|
Following on from his fourth
consecutive Suzuka pole, Max Verstappen also made it four straight Japanese
Grand Prix wins in a row. It was a triumphant weekend for the four-time
world champion, who has been totally dominant on Saturday and again on
Sunday at this track over all four years with the current generation of
cars.
Today’s was the Dutchman’s 64th career win, Red Bull’s eighth
in Japan, the 123rd overall for the Christian Horner-led team.
McLaren could celebrate a double podium with Lando Norris second and Oscar
Piastri third, with the English team’s podium total in this race now up to
29.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli set two new records today when he took the
chequered flag in sixth place. He knocked Max Verstappen off the top of the
tables for the youngest driver to ever lead a Grand Prix and to set the race
fastest lap.
THE DAY ON TRACK:
15 drivers, all on the top eight rows, lined up on the starting grid having
chosen the Medium for the opening stint. The only exception was Hamilton who
opted for the Hard. On the back two rows, the places were split between Hard
and Soft: Ocon and Bortoleto chose the C1, Stroll and Doohan the C3.
Almost the entire field made just the one stop, the quickest strategic
option according to analysis of Friday’s data. The Hard compound was the
near universal choice for the second stint, although Sainz and Lawson ran
the race without using the hardest tyres, going for a Medium-Soft strategy
instead. Stroll was the only driver to run all three compounds.
The
longest stint of all came courtesy of Doohan who ran a set of Hards for 38
laps, while Sainz and Lawson went all the way to lap 33 on the Medium before
pitting.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“When the top six on the grid take the chequered flag in the very same
order, it’s easy to characterise the race as boring. While I wouldn’t go so
far as to say we witnessed the most thrilling show in the sport’s history,
there was still some close racing. You only have to look at the top three,
separated by just 44 thousandths in qualifying and then finishing within two
seconds of each other in the race.
“After a fairly cautious first
part, especially through the first sector, the most demanding from a tyre
perspective, in the second part, all the drivers pushed all the way to the
end. In fact, 14 of the 20 drivers set their fastest lap in the final five
laps. It’s worth noting that Antonelli’s time of 1’30”965 was 2”741 quicker
than last year’s fastest race lap, set by Verstappen, which shows just how
much the performance has improved compared to 2024.
“On a track where
thermal degradation has traditionally played a major role, today we saw
virtually no drop in lap time performance with the Hard and Medium
compounds, even over long stints. That was down to the low ambient and track
temperatures, actually the lowest recorded at Suzuka since 2011. The other
contributory factor is the improvements brought to the 2025 tyre range,
specifically aimed at reducing this type of wear. Another of our technical
objectives was to limit graining and today, even with these low
temperatures, we saw almost no signs of this issue across the field.”
|
