Verstappen Leads Red Bull 1-2 In Japan

Max Verstappen always had today’s Japanese Grand Prix under control and won for a third year running at Suzuka, with his teammate Sergio Pérez making it a 1-2 finish for Red Bull at Honda’s home race.

2024 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1hr54m23.556s
2 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +12.535s
3 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +20.866s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +26.522s
5 Lando Norris (McLaren) +29.700s
6 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +44.272s
7 George Russell (Mercedes) +45.951s
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +47.525s
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +48.626s
10 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) Lapped
11 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) Lapped
12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Lapped
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) Lapped
14 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) Lapped
15 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) Lapped
16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) Lapped
17 Logan Sargeant (Williams) Lapped
18 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) Retired
19 Alex Albon (Williams) Retired
20 Daniel Ricciardo (RB) RetiredThere had been a very positive reaction from F1 fans all around the world and from the media too to Carlos Sainz’s superb post-appendectomy drive to victory in Australia a fortnight ago, even if helped by Verstappen’s early retirement due to brake failure. This led to many Ferrari fans expressing a strong desire for the likeable Spaniard to be retained for next season and not dropped to make way for the incoming Sir Lewis Hamilton, who has had his worst start to a Formula 1 season ever and hasn’t won a race for well over two years.

Ferrari’s signing of Hamilton is a pivotal moment for both the team and the driver, who is set to enter the final phase of his long F1 career, which began back in 2007. The Maranello-based Italian outfit hasn’t won a Constructors’ crown since 2008, and Kimi Räikkönen was its most recent Drivers’ champion a year before that, with title success thus eluding them for so long. Ferrari has opted not to give the likes of its youthful (and cheap) reserve driver Ollie Bearman a chance and instead pay Hamilton an annual salary understood to be over US$50m plus sponsor, image rights, and other bonuses. Hamilton’s surprise decision to trigger a break clause part way through his latest Mercedes contract and head to Ferrari at the end of this season was not well received by many within his current team, and the move may or may not ultimately work out for the British multiple champion in terms of achieving that elusive eighth world title he so desires before retiring. At least he will remain very well remunerated despite being 40 by the time he starts driving for Ferrari.

Ferrari has opted not to give the likes of its youthful (and cheap) reserve driver Ollie Bearman a chance and instead pay Hamilton an annual salary understood to be over US$50m plus sponsor, image rights, and other bonuses.

Christian Horner, the team principal and CEO at Red Bull, has expressed interest in signing Sainz for the upcoming season, and if Pérez does not receive a new contract, he may consider a move for the Thai-British driver Alex Albon from Williams. The latter’s form has improved of late, with the threat of losing his seat no doubt a contributing factor. Fortunately, the team seems to be operating in a noticeably more harmonious way again, with any remaining internal conflict between Horner, its equally experienced motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, and its lead driver Max Verstappen (or, more to the point, his father Jos) very limited compared to during the recent off-track furore.

Mercedes is well aware that it has a potential future superstar on its books in the form of 17-year-old Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is currently racing in Formula 2 alongside Bearman.

On a related front, Marko has indicated that their sister RB team driver, Daniel Ricciardo, must improve his pace if he isn’t to face potentially being dropped in favour of the 22-year-old and highly promising Kiwi, Liam Lawson. Young Bearman’s superb recent debut in Jeddah has led many F1 teams to take a much closer look at their reserve and upcoming junior drivers as an effective and far less expensive way ahead rather than merely continuing to employ experienced old hands. Experience, of course, has its value, but the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hülkenberg must surely and perhaps rightly be in danger of being replaced by far younger pedallers.

