Christian Horner: "It was a great team performance today; fastest lap, a one-two finish, fastest pit stop and leading first and second in The Championship. So yeah, it's an amazing performance here, and one we are very proud of, particularly in Japan at the home of our engine partner, Honda. Max managed to control the race beautifully. He was away from the beginning and really looked after the tyres. But Checo has had a very strong agenda here. His qualifying yesterday was good. Better than he has managed in his career. And then his racing was fantastic. He came through the field and was very strong and maintained his pace. A brilliant race across the board, from all the Team. It is great to see."
George Russell finished P7 and Lewis Hamilton P9 in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix. Lewis started seventh with George ninth on the grid. They held these positions through the opening corners before a red flag flew after a shunt for Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon.
From the standing restart, the team opted to give itself the most flexibility between the one and two-stop strategies with Lewis and George switching to the Hard tyre. With others starting on the Medium and the Soft compound, Lewis dropped to P8 and George P10 at the restart.
Having cycled through the order on a long first stint, and having inverted positions, George and Lewis lost race time being overtaken by those who had stopped onto fresher rubber and without a clear window in which to pit.
With tyre degradation looking higher than forecast, the two-stop strategy began to look the more viable option. George and Lewis pitted on laps 22 and 23 respectively for the Hard tyre, before stopping once more on laps 37 and 39 for the Medium compound.
With stronger pace in the final two stints, George was able to close on the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. After a fierce battle, he made his way past the McLaren but had to settle for P7 with Lewis in P9.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: It was a difficult race today. Our second and third stints were quick and were similar to those ahead who were fighting for the podium. A poor first stint cost us today though and we need to find out why that was. Our decision to take the restart on the Hard tyres was the right one I feel, and, in the beginning, our pace was stable with our direct competitors. We suddenly dropped one to two seconds a lap though and at the moment, it was clear that the tyres wouldn't make the one-stop viable for us.
Overall, this weekend has been better than the final results suggest. We have lots to learn and there is no track relevant excuse we will use; we need to be quick at all circuits. But from what we've seen here, we can say that the car is becoming quicker. We will continue to work hard, and I am excited to head back to China in a few weeks after such a long absence from the calendar.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: It wasn't an easy race today. We weren't quick enough in qualifying so were starting too far back to challenge for the podium. Early in the race, our pace was simply not good enough too. We'd decided to go to the Hard tyre at the red flag as we felt there wasn't much threat from behind, and it was our best way to offset and try something different. Towards the end of that stint we were really struggling with low grip. We couldn't stop early as there was too much traffic in the window, so we stayed out until we had cleared it. Unfortunately by then, we had lost a chunk of time.
The second and third stints were more encouraging, but we'd lost too much time by that point to get back into the mix. We know that we are not quick enough at the moment, so we will continue work hard to improve that. Despite the challenging result, it has been a useful weekend to learn more about our car and develop our understanding of the W15.
After the most difficult qualifying of the season so far, Scuderia Ferrari made up for it on Sunday in Japan, leaving Suzuka with a third place courtesy of Carlos Sainz, while Charles Leclerc fought his way up from eighth on the grid to fourth at the flag, a strong points haul confirming the team's second place in the standings. Ferrari put its drivers on different strategies, aiming to bring home the best possible result. This was the team's fifth podium finish in four races, including Carlos' win in Australia. Ferrari is now on 120 points, 21 behind the leaders Red Bull. That's almost double the total after four races last year, when the fourth round in Azerbaijan also included a Sprint. This is Sainz's 21st podium, the third from the three races in which he has taken part this year. Charles was voted "Driver of the Day," the Scuderia drivers winning this accolade at every race so far this season.
His race was a long chess game of tyre management against those around him. At the start, Carlos fended off Fernando Alonso who was on Softs and from then on he set off in pursuit of Land Norris. Carlos did a brilliant job of getting everything out of the SF-24 on the Medium tyres, extending both his stints, which paid off in the final stages when he had to make up almost ten seconds on the McLaren driver with 16 laps remaining. He did just that on Hard tyres that were ten laps younger than those of his rival. Carlos had the pace to catch Norris and pass him with nine laps remaining, to take fourth place before immediately getting ahead of Charles who, on a one-stop strategy was managing his Hard tyres. Sainz is now fourth in the Drivers' championship, four points behind his team-mate in third.
