Rushing to do good

Sebastian Vettel returns to racing. Not in Formula 1 though and not even in another automotive category. In fact, the German champion has chosen to wear running shoes and take on a challenge that is anything but easy: complete the 42 km and 195 meters of the London Marathonscheduled for the next one April 26 in the English capital. This new challenge for the four-time world champion is driven by a noble interest, that of charity.

In fact, Vettel will participate in the race together with the F1 journalist and podcast host Beyond The Grid Tom Clarkson: the objective of the two will be to raise money for the Grand Prix Trustwhich provides support to F1 track and factory staff, and for Brain & Spine Foundationfounded by former F1 chief medical officer Professor Sid Watkins, which helps people with neurological conditions.

This is just the latest in a series of challenges and charitable initiatives that Vettel has undertaken in the years since his retirement: many of these had also brought him back into the F1 paddock. For example, the former Red Bull and Ferrari star participated in the Sao Paulo GP weekend last year to involve the paddock in his F1FOREST project, the aim of which was to raise greater awareness on the issue of deforestation. Previously the German had created a project on biodiversity called Buzzin’ Corner and organized an event in Saudi Arabia called Race4Women, aimed at bringing the women of that country closer to the world of motorsport.

Mercedes, winning bet

After objectively difficult years in the period of Formula 1 ground effect, the Mercedes has returned to the top of the sport finding a potential champion already at home. What is certain is that if there is a person who is not surprised by the exploits of Andrea Kimi Antonelli that is Toto Wolffwho strongly defended the last season choice to focus on the 19-year-old Italian to fill the chasm – at least in terms of the personality and sporting significance of the pairing – left by the farewell of Lewis Hamilton.

Toto Wolff and Kimi Antonelli’s title chances

Yet, however, now that the Bolognese talent is at the top of the rankings, the team principal necessarily tries to protect his protégé from media pressure that will otherwise be difficult to sustain. “Now they will ask him in the press conference if he can win the championship – explains Toto Wolff speaking of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s leadership of the World Championship, achieved after the two victories in a row between Shanghai and Suzuka – but they shouldn’t do that. He has only achieved two successes so far, but there are still 19 races to go until the end of the season and there is plenty of time to win but also to lose. Antonelli must continue to do a good job”.

The Mercedes team principal, however, obviously he gloats thinking back to the many criticisms he received last season when it seemed that Antonelli, after the excellent start to the championship – especially memorable was the exploit in the rain in Melbourne but also the good tire management shown in the Suzuka race – then struggled, and quite a bit, especially on the European tracks, which he knew much better. Nonetheless, the Austrian manager places limits on his desire to go unbalanced regarding the internal struggle in his box: “We will only be able to talk about the championship in Abu Dhabi, and there is still a long way to go before then. Nothing has really happened yet, and we haven’t even completed 20% of the season”, concluded Toto Wolff speaking about Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s leadership in the F1 world championship.

A retreat without rancor

Daniel Ricciardo returns to talk about his sensational farewell to Formula 1which took place in a completely irregular manner, without any particular catwalks or even a formal announcement that that Singapore GP 2024 – which wasn’t even the final race of the season – would be the last of his career. The strong Australian driver, who certainly left a mark in the GP paddock regardless of the victories, however, does not hold a grudge and, indeed, with hindsight wanted to thank Red Bull for that dismissal with immediate effect – the second in two championships, given that he had already left his seat at the end of 2022 McLaren to Oscar Piastri despite still having a year left on his contract – which helped him make a decision, that of retiring, which would otherwise be very difficult to make independently.

Daniel Ricciardo speaks

The 36-year-old Australian recounted his emotions about it during the podcast Driveinterviewed by the CEO of Ford, Jim Farley: “In the end they fired me, that was the reality of the facts at the time (after the 2024 Singapore GP, ed). And I believe that, All things considered, I’ve been fired twice in the last two years I’ve been racing in Formula 1. It’s drained me.I put all my soul into it and I was exhausted. Looking back though, I’m grateful to Red Bull for making the decision for me. Otherwise I think it would have been very difficult for me to say independently ‘Okay, it’s over‘. Instead in that case I think I understood that I was done with racing because I knew that it was becoming difficult for me to perform at the level at which I could have done so. For some reason I missed something, and it’s okay to admit it”.

“There are people who love you and who will continue to tell you that you are amazing and that you can do it – he adds – but as much as you love them back, you just have to close the door, make that decision for yourself, and be really honest with yourself. If I had made it to the end of last year, I think I would still have had a lot of these thoughts and I would have that internal dialogue, because I knew it was getting harder and that I would have to dig really deep to get a result that I was proud of. You always want to believe that everyone cares about you, and they probably still do, but they don’t know what it’s like to be you and be in your situation.“. “Last year, after retiring, I gave myself a lot of time to reflect and come to terms with my career”, concluded Daniel Ricciardo, now Ford brand ambassador.

Italian pride

The two consecutive victories by Kimi Antonelli in China and Japan they put the Italy of motorsport in a position in which it was no longer used to being: with its own representative leader of the Formula 1 World Championship. Usually our local motoring enthusiasts, but also ‘occasional’ spectators, were used to listen to Mameli’s anthem only for Ferrari’s successes. Now this is no longer the case. Furthermore, given the evident technical superiority that Mercedes has compared to the competition, it is reasonable to think that Antonelli, maintaining this level of performance, can really aim to play his cards to the hilt with a view to the world title.

But at this point a question arises: a young talent like Antonelli as he is seen on the other side of the English Channel, by those Englishmen who in F1 are used to dealing with the teams and also with the drivers and who probably were they already anticipating George Russell’s ride towards winning the World Championship without any particular hitches? One might say well, listening to the kind words said for Antonelli by the much appreciated commentator of Sky UK David Croftwhich has been commentating on F1 GPs for years on English satellite TV.

Croft’s analysis and applause for Kimi

In an analysis video published on the social channels of SkyCroft has applauded Antonelli’s race conduct and his speedrecognizing what it was like significantly faster than Russell and how even without the intervention of the Safety Car – which certainly worked in his favor – he would still have been able to play his cards to conquer the top step of the podium.

“In the free practice sessions I had the feeling that Kimi had one, two, sometimes three tenths ahead of George – explained Croft to Sky – George’s problems were certainly not helped by a set-up that gave him a less than ideal rear end, and this showed in qualifying. I think this was also felt in the race, but other than that Kimi Antonelli – apart from the start – was absolutely superb in the race. Then he also admitted that the departure was his fault. He released the clutch a little too often, the tires were cold and the wheels skidded. To come back from sixth place at the end of the first lap and then win was absolutely fantastic, with or without the Safety Car. He was the fastest on track when the Safety Car came in and I believe that he would still have put a lot of pressure on his teammate and also on Oscar Piastri. Once he gained that confidence it was like he had an edge over the others, something that gives you a tenth or two more and I think that’s what we saw this weekend.”Croft concluded.

Italy inside out

How much can the world change in 12 years? A lot and the state of sport in our country is a perfect testimony to this. In just a few days, Italian athletes have witnessed two events that would have been just over fifteen years ago unthinkable: the failure to qualify – the third in a row – of the Italian national football team for the World Cup on the one hand; the second consecutive victory of an F1 Grand Prix by an Italian driver – Andrea Kimi Antonelli – on the other, with championship leadership for the Bolognese who was just seven years old in 2014.

