Luke’s Weekend Take – Japanese GP 2024

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Thrilling Upgrades and Action Unfold at the Japanese GP: Teams' Tactical Plays Shine in Suzuka

Japan GP 3

We’re back to the land of Cherry Blossoms and the home race for Yuki Tsunoda as we gear up for the Japanese GP much earlier in the season as it has been only 196 days since the last Japanese GP.

We start seeing some teams bring some significant upgrades as Aston Martin bring in some floor upgrades while Red Bull also bring some new upgrades to continue improving their already too quick RB 20. Aston Martin had to stagger their upgrades as they only had enough for Lance Stroll for the Friday to cover FP1 and FP2 while Fernando Alonso had to wait till the Saturday to get his share of upgrades.

We now head into the action on Friday where in FP1 we see that VCARB opt to have an all Japanese lineup by having Ayumu Iwasa replace Daniel Ricciardo for the first practice session in Suzuka, this meant that the fans had someone else to cheer for while Ricciardo had to sit in the pitlane and get as much data from the session as he could as this would put him a session down on a very important session for Ricciardo to try and get back into his groove for VCARB as so far this season, he has been out performed by his teammate Tsunoda.

FP1 started all on track with a few incidents of drivers getting in the way of each other as they all try to get in their rhythm and get on with their programs for practice. This was all well up until mid-way through the session we see Logan Sargeant take a fairly big shunt into the barriers at the exit of Turn 7 as he loses the rear and goes into the barrier nose first and then hits the rear left as well. Luckily, Sargeant was ok and was able to walk away out of the car. This incident brought out the Red Flag and drivers had to make their way back to the pits while losing time as in Free Practice the timer doesn’t stop. James Vowles after FP1 commented that the chassis for Sargeant was ok however the rest of the damage was quite significant and Sargeant had to miss FP2.

After the Red Flag period was done, all the drivers were itching to get back on track in order to learn as much as they could about the track ahead of the race on Sunday, one driver in particular was Nico Hulkenberg who was so eager to get out that he got a Black and White Flag in the process as he failed to follow the race directors instructions and crossed over the white line at the pits as he tried to get around one of the VCARB drivers. At the end of the session, we see Max Verstappen top the charts followed by his teammate Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz close behind the Red Bull Pair.

Ahead of FP2 there was some rain at Suzuka which meant that the track was fairly damp, and this meant that we won’t get as much running as we expected due to teams not wanting to risk getting any unnecessary damage to any of their cars. This however was bad news for Ricciardo as this meant he will get even less running than he had bargained for this weekend.

15 minutes in we finally see some cars on track as we see Lewis Hamilton go out for a few exploratory laps, he reports that there are some tricky parts on track but seemed happy to stay out but after one more lap, Bono called him in saying that they got enough rain data from those laps. Ricciardo eager to get some running also went out on slicks but as soon as he went out, he reported that it was raining again so he went back to the pits.

Mid-way through the sessions we actually see the green striped tyres as we see Oscar Piastri come out but he went back straight in saying that even though it was raining, the track was still too dry for inters so opted to get back into the pits. Other drivers had the same opinion as most went out and came straight back in apart for the VCARB pair as they both put some push laps in with Tsunoda topping the leaderboard at this stage of the session to please the fans seeing a Japanese driver at the top of the leaderboard.

Towards the closing stages of FP2 we see some drivers go out on the soft tyres and after a few out laps we start seeing Piastri putting in some good times which took Tsunoda’s spot at the top of the leaderboard. At this stage some of the teams also sent their drivers out on softs but it was a bit too late as Piastri had a few laps to warm up his tyres and then put down some push laps. At the end of the session, we see Piastri topping the charts followed by Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in FP2.

Teams Battle for Dominance in Suzuka: A Glimpse into Japanese GP Qualifying Dynamics

We now head into Saturday where all teams were keen to make up for lost time from FP2 and all drivers were out on track as soon as the light went green, with the exception of McLaren as the drivers were no where to be seen in the garages. Maybe they were still celebrating Piastri’s birthday as he turns 23 today. With 10 mins into the session, we do see Lando Norris in the paddock walking to the garage while taking some selfies with fans and signing a few photos and with 15 minutes gone from the session we see Piastri out on track.

Towards the start we also see Kevin Magnussen lock up his Haas coming into the hairpin and had to opt in to go straight into the gravel and spun a bit off track, but he managed to keep the car out of the barriers and get back on track. This was most likely due to the new brakes and disks on the car and Magnussen still getting used to the new brakes. Haas weren’t the only ones with teething issues in FP3 though as we hear both Red Bull drivers complain about the drivability of the car especially Perez and after a pitstop he seemed to be happier with his car and he went on with his session. This wasn’t the end of the issues at Red Bull as both drivers had issues with a lot of vibrations on their wing mirrors and in the pits, we do see mechanics do some adjustments to the wing mirrors for them.

Down at Williams we hear both Alex Albon and Sargeant complain that they have zero confidence in the car especially with a loose rear as the car was drifting way too much and this issue was not only at Williams as we see multiple cars drift a bit during the session and drivers also commenting on the radio that the rear is not as stable. At the end of the session the Red Bull Pair managed to claim the top 2 spots again with Verstappen leading the way followed by Perez and George Russell.

Heading into qualifying now and straight away Russell managed to catch the attention of the stewards as he exits the garage dangerously and forces Piastri to pull to the left to avoid a hit. This was investigated after the session and Mercedes got a €5000 fine due to this incident.

The cars were out on track and surprisingly enough I think this was the first time we didn’t hear any radios of drivers complaining that they found someone in their way during a push lap and after the first runs, it seemed that Ferrari might not be challenging for a podium this weekend as they get 5th and 10th in the initial runs in Q1 but few drivers who impressed were Tsunoda who managed a P9 and Fernando Alonso who managed to split the Red Bulls in P2. At the end of Q1 we end up losing Lance Stroll who was shaking his head as to where he lost time compared to his teammate followed by Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu.

In Q2 on the first runs we see Max on the top of the charts once more but very close behind we see his teammate Sergio Perez only 0.012s behind which is the closest we seen him get to Max this season. Although it is also a Red Bull, it still gives hope that this season we might get some competition. I know, wishful thinking but one can hope. Lando Norris was also in 3rd after the first runs in Q2 as he was only 2 tenths off the pace. For the second and final runs of Q2 we see the top 7 stay in the garage to save a set of softs as they were confident that their times were good enough and good it was as we see Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon eliminated in Q2.

We head now into the final session of qualifying and it was business as usual for Max Verstappen as he takes provisional pole after the first runs followed by Norris and Perez. Leclerc was the only driver who didn’t come out for the initial runs as he only had one set of softs left so had to opt for 1 run only in Q3 and hope he gets a good result. After all the drivers returned to the pits from the 1st runs Leclerc comes out to do his one and only lap and Ferrari opted to sending him out with a clear track to avoid any Yellow Flags. After his flying lap Leclerc only managed 7th before the rest were still to go back out, however he did manage the fastest sector 2 at the time and came on the radio that he couldn’t understand as he gave it all he could out there. Max Verstappen does take pole but with only 0.066s to his teammate Sergio Perez who will line up in 2nd followed by Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda will form the top 10.

Who do you think will come out on top tomorrow in the race? Will it be another Max domination, or will Perez be able to take the fight to him with the possibility of a McLaren getting in the mix, lets wait and see tomorrow.

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