The 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 4th round of the 2024 season taking place in Suzuka between the 5th and 7th of April.

The event timetable for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 11:30 local time - 02:30 GMT
2nd Practice 15:00 local time - 06:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 11:30 local time - 02:30 GMT
Qualifying 15:00 local time - 06:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 14:00 local time - 05:00 GMT

[cmlean]

Japan is a matter of days away and we wait in anticipation to see what the teams will be bringing to this event.
Ferrari are on top of the world following their 1-2 finish in Australia.
Were the Red Bull problems just a one off in the 2024 results?
Can McLaren keep near the top of the charts?
Mercedes are still behind the 8 ball. Have they made a any progress in resolving their lack of race pace?

These questions and more will be answered inside the next 72 hours.

[cmlean]

FP1 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:30.056	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
2	1:30.237	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
3	1:30.269	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
4	1:30.530	George Russell	Mercedes
5	1:30.543	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
6	1:30.558	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
7	1:30.599	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
8	1:31.165	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
9	1:31.230	Yuki Tsunoda	RB
10	1:31.240	Lando Norris	McLaren
11	1:31.935	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
12	1:31.943	Alexander Albon	Williams
13	1:31.958	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
14	1:32.054	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber
15	1:32.055	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
16	1:32.103	Ayumu Iwasa	RB
17	1:32.277	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
18	1:32.638	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber
19	1:32.803	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
20	1:33.204	Logan Sargeant	Williams

[cmlean]

Logan Sargeant dropped his right side tyres into the dirt in the second part of turn 7. Grip disappeared and he hit the barriers fairly hard. The car then spun and hit the barriers again leading with the rear wing. This chassis has had a bad couple of weeks as it was in Alex Albon's hands in practice 1 in Australia. It has had some frequent flyer miles on it after having to go back to the factory to be rebuilt between these two events.

[cmlean]

The rain came just before FP2 commenced.
News from the pits was that Logan Sargeant would take no part in the session following his crash in FP1.
Due to the conditions and the possible need for inters in qualifying, not all teams took part in the session.
Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:34.725	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
2	1:35.226	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
3	1:38.760	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
4	1:40.946	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
5	1:41.913	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
6			Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
7			Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
8			Alexander Albon	  Williams
9			Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
10			Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
11			Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
12			Lando Norris	  McLaren
13			Esteban Ocon	  Alpine

[cmlean]

FP3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:29.563	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:29.832	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
3	1:29.918	George Russell	  Mercedes
4	1:30.037	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
5	1:30.082	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
6	1:30.137	Lando Norris	  McLaren
7	1:30.171	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
8	1:30.226	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
9	1:30.341	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
10	1:30.383	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
11	1:30.533	Alexander Albon	  Williams
12	1:30.546	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
13	1:30.682	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
14	1:31.022	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
15	1:31.067	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
16	1:31.139	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
17	1:31.141	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
18	1:31.342	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
19	1:31.452	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
20	1:31.462	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas

[cmlean]

It was a fairly quiet session in relation to incidents.
Kevin Magnussen had a rear lockup entering the hairpin but managed to get out of the sand trap.
Daniel Ricciardo lost the rear at the exit of turn 2 and spun onto the grass. He resumed his session without damaging his RB.

[cmlean]

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:28.197	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:28.263	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
3	1:28.489	Lando Norris	  McLaren
4	1:28.682	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
5	1:28.686	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
6	1:28.760	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
7	1:28.766	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
8	1:28.786	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
9	1:29.008	George Russell	  Mercedes
10	1:29.413	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
__________________________________________________________________
11	1:29.472	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
12	1:29.494	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
13	1:29.593	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
14	1:29.714	Alexander Albon	  Williams
15	1:29.816	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
__________________________________________________________________
16	1:30.024	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
17	1:30.119	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
18	1:30.131	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
19	1:30.139	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
20	1:30.143	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber

[cmlean]

Race

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing 
2	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing 
3	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
4	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
5	Lando Norris	  McLaren 
6	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin 
7	George Russell	  Mercedes
8	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren 
9	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
10	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
11	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
12	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin 
13	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas 
14	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
15	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
16	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
17	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
DNF	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
DNF	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
DNF	Alexander Albon	  Williams

Next: Round of China '24
Date: 19th-21st April

[cmlean]

Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon touched wheels on entering turn 3 on lap 1. Ricciardo's right rear tyre deflated and both his RB and Albon's Williams ended up in the barrier. A red flag was brought out as the tyre wall needed repairs for the race to resume.
The race want basically incident free from the restart to the chequered flag. Watching the different race strategies unfold showed that the two stop version was marginally better.
Highlights were the passes by Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll through turn 6. Fantastic work!