October 12, 2022
I said it before the weekend, and I was right: the Japanese Grand Prix does not disappoint. There was rain, incredible racing, some shocking moments, and we got closure on a lot of confusing situations. Here is everything that happened at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix:
FP1: October 7, 2022
The first practice session was soaked with heavy rain, so teams only used wet and intermediate tires.
Suzuka weekend started off with a bang when Fernando Alonso put his Alpine up into P1 and his teammate Esteban Ocon went P4. This is a good sign for the team as they need to score a truckload of points to make up for their double DNF in Singapore. Personally, I would appreciate it if they let McLaren stay in the lead, but we all know that won't happen.
In a shocking turn of events, the Red Bulls were out of the top five. Max Verstappen was the first driver to switch from full wet tires to intermediate tires and the rain poured shortly after that. He wasn’t able to set a very fast time and went P6. Sergio Perez was P10, but he has been frequenting that spot in free-practice sessions all season, so I’m not worried.
Mercedes also looks like it’s in bad shape. Lewis Hamilton was P13 and George Russell was P18.
The Haas looks like it could be really good around the Japanese circuit. Kevin Magnussen managed to go P5 while Mick Schumacher went P7, despite a crash at the end of FP1. Just as the checkered flag waved, Schumacher went off at Turn 7 and lost his front wing.
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Mick Schumacher after his crash |
The Ferraris were normal and in P2 and P3 with Carlos Sainz leading Charles Leclerc by about seven-hundredths of a second.
FP2: October 7, 2022
The rain didn’t stop in the few hours between FP1 and FP2, and this time it was so bad that drivers decided to stay in the pit lane at the beginning of the session. Mercedes were the first team out onto the track after waiting thirty minutes.
Mercedes seem to have found their pace with Russell in P1 and Hamilton in P2. They were the first to switch to inters, and while that cost Verstappen in FP1, it got Russell to first in FP2.
Red Bull also managed to come up in the standings. Verstappen was P3 and Perez was P4. Perhaps it was just the rain playing tricks on the cars during FP1.
KMag still managed to get his P5 while Schumacher didn’t participate in the session because his car was getting fixed after his late FP1 crash.
While Mercedes and Red Bull improved, it was Ferrari’s turn to drop down. Sainz was P6 and Leclerc was P11 after taking a trip through the gravel.
Williams haven’t been very bad this weekend. And by that I mean they haven’t been dead last. Nicholas Latifi was P12 and Alex Albon was P13. This is good improvement for the car!
FP3: October 8, 2022
Saturday morning in Japan was clear skies and a dry track for the first time all weekend! This was the first time drivers were able to use slick tires.
Verstappen was P1 and led Sainz in P2, Leclerc in P3, and Perez in P5. All is finally right with the world! The only strange thing was Alonso being P4, but he likes to sneak up to the top five every so often.
While one Alpine was P4, the other of Ocon was P9. The McLarens were P8 and P11, showing that they aren’t as good as Alpine this weekend.
Russell was P6 and Hamilton was P7. This is a drop from FP2, but it’s ok because it’s not out of the points like they were in FP1.
AlphaTauri have not been producing the results they want for Yuki Tsunoda’s home race. FP3 saw Tsunoda in P17 and Pierre Gasly in P20.
Schumacher’s car was fixed and his chassis was changed before the session.
Qualifying: October 8, 2022
Nicholas Latifi has a five-second time penalty due to his collision with Zhou Guanyu at the beginning of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Q1:
The dry conditions of FP3 continued in qualifying and all drivers used slick tires.
Verstappen topped the time charts with Sainz and Leclerc following behind. It seems that Sainz has a better grasp for this track than Leclerc because he has had better results all week.
The Mercedes duo took P6 and P11 with Russell ahead of Hamilton.
Yuki Tsunoda made it to Q2 at his first home race!
Eliminated: Albon (P16), Gasly (P17), Magnussen (P18), Stroll (P19), Latifi (P20)
Albon was within half a tenth of getting to Q2, but unfortunately he couldn’t make it.
Gasly struggled with brake issues throughout the session and ended up locking up on his final flying lap, making him abort his last effort.
Magnussen was really good on Friday but didn’t seem to find pace on Saturday. I think the Haas thrived in the rain and the performance dropped off in the dry conditions.
Latifi will stay in P20 for the starting grid because he can’t drop back any farther with his penalty.