The ball and the racing cars they have always been among the greatest passions of Italians. There Italian national team has been for decades among the most successful, competitive and successful in the world and Ferrari was there to hold the white, red and green flag high on four wheels, not surprisingly considered by many fans as the ‘National’ of motors. Even the years of the last successes are close: in 2006 came the last World Cup won by the Azzurri, in 2007 and 2008 the last titles won by the Prancing Horse. Now, however, the noticeboard, in Coverciano as in Maranello, is struggling to fill up, while surprisingly we have rediscovered ourselves capable of ‘producing’ (horrible verb, speaking of people, but it gives you an idea) steering wheel aces.

From zero to Kimi

In 2014, the year of Italy’s last football appearance in the final phase of a World Cup, our country had no driver to represent it in the Circus and it seemed difficult to even imagine going back to having an Italian starting at the wheel of an F1 team, despite the fact that in 2012 Davide Valsecchi had won the GP2 title (now Formula 2). Imagine if someone had dared to say that Italy could have had its own representative at the top of the Drivers’ classification: one would have at least doubted this man’s sanity.

12 years later, the panorama has completely reversed: now for Italy, four times champion, participation in the football World Cup has become a pipe dream While a very young driver of just 19 years old leads the F1 championship. In these 12 years there have actually been many sports in which Italy once struggled to become vice versa flagship of our country and it’s nice that F1 is also among these. Not forgetting that in addition to Antonelli’s crystalline talent there is also another young man, Leonardo Fornaroliwho after winning the F3 and F2 titles is champing at the bit ‘on the bench’ at McLaren and many other talents who are trying to make their way successfully in the minor categories.

Perhaps we are not and will no longer be a country of footballers, but we could go back to being – in motoring, because in reality we have always been in two-wheels – a country of great pilots.

What a weekend for Piastri

Oscar Piastri he has a special feeling with Suzuka and he also demonstrated it in the 2026 edition. The McLaren driver achieved the third fastest time in qualifying and then at the start he took advantage of the Mercedes’ uncertainties when the traffic lights went out to take command of operations.

The Unlucky timing with the Safety Car it allowed Andrea Kimi Antonelli to take the lead without having to overtake Piastri on the track, who nevertheless defended second position until the checkered flag without any particular problems.

“Did we think we could stay ahead of the Ferraris in the race? Yes, we knew that the gap in qualifying wasn’t true because clearly Leclerc and Hamilton had had problems in terms of energy use, but we hoped we could make it and so it was – said Piastri in the press conference – what surprised me was seeing Russell stay behind me once George moved up to second. To tell the truth I thought it would take him half a lap to overtake me. So fighting with the Ferraris was something we were hoping for, yes, but keeping a Mercedes behind was a much more pleasant surprise.”

Bang without consequences

Small setback for Racing Bulls and Arvid Lindblad during the Pirelli tests which took place today in Suzuka: the young English rookie, who is making his debut in F1 this year and has impressed the experts well during the first three rounds of this season, was in fact the victim of an accident on the Japanese track.

From the images published on X from some users it is possible to see how his Racing Bulls is completely missing the front wing, broken in the impact. The accident was probably caused by a loss of control of the car due to the bad weather that hit the circuit where Red Bull and Racing Bulls are working together with the sole supplier of F1 tyres. Fortunately, however, the driver escaped from the car unharmed.

Bang without consequences

Small setback for Racing Bulls and Arvid Lindblad during the Pirelli tests which took place today in Suzuka: the young English rookie, who is making his debut in F1 this year and has impressed the experts well during the first three rounds of this season, was in fact the victim of an accident on the Japanese track.

From the images published on X from some users it is possible to see how his Racing Bulls is completely missing the front wing, broken in the impact. The accident was probably caused by a loss of control of the car due to the bad weather that hit the circuit where Red Bull and Racing Bulls are working together with the sole supplier of F1 tyres. Fortunately, however, the driver escaped from the car unharmed.

The Colombian never uses the foil

“It’s not about money or not being 1st, I don’t have fun anymore”. Max Verstappen at the end of the Japanese GP he did not hide the fact that the possibility of leaving F1 in the face of such an indigestible regulation could be more than a hypothesis for the four-time world champion.

Juan Pablo Montoya commented on the Dutch driver’s statements exactly as he would have competed on the track, i.e. with no holds barred: “If he is not happy racing in F1 he should leave – the words of Montoya reached by Casinostugan – threatening to do so won’t do much good, if you don’t like the rules talk to the right people about it.”

“If I were him, I would shut up, accept the situation and admit that I have a shitty car. being frustrated because his car is a wreck that weighs 20 kilos more than allowed and will not be competitive all year – added Montoya – F1 will continue even without him, no one is more important than the sport itself.”

The Ferrari test program

On the days of on Wednesday 1st March and Thursday 2nd, Ferrari has planned track tests at Mugello for the so-called TPCs. These are tests with single-seaters from the years preceding the current one and the Cavallino’s reserve drivers Antonio Giovinazzi, Arthur Leclerc and Antonio Fuoco will take turns at the wheel.
This is reported by colleagues from AutoRacer.it, which revealed the plans of the Maranello team regarding the tests to be carried out in April.
Thursday 9 March and Friday 10 will be the turn of the Ferrari SF-26, for testing on the artificially wet asphalt of Fiorano “with at least one starting driver“.

The most awaited test, the filming day of Monzais instead scheduled for Wednesday 22 April. Ferrari will certainly test thoroughly in the test the ‘Macarena’ wingin its evolved version which has been worked on in recent weeks. The wing was not seen in the recent Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, despite what was initially thought and it may be used on the filming day given that it has already been used in FP1 in Shanghai and therefore cannot be classified as a novelty.
In the 200km of Monza, Ferrari will test the folding wing with the aim of taking it to Miami and starting the long recovery process compared to Mercedes. There could be other teams with her on the Brianza track.

An April without competitions

As reported in recent weeks, Formula 1 has decided not to contest the Grands Prix in Bahrain on April 10th and Saudi Arabia on the 17th for reasons linked to the conflict in the Middle East. A space of good has thus opened up four full weeks without even a race. F1’s return to the track is scheduled for the Miami weekend of May 3rd.
The free time will be used by the FIA ​​and F1 to discuss with the teams the possible changes to be made to the technical regulations for this and future seasons.

F1 ‘resists’, but the trio is compact

Sunday 29 March was a ‘field’ day for the motorsports and in general for theItaly on a weekend in which the Serie A football championship was paused for the window dedicated to the national teams which recorded the third consecutive failure of the Italian national team which will not go to the World Cup scheduled for this summer in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The data relating to you listen to TV of the F1 Japanese GP, the MotoGP United States GP and the final of the Tennis Masters 1000 tournament in Miami with Jannik Sinner on the court against the Czech tennis player Jiri Lehecka are interesting in outlining the ‘state of health’ and popularity of the phenomena of the moment in Italy.

The Formula 1 Japanese GP on Sky it attracted 824 thousand spectators with 1 million and 210 thousand unique contacts, reaching a share of 19.2%. The deferred on TV8 broadcast from 2.15pm, it averaged 1 million 624 thousand viewers with a 13.5% share. The victory of Marco Bezzecchi who led the Aprilia double on the podium in Austin recorded 772 thousand average viewers overall, reaching 1 million 79 thousand unique contacts and a 3.8% share. The deferred on TV8 instead it reached a 5% share with 894 thousand spectators. Jannik Sinner’s victory was followed by 752 thousand spectators with 1 million 892 thousand unique contacts and a share of 6.1%.

A nice ‘full’ audience for Sky whose ‘gamble’ of giving up the race to grab the rights of Football World Cup – which in Italy will be broadcast by DAZN – was ‘rewarded’ by Italy’s elimination on penalties in the play-off against Bosnia which saw the Bosnians prevail.

