And while the weather was the reason for holding the Japanese Grand Prix in the Spring, the rain insisted on making its presence felt. As a result, the second free practice session was rendered useless, posing a challenge for the teams to address tire degradation during the race. Typically, this issue is resolved by analyzing data collected from long runs in the second practice session.
The race day brought unexpected sunshine, which presented a new challenge for the teams. At the start of the race, tire degradation was alarmingly high. However, as the clouds rolled in and the track temperature cooled down, the tires began to function properly.
Apart from these factors, there were minimal changes compared to the 2023 race. Max Verstappen secured victory with a similar margin, but this time Sergio Perez claimed second place, with the Ferraris closely following the Red Bulls.
Despite showing promise earlier, McLaren was left disappointed, while Mercedes endured another difficult weekend. Lewis Hamilton, after outqualifying George Russell, was forced to yield his position during the race, leaving him in a sour mood.
Here are our key observations from the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.
After Max Verstappen’s failure to finish and Sergio Perez’s fifth-place finish in the Australian Grand Prix, both Red Bull drivers made a strong comeback in Japan. Verstappen replicated his dominant performance from the previous year, following his disastrous Singapore Grand Prix in 2023. On the other hand, Perez showcased a remarkable improvement compared to his struggles at Suzuka last year.
In qualifying, Perez was only 0.066 seconds behind Verstappen’s pole time. During the race, he displayed impressive driving skills, recovering from an early setback when he was undercut by McLaren’s Lando Norris due to tire wear issues.
While Verstappen was the sole driver to be reckoned with in 2023, he continues to dominate in 2024. However, Perez seems to have made significant progress this year, as he is enjoying the RB20 car more than its predecessor, the RB19. Apart from the race in Australia, Perez has consistently performed well, delivering what Red Bull expects from him.
The RB20 is not only a radically redesigned car for Red Bull but also a dominant one. Although the team has not fully unleashed its potential, it may not hold the same advantage over its competitors as it did in 2023. However, it is important to note that the performance gap is likely to increase as Red Bull becomes more familiar with the car and continues its development. Regardless, there is no doubt that Verstappen is a strong contender for his fourth F1 title this year.
With three one-two finishes in four races, the reigning Champions are sending a clear message to their rivals. As mentioned in my previous analysis, we can only hope that Ferrari will challenge Red Bull more frequently in the future.
Ferrari once again demonstrated that they are firmly positioned as the second-best team behind Red Bull. Carlos Sainz secured third place, finishing behind the two Red Bull cars, while Charles Leclerc claimed fourth.
Sainz had another strong weekend, outperforming Leclerc in both qualifying and the race for the second consecutive week. Leclerc once again struggled on Saturday afternoon, hindering his chances of outqualifying Sainz.
Considering the characteristics of the Suzuka track, it would have been expected for Leclerc to outqualify Sainz. However, it appears that the Monegasque driver is facing difficulties in properly preparing his tires during qualifying. The new Ferrari SF-24 seems to perform better as a race car compared to its predecessor, which excelled in qualifying. Consequently, the new car does not generate as much grip on its tires as the old one.
While Sainz has managed to grasp the SF-24’s tire behavior, Leclerc has acknowledged that he has yet to fully understand it. He has pledged to focus on improving this aspect of his driving in the upcoming races, starting with China.
The Ferrari pit wall also performed flawlessly this time, utilizing the car’s superior race pace to help Sainz overtake Lando Norris for the final podium position. Additionally, they employed a one-stop strategy for Leclerc, who started eighth on the grid, enabling him to finish in fourth place. Leclerc’s impressive first stint played a crucial role in the success of this strategy.
Although Ferrari has not yet managed to challenge Red Bull in terms of raw speed, they have undoubtedly made significant improvements. Their execution during the race should be a source of pride for the team.
McLaren seemed to have an upper hand on the fast flowing sector at Suzuka, which suited their MCL38. This was evident in Norris’ impressive third-place qualifying position. However, during the race, the Papaya cars lacked the necessary power to maintain Norris’ position. On the other hand, Piastri had a lackluster performance, qualifying sixth and finishing eighth.
Piastri lost seventh place towards the end of the race when he made a mistake while defending against Russell. Despite the assistance of Fernando Alonso, who was keeping him in his DRS to fend off the #63 Mercedes, Piastri couldn’t capitalize on it. Alonso was trying to avoid a late race attack on his own sixth position.
Mercedes had initially planned for Toto Wolff to stay behind, but he decided to travel to Suzuka to try out some new developments on their W15. However, their performance was inconsistent. Hamilton initially felt the car was in a good state at the start, but their form dropped during qualifying, with Hamilton ending up in seventh and Russell in ninth.
Towards the end of the race, Hamilton faced understeer, bad tyre degradation, and damage, which led to him being instructed to let Russell through. Ultimately, Mercedes were outperformed by Alonso in the Aston Martin. They now hold a one-point advantage over their power unit customers in the Constructors’ Championship, a situation that could have been different if Lance Stroll had not been eliminated in Q1 and failed to score points on race day.
Mercedes now faces challenging times ahead and will need to carefully analyze their performance. The next race is the Chinese Grand Prix, which will feature the first Sprint weekend of the season.