PECKING ORDER: Ferrari and Mercedes three tenths behind the field-leading McLaren and Red Bull
Reigning champion Max Verstappen took a sensational pole position and victory at yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix, demonstrating his skills around the daunting Suzuka circuit. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reveals the current pecking order after the Japanese round.
Despite a tough start to his Suzuka race weekend, Max Verstappen managed to turn his fortunes around to maintain its dominant in Japan, having taken pole position and secured the victory at the Japanese Grand Prix over all four years with the current generation of cars.
The reigning world champion took his 64th career win while Red Bull’s scored their eighth triumph in Japan and the 123rd overall victory.
McLaren looked dominant in the early stages of the Suzuka weekend, but they were unable to convert their initial pace into a pole position or a victory. However, they could still celebrate a double podium with Lando Norris second and Oscar Piastri third, with the English team’s podium total in this race now up to 29.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli set two new records today when he took the chequered flag in sixth place. He knocked Max Verstappen off the top of the tables for the youngest driver to ever lead a Grand Prix and to set the race fastest lap.
McLaren has widely been regarded as the car to beat this year, but Lando Norris could not find a way past Verstappen, while team-mate Piastri was holed up in third.
The pair both pointed to Verstappen’s stunning pole lap as deciding a race in which they could not find a way past the Dutchman for 53 laps.
McLaren have been widely considered as the quickest team since the pre-season testing in Bahrain. However, Max Verstappen’s brilliance saw Red Bull keep up with the Woking-based outfit in Japan on a track which normally favours McLaren’s MCL39 due to its high-speed corners.
With Lando Norris finishing just fractions behind Verstappen, the two teams were total neck and neck in the 53-lap Suzuka race.
Mercedes looked the third force in Japanese round. George Russell displayed eye-catching pace across the practice sessions both in low-fuel configuration and during his high-fuel long runs. However, the Briton suffered a setback on Saturday when he was outpaced by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, and line up only fifth on the grid.
During the race, Russell was stuck behind Leclerc for most of the time, but he never really looked able to put the Monegasque under real pressure. His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli followed an offset strategy which saw him extend his opening stint to then enjoy a tyre advantage in the closing stages of the race.
Overall, Mercedes were 0.26 seconds per lap slower than the field-leading Red Bull and McLaren while Ferrari achieved a lap time deficit of 0.28 seconds.
Completing the majority of the race in free air, Isack Hajdar was able to display an outstanding performance to finish well inside the points. The French driver was only 0.59 seconds per lap slower than what the race winner achieved.
Williams driver Alexander Albon had a quiet race in Japan, but he also displayed a remarkable pace, going just fractionally slower than Hadjar and 0.62 seconds per lap slower than the field-leading Red Bull and McLarens.
Behind the duo of Racing Bull and Williams were the trio of Aston Martin, Haas and Alpine which were 0.91s, 0.93s and 0.94s per lap slower respectively.
Sauber still struggle to match the performance of their midfield rivals, and Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were over 1.3 seconds per lap slower than Verstappen and Norris.