Bottom of the group derby

In Suzuka, Honda’s home race, the Aston Martin team finally managed to bring your own single-seater under the checkered flagalbeit one lap behind the winner Antonelli. This ‘feat’ was accomplished by Fernando Alonso, who at the end of the race hailed as a small success the fact that the AMR26 was finally able to complete a race distance: “We have many goals to achieve and this was one of them: finishing a race. We didn’t succeed in Australia, China or the first test, so Suzuka was the first time ever and hopefully the team will have enough data to understand the car a little better and be in a better position for the next race”, said the Spaniard.

But the most interesting and amusing words, even if with a bitter taste for the Aston Martin fans, were those pronounced by Lance Strollwho instead in Japan was forced to raise the white flag after 30 laps. In fact, between seriously and jokingly, the Canadian pilot spoke about the battle on the track that pitted him against Alonso and the ‘private’ mini-championship that he and the two-time world champion are facing. “I enjoyed the battle with Fernando for last and penultimate positions – commented Stroll junior – I got over it and then we found ourselves in our little Aston Martin-Honda league fighting each other for about 30 laps. It was fun”.

Alonso then revealed that the duel between the two had already been ‘studied’ before the match to try to provide useful data to the team: “Before the race we said that perhaps our race would be a little more solitary and that, if both cars ran together, perhaps it would also be a useful opportunity to collect data, in terms of energy management and the different engine mappingsso it was pretty fun – revealed #14 – Unfortunately [Lance] he had to collect the car and we missed the second part of the fun.”

Jos Verstappen does not expect major changes

In a long interview granted to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Jos Verstappen – talking about his son’s criticisms Max to the regulation – he explained: “The F1 leaders really listen to himI am convinced of it. And It’s possible that some small things may change in the regulations for this year, but they will not be aspects that will make the difference. I hope they can make big changes for 2027 or 2028.”

Jos Verstappen, however, is aware that it will not be easy to change the current situation, given that whoever is in front will try to make a wall: “Of course it’s also a political gamechanges are not always easy to implement. Toto Wolff and Mercedes will want to maintain these regulations for as long as possible. They have invested a lot of time and money and have a clear advantagefor example in terms of knowledge, compared to customer teams. This is their right and they can benefit from it.”
In recent days, Mercedes has opened up to some changes, most notably to a lesser influence of energy management in qualifying. It’s easy to think that for more profound changes the Silver Arrows will try to oppose in every way, to defend their advantageous position at the start of the season.

Jos isn’t having fun with the new F1 either

Not only Max, but also Jos Verstappen does not like this new direction of F1: “When I watch certain sessions and feel that they have to take their foot off the accelerator, it’s difficult to get excited. Two weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night to watch free practice in China and turned off the television after 15 minutes and went back to sleep. I’ve never done this before and that probably means something.”

The Red Bull crisis

In Formula 1 the long break period has begun which will continue until the first weekend of May with the Miami Grand Prix, but the start of the championship was not at all positive for a top team like Red Bull. While four-time world champion Max Verstappen did not go beyond 6th place in Australia, heavily criticizing the new single-seaters and considering retirement, Isack Hadjar he only finished in the points in China, finishing in eighth place.

Hadjar uncensored

Red Bull’s new French-Algerian driver finished the last Japanese GP in 12th place, the same as he occupies in the general classification. The 21-year-old also spared no negative comments after the Japanese weekend, focusing on the RB22 and the chassis: “We didn’t have a good pace – he explained – we expected it, but it was worse than the previous days of the weekend. It was truly undrivable, even dangerous. So it was complicated. We have no guidance on how to make it faster. We have a good power unit. The engine is good, it’s just the chassis that is terrible, it’s slow in corners“.

To this, Hadjar added further considerations on the problems encountered during the race with the drums: “I have to understand why that situation with the battery happened so early. I was comfortable in eighth place. The plan was to fight with Pierre (Gasly), which we were doing, but everything vanished with the battery dead. At that point you’re just helpless.”

Verstappen considers retirement

Max’s statements cause a lot of discussion Verstappen on his possible retirement from an F1 in which he no longer recognizes himself or enjoys himself. The Dutchman’s detractors have an easy time considering his words dictated by frustration, but the four-time world champion criticized the new Formula 1 even when it was the undisputed dominator. In fact, Verstappen’s first trips date back to 2023 following the impressions he had on the simulator.

Verstappen’s words

“I talked about it with the team and I have already seen the data on the simulator. In my opinion, the situation is terrible. If you go flat on the Monza straight, 400-500 meters before the end of the straight you have to downshift. I think it’s not the right way“, this was the Dutchman’s unheeded warning.

A key meeting will be held on April 9

As we have already underlined today Thursday 9 April an important meeting is scheduled in London to establish if and what changes foresee in the short and long term the 2026 F1 regulations (even if not especially with a view to 2027).

A few days ago we reported the hypothesis of being able to change the face of the depressing ‘electric’ qualifications through the injection of more petrol simply increasing the flow of fuel as regards the combustion engine, thus obtaining more power. However, this solution does not seem to be viable in the short term because it could cause reliability problems, but it could be one of the ways to go starting from 2027.

So what can be done immediately to ensure that qualifications are not a slow agony in the name of energy management? As reported by the newspaper The-Race.com the possibility is being explored leave the pilots free to operate the active aerodynamics in qualifying without having to respect the areas in which the opening of the front and rear wings is planned to reduce resistance to progress.

With less drag, always opening the wings, the acceleration of the cars would benefit as well as the battery which could be saved, perhaps being sufficient to complete an entire lap without encountering clipping. This scenario would also open up different tactics between teams regarding the type of high- and low-load wings, currently the drag reduction by opening the wings ranges from 25 to 40% based on the circuit and consequently on the aerodynamic set-up adopted.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli enjoys the lead in the world rankings, a more than deserved reward. The Italian rider worked a lot on himself, studying the regulations and his teammate. The Bolognese has thus managed to automate the counterintuitive mechanisms of this Formula 1, at the same time learning to push at the right moment without taking too many risks. There is now great anticipation to witness a direct confrontation with Russell, who has never really been in tune with Mercedes in Japan.

Making the unnatural natural

Like it or not, energy management is the keystone in today’s Formula 1. The riders do not spare criticism and Antonelli himself does not show great enthusiasm, but, unlike other colleagues, the Italian accepted the situation, learning in time how to adapt. “Many things are cumbersome, they don’t come naturally, but if you can get it right, you can make a difference,” says Kimi. For the Italian the winter break was more intense than the previous one, spending a lot of time in the simulator to relearn how to drive.

“The difference, for now, is having tried to make unnatural things more natural”says Antonelli. It’s a Formula 1 that goes against the drivers’ instincts, forcing them to lift their foot and refrain from going faster so as not to be penalized on the next straight. As many are discovering at their own cost, including Leclerc, daring more when cornering can be counterproductive. Anticipating the return to the throttle or letting the tires spin are dynamics that increase energy consumption and disorientate the battery management software, leading to losing more time on the straight than gained while driving.

“It is very important that the driver’s inputs are constant and precise, because this makes the difference”commented Kimi on the eve of the Chinese Grand Prix, admitting that he had made a mistake in qualifying in Australia when using the accelerator. To win in 2026 you need a frustrating driving style, to say the least, which Antonelli, however, seems to have mastered. This was seen perfectly in Suzuka, where on the flying lap he managed his energy better than his teammate, benefiting from it on the straight: “In my lap I gained a tenth on the straights compared to him [Russell]but it was also because of the driving style, which is a little different.”