Mercedes is well aware that it has a potential future superstar on its books in the form of 17-year-old Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is currently racing in Formula 2 alongside Bearman. Antonelli has already gained sufficient points to qualify for the Super Licence required to compete at the F1 level, but he has to wait until his 18th birthday in August to apply. With this in mind, Mercedes is arranging for him to undertake a series of private tests in some of their recent, but not current F1 cars to help progress his development towards perhaps being one of their frontline drivers before too long. His first two-day test is set to take place in just over a week’s time at Austria’s Red Bull Ring circuit, which is one of my favourite F1 venues, and all looks very promising for Antonelli as long as success at such an early age doesn’t go to his head.

However, Mercedes’ ongoing woes simply got worse in Australia, with their car clearly still not having front-running speed and with neither driver reaching the chequered flag. This left the outfit already 71 points behind the leading Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship after just three races, a situation that has simply increased the pressure on team principal, CEO, and part owner Toto Wolff to turn the fortunes of the operation around. Recent events have even led him to question his own performance. It’s interesting that Red Bull’s Horner is very happy to live with his family in the UK and within easy daily driving distance of his office at the team’s base in Milton Keynes, whereas Wolff has long preferred to live in Monaco rather than somewhere much closer to the team’s UK HQ in Brackley.

The Austrian had decided prior to the start of the season not to attend this weekend’s Japanese round but changed his plans a few days ago and was present in the Suzuka paddock. Apart from hoping to help improve the competitiveness of his team, he has obviously been busy working on who might fill Hamilton’s vacant seat next year. He’s intimated that a decision may well be made by the summer, adding that Verstappen is his primary target if available, with Sainz also of interest if not. However, Aston Martin’s ambitious owner, Lawrence Stroll, is also seemingly very interested in tempting Verstappen away from Red Bull, as well as the latter’s design guru, Adrian Newey. Wolff has added that he is well aware that leading drivers out of contract at the end of this season may get signed up by rivals, and even the four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of 2022, may be a potential replacement for Hamilton, although the likeable German is enjoying life at his Swiss home with his wife and children and is questioning whether he really wants to return to the high-pressure world of F1 despite still only being 36.

...four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of 2022, may be a potential replacement for Hamilton, although the likeable German is enjoying life at his Swiss home with his wife and children...

The veteran Fernando Alonso, soon to be 43 and currently racing for Aston Martin (his sixth F1 team after a mixed career headlined by two drivers’ titles way back in 2005/6), would also perhaps be a short-term fix for Mercedes prior to a potential debut for Antonelli. However, the Spaniard hardly helped his chances by contributing to a big race-ending accident for Mercedes’ George Russell in Melbourne two weeks ago, which could have led to serious injury or worse for the latter. Aston Martin has accepted the resultant 20-second penalty for Alonso and three points on his racing licence following the Australian incident, and the team has confirmed it has no intention of appealing against the stewards’ ruling.

Another quick news snippet before turning to the on-track action in Japan relates to Liberty Media, the US owners of Formula 1 since 2017. It has now also taken over Spain’s Dorna Sports, the owners of MotoGP, the world’s leading motorbike racing championship, in a deal valued at 4.2 billion euros. Liberty Media will own 86% of the shares, with MotoGP management retaining the remaining 14%.

Suzuka’s classic figure-of-eight circuit has featured in numerous iconic moments throughout Formula 1’s history, and with a great mix of high-, medium-, and slow-speed corners plus a long downhill start/finish straight, it is recognised by every team as a true benchmark of just how good its car and drivers really are. There’s no hiding place through the sweeping series of Esses turns in the opening sector of each lap, and the track represents the ultimate challenge of man and machine. Of course, I hope that perhaps one day I’ll be able to add woman and machine too if some sufficiently quick female drivers reach the pinnacle of world motorsport.

The opening free practice session began at 11.30 local time on Friday morning (3.30am back in the UK) under dry conditions, but a lengthy red flag interruption followed after Logan Sargeant had lost control of his Williams at the final part of the Esses, known as the Dunlop Curve, and flew into the tyre barriers. After the action resumed, it was the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Pérez who led the way ahead of Sainz and Russell. The wet conditions forecast for later in the day duly arrived, and the persistent drizzle severely limited the running during the second practice period, with only five of the 20 drivers actually setting a timed lap. For the record, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri went fastest, if over four seconds slower than the opening practice pace.