Leclerc staged a great climb up the order, which was based on a brilliant job of managing his Medium tyres for 25 laps after the second start, after the race was red flagged on the opening lap following a collision between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo. The team opted to fit both cars with new Mediums, with the aim of going the full distance with just one more stop. This saw Charles even lead for a few laps before fitting Hard tyres with 27 laps remaining, just as Lando Norris made his second stop. From then on, the Monegasque was able to fend off the Englishman, running a good pace despite being on a very long stint. He did not waste time holding up the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, preferring to manage his tyres and he also let Carlos, on much fresher tyres, get ahead. Clever race management therefore saw him got from eighth to fourth, no mean feat on a Suzuka track known for the difficulty it presents in terms of overtaking.
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: Today, our team worked in a calm and focused manner to achieve its goals. We made a real step forward over the winter and the results of that can be seen on track. We had a very solid Sunday, securing the best result possible after a difficult qualifying yesterday and that's something we definitely have to work on.
The team did everything perfectly in the race, from strategy to tyre management. Both drivers did an excellent job in managing their respective strategies. With Carlos starting nearer the front we could be more aggressive so that he finished on a charge, pulling off several great passing moves. We were a bit more limited with Charles, as he was down in eighth on the grid, but he drove an excellent first stint and so we were able to execute a one-stop strategy that meant he made up a lot of places. Looking at the result, it's clear there is still room for improvement if we want to put Red Bull under pressure and that's what we'd like to do as from the next round in China.
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "Overall, it's a positive outcome to the race here in Suzuka in terms of scoring valuable points with both cars. Obviously after a strong qualifying, we could have hoped for trying to consolidate a podium finish, but it wasn't on the cards, in terms of car performance today. I think, if we look at the classification, at least for the first five, it's in competitiveness order. We tried to go for a podium with Lando, stopping early, making sure we stayed ahead of Carlos, but ultimately, we didn't have the pace. It also meant that we found ourselves on a slightly slower strategy and we finished behind Leclerc. But we are happy that we are pushing for podium finishes even if today it was out of our grasp.
"On Oscar's side, it was a busy race for him, always in direct competition with some cars around him. It was a little bit of a shame with the final lock-up at the chicane, which cost him the position to Russell, but it was important points for the team today, which consolidates the third position in the Championship. Now we refocus and we look ahead to China."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "P6 was the best available to us today and a solid result. The updates we have brought seem to be a positive step and we have been able to finish ahead of our nearest competitor Mercedes and come home with eight points. Fernando drove really well today and the team executed flawless and consistent pit stops. With Lance he was fighting with Tsunoda who started six places ahead of him on the grid after Qualifying. He battled well and made some impressive overtakes in the Esses but unfortunately, we couldn't take the fight to him today. We have a short turnaround now back at the Campus and we look forward to returning to Shanghai and the first Sprint weekend of the season."
Esteban started from P15 on New Softs, finished P15: Pit Stops on Lap 19 for New Hards, Lap 33 for New Mediums. Fastest Lap: 1min 36.232secs. Pierre started from P17 on New Softs, finished P16: Pit Stops on Lap 16 for New Hards, Lap 32 for New Hards. Fastest Lap: 1mins 37.505secs.
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: "Our race was compromised by the damage sustained to both cars at the second standing start in a racing incident. Both cars suffered significant losses in downforce, which cost us performance and lap time. Even so, we are lacking pace and we must keep improving in all areas and bringing upgrades to the car."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Today's race has been a very close battle from start to finish for the final point, but we came out of it at the front of the group, thanks to what can only be described as a real team effort. Yuki drove superbly, managing his tyres well in the phases of the race when he needed, but also showing good pace when required to maintain the gap. The pitwall adapted the strategy very well following the restart and the pit crew produced a fantastic second pit stop under pressure, to give Yuki track position back in what was a very intense battle with Stroll, Bottas, Hulkenburg and Magnussen. Unfortunately, Daniel's race never got going with his first lap incident putting him out of the race. However, even with no dry running on Friday, he has put together a solid Saturday qualifying, and we are confident we can continue to build on this in the coming events. Everybody trackside and back in Faenza and Bicester has and continues to work very hard, and today's result provides further energy to keep pushing and developing the package and the team. As such, we are all looking forward to the next races."