The approach to qualification

Energy management is invasive to say the least in driving, but to be the best you still need to push the car to the limit. This is especially true in those corners where, according to FIA regulations, the use of the accelerator is separate from that of the battery, allowing you to drive without too many worries about energy. From this point of view, Antonelli has grown a lot in his approach to the weekendalready pushing in free practice so as not to reach qualifying with too many unknowns. The difficult thing is to do it without revealing too much of your cards and without taking too many risks, a mistake made in the last free practice in Australia.

However, Kimi carefully studied Russell’s approach, learning how to improve lap after lap, moving the bar higher and higher. To achieve this, Antonelli understood that he didn’t have to push everywhere and unconditionallybut that the secret lies in evaluating the relationship between risks and benefits. The Italian is learning to identify the points where there is more margin for error and the potential gain is greater, refraining from committing imprudent actions in the less profitable curves.

In China and Japan, the blue Mercedes driver finally managed to improve lap after lap in qualifying. The next step now will be to put everything together over the weekend more and more oftenespecially at the start. In Shanghai, at the start of the Sprint Antonelli paid for the lack of thrust from the turbo due to a procedural error, while in Suzuka the opposite happened, starting slowly due to the rear wheels slipping, due to the finger slipping from the clutch lever.

Russell will be back and not just him

While waiting for the restart, Kimi is enjoying the lead of the standings, pervaded by that renewed confidence in his abilities that only victories can give. All this does not erase the awareness that the gap in experience makes Russell still the favorite for the title, recognizing his superiority in some areas. “George still has a bit of a difference in fast corners compared to me”, admitted Antonelli after the pole achieved in Suzuka.

In Japan Russell struggled with the balance of the W17 throughout the weekend, reporting oversteer exacerbated by the set-up changes made after the third free practice session. In China, however, it was a technical problem that compromised his preparation for the decisive lap in qualifying, forcing him to settle for second place on the grid. There has not yet been a comparison to the best of their respective possibilities this year between the two Mercedes drivers. In Australia, for example, Antonelli had raced without the team being able to fully restore the set-up, having little time to reassemble the car after the crash in practice. On that occasion, Kimi had nevertheless shown an excellent race pace, fueling the anticipation for a direct challenge between the two, perhaps already in Miami.

Anyway, it is still too early to say that the world championship fight will be a private matter between the Mercedes drivers. Between ADUO, developments and possible FIA ​​regulatory interventions, the competition will have their opportunities to rise again, especially the reigning world champions. “There McLaren is still using the Barcelona aerodynamic package”, observes Kimi. “I imagine the next one they bring will be an important step”. Furthermore, the Papaya single-seater is learning to make better use of the Mercedes power unit, so much so that in Brackley they are confident of being able to enter the fight between Russell and Antonelli in the medium term.

Ferrari, an engine to improve

In these first three races of the 2026 F1 World Championship, the superiority of the Mercedes power unit over the Ferrari oneadmitted both by the red drivers themselves and by team principal Frederic Vasseur. However, the French manager underlined that the team will not be able to intervene with a new engine for now: “We certainly have a deficit in the straight line, but this is almost frozen until the ADUO arrives“And exactly the ADUO – the system of developments and updates granted by the FIA ​​based on the gap from the reference power unit – has been the subject of confusion among the red’s drivers. Hamilton stated that “hope for a new engine by Miami“. Leclerc instead ruled out this possibility: “Obviously we can’t bring anything to Miami in terms of the engine, we will focus on the rest“.

Hanging on the ADUO

Between the two Ferrari drivers, the correct observation was the one made by Charles Leclerc. The ADUO is ‘unblocked’ by the FIA ​​and by regulation it must start after the “GP6”. There is an open question on the topic following the defection of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on the calendar. Will GP6 be the one originally planned – i.e. Miami – or the sixth actually held (i.e. Monaco)? Autosprint he also raised the possibility of an intermediate solution, i.e. after Canada – 24 May.
But in Miami Ferrari certainly won’t have a new enginewith all due respect to Lewis Hamilton.

When will the new Ferrari engine arrive?

The wait for Ferrari drivers – and fans – is therefore likely to be quite long. According to the Corriere della Sera the engine”vitaminized“is expected”in mid-June in Barcelona“, or for the Spanish Grand Prix on the weekend of 14-16. So about a third of the way through the season, after the sixth round of the season. Obviously all in theory, waiting for what will be decided on the future of F1 at the meeting between the FIA ​​and the team on April 9th ​​in London.
Meanwhile in Maranello work will be done on the optimization of electricity management through software and algorithms. The hope is to find an improvement already from Miami.

Key meeting

At the end of the Suzuka GP, faced with the images of Oliver Bearman’s accident, several riders asked out loud an intervention by the FIA ​​and Liberty Media. The current regulation in these first three races has highlighted two significant weaknesses. Firstly, the need to manage the energy available has transformed qualifying from the maximum expression of speed and talent into a depressing spectacle. Secondly, the speed differences between cars being recharged and cars launched ‘at maximum’ can lead to unpleasant episodes such as the one that occurred between Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman.

Toto Wolff he declared at the end of the race that he agreed that it is necessary to study a solution to improve qualifications and that a meeting is scheduled in London on Thursday 9 April to discuss any changes to be made to the regulations following what emerged in these first three races.

Although the head of the FIA ​​Nick Tombazis already said after Australia that the Federation had kept some tricks up its sleeve to correct the situation, in reality the blanket is quite short. The ‘meshes’ of the electric cage cannot be widened much unless we decide to raise the white flag and stop pursuing this crusade of equal division in terms of power between the electrical component and the thermal component of the power units.

Obviously a step backwards of this magnitude could not be expected before 2027, because engine engineers must have time to recalibrate if not even redesign the power units if they decide to modify the 50/50 ratio by increasing the weight of the thermal part again. In the immediate future, however, it is likely that action will be taken on energy management lowering the maximum energy use threshold to ensure that too obvious differences in speed do not arise between the single-seaters based on the different methods of managing electricity.

Landing in Mercedes or sabbatical?

The manager of Max Verstappen Raymond Vermeulen was very good at guaranteeing his client a rich and long contract with Red Bull from which it would have been equally simple to free himself when the Milton Keynes team did not prove to be competitive. A year ago Verstappen could have been released from his contract if he had not been in the top-3 of the Drivers’ Championship at the summer break, a clause that was not activated because the Dutchman was behind McLaren in third place.

In this 2026, however, the conditions for freeing oneself are even simpler. According to what was reported by TheTelegraphIn fact, Verstappen will be able to exit the contract if he is not among the top two in the Drivers’ World Championship and in light of the situation the Dutchman can already consider himself free just as Red Bull would do well to think about a replacement.

Verstappen will be able to afford to wait until month of October before informing the team of his decision. There are two paths that lead Max away from Red Bull, one leading to Mercedes, although Toto Wolff recently underlined that both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli have multi-year contracts. The other leads to a sabbatical dedicated to GT3 and endurance racing such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The opinion of the Ferrari driver

Charles Leclerc at the end of qualifying for the Japanese GP he was quite clear on the radio to underline his disappointment towards the 2026 F1 with which it is impossible for the drivers to push to the maximum not even in the qualifying lap, a discipline in which the Monegasque has always been a caliph.

The Ferrari driver’s opinion on the 2026 F1 changes when it comes to judging the current single-seaters in the race dynamics, defined as highly spectacular by the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. The first episode of also occurred in Japan accident caused by the difference in speed between a car in the ‘charging’ phase and one launched at full power and Leclerc responded thus in the press conference at the end of the GP when he was asked to give an overall opinion on this generation of cars which completed the first three GPs of the season on very different tracks.