Q2:
As Qualifying went on, the sun started to peek through the clouds and the track warmed up, creating conditions the cars hadn’t experienced all weekend.
Perez managed to set the fastest lap while Verstappen, Sainz, and Leclerc stayed in the pits after one lap. While the three weren’t all at the top of the charts for Q2, they qualified for Q3 with extra tires and recharged engines.
Alpine gave us yet another shock with Alonso in P2 and Ocon in P4, sandwiching Verstappen in P3.
Vettel’s final effort was incredible and pushed him up to P10 at the last second!
Eliminated: Ricciardo (P11), Bottas (P12), Tsunoda (P13), Zhou (P14), Schumacher (P15)
Ricciardo missed out on Q3 by three thousandths of a second.
Tsunoda made it to Q2 at his first home race! Unfortunately, he struggled with the same brake issues as Gasly and couldn’t set a time worthy of Q3.
Q3:
As Norris was about to begin a push lap, he came across a very slow-moving Verstappen. When Verstappen realized Norris was behind him he quickly pulled to the left before pulling right, causing confusion for the McLaren. Norris managed to avoid an accident by going over the grass but the incident was reported to Race Control and both drivers were summoned to the stewards. The stewards deemed it as a mistake on both sides and no further action was taken.
Verstappen finished Qualifying in P1. Since no penalties were given, he will start Sunday’s race in pole position and be in the perfect position to win the championship!
In the final stages of qualifying, the Ferraris gave Verstappen a run for his money. Both came within a second of P1, but Leclerc ended up P2 and Sainz was P3. Perez rounded out the top four.
Mercedes and Alpine were fighting for P5 and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon ended up winning the battle.
Vettel managed to get P9! He is in position to score points on his final trip to Suzuka.
Race: October 9, 2022
We had a nice and dry Saturday, but when the time came for the race on Sunday, we saw dark clouds and rain showers. The drivers used intermediate tires as they lined their cars up on the grid. Gasly started from the pit lane after taking different rear and front wings due to struggles in Qualifying.
When the lights went out, Leclerc had the better start but Verstappen was able to go around the outside into Turn 1 and keep his position in first. Perez managed to overtake Sainz for P3.
The visibility was very low and Vettel made contact with Alonso into Turn 1, running off the track. This sent Vettel down the pack and briefly brought out yellow flags.
A few seconds later, Sainz suffered from major aquaplaning and crashed out at Turn 11. The rear of the Ferrari was significantly damaged and Sainz’s race ended before Lap 1 was even over. His crash dislodged some of the advertising board surrounding the track, and a piece managed to get stuck in the front wing of Gasly’s AlphaTauri.
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| Sainz's Ferrari after crashing in the rain |
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Gasly's AlphaTauri carrying around a piece of the Rolex advertising board |
At the same time, Albon was retiring from the race due to contact he made with Magnussen. The incident damaged the Williams and Albon had a hydraulics issue. With two cars in need of towing and little to no visibility in the rain, a Safety Car was deployed. By the end of Lap 2, the race was red flagged due to the undrivable conditions.
When the Red Flag was called, Gasly had just exited the pit lane after stopping to fix his front wing. He had to go around the track to make it back to the pits for the Red Flag. Gasly ended up passing a stationary crane that was on the racing line and was immediately enraged by the danger of it. With the poor visibility and dangerously wet track, Gasly could have gotten into a major accident if he hadn’t seen the crane or lost control of his car. To avoid fatal accidents, big recovery vehicles, like trucks and cranes, normally aren’t deployed until every car is safely in the pits. During the Red Flag, Gasly was summoned to the stewards because he had sped under the Red Flag after passing the crane and Sainz’s crash site. This was a breach of the rules and Gasly ended up receiving a drive-through penalty, which added twenty seconds to his race time, and two penalty points to his Super License.
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Gasly nearly crashed into the crane seen on the left of this picture |
The Red Flag came with Verstappen leading Leclerc and Perez and the Alpines fighting with the Mercedes. The rain continued throughout the Red Flag and it looked like there was no end in sight. I started wondering if it would become a repeat of Spa 2021, where we waited four hours to have a three lap race (two of which were behind a Safety Car) and half points. It soon hit one hour from the original start time of the race and the race clock resumed to give us a time when the race would have to be over. Finally, about two hours after the Red Flag, the track was deemed drivable and the race restarted in a rolling start behind the Safety Car, with about forty-eight minutes on the clock.