Laurent Mekies (Team Principal): "Great result for the team today. Yuki drove a fantastic, well-controlled race in front of his home crowd, managing his tyres and pushing hard when it mattered. Some great overtaking too, and not a foot wrong all weekend. He deserves the superb result of today. Daniel's incident in the first lap was unfortunate. We were quite exposed against our competitors behind us who were mainly on soft tyres, and these things can happen. What is important is that both our drivers had great pace here, as demonstrated yesterday in qualifying. The team performed very well at extracting everything we could from our package this weekend, including a decisive high-pressure pit stop in the race, and many difficult calls. It's only one point for the championship but it is a very important one, especially on a day where the top five teams had both their cars finishing the race. A big well done to everyone in Faenza, in Bicester, and to our partner Honda. We know we need to keep pushing very hard in all areas to be able to keep topping the midfield, and it will be another completely new challenge for the sprint race in China in two weeks' time."
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber left Japan with no points, but renewed confidence in the team's pace and performance. Valtteri Bottas, for large parts of the afternoon one of the fastest cars in the chasing pack, was in strong contention for a top ten finish for most of the race, before eventually ending 14th, while Zhou, starting from the back, saw the potential of a good recovery drive, enabled by his strong pace, come to nought due to a technical issue to the drivetrain.
While the frustration of not turning a good performance into points remain, the team keeps progressing, driven by a solid upgrade programme and hard work both trackside and in Hinwil, and will aim to make a further step towards the points in Shanghai.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "After three races in which we were affected by issues at the pit stops, we can see some positive developments there, having four stops with no issues. Of course, right now we are not looking at maximising speed, but rather the consistency and reliability of our stops, which is what happened today. We had to retire Zhou's car due to a problem with the drivetrain, which the team is now investigating; it's unfortunate as he had a strong start and good first laps, and even though he wasn't directly in the fight for points at that stage, with his strong pace he would have been helpful for the team in terms of maximising the outcomes of our strategy. Valtteri had a really solid race, with two good starts and a serious shot at scoring: he was ahead of Tsunoda before the second stop, and Yuki went on to score points. Of course, we know our current limitations and we knew we would get back on track behind them, but we can take heart by the fact that our race pace was matching him, if not better, even if eventually Valtteri ended up stuck behind Magnussen for the remainder for the race, and wasn't in a position to attack him on the straights. As a team, we need to analyse all the data from this weekend: we keep finding better performance with each upgrade that comes from Hinwil, and we know we are going in the right direction. Development is going well and the upgrades are working, our pit stops are improving: we know that to score points this year we'll need to put everything together, and that no details can be missed in terms of execution, performance, and reliability, so we keep working hard. We now focus on two days of testing with Pirelli ahead of coming back stronger in Shanghai. We must retain our confidence: we are getting closer every race, and we see that our pace can be right there with our direct competitors."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished the Japanese Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg in 11th and Kevin Magnussen in 13th at Suzuka International Circuit - Round 4 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Hulkenberg took the start from P12 on Pirelli P Zero Red Soft tires, with Kevin Magnussen lining up in P18 on Yellow medium tires - both gaining positions through a hectic opening complex. An accident between RB's Daniel Ricciardo and Williams' Alex Albon caused the race to be suspended for 30 minutes while the cars were retrieved and the barriers repaired.
A standing restart took place on lap 3, with Hulkenberg P10, and Magnussen P16, but while Magnussen gained a spot, it came at the expense of his teammate, who dropped down the order to P17.