“With these cars we have to race differently, there’s no doubt about that – Leclerc’s words – and certainly the issue of superclipping is something that must be taken into consideration, more by the defending machine than the attacking one. I learned this the hard way in Australia, there were several complicated situations in the duel with Russell. If we have to change everything for the race I don’t know, I don’t think I’m the only one who doesn’t think so, I talk to all the riders and I’d say we’re pretty split in half. As for the race, I like these cars, I think for qualifying there are definitely some changes we need to make to be able to push these cars to the limit and not have to think too much about energy.”

F1 Japan, the report cards of those promoted

1. Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc. National pride is fine, but those who have had an uphill road since time immemorial should be rewarded. AND few are climbing as well as Gasly and Leclerc. Pierre keeps Verstappen behind once again and confirms that he is a high caliber driver, who deserves a bigger dimension than the Alpine: yes, but which one? The problem, for this Red Bull victim, is always the same. Leclerc: the only one who offers different emotions on the track (indeed, the only one who offers emotions), among the few who bridge the difference between the cars, ask Russell for further information.

2. Kimi Antonelli. Here the road is more downhill, very downhill if lucky stars favor this little star. But what a talent. In his second year in F1 he is moving at the pace of those who have been on the grid since before Covid, who studied to become champion, and believed that in 2026 he would only have to defend his thesis to graduate with honours. And instead he has to sweat it out because of the “fault” of this little boy from Casalecchio di Reno, who already at the end of 2025 had made him understand that he was growing wings this big. Now Kimi is flying, and we are with him. It’s just a shame we aren’t enjoying it properlyalso due to an F1 that has denied its identity.

3. Oscar Piastri. Even mother Nicole, after Australia, wavered in Oscarino’s defense. Which is there, of course. The McLaren hits the ground running, he lights up and eclipses the world champion occupying first position before the Safety Car (who knows how it would have gone without Bearman’s accident). And now come the European tracks, where last year was relentless.

F1 Japan, the report cards of those who failed

3. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Lando, a weekend as a tourist: he takes them for three days from Piastri, who in 25 laps gives him a clean 10 seconds. Not the performance we would expect from someone who has just won the title. And speaking of titles, those who have won seven are no better off. Of course, compared to 2025, Hamilton gives the idea of ​​being at least more motivated, but in Suzuka he collapses at the end: in an F1 with an armored top-6, he finishes sixth despite a favorable Safety Car and fresher tyres. In short, again little, little, little.

2. George Russell. He’s the biggest loser of the weekend. Of course, bad luck takes its toll, and Russell has an easy time complaining about the Safety Car missing for a lap. But in qualifying he takes two tenths from Antonelli, and when both have a clear track it is Kimi who prevails. Delivery problems aside, there’s no such thing as missing the podium with this Mercedes: Plates first and especially Leclerc in the final bring him back to earth.

1. Walking Saturday. Qualifying is a disheartening spectacle. Leaving aside the obviousness of the outcome, normal stuff at the beginning of the technical cycle, they are a slap in the face to F1 and to a sport which, due to its desire to innovate, no longer knows who it was: a driver who always pushed to the limit, who now goes slower to perhaps go faster (the software told him so). The perfect ride is the one where you don’t make anything up: great stuff, I haven’t been so excited since I read the washing machine manual. Obviously it won’t be a lasting situation: the FIA ​​and F1 have made mistakes other times in the past, but they have almost always made it right. And above all, F1 thinks in economic terms. For years he has pursued (and captured, with sensational results) a generalist audience. Which however is volatile: just as he has embraced F1, he will have no problem changing the channel if he no longer finds it interesting or if he no longer finds his favorites (Verstappen is ready to leave a pharaonic contract on the table). So, for a simple survival instinct, corrective measures are needed: certainly on Saturday, but Bearman going into the barriers to avoid a Colapinto at ring road speed is also an alarm for Sunday. Maybe it will be the beginning of a virtuous process, in which we will begin to listen to the pilots. Because you can no longer think about the “Let’s see how the first races go“: you were lucky that Colapinto worked magic at the start in Melbourne, and that Bearman avoided the Argentine in Suzuka. And the calendar also helped you, because if the crash had happened in Jeddah the consequences would have been serious. But, as F1 itself has had the opportunity to learn in other eras, good luck ends sooner or later.

 

The Papaya return

The Japanese Grand Prix has finally given a positive result to the McLarenin obvious difficulty after the first two races of the season in Australia and especially in China, where both drivers of the Woking team had not even taken part in the race. The greatest satisfaction at Suzuka came from the performance of Oscar Piastriwho could have even fought for the victory if it hadn’t been for the introduction of the Safety Car at an unfavorable moment, but the #81 Australian still crossed the finish line in second position. Good performance also from his teammate and reigning world champion Lando Norris, 5th after a good fight at the end with Lewis Hamilton, the last act of a race that had not developed positively for the Briton following an attempted undercut.

The performance of the pilots

A double result that allows the Team Principal Andrea Stella to comment with greater satisfaction and pride on the latest performance of both its drivers: “It was a good weekend which allows us to leave Suzuka encouraged – declared the Umbrian manager – the speed shown in qualifying was confirmed in the race, and we were really able to fight with Ferrari and, at times, with Mercedes. Oscar had a superb race after an excellent start with a high pace, fully deserving the podium. Despite missing the first two Grands Prix, he is showing the best version of himself since he started racing in Formula 1: Calm, resilient and a source of inspiration for the whole team. Lando brought home important points despite the heavily interrupted free practice sessions, which allowed him to barely turn two consecutive laps before the race. Our race execution, starts, strategy and the way we exploited the power unit were solid.”

What is there to improve?

The weekend therefore satisfied Stella and the McLaren men, but in Woking there is still one aspect on which the British manufacturer is still working to improve its performance while awaiting the return to the track in Miami in the first weekend of May: “Although this result encourages us, our goal remains clear: we need to improve the fundamental performance of our chassis. The characteristics of this circuit and the excellent performance of our power unit worked in our favor, but we know that our rivals still have an advantage in terms of cornering grip. We know we need a few tenths of a second more from the chassis to be able to consistently fight for the win. It is now our responsibility to provide both Oscar and Lando with a car capable of consistently competing for victories, and we are focusing on introducing the necessary updates in the coming races to achieve this.”

A dream couple

Italy, with its drivers, is the master of world motorsport. The twin triumphs of Kimi Antonelli And Marco Bezzecchi yesterday in F1 and MotoGP they wrote a page of history that our country has not experienced since 2003but our ‘black knights’ have gone even further: an Italian rider is in fact leader of the world championship ranking in both F1 and MotoGP at the same time and this is truly one of those circumstances that our country has experienced on very few occasions, which have their roots back in time. The last time such a situation occurred was in fact 1952a year of grace for Italian motorsport.

In that season Alberto Ascari became Formula 1 world champion for the first time in his careerat the end of a championship always and only led by our country, given that the first leader in that magical year was Piero Taruffi, winner of the first race of the season; at the same time Umberto Masetti was making history by re-winning the 500 class World Championshipgoing on to win his second world title in the premier class. That year Masetti took the first position of the championship on 6 July, in Belgium, lost it momentarily but regained it in Monza in the GP of Nations on 14 September and then also retained it at the end of the last race of the year, on 5 October in Montjuïc. A feat, that of the double Italian world title, which had also been repeated two years earlier, in 1950with i world titles won by Farina and again by Masetti.

