Due to lots of rain, there has been a very limited amount of running in the dry, meaning that there is a level of unknown going into Qualifying. Let’s find out who’s the fastest around the figure of 8 Suzuka Circuit.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stoll and Nicholas Latifi were the first 5 drivers to be eliminated from qualifying. Alex Albon did a decent job but wasn’t quite able to make it through into Q2. Pierre Gasly has struggled all weekend in both the dry and the wet conditions and that was shown once again in Qualifying. The French man, who was announced as an Alpine Driver for next season earlier on in the day, really wasn’t happy with his team and had multiple issues with his brakes. A bad day for the Gasman. Kevin Magnussen also struggled. Haas haven’t looked great this weekend, but Magnussen will be disappointed to be outqualified by his teammate by 2 tenths of a second. Lance Stroll had a really disappointing day. The Canadian was coming into the weekend with some momentum but a lock-up into the turn 11 hairpin ended up meaning he fell short of making it into the second session. Finally, Nicholas Latifi was slowest. For Nicholas Latifi standards, this wasn’t too bad. He was bang on 2 tenths behind his teammate which isn’t terrible given others were further away from their teammate. Max Verstappen topped Q1 over Carlos Sainz by just over a tenth of a second.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Daniel Ricciardo looked more on the pace this weekend and going into the final runs of Q2, he was over 3 tenths ahead of Lando Norris! However, it didn’t end up going Danny Ric’s way as he missed out on a Q3 appearance by 3 thousandths of a second. A better day but also a frustrating day for the Honey Badger. Valtteri Bottas did a decent job. Alfa Romeo haven’t looked very good for a while now, so it feels like he did pretty solid. Yuki Tsunoda was also frustrated about the brakes on his Alpha Tauri, and he couldn’t get the car any higher than 13th. 4 places ahead of his teammate on the grid is a good job from Yuki in his home race. Zhou Guanyu has struggled a bit this weekend. You can clearly tell that he has very little experience of the Suzuka Circuit, particularly when compared to his teammate. And finally, Mick Schumacher’s Q2 lap was 3 tenths slower than his lap in Q1. It’s good that it went this way round as otherwise, he would have been lining up in P19. Sergio Perez was the quickest man in Q2 by 4 tenths of a second, ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso!
Q3
Max Verstappen took pole position in an incredibly tight fight with the two Ferrari drivers. Max Verstappen’s 1:29.304 was only 1 hundredth of a second quicker than his “closest championship rival” Charles Leclerc’s lap. Carlos Sainz will line up P3 but even he was close to snatching pole position (+0.057). Sergio Perez was in no man’s land in P4. He was over 4 tenths off his teammate and held a slightly bigger margin over the guy behind him. A weird result for Checo. Esteban Ocon took home a brilliant P5 for Alpine. Another instance where Ocon comes out of nowhere and pulls out a mega lap in Q3. Lewis Hamilton was P6, the car just isn’t working how Mercedes would want around the Suzuka Circuit. Fernando Alonso and George Russell line up on the fourth row. Both men did alright but will be slightly frustrated to lose out to their teammate (particularly Fernando). Sebastian Vettel had a mega qualifying session. To make Q3 was an incredible achievement and it’s a good way to end your time on a Saturday at Suzuka. Starting behind him is McLaren’s Lando Norris. Norris had a moment with Verstappen earlier on in the session and after that, we really didn’t see anything of the Brit. Let's see if he can get through the field tomorrow.
Starting Grid for the Japanese Grand Prix and my Qualifying grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Charles Leclerc: 9
Carlos Sainz: 9
Sergio Perez: 7
Esteban Ocon: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Fernando Alonso: 8
George Russell: 6
Sebastian Vettel: 10
Lando Norris: 6
Daniel Ricciardo: 5
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Yuki Tsunoda: 5
Zhou Guanyu: 4
Mick Schumacher: 4
Alex Albon: 4
Pierre Gasly: 2
Kevin Magnussen: 2
Lance Stroll: 1
Nicholas Latifi: 2
My Predictions for the Japanese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
Sergio Perez
Lewis Hamilton
Comments