Hulkenberg came in on lap 5 for White hard tires before pitting again on lap 34 for the same compound, running a two-stop strategy that brought the German racer to the brink of points in P11 at the checkered flag. Magnussen adopted a one-stop approach, coming in on lap 22 - having run just inside the top 10. The Dane swapped out his medium tires for hards, Magnussen eventually relinquishing a couple of spots to rivals on fresher rubber to finish the race in P13.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "There are mixed feelings because in the end, we missed out being in the top 10 by five seconds with Nico which is very frustrating. On the positive side, our race pace today was much better than what we saw earlier in the weekend, so the changes the team made after FP3 and before qualifying worked well. We just needed to get there sooner this weekend as we started off with the wrong car balance and FP2 was wet - it put us on the backfoot - so that's something we as a team need to improve. Today with Nico, the first start was fine but on the second start he didn't do the procedure correctly so he went into anti-stall and lost positions. From there to recover to almost scoring points was very encouraging, so that's the positive we're going to take."
Max Verstappen added another pearl to his string of victories, with a dominant performance in the Japanese Grand Prix. This was the Dutchman's third consecutive win at Suzuka, the 57th of his career. Sergio Perez ensured that Red Bull scored its third one-two finish of the season, its 31st in total.
Carlos Sainz finished third, making it his third podium finish in as many race starts this year, after he missed Jeddah with appendicitis. For his Ferrari team it was a 25th Japanese Grand Prix podium, a total only beaten by McLaren's 27.
For the start, there was a pretty even split between the 20 drivers in terms of those who opted for the Medium (all in the top ten except Alonso, plus Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Zhou) and those who went with the Soft. However, the red flag on the opening lap meant that seven drivers - the Mercedes and Alpine pairs, Sargeant, Tsunoda and Zhou - all took the opportunity to switch compounds. The Mercedes duo went from Medium to Hard, both Alpines and Sargeant in the Williams went from Soft to Medium, Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Zhou (Sauber) from Medium to Soft.
The restart meant the race was effectively shortened by two laps, with the original opening lap and the one to the grid for the second start still valid. Teams thus went for various strategic options both in terms of the number of pit stops and in their use of the available compounds. The most used was the C1 (545 laps, 60%), with the C2 next (281 laps, 31%) with not much in the way of difference in terms of degradation. While the Hard and Medium were the most popular, the Soft (81 laps completed, 9% of the total) also had a role to play, either at the start or in the closing stages, despite it demonstrating significant degradation.
Mario Isola: "I think once again today, Formula 1 proved to be a very spectacular form of racing. On one of the most demanding tracks for drivers and cars, we witnessed a race with plenty of overtaking, where a variety of strategies were brought into play, thanks in part to all three of the compounds we chose for this round being up to the job in hand. This allowed drivers to choose from different options, both in terms of switching compounds and in when to make the pit stops.
"While it's true that, once again, Red Bull and Max Verstappen had the edge which allowed them to secure the win with relative ease, behind them there were some great battles, not just on track but also between the teams on the pit wall.
"Today, was the hottest day of the weekend, with a track temperature at the start of 40 °C which then dropped to 32 °C and so thermal degradation was significant and those who did the best job of managing it were able to make up various places from where they started: here I'm thinking chiefly of Leclerc who drove an exceptional race in this respect, because his one and only stop saw him go from eighth to fourth. The undercut proved to be very effective, but it's a fact that those who stopped too early were then at a disadvantage in the closing stages of each stint. All these variables created performance differences that facilitated overtaking, which was great for the spectators. Indeed, the fans that packed out Suzuka all weekend-long really added to the show and it was great to see them able to celebrate a tenth place finish for local hero Yuki Tsunoda."
The fifth round of the World Championship takes place in Shanghai from 19 to 21 April, with Formula 1 returning after a five year break, 20 years on from when it first appeared on the calendar back in 2004. Shanghai hosts the first Grand Prix of the year to run to the new Sprint format (free practice and Sprint qualifying on Friday, Sprint Race and qualifying on Saturday and the actual Grand Prix on Sunday). Pirelli has chosen three compounds from the middle of the range: C2 as Hard, C3 as Medium and C4 as Soft.
There is one more task prior to Shanghai as, this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, Suzuka hosts the third Pirelli test session of the season, aimed at development of compounds and constructions for 2025. Supporting the sport's sole tyre supplier in this delicate and important task will be Sauber, running Valtteri Bottas on both days and Racing Bulls, who will run Daniel Ricciardo on the first day and Yuki Tsunoda on the second.