Missed precedents

Since then, from that 1952, until the evening of March 29, 2026, it had happened that two Italians led the two F1 and 500/MotoGP championships. The ‘fault’, it must be said, is more than the four wheels. In fact, Italy has rarely found itself with its own representative at the top of the World Cup. Michele Alboreto with Ferrari in 1985 he was first in the standings for several rounds, but that year it was the Italian drivers in the 500 class who missed out.

A curious case had occurred even earlier, in 1966: Lorenzo Bandini he found himself leading the championship after the first two GPs thanks to a second and third place, but lost the championship leadership on 3 July at the end of the French GP. Precisely that same day, at the end of the Belgian GP of the 500 class, Giacomo Agostini jumped to the top of the World Championship in the premier two-wheel class by winning the Spa race. In that case there was only one handover between us.

In this ‘compilation’ a ‘bonus track’ deserves it particular case of the 2005 season: Valentino Rossi he was the reigning world champion and Giancarlo Fisichella he won the first F1 GP of that year, in Australia. Before the two-wheel season started again, however, Fisichella had already lost first place in the championship to teammate Fernando Alonso, so in that season formally there were never two Italians leading the two classifications at the same time. Now, however, we have the award-winning company Bez&Kimi.

 

Antonelli plays Russell, Leclerc keeps Ferrari afloat

The Japanese Grand Prix gives us, after 21 years, a leader of the Italian World Championship: Kimi Antonelli repeats China’s success and overtakes Russell, who takes a significant sporting ‘slap’ between qualifying and race pace.

In Suzuka McLaren is rebornwho dreams of the feat with Piastri and proves to be at least as good as Ferrari: in Woking are they starting to understand how the Mercedes power unit works? The red one, on the other hand, gasps and comes kept afloat by Leclerc’s “balls of steel”.capable of resisting Russell’s return and taking the second podium of the season.

We then return to discuss the new regulations negatively: from Bearman’s impressive knock (fortunately only a knee bruise for him) to very harsh words from Sainz who hopes for changes already for the next one in Miami threat of immediate retirement for Verstappen.

New episode of “I Duppiati”, the F1 podcast by

Therefore, there are various topics of debate for “The Dubbed”, the video podcast on F1 by live with the fifth episode of 2026 Monday 30 March starting at 9.30pm to comment on current events in the world of Formula 1. “I Doppiati” is hosted by Simone Pelusowith Federico Albano (supported by his inevitable telemetries) Gianluca Calvaresi And Except Sardine.

The Duplicati F1 Podcast, episode 5 live

In the box below you can follow the fifth 2026 episode of I Doppiati in live streaming, “Balls of Steel”. The start of the live broadcast on YouTube is scheduled for 9.30pm, but the recording will later also be available on Spotify And Apple Podcasts.

The Black Knights

Strong and very fast. Both in black overalls, which however only become an element of fear for their opponents when they see them coming from behind or see them running away into the distance. For us who admire them, cheer them on, who are proud of them and the pages of history they are writing, they look more like two superheroes. They are also friends with each other, they exchange messages via telephone from one end of the world to the other – “you win and I win too” – and remind us how much spectacle Italian talent dares to give in the world of motors. Jannik Sinner, the third musketeer of this club of phenomena, made us a nation of tennis players; Bez&Kimi, like an irresistible duo, made us rediscover the pleasure of speed.

Yesterday, March 29, 2026, must be engraved in capital letters in stone for lovers of Italian motorsport. With due proportions, it is the motorsport version of August 1, 2021, when Gianmarco Tamberi and Marcell Jacobs won, within 10 minutes of each other, two Olympic golds in the high jump and the 100 meters. This time 14 hours of interval have passed, but the emotion is similar: Andrea Kimi Antonelli winner of the Japanese Formula 1 GP, Marco Bezzecchi winner of the United States MotoGP GP. Putting it in a film would have seemed too graceful.

Double triumph with two precedents

The last time two Italian drivers excelled on the same day in the two reference motorsport championships on two and four wheels was 6 April 2003. 23 years ago. And that time the joy had also come in fits and starts: in the morning, always in Japan, always in Suzuka, it was the bikes that made us rejoice with Valentino Rossi who had done what he did best: win, by a wide margin and without apparent difficulties. But that race will forever be remembered for the fatal accident of the young Japanese champion Daijiro Kato, who passed away after a terrible fall that made the entire MotoGP world question the safety of certain circuits.

In the evening, in Brazil, on an Interlagos circuit decimated by intermittent rain and a slew of accidents, it was Giancarlo Fisichella with the Jordan who drew the joker from the deck, winning his first victory in F1. In that case, however, the cry of joy was delayed by almost a week because, after the red flag that had been raised until the GP, the victory had been wrongly awarded in the first instance to Kimi Raikkonen. The rectification came at the following GP, in Imola, complete with an improvised awards ceremony on the main straight of the Santerno circuit.

By activating the time machine, we find another precedent with a similar result, but we have to go back to the prehistory of motorsport. 6 July 1952: Umberto Masetti wins the Belgian GP in the 500 class and Alberto Ascari triumphs in Formula 1 in France. So yes, let us tell you: Kimi and Marco, you wrote history.

Ferrari vs

Both in China and Japan the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc gave life to an exciting challenge on the track. If in Shanghai after several exchanges of positions it was the English who prevailed, in Suzuka it was the Monegasque who came out on topwith a brave overtaking on the outside of Turn 1. The two SF-26s came close to touching each other, but fortunately both managed to finish the race, with Leclerc third and Hamilton then sixth – unable to defend himself from the attacks of Russell and Norris due to a power problem on his car.

Leclerc’s scare with Hamilton

Once he got out of his Ferrari and went into the rear podium room, Charles Leclerc he admitted – looking back at the race summary – that he experienced a rather agitated moment in the maneuver on Hamilton: “We touched! I thought I had a puncture“, the Ferrari driver confessed sincerely.
At that stage of the race, Hamilton and Leclerc they were vying for third place and the maneuver on the outside of Turn 1 al 42nd lap it gave the Monegasque some breathing room, who then managed to resist the return of an attacking George Russell and secure his second podium of the season.
In China the two Ferrari drivers fought for ten lapswith Hamilton having managed to get the upper hand and thus obtain his first podium placing since racing for Ferrari.
From the pit wall there was no team order this time either, despite Leclerc underlining via radio how he was wasting time following his teammate.

Red skirmishes

Both in Shanghai and Suzuka the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc found themselves battling on the track, with favorable results in China for the Englishman and in Japan for the Monegasque.
Leclerc overtook Hamilton in Suzuka with one nice move on the outside of Turn 1after having sibly indicated to the team via radio that “he was wasting time” behind his teammate.
This time too, no team orders were given to the two drivers from the pit wall.

Vasseur is calm

Frederic Vasseur downplayed the new challenge on the track between the two Ferrari drivers: “In overtaking mode it’s easier to stay behind someone now. But as soon as you lose ground, it’s difficult to maintain your position. But Charles and Lewis are experienced, professional and know what they are doing: I’m not afraid“he confidently stated to the microphones of Sky Deutschland.
Lewis Hamilton said there was a power issue on his SF-26 which prevented him from resisting overtaking maneuvers by Leclerc, Russell and Norris.

F1, there is a new type of overtaking

At one point during the Japanese Grand Prix, George Russell who was fourth in his Mercedes saw his speed collapse in the straight before the Spoon Curve, thus allowing Charles Leclerc an easy overtaking in his Ferrari.
A decidedly strange movethen explained after the race by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who explained how the W17 was the victim of energy software bugs.