It was both warmer and drier for yesterday’s final practice session, and Verstappen topped the timing screens ahead of his teammate Pérez and the Russell/Hamilton Mercedes duo. Come the all-important qualifying hour, the Red Bull pairing again went quickest, with Verstappen taking his fourth pole position of the season and McLaren's Lando Norris being the best of the rest. Significantly, Sainz made a point by again being the faster Ferrari driver, as the Spaniard claimed the other row-two slot on the grid, whereas Charles Leclerc was only eighth, sandwiched by Hamilton and Russell.

Japanese fans are so passionate about Formula 1, whilst always remaining polite and deferential towards their racing heroes, and the atmosphere around the classic circuit was superb as the 2pm local time start of today’s Grand Prix neared. Memories drifted back to Damon Hill, driving for Williams, winning his sole F1 title on this very track in 1996, with emotion briefly getting the better of the commentating Murray Walker, and of course Michael Schumacher claimed his third title and a first of five for Ferrari here in 2000. Back in 1989, the warring duo of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost infamously clashed at the Suzuka chicane as they fought for that year’s Drivers’ title, with Prost emerging on top, and just one year later, the pair collided here again as they charged off the grid towards the opening righthander on lap one and were instantly out of the race, with Senna on this occasion sealing the title.

I pushed such thoughts to the back of my mind as the 20 cars lined up for the start with the air and track temperatures the highest of the whole weekend, and, when those famous red lights were extinguished, it was Verstappen who sprinted into an immediate lead ahead of Pérez, Norris, and Sainz. However, we had a classic opening-lap racing incident between Ricciardo and Albon at Turn 2, which left both drivers in the barriers and already out of the 53-lap Grand Prix. Following a red flag stoppage to enable the removal of the damaged cars and repairs to the barriers, we went racing, and this time Verstappen again led the pack after a clean start.

Memories drifted back to Damon Hill, driving for Williams, winning his sole F1 title on this very track in 1996, with emotion briefly getting the better of the commentating Murray Walker...

The Grand Prix was to feature a combination of one- and two-stop strategies, which mixed up the running order before all was to become clear in the closing stages. Mercedes had looked to use a single-stop plan, using hard/hard tyres, but ultimately switched to a two-stopper with the addition of medium rubber for a final stint. The driver who really made a one-stop solution almost work was Leclerc, as he managed his initial medium tyres very effectively before pitting for a set of hards on lap 27, half way through the Grand Prix. In the end, though, his two-stopping teammate Sainz passed the Monégasque driver round the outside at the start of the 46th tour and claimed the final podium position behind Verstappen and Pérez.

Alonso had gambled on starting with a set of soft tyres in the hope of making some early progress, but this was not to be, and the chequered flag Norris and the Spaniard completed the leading sextet of finishers. Piastri had looked set to claim seventh place, but a charging Russell caught and usurped him on the final lap. A ninth-place finish for Hamilton meant that at least both Mercedes cars scored points today, unlike in Australia, and the packed grandstands were absolutely thrilled when RB’s Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda finished tenth, scoring his first point at his home race. Red Bull’s clean sweep today was completed when Verstappen also picked up the extra point for the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate tour.

Next up in two weeks’ time comes a return to Shanghai in China, with the Grand Prix being supplemented by the opening Sprint race of the year. China first appeared on the F1 calendar back in 2004 and remained an annual fixture until 2019, when the impact of the COVID pandemic meant the Chinese round failed to be held between 2020 and 2023.

2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship

1 Max Verstappen 77
2 Sergio Pérez 64
3 Charles Leclerc 59

2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship

1 Red Bull 141
2 Ferrari 120
3 McLaren 69