F1 2023: Japanese GP Review
Round 16 done
Following the unexpectedly exciting Singapore GP, the grid of F1 traveled to Suzuka, Japan, where round sixteen of the 2023 season was held.
Much to the astonishment of more or less everyone following the sport, the dominant Red Bull team had a real struggle around Singapore and was low down in the pecking order, and even Max Verstappen managed to salvage only a fifth position from the weekend.
Coming to Japan, questions were raised about whether the struggles of the runaway champions were to be a one-off blip or the new norm.
No doubt most fans hoped for the second scenario, but it was not to be, and with the Red Bull car handling well again, Max Verstappen was back to his imperious best.
The Dutchman was dominant already throughout the practice sessions, and the only thing that could have spoiled his march to pole position was probably some rain, but that never came.
With the conditions remaining bone dry, Verstappen dominated the qualy session and took an easy pole, a country mile ahead of everyone else.
McLaren was the best of the rest, and rookie Oscar Piastri impressed by edging his teammate Lando Norris for second on the grid. Ferrari’s Leclerc ran the McLarens close, but he just failed to beat them, while Verstappen’s teammate Perez ended the session in a disappointing fifth position.
At the start, Piastri got away better than Verstappen, but the Dutchman was just able to pull across and force the young Aussie to back off, who in the process then lost out to his teammate Norris, who overtook him into T1.
Leclerc maintained P4 at the start, but Perez tangled with Hamilton, and with his car damaged, he was forced to head to the pits.
The SC was also brought out to clear the track of the remains, but the race was restarted after four laps.
Verstappen easily maintained his lead and pulled away from the field, while Norris dropped his own teammate Piastri, who was closely followed by the two Ferraris and Silver Arrows.
The race looked set until the VSC was brought out, and McLaren used the opportunity to pit Piastri.
The rest elected to stay out, and once the first rounds of stops were done the order was Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, and Russel.
The only spice to the race was the different strategy of Russel, who chose to lengthen his first stint and put on the hard tires during his stop, allowing him to go to the end, while all the others had to make another stop.
Thanks to his strategy, Russel jumped to second when the others made his second stop, but thanks to the tyre-killer nature of the Suzuka track, he was caught up by everyone and, in the end dropped back to seventh.
When the chequered flag came out, Verstappen won yet another race to clinch the constructors title for his team, while Norris and Piastri took second and third to complete the podium.
Leclerc finished fourth, while a late-race Ferrari strategy blunder gifted fifth position to Lewis Hamilton.
Driver of the Day
Max Verstappen
As imperious as ever, the Dutchman looked unbeatable all weekend long, and trounced the field, including his teammate from Friday to Saturday.
No doubt he was again driving the best car of the grid, but the performance of Perez once again reminded everyone that driving a Red Bull is no guarantee for anything and seeing just how much Verstappen trounced the Mexican, one can wonder how much of his dominance was down to just the car, and how much to his exceptional driving skills.
The best of the rest
Lando Norris
Just edged by the narrowest of margins on Saturday by his rookie teammate, Norris got back on top of Piastri on Sunday and used the fight between Verstappen and the Aussie to snatch second from his teammate, then drove away from Piastri.
Throughout the race, Norris seemingly easily had the measure of Piastri in terms of race pace, and in the end, finished some 17 seconds up the road even despite running an arguably slower strategy.
Oscar Piastri
The narrow and unforgiving Suzuka circuit is one of the favorites of the drivers, but at the same time, it is also a very difficult venue, as unlike at other circuits, once the track ends rather than asphalt, the drivers are greeted by gravel and walls, punishing even the slightest mistakes.
It was Piastri’s first race around Suzuka, and the fact that he beat his more experienced Norris during the qualy was a mighty impressive feat.
Though, in the race, he looked a touch off his more experienced teammate, Piastri was still more than quick enough to finish the race in third, finally securing the podium position that slipped through his fingers at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.
Honorable mention
Liam Lawson had another impressive run at Suzuka, and despite slightly underperforming on Saturday( beaten by Tsunoda and setting his quickest lap in Q1), the young Kiwi got ahead of his Japanese teammate during the race and even pulled on him a highly aggressive overtake on the first lap of the race.
Those with a day to forget
Sergio Perez
Despite starting the season in fine form, since May, the season slipped away from Sergio Perez, who had a very lackluster run through the summer, and despite a very strong performance in Italy, his form did not improve by that much even after the summer break.
At Suzuka, Perez was once again trounced by Verstappen in the qualy, beaten by more than seven-tenths of a second, which in F1 is as good as lightyears, and he made an absolute mess of his race by making contact on more than one occasion with the other drivers. In the end, Red Bull elected to retire Perez’s car after only fifteen laps, putting an end to his miserable weekend.
Logan Sargeant
The young American is rumored to be under pressure for his drive, and he needed a strong drive to impress his William employers, but rather than a morale-boosting strong performance, Sargeant had a very weak weekend around Suzuka.
Slower than his teammate Alex Albon in the practice sessions, Sargeant crashed out in the qualy before he was able to set a timed lap. The race did not go much better for him either, and after picking up damage to his car, his team retired him after just 22 laps.
The jury is still out, but with only six races remaining, Sargeant probably needs to raise his game to be on the grid in 2024.
With round sixteen done, Red Bull wrapped up the constructors title with six races to spare, and Max Verstappen missed out on clinching the driver’s title by only a handful of points.
His next opportunity to seal the title will come in two weeks’ time, at Qutar.
Barring a Singapore-like shocker, Red Bull is expected to run and hide around Qatar also, though Perez needs to improve his one-lap form and keep out of trouble to allow them to have a 1–2.
Who could be the best of the rest is an interesting question too.
The Qatar circuit only held one previous grand prix so far, in 2021, so there’s no clear pattern that cars that go around on the X circuit should go well around Qatar also.
If you liked this article and wanna check out my other F1 related ones, check them out through the link below.