These are Wolff’s words to Sky Sports UK: “At that juncture there was a bug in the software’s electrical system, trying to give him an advantage. And instead there was a superclip that slowed down the car and made him lose position”. In short, a new type of overtaking for this F1 2026 has been unlocked, thanks to a software bug…

Wolff on Antonelli and Russell

With three victories in as many races, Mercedes is clearly the dominator of this first part of the world championship. Toto Wolff also spoke about the advantage had by Antonelli over Russell in Suzuka, underlining a set-up error for the Englishman – who he brought with him from qualifying: “The mistake put George in serious trouble with the car from Q1 onwards and even today he had to struggle with this. With evenly matched cars, the fight would have been close. Russell didn’t have a perfect car today.”
A joke also about the start of his drivers, behind the front row: “It was a bit of a clumsy start. We need to teach him to release the clutch slowly, calmly, and not so abruptly. We need to improve in this aspect.”

Verstappen without smiles

In these first three races of 2026 it is quite difficult to observe a smile from Max Verstappen: it is now public knowledge that Dutch is not having fun with the new regulation, so much so as to evaluate the sensational hypothesis of withdraw.
Max’s words are neither a joke nor a phrase spoken out of frustration, but the fruit of an articulated thought that has been maturing for a few weeks. But From Red Bull there seems to be a certain desire to downplay things the reflections of your pilot.

Possible withdrawal Max, Mekies downplays

Laurent MekiesRed Bull team principal, interviewed on the sidelines of the Japanese Grand Prix, commented on his driver’s words as follows: “We are focusing on our competitiveness. We are not talking about other issues. We still have a lot of work to do and I’m sure Max will be a happier Max when we give him a fast car. As soon as we give him a car with which he can test himself and make a difference, Max will be happier too. At the moment only 1% of our conversations are about his motivation.”, underlined the French manager.

Mekies, in statements reported by RacingNews365he then added: “Regarding the rules, there are positives and negatives. As a sport, together with the other teams we will meet during the break to understand what changes we can make to improve the situation“, he concluded diplomatically.

Norris, bitter rice

Among the interviews given after the race of the Japanese Grand Prix by Lando Norris, the joke given to Viaplay regarding the new Formula 1 regulations and the possible regulatory changes that the FIA ​​said it was willing to implement from Miami was particularly significant.
Norris did not appear confident about the potential changes and bitterly explained: “There’s no point in saying what I’d like to see changed. It doesn’t matter what we drivers say. As long as only the fans are having fun, that doesn’t count?”the McLaren driver pointed out sarcastically.
When the interviewer asked Norris if drivers should have fun too, Lando cut him short: “Clearly not.”

Positive signs from McLaren

Interviewed by Sky Sports UK, Norris then expanded his analysis to the race he finished in fifth place: “Did I have fun? You shouldn’t start with this question! Oscar and I got off to a great start and it was nice to find ourselves first and third. There are many positive signs from us as a team, which have allowed us to achieve such an important result, despite knowing that we still have many gaps. Finishing second and fifth is a positive result and can give us a good boost to continue working.”

Norris admitted a step forward in terms of the Mercedes power unit: “Obviously we achieved something more on both the battery and motor sides. Other things remain problematic, Oscar and I both expressed the same complaints about the machine and its difficulties. However, we know we are on the right path and this is an excellent start.”
With fifth place in Suzuka, Lando Norris is fifth in the drivers’ championship with 25 points, 47 points behind championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Hamilton only 6th at Suzuka

It wasn’t a memorable weekend for Lewis Hamilton in Japan, although his race had gone in the right direction after the choice to wait before making the pit stop and the entry of the Safety Car. In fact, Ferrari’s Englishman restarted he had moved into third place surpassing George Russell, but he was unable to defend himself from the serial attacks of Leclerc, Russell and Norris and only crossed the finish line sixth.

Lewis reveals: I was powerless

In the post-match interview with Sky Sports UKLewis Hamilton did not mince words to describe his 2026 Suzuka: “The race was pretty terrible because I was third and ended up losing positions. I just need to figure out where I was losing all the power. I had a real lack of power, particularly in the second stint but generally throughout the grand prix right from the start. I wasn’t able to keep up with the others due to the lack of power.”

Hamilton made no secret of being confused about what happened, so much so that he hypothesized a problem with his SF-26: “I just don’t understand. I handled everything as required, but for some reason I lacked power today. So I need to figure out if there was something wrong with the car or not. But we still scored some points.”
After the first three races of the world championship, Lewis Hamilton is currently fourth in the drivers’ standings with 41 points. In front of him is teammate Charles Leclerc at 49 and the two Mercedes of George Russell – at 63 – and championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, at 72.

Bearman accident: fear at Suzuka

During the Japanese Grand Prix, the accident that most worried the drivers with these new regulations occurred: Franco Colapinto noticeably slowed down when approaching the Cucchiaio curve, with a dynamic that forced Oliver Bearman, who was arriving much faster, to quickly swerve away to the left to avoid it. The result was the loss of control of his Haas and a bad impact with the barriers which saw the young Englishman limping out of the car due to a bruised knee.
Bearman hit the pads with a force of 50G and at that moment the speed difference between his Haas and Colapinto’s Alpine was 50 km/h.

Bearman didn’t like Colapinto’s maneuver

After the race Bearman recounted the sensations he experienced: “First of all, I’m absolutely fine. It was a scary moment, but everything is okay and this is the most important thing. The car is in a little worse shape and I can only apologize from the bottom of my heart to the team because I gave them a lot of work.”
Bearman explained about the accident, underlining Colapinto’s somewhat imprudent behavior: “There was ahuge speed difference, 50 km/h. It’s part of these new regulations that I think we’re going to have to get used to, but I felt like I wasn’t given much space, considering how much faster I was coming. And it was something we talked about on Friday with both the other drivers and the stewards. We need to be a little more prepared for these things due to the large speed differences. We as pilots we warned the FIA ​​what could happen and this was the unfortunate result of a huge speed difference that doesn’t exist in F1 but existed before these new regulations.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the new world championship leader. The top of the ranking is not accidental, but the result of careful preparation work to familiarize oneself with the new way of driving in this new Formula 1almost unnatural. The Italian, however, acknowledges the fortuitous help of the Safety Car in Japan and expects Russell to return to form in Miami. The objective will be to find the same harmony with the W17 tested in Japan, such as to force Mercedes to curb the creativity of the Bolognese.

Antonelli’s race

The only flaw in the Italian’s weekend was the start, when incorrect clutch control led him to let his tires spin too much, losing positions. “I was very angry, but afterwards I was going fast and the pace was good”reflects Kimi together with the Italian press. “Obviously I was lucky with the Safety Car, but when we restarted I did what I had to do”. Regardless of the start, however, Antonelli has a lot to be satisfied with with his performance, the result of great confidence in the W17

“I’m happier with the sensations I had in the car, I felt it in my hands all weekend. I also felt very good in the race”. Perhaps too much so, given that the team warned the Bolognese not to exaggerate: “I wanted to push harder, but the team kept me on a leash. I understand a little, I didn’t want the same thing to happen to China again. However, I had a lot of fun in the car, we were in tune.”

The fruits of labor

One of the areas in which Kimi was superior to his teammate in Japan was energy management, adopting a driving style that allowed him to make better use of the battery on the straights. Antonelli says he worked hard in the winter to obtain these results: “The pre-season was much more intense than last year, I spent more days in England on the simulator, trying to understand the regulations. It’s not easy, because even if you try on the simulator, replicating the same things on the track is not easy. Sometimes you have to go against what your instinct tells you. The difference, for now, is the fact that you have done good preparation and that I tried to make unnatural things more naturalso that I can do them without having to try too hard.”