The Safety Car ended up pulling into the pits with forty minutes left in the race and we went racing at Suzuka again! At the restart, Vettel and Latifi took the gamble and pitted for intermediate tires while everyone else was on wets. Soon, Vettel started setting the fastest sectors of the race and everyone except for Alonso, Ricciardo, Schumacher, and Zhou pitted for inters.
Schumacher was up in podium positions after everyone pitted, and he was told to hold on as Haas hoped for a Safety Car. Eventually, Alonso and Ricciardo pitted and released Schumacher into the lead for a beautiful three seconds. However, Verstappen was close behind and quickly overtook him on the fresher, grippier intermediate tires. Schumacher was quickly tumbling down the order as he lost time with every lap and ultimately ended up pitting and coming out below the points positions. Haas’ risk didn’t pay off.
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Mick Schumacher getting overtaken for first by Max Verstappen |
Ocon was defending “like a lion”, as Alonso likes to say. The Alpine driver was in P4 and furiously defending against Hamilton. He displayed beautiful racecraft and I have to say, Esteban Ocon is severely underrated. He defended until the end of this race and finished P4, with half a second between him and Hamilton in P5.
Another driver who was impressing me in this race was George Russell. After dropping down to the back of the pack in the restart, Russell made some beautiful overtakes on Tsunoda, Norris, and other drivers to get back into the points. He ended up in P8. While this isn’t the top five result Russell is used to, he managed to come back up in the order and made some great moves.
Verstappen led the pack from the restart to the end of the race, with a good twenty second lead on Leclerc. However, Leclerc was no longer comfortably in P2. Perez was gaining on him and toward the end of the race, they had a wheel-to-wheel battle for second. On the final lap of the race, Leclerc went wide at the final chicane and cut across to rejoin the track ahead of Perez. This is classified as leaving the track and gaining an advantage and Leclerc got a five-second penalty, dropping down to P3. With full points awarded for the race and Leclerc down in P3, Verstappen’s win in Japan became his win for the 2022 World Champion! Max Verstappen is now a two-time world champion!
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Max and his team celebrating his championship win |
Honorable Mentions:
Just like the driver’s championship, our confusion about the drivers market is over! On Saturday, it was announced that Pierre Gasly will be driving for Alpine in 2023. In a multi-year contract, Gasly will complete the all French lineup for the French team. Gasly said he looks forward to working with the team and helping them continue their upward trajectory. This move leaves a seat at AlphaTauri, and the team is getting Nyck de Vries to fill it! After waiting for years and impressing everyone on his debut in Monza, the Dutch driver will join the Red Bull family. While I am sad that Yukierre is ending, I’m happy for de Vries and Gasly, and I’m looking forward to seeing how next season plays out.
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It looks like it came down to Gasly or this guy at Alpine for 2023 |
The Budget Cap saga has progressed with the FIA releasing their report on Monday. The investigation found that Red Bull committed a Procedural Breach and Minor Financial Overspend (less than 5% of the cost cap). While the punishment or consequences for this breach has not been determined yet, Red Bull will probably have to pay a heavy fine. Williams was also found to have made a Procedural Breach this season, in March of 2022. They failed to submit their second report of spending in time, and were now fined $25,000 for it. Similar to Williams, Aston Martin was found to be in a Procedural Breach, but their punishment has not yet been announced.
In lighter news, Max Verstappen won the championship! While it was sad that Leclerc couldn’t keep up and fight for the title in the end, it was still a really good season. I wish Verstappen hadn’t won through the penalty given to Leclerc, but he dominated the season and showed that he truly deserved to win. It was only a matter of time before he took the Championship. Congratulations to our 2022 F1 World Champion, Max Verstappen!
It was a whirlwind of a weekend. Even though Verstappen has already won the championship, we still have more races in the season. The battles in both the drivers and constructors championships will be settled in the next few races. We have the fight between Ferrari and Mercedes, McLaren vs. Alpine vs. Aston Martin, and Perez vs Leclerc for P2 to look forward to. The rest of the season should still be good!
I’ll be back for the American Grand Prix on October 23rd.
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1134/japan/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1134/japan/practice-2.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1134/japan/practice-3.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1134/japan/qualifying.html
https://racingnews365.com/albon-explains-reason-for-retirement-from-japanese-gp
Pictures:
https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/amp/6D1P9RG0/s1000/max-verstappen-red-bull-racing.jpg
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjm_pYQNfbp/?igshid=ZWFiZDJlMTg=