He's driven in the outside-the-points pack for almost his whole career, part of the reason he's now a consistent top 5 finisher.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Nicely done Sarah. 100 per cent agree about Hamilton. He is being exposed for the rather lucky driver he was in what was essentially an unbeatable car over a long period of time. Once forced to race in the pack, his true talent is exposed. Compare that to Max and his early stuff as a teenager and the chasm between the two becomes obvious. Surely there is a cooling off period on the Ferrari contract. If I were them, I'd be acting on it immediately!
Sarah Thomas
Roar Rookie
I want to agree with your comments about Ricciardo but I can't defend him while calling Hamilton washed up. I do think he has more to offer than was he's showing in the RB but how he gets out of that seat is a mystery. Liam Lawson certainly is the most logical result, as much as it pains me to say. 'Emotional rollercoaster' is probably the only way to define Steiner's leadership at Haas. That team is finally being done justice.
Sarah Thomas
Roar Rookie
Surely a redemption off of P5 in Australia, and qualifying was significantly better than it has been at Suzuka previously.
Wolzal
Roar Rookie
Ricciardo qualifying .055s behind his teammate after essentially one practice session gave hope to a positive result. Alas both RBs were swamped starting on the mediums, which lead to the inevitable midfield melee he found himself in. It seemed to me the boffins at RB didn't get a good read on the conditions, which were warmer and drier than Saturday (IIRC Sunday was about 23°C with about 45% humidity, while Saturday was 17°C with 74% humidity), which lead to incorrect tyre prep on the formation lap. They promptly switched Yuki to softs for the restart. And while I'm a lifelong Williams fan, I'm in two minds about Albon's car positioning. He had bags of grip, which lead to a speed advantage over Ricciardo, which lead to him putting his car in the only space available. But it was also a move that was never going to work. More so given Williams current position, a more conservative mindset would have been beneficial. Afterall they had opted for a low drag setup which would have made them a beast down the straights. There are plenty of people ready to discard Ricciardo into the wilderness, Australians included (the toxicity has practically made engaging with F1 social media unbearable). And if you were to objectively measure his performances like you'd do any other driver their rationale might be justified (but never their language) But I can't bring myself to join them. The guy can drive, he beat Vettel at Red Bull, he's the only teammate that challenged Verstappen, he took Renault back to the podium, and even in a year of misery, he still brought it home to the top step that one fine day in Italy. RB will be giving him a new chassis for China, a track he has won at, and often done well. So let's hope he has a good weekend, because I dread the response if he doesn't. In Steiner's defence the new car was already designed and developed before his departure. To Komatsu's credit though his pragmatic approach is seems to be fostering a more successful environment than the emotional rollercoaster that followed Steiner.
Blink
Roar Rookie
Gotta agree. Norris was quick and needed to go longer which he had just indicated he wanted to do, and instead pitted behind the Ferrari and lost his chance. It looked obvious at the time & after. Stroll was benoaming the lack of straight line speed of his Aston but was making his moves on the outside of the esses which he wouldn't have been able to do with less downforce. The top speeds were known from widely available FP3 speedchecks in FP3. Hamilton was saying the car was the best to drive in 3 years, just not very quick :). Seems like he has given up, letting Russell through like he did. That is un-Hamilton. And Perez was a hair width away from taking pole off Verstappen. The closest he is ever likely to get vs Max. It was a great race for Perez.