Formula One returns to competition starting this Friday, a week after the Singapore Grand Prix in which the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) achieved Red Bull’s first victory of the season, and lands in Japan with the threat that the Dutchman Max Verstappen will resume his dominance, the same one that made him accumulate ten victories in a row, the all-time record for the championship.
And Suzuka circuit which is the home of HondaRed Bull’s engine supplier until 2025, after which year it will become a supplier to the Aston Martin team, making it a special Grand Prix for the Austrian team.
Of course, unlike last season in JapanVerstappen will not be able to celebrate his title as world champion this weekendwhich is only a matter of time since he has a 151-point advantage over his teammate, the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez.
The driver from Guadalajara also hopes that in Japan Red Bull will be back where it showed during the rest of the season. And in Singapore they had their worst weekend of the season – with Verstappen 5th and Pérez 8th – in addition to both cars being left out of the fight for pole for the first time since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix.
A sharp drop in performance upon arriving in Singapore that Mercedes already experienced in its era of dominance – seven consecutive drivers’ championships – on the same track. In the case of the German team, these problems did not occur in the rest of the Grand Prix, something that a Red Bull team also hopes to experience that has assured, actively and passively, that its problems have nothing to do with the technical directive. of the FIA implemented in Singapore to exhaustively measure the flexing of the front wings.
A theory and a drop in performance that will begin to be clarified when the cars roll in Suzuka for the first time this season, in some Free Practice 1 that starts at 4:30 a.m. on Friday.
Carlos Sainz, the first anti-Red Bull
The Spanish pilot lands in Japan in one of the best moments of his sporting career after achieving his second victory in Formula 1, dominating the Singapore Grand Prix from start to finish. His tire management and race pace, together with the final reading in his defense of the attack of the two Mercedes of the British George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were key to giving Ferrari the first victory of the season.
The only one to date that Red Bull has not achieved and that gives hope to the rest of the grid for the seven races that remain in 2023 to be happy, although both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles are only in their hands. of the Austrians.
To continue with its good dynamicsFerrari will introduce the last improvement of the year, a new floor with which they hope to take another step in their evolution in order to fight for the title next season, in which the regulations are maintained.
Improvement in search of greater aerodynamic load that could help the Italians on a circuit very different from Singapore in which fast corners are the protagonists and has similarities – although with greater difficulty in overtaking and only one DRS zone – with Silverstone (Great Brittany), a track where, in addition to Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes performed well.
Features that do not suit you, a priori, an Aston Martin team that left Singapore having the most difficult weekend of the season. The Canadian Lance Stroll did not start the race after a serious accident suffered in qualifying – he will do so in Japan – while the Spanish Fernando Alonso finished the race in fifteenth place, the last of the drivers who crossed the finish line.
After the bucket of cold water last Sunday, in which better performance was expected from his car, Alonso, two-time F1 world champion (2005 and 2006), does not have the best place in Japan to redeem himself, since due to performance The Aston Martin is expected to be behind Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.
A Japanese Grand Prix for which Pirelli opted for the hardest range of tires -C1, C2 and C3- and in which the weather forecast calls for storms on Friday and clear skies for Saturday and Sunday.
Vettel returns to the paddock
German Sebastian Vettel, four-time F1 world champion with Red Bull – in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 – will once again be present at a race weekend after retiring at the end of last season. And he will do it for an initiative that has nothing to do with cars.
Vettel will build eleven bee hives next to turn 2 of the Suzuka layout, made by himself with the help of a local carpenter; in another gesture that demonstrates his awareness of caring for the planet.
2023-09-21 19:22:32
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