Formula 1 Race Review - Japanese Grand Prix
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Formula One turned up to Suzuka this past weekend to tackle round 17 of the 2023 World Championship. On the heels of a stellar race last time out in Singapore that saw Carlos Sainz and Ferrari dethrone the mighty Red Bull Racing for the first time this season, Max Verstappen and team were hungry to reestablish themselves at the top of the pecking order. The Dutchman put in a mighty lap on Saturday to secure a convincing pole position, and sent a warning shot throughout the paddock that he and Red Bull were back on form. The McLarens were second and third fastest in qualifying, and with Sergio Perez down in fifth, the Woking team had a two-versus-one against Verstappen heading down into the first corner.
Both of the papaya cars got a good jump off the line, and Oscar Piastri, who started from P2 on the grid, had a shot at going down the inside of the adjacent RB19. Verstappen was quick to notice this, and put a squeeze on the rookie, almost forcing him into the grass. Meanwhile, Lando Norris was flying away from his third place grid box, and managed to get alongside Verstappen on the outside. The two young phenoms careened towards turn one, and for a second it looked as though Norris was going to be able to brave it around the outside and steal away the top spot. However, the two-time world champion got his elbows out, put the power down a tad earlier than the Brit, and squeezed ahead in turn two. From there, Verstappen would hold the lead for the rest of the race, and never look back.
While the tussle for the lead was happening at the front, chaos ensued deeper in the field. Perez got a poor start, and almost squeezed Lewis Hamilton into the grass as the seven-time champion tried to get past. This caused damage for both drivers, although Perez’s was more severe, as a missing front wing endplate would cause him to pit for a new nose at the end of the first lap. Even farther back, the field was bottlenecking together, and things got a little too tight for Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon, who collided midway down the straightaway, resulting in the Williams car getting a bit of airtime before landing back on all four wheels. The carnage also caused slight damage for Zhou Guanyu, and others. Parts and pieces were strewn all across the track, and the FIA was forced to call a safety car to give the marshals a chance to sufficiently clean off the racing surface.
All drivers were initially able to continue the race after the first lap mayhem, but soon after, they began dropping like flies. Logan Sargeant sent a late move on Bottas, locked up, and pounded the side of the Alfa Romeo, sending the Finnish driver for a spin. At this point, his car was too damaged to feasibly continue, and Bottas retired from the race, as did Sargeant a few laps later. Sergio Perez also fancied a late-breaking maneuver into one of the tight corners of Suzuka, and much like the American driver, he did not execute it well. Kevin Magnussen was the innocent victim this time, and his race was wrecked after being spun around by Perez. The Mexican picked up more front wing damage, and a five second time penalty to boot. Rather than trundle around at the back of the pack all day, Red Bull decided it was best to call Checo into the pits, and end his race in the garage. They would eventually send him back out on track to serve his five second penalty, but Perez is still credited with a DNF after a race he will want to forget.
There were some titanic scraps going on between teammates in the early stages of the grand prix. Liam Lawson fought tooth-and-nail with his more experienced teammate Yuki Tsunoda on the opening lap, ultimately resulting in Lawson winning out. The Alphatauris were both aggressive, but clean. The same can (mostly) be said for the silver arrows of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. The two British drivers were battling away after the safety car restart, and when Hamilton went a bit wide coming out of one of the corners, Russell fancied a cheeky overtake. The seven-time world champion was having none of it though, as he defended his position all throughout the second sector, even pushing his teammate wide on the exit of Spoon corner. Mercedes noticed this, and immediately called Lewis in for a pit stop to avoid any more on track combat between their two drivers. Even the McLarens were getting in on the teammate battling action. After Piastri got ahead of Norris due to a fortuitously timed VSC pit stop, Lando quickly closed the gap back up, and was visibly faster than the rookie. He asked multiple times on the radio to be let past, as he needed to open up a gap to George Russell, who was on a one-stop strategy. After a few laps, the team obliged, and Piastri let Norris by. This wound up being the right call for McLaren, as they secured a 2-3 finish, their first double podium since Daniel Ricciardo’s win in Monza two years ago.
Tire degradation was high in this race due to a hot afternoon in Suzuka, meaning that most of the field employed a two-stop strategy to get them to the end of the race. The undercut was very powerful, and all three compounds of rubber were viable at different stages of the event. This led to a good amount of overtaking throughout most of the field, as drivers on better or fresher tires sped past those who were searching for grip. The only one of the front runners on a one-stop was Russell, and while it looked like he was going to get away with it for a while, his tires quickly fell off a cliff, and the Brit was noticeably off the pace. He dropped down to finish in seventh place, which was not a terrible result overall, but had he taken advantage of a second pit stop he likely would have been much closer to his teammate Hamilton in fifth. Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari had been undercut by Lewis earlier in the stint, and while he pushed hard in the closing laps to get past, Hamilton used all his years of experience to keep his tires underneath him, and hold off the hard charging Spaniard to the line.
The race for the lead was nonexistent after lap one, as Max Verstappen cruised on to take his second consecutive victory in Japan, and secure Red Bull their sixth constructors championship. It was a proud moment for the whole team, and the fact that they locked up the championship in Japan, the home of their engine supplier Honda, made it all the more sweet. Norris and Piastri came home second and third, with the rookie taking his first ever grand prix podium. Charles Leclerc finished a quiet fourth place, followed by Hamilton, Sainz, and Russell. Fernando Alonso in eighth was the only Aston Martin in the points, as Lance Stroll had retired earlier in the race due to a malfunctioning rear wing. Alpine rounded out the top ten, with Esteban Ocon being let past Pierre Gasly on the final lap to take ninth place. Local hero Yuki Tsunoda just missed out on a points finish, as did his teammate Lawson.
While the second half of this year’s Japanese Grand Prix was a bit processional, especially out front, the race as a whole provided some exciting action for those at the track and watching all around the world. The lap one chaos mixed up the grid, and we were treated to some fantastic wheel-to-wheel battling between teammates. The finishing order was never set in stone, with some scraps lasting all the way until the final few corners of the race. F1 put on a solid show in Japan this year, and with Suzuka being a fan and driver favorite, It will hopefully remain on the calendar for the ensuing years, and continue to provide more breathtaking on track action.