The first month of the championship went even beyond the Italian’s expectations: “I certainly didn’t imagine it, but it’s nice. In any case, I don’t want to pay too much attention to it, because the championship is still long and there are many races. George will surely return to the topso we will need to continue to raise the bar. It’s certainly a good situation. There are still many areas where we need to work, but we are on the right path for now.”

Look at Miami

A mistake that Antonelli does not want to make is to submit his opponents, starting with his boxing partner: “Obviously it was a weekend in which he struggled more than usual, but I’m sure that in Miami he will return to being at the top. This weekend was a setback for him, it certainly wasn’t easy. The one who benefited from the Safety Car was me. He was more unlucky, because he came in on the lap earlier. He certainly struggled, but he was equally fast.”

Furthermore, it would be premature to exclude external competition, Ferrari and McLaren above all, from the world championship games. Vasseur is convinced that a new championship will begin from Miami, but Antonelli places his trust in Mercedes: “I honestly don’t know what will happen in Miami. I just know that the team is working very effectively. There are no worries about the compression ratio, the team is calm. We are aware that the opponents will get closer, but at the same time we are already thinking about the next tracks and the developments to bring, so they are pushing hard. There is great serenity in the team and awareness of the potential, but the situation can change in a moment.”

Great champions know how to seize opportunities when they arise. Antonelli demonstrates that he also has this quality, taking advantage of the Safety Car to capitalize on his superiority in a weekend in which he was the fastest from the first to the last lap. Instead, George Russell wastes it, with a Mercedes that still boasts by far the best car, but which fears seeing its advantage disappear when it returns from the break. Everything will depend on how much Ferrari and McLaren manage to recover with development, also taking advantage of any changes to the regulations.

Antonelli world leader

Antonelli’s race doesn’t start in the best way, sixth on the first lap after starting from pole. The start is the only mistake of the Italian’s weekend, this time not due to incorrect management of the turbo, but rather due to the aggressive release of the clutch, transmitting too much power to the wheels until they spin. Kimi, however, remained lucid, climbing back to third position, and then took advantage of the timely entry of the Safety Car to make his stop. It’s impossible to say whether without the help of fate the Italian would have managed to overcome Piastri and Russell, but there is no doubt that in Suzuka he was the fastest on the track. In the three laps in free air before the neutralization, Antonelli recovered 1.7 seconds from his teammate, while in the second fraction he ran with surprising consistency, completing eight consecutive passes at the same times, with an accuracy of a tenth of a second.

The new world championship leader beats George Russell on a track whose many fast corners should have favored the Briton. All weekend long, the English driver is never at ease with the Mercedesso much so that some changes were made to the set-up before qualifying, which later proved to be counterproductive. Russell is also unlucky with the Safety Car, but unlike the Italian he has a lot to blame himself for. At the restart George tails out of the last chicane, also immediately finding himself running out of energy and handing the position to Hamilton. A little later, Leclerc also took advantage of an anomalous charging moment of his Mercedes, for which it is not clear whether Russell was responsible, by mistakenly discharging the battery. These are all mistakes that Mercedes will no longer be able to afford, with Ferrari and McLaren now ready to take advantage of them.

McLaren grows more than Ferrari

In his first participation in a Grand Prix in 2026, Oscar Piastri gives McLaren its first podium. The Australian made an excellent start, also managing to defend his position on Leclerc’s attacking Ferrari. The driver from Melbourne is also right in believing in the possibility of keeping Russell’s Mercedes behindso much so that it leads one to wonder whether, without the Safety Car, victory would not have been possible. It is the demonstration of how, in this Formula 1, traveling in free air is still an advantage, rewarding the most skilled in qualifying and at the start.

McLaren, however, also expresses an excellent pace, even higher than expected. For the first time this year, the limiting factor for the tires at Suzuka is thermal degradation, accentuated by a particularly hot track, fluctuating between 37 and 30°C. As in past years, papaya machines prove to be effective in this areasuffering more from graining, which was evident in the first two races. Woking’s progress, however, also arises from energy management. It wasn’t the provision of any updated software that made the difference, but rather the development of better strategies for using the battery, now knowing better the behavior of the Mercedes power unit.

Ferrari also celebrates a new podium, although this time without maximizing its advantage at the start. On the contrary, as already observed in China, the SF-26s seem to struggle with energy management in the first few lapsand then recover once the rhythm and battery usage stabilize. Leclerc, however, penalized by the Safety Car, managed to finish in front of the Mercedes, even expressing a slightly better pace than Piastri towards the end. The Monegasque’s only demerit in Japan is his failure to adapt to the new way of driving in qualifying, however frustrating this is.

Vasseur and “the new championship”

Formula 1 is now taking a month off from racing. The cancellation of the April races comes at Mercedes’ worst momentwho hoped to capitalize on the technical advantage in this first part of the season. Vasseur claims that in Miami “a new championship will begin”hoping that development can call hierarchies into question. The aerodynamic updates will play an important role, especially for McLaren, the only one to have raced so far with the same package as the first tests in Barcelona. Equally relevant will be everyone’s efforts to achieve the minimum weight and above all the development of energy management strategies, among the most important elements of this regulation.

As for Ferrari, there is also an opportunity to make up ground on the engine side as well. In Maranello there are not great hopes for the new tests to verify the compression ratio from 1 June, while there is hope of falling within the ADUO window, which would allow the introduction of an updated engine starting from Canada or Barcelona, ​​depending on what the FIA ​​decides. Red Bull is also aiming to develop the power unit, although the RB22’s problems also arise from the chassis. The priority in Milton Keynes will be to at least emerge from the mid-group battle, which is currently very crowded with the various Racing Bulls, Haas, Audi and Alpine.

Regulations under discussion

The evolution of power relations is also linked to any corrections that the FIA ​​and the teams will make to the regulations. The dynamics in the race are not particularly a problem, given that in many cases you get to play for position when braking and cornering, resulting in overtaking worthy of the name. There still continue to be some changes of position on the straight with an artificial aftertaste, which are also present with the old DRS. If anything, we will need to intervene on clipping as soon as possiblecausing large speed differences, which the Bearman accident demonstrated to be very dangerous.

For qualification, however, changes are urgently needed that allow pilots to push without too many second thoughts about energy managementat least in the guided sections. Hamilton’s comments are interesting, according to which in Suzuka it was possible to push up to turn 6, after which management logic came into play. It is no coincidence, given that in the first sector the FIA ​​had removed the obligation to use the electric motor at full power in the full throttle sections. Disconnecting the dosage of the accelerator from the use of the battery could be the right way to restore emphasis on the qualification and creativity of the pilots. The only certainty is that many things could change in April, one more reason for Antonelli to enjoy an entire month from the world championship leader.

The scare over Oliver Bearman’s accidentwho limped out afterwards the impact at 308 km/h against the barriers at Spoon in Suzuka (but fortunately without damage and with only a strong bruise to the right knee) they the security issue was rekindled linked to the new Formula 1 regulations.

At the end of the race Carlos Sainz was among the toughest on the merits: the Spaniard explained how the pilots have warned FIA and FOM several times on the topic and how it was “only a matter of time” before having a major accidenthoping for interventions before the next GP in Miami (3 May, ed).

The FIA ​​press release

The response from the Federation was not long in coming and it decided to issue an official statement a few hours before the end of the race to explain his position and how he intends to move on the matter: “Since their introduction, the 2026 regulations have been subject of continuous discussions between the FIA, the teams, the power unit manufacturers, the drivers and the FOM. By their very nature, these regulations include