2025 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, April 04 - 06

[venkyhere]

To me the answer is simple :
- Redbull had lower DF but no top speed advantage. It's upto clean air and Max's talent that he could match Mclaren's pace lap after lap.
- In light of the above, I am shocked that McLaren didn't even try grabbing a few 'clean air' laps to check whether they could really up the pace.
- When they can see that whenever Norris goes 0.3-0.4 faster in one non-recharge lap, Max is matching up the same 0.3-0.4 in his very next non-recharge lap ; should have tried 'offsetting' tyres somehow - burning the Ms early and going longer on H or going 2 burn up laps extra on Ms , to have 2 lap fresher H until end of race.

They tried nothing. No matter what Stella said post race (there was no advantage in overcut) , this 'not trying anything to break status quo' is worrying. Too conservative a team. If they are not 'gambling' when they have a superior car, when are they going to ? The 2 vs 1 advantage that was talked about before the race started, came to nothing. No advantage was used. GP's comment after the finish was apt - 'it was perfection' from Max. Relentless pressure from behind for the entire race, no mistakes. Of course, lower track temps took away the 'tyre eating' from the Redbull.

[CHT]

RB might have found a sweet spot by running lower DF. While Yuki may be running a different program.

[DGP123]

Horrible race, but given the previous two, nobody is that surprised. Might be a tight championship, but it’s incredibly boring.

I think if RB can just bring some more performance at some point, then Max wins this championship, and keeps these two inferior Macca drivers at arms length.

[Tvetovnato]

There would be no difference. These 2025 cars seem very poor for overtaking. Oscar would need to come within 0.3 seconds of Max to pass. What I think happens is that clean air in P-1 is more effective for the similarly paced cars to stay ahead. Redbull has pace, not a poor car by any means, but the clean air is probably making things look better than they are. Similar to Lewis winning the sprint.

Race is boring. No tyre deg and narrow track. Cool surface, so no overheating. Championship is tight. Max, Oscar, Lando, George.

The outcome might have been the same, but you always need to maximise your chances. It was clear Oscar was in a better position to mount a challenge, so it would have been the right thing to do. They could have tried, and switch back again in the end if it did not work. Zero to lose, very small chance of success. It’s an absolute no-brainer in that situation.

Zero to lose for who? If Lando let's Oscar through, and Oscar does win. Lando loses loads of points.

If it's a tight battle, don't give anything to a challenger.

Yeah if you’re a Lando fan it might make less sense in some way, but from a team perspective it might be more important to win the race which is usually a priority. Having Oscar winning would limit points loss to Max for Lando’s part also, which I would prefer if I was Lando and instead trust that I will beat Piastri over the season in the same car.

[nim_peter]

Think Russel spoilt McLaren's plan. They were forced to cover Russel by pitting Oscar. Then forced to pit Lando to cover Oscar. I don't think they reacted to Ver, the pit call was always on.

[AR3-GP]

The outcome might have been the same, but you always need to maximise your chances. It was clear Oscar was in a better position to mount a challenge, so it would have been the right thing to do. They could have tried, and switch back again in the end if it did not work. Zero to lose, very small chance of success. It’s an absolute no-brainer in that situation.

Zero to lose for who? If Lando let's Oscar through, and Oscar does win. Lando loses loads of points.

If it's a tight battle, don't give anything to a challenger.

Yeah if you’re a Lando fan it might make less sense in some way, but from a team perspective it might be more important to win the race which is usually a priority. Having Oscar winning would limit points loss to Max for Lando’s part also, which I would prefer if I was Lando and instead trust that I will beat Piastri over the season in the same car.

To my eye, Piastri has been the faster Mclaren driver in all 3 GPs. Lando is in a precarious position.

[mzso]

Horrible race, but given the previous two, nobody is that surprised. Might be a tight championship, but it’s incredibly boring.

I think if RB can just bring some more performance at some point, then Max wins this championship, and keeps these two inferior Macca drivers at arms length.

It was an excellent race to take a nap.

[Vettel165]

[Wouter]

Thanx @Mtths! It seems there will be rain showers during the whole day on Sunday.

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Accuweather has it at a 25% chance for Sunday. But still, be on the lookout.

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Japan's regional weather forecasting models are pretty accurate too (they have a supercomputer).
So far, it looks like a dry-ish race day but ~2mm of overnight showers between Sat and Sunday.
It will warm up on Sunday and humidity will drop from 90% to around 49% by the time the race starts. Still, there is a 40% chance of rain during the race but it should be only spitting rain and go from overcast to partially sunny by 4pm and about 19 degrees Celsius.

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Well sir, the Japanese forecast was pretty accurate as you mentioned before!
Have a great time in Japan! I saw your post in the Honda thread with awesome photo's.

[RonMexico]

Zero to lose for who? If Lando let's Oscar through, and Oscar does win. Lando loses loads of points.

If it's a tight battle, don't give anything to a challenger.

Yeah if you’re a Lando fan it might make less sense in some way, but from a team perspective it might be more important to win the race which is usually a priority. Having Oscar winning would limit points loss to Max for Lando’s part also, which I would prefer if I was Lando and instead trust that I will beat Piastri over the season in the same car.

To my eye, Piastri has been the faster Mclaren driver in all 3 GPs. Lando is in a precarious position.

How long until Webber starts banging the drum.

Piastri needs to focus on a clean Q3.

[Seerix]

durable tyres and drivers being able to push for most of the race certainly did not produce much of a show in Suzuka

[search]

Without the rain, we probably would have had some red flags for burning grass at least to mix things up

[ali623]

4 winners from the first 4 races (inc the sprint race). Wonder if we’ll get another winner in Bahrain? Leclerc probably most likely if there is one, always a good Ferrari track and they have upgrades.

[Cs98]

4 winners from the first 4 races (inc the sprint race). Wonder if we’ll get another winner in Bahrain? Leclerc probably most likely if there is one, always a good Ferrari track and they have upgrades.

Bahrain has McLaren v Verstappen written all over it.

[Matt2725]

4 winners from the first 4 races (inc the sprint race). Wonder if we’ll get another winner in Bahrain? Leclerc probably most likely if there is one, always a good Ferrari track and they have upgrades.

Bahrain has McLaren v Verstappen written all over it.

I would add one or both Mercs to that fight.