We look at F1 Team Performance, strategy and communication at the Japanese Grand Prix 2023 at Suzuka International Racing Course.
Today, we’ll discuss all 10 teams competing for a top spot in the Constructors’ Championship. As usual on the F1 Racing Podcast, we pull no punches and talk about the latest F1 news every other news outlet shys away from for whatever reason. The development race is ongoing and teams are constantly struggling to get that extra 1/10 of a second to give them that edge and a chance at more points.
Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT
Coming into the race, everyone was trying to calculate when Red Bull could formally be declared 2023 Constructors’ Champions and Max Verstappen would be crowned drivers champion. Well it looks like Max will have to wait until Qatar to claim his title, but your 2023 Constructors champions have officially been crowned after the Japan Grand Prix. This is the teams sixth Constructors title in its short history. Red Bull only kept one set of hard tires for for Max on race day. Since the track was showing high deg, many predicted this could be a 3 stop race, but only one team attempted it and their results were lack luster. Red Bull chose to start Max on the mediums then put him on mediums for the second stint and finished the last 16 laps on hard tires. They knew what other times didn’t…the medium tires last about as long as the hard tires but with more speed. The result, Verstappen proved a point this weekend finishing 19 seconds ahead of Norris, but he got held up unnecessarily by Perez. In the end it was Mission accomplished for Max and Red Bull. Checo on the hand did not do as well as his teammate. I think he dropped acid before the race or something. Perez DNF’s for the first time this season.
Mercedes
Is having an identity crisis as they let George Russell’s ego balloon into the psychosphere. Just look at the title sequence of all race events where Russell is holding up the walls on both sides of himself. George needs to look at the scoreboard and stop being selfish. Hamilton has a legitimate chance at finishing P2 in the drivers standings, whereas Russell is sucking on farts back in P8, where the best he could finish for the season is P4. The Ferraris have been catching up to Alonso and Hamilton weekly, so the fact that George would not let Hamilton by when he was trailing Leclerc by 3 seconds, baffles me. By the time he finally let Hamilton by he had added 3 more seconds to Leclercs lead making it impossible for Hamilton to catch him and allowing Sainz to catch up. Russell makes a good point that if he affords Hamilton DRS they should keep Sainz at bay and then George would let Lewis by on the last lap. It made a lot of sense at the time, but it should’ve never gotten to that point because Lewis had a legitimate chance at taking down Leclerc before being held back by Russell. It’s fun to watch them battle on track, but at what cost? Mercedes needs to have an honest conversation with both drivers.
Ferrari
In FP1 Sainz got some flow-viz splashed on himself and the car from the McLaren in front of him as he was exiting the pit. He complained about it over the radio, but I say use it. Think of it as a way of McLaren thanking you for the free points last week in Singapore…and the free flow-viz doesn’t go against the Ferrari cost cap. Ferrari Gets a car on the second and third row for the start with a Red Bull separating their drivers and Hamilton coming up the rear. At the start all four drivers are dead even, four deep down the straight and Perez and Hamilton make contact and Ferrari claims P4 and P5. But that not where they’ll end up. Even though Vasseur was able to put one of his drivers on the podium in Singapore, communications between engineers and drivers was nonexistent. After the race, we learn that Leclerc was unaware he was P4; he thought he had a podium position after seeing Perez double retire. These drivers are concentrating on racing, so they rely on their team to inform and communicate with them throughout the race. Sainz finishes the race behind Hamilton in P6.
Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes
Stroll is out in Q1 with the rest of the rookies, has beens and never will be’s…right where he belongs. On the other side of the garage however, Alonso continues his streak of making it to Q3 every qualifying session this year. Even though he started P10 in the race, Alonso moved up to P6 in no time, thanks to a great start and the contact between Perez and Hamilton. He finishes the race P10 and gets a point, but he’s already lost his P3 in the drivers standings to Hamilton and Sainz is hot on his tail, only 24 points behind. Stroll DNF’s for the third time this season, not to mention the DNS in Singapore. He just lost position in the standings to Piastri and is about to lose more ground to both Alpine drivers very soon, if his poor performances continue.
McLaren Mercedes
Announced they’d be extending Piastri’ contract to the end of 2026. Piastri out qualifies his teammate and starts on the front row after the teams implements the same upgrades on his car as they did a week prior to Norris’ car. At the start Verstappen was more worried about Piastri on the inside and neglected the outside where Norris had a head full of steam. Verstappen swerves as he notices, fights Norris through the next couple of turns and manages to keep the lead. Norris finishes the race ahead of his teammate, but the animosity is palpable. I want you to go back to watch after the two McLaren drivers are doing their interviews…Norris is obviously feeling threatened by his recent success and especially at Japan, because this is a track the rookie has never raced and he lands his first front row start alongside the soon to be 3-time world champion and first podium finish in his short career.
Alpine Renault
It was a slow and steady does it weekend in Japan for the team. They must have had a hard time getting the car locked in for qualifying, because neither driver makes it to Q3. However, come race time they were ready, both driver’s finish in the points. Ocon moves up 5 positions in the race and Gasly moves up 2 spots to take the last points position behind his teammate.
Williams Mercedes
Albon’s slump continues as he fails to make it to Q3 and DNF’s for the third time this season. Sargeant’s car looked like a transformer was in the process morphing and got shot by a fleet of deceptacon missiles. He Royally smashed his car up so bad in Q1, that when the engineers repaired the car chassis and other elements so much, it was as if they had brought a 3rd car as ruled by the FiA. So he received a pit lane start penalty for wrecking and not completing qualifying and then since the FiA handed out a subsequent penalty which was also a pit lane start, Sargeant starts from the pit lane and takes a 10 second penalty before the race begins. He DNF’s for the fifth time this season. That seat at Williams is still up for grabs, but who is going to grab it?
Haas Ferrari
They had another hard weekend. They only managed to get one driver into Q2. They made some moves early, but they didn’t stick. This was the only team to attempt the three stop strategy, but they failed miserably. Both driver’s finished out the bottom of the classified finishers in P14 and P15.
Alfa Romeo Ferrari
It looked like the team was making all right adjustments in practice, but once Qualifying came around, both drivers failed to make it to Q2. In the race, Bottas gets a good start, but gets squeezed by Ocon and Albon. The Alfa Romeo and Williams touch and Albon does a two wheel motion. Zho also reports damage on the start, but manages to finish the race a lap down in P13 moving up 6 positions in the race. Bottas DNF’s for the second week in a row.
AlphaTauri Honda RBPT
Well we found out that Tsunoda and Ricciardo are getting their contracts through 2024 with Alpha Tauri which leaves Lawson stuck in a reserve seat. There’s only 1 other seat potentially available for 2024 and the rookie at Williams may have just jeopardized his chances of resigning an F1 contract as he gets a case of the whiskey throttle and runs into the wall early in Q1. Yuki Tsunoda returns to his home Grand Prix and the crowd loved him, so the announcers claimed, but when they panned to the crowd there were a lot of diverse fans for different teams. This being Tsunoda home race meant the pressure was on to outperform his the reserve driver who put up the best Alpha Tauri finish all year long just last week. Although Tsunoda out qualified his teammate, it was Lawson that prevailed in a higher position than Tsunoda. The adrenaline from racing at his home circuit enhanced Yuki’s drive. But here’s the thing, you’re an F1 driver and have been for a few years now, so you gotta find that adrenaline before each and every race and he hasn’t been able to do that on a consistent basis, ever.