The Calm and the Consistent: Suzuka Drift - Japanese Grand Prix Recap

Apr 6

2 min read

We have been so accustomed to chaos in Formula One that calm races feel dull to watch. Australia was a messy race. China had so much drama post-race. The Japanese Grand Prix was tame. There was no elbow-throwing or battles whatsoever. There wasn’t much fluctuation in the positions once the race started. The grass catching on fire during the Free Practices and Qualifying was the most exciting moment of the weekend. And yes, I’m sharing an image to establish that this happened:

The Grass, The Grass, The Grass Is on Fire.

Alex Albon was crashing out on the radio, but that is perhaps the spiciest thing that happened:

I’ll cut straight to the bits we should remember from the weekend for the coming weeks:

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who claimed pole position, won the Japanese Grand Prix. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished second and third. They qualified as P2 and P3, respectively.

Remember those murmurs about Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson switching teams? Yuki Tsunoda debuted in the Red Bull this weekend and finished P12. Lawson, back at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, finished P17.

We did see four flags in FP2, two related to the grass on fire, and two related to Fernando Alonso hitting the gravel and, here’s the critical bit, Jack Doohan crashing. The Alpine driver finished P15 in the race… Once again, this fuels rumors about Colapinto replacing him within five races. This could potentially be a big deal after Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Rookie News: Isack Hadjar earned his first F1 points after his P8 finish, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, 18 years old and still in school, became the youngest race leader ever.

Lando Norris (L), Max Verstapen (C), and Oscar Piastri (R) Photo Credit: REUTERS/Issei Kato

This was only Round 3, and there are 21 races to go. I’m sure Bahrain will make up for the mellow race in Suzuka.

Rankings, As Of Now

McLaren still holds the lead in the Constructors’ Championship with 111 points. Mercedes is in second place with 75 points, and Red Bull is third with 61 points. Ferrari is in fourth place with 35 points, while Williams is behind the Italian team in fifth place with 19 points.

Lando Norris still leads the Drivers’ Championships with 62 points. Max Verstappen is comfortably in second place at 61 points. Oscar Piastri is third at 49 points, and George Russell is fourth at 45. This ought to spice up things for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Depending on the outcome of the next race, these rankings could look pretty different.

That’s all for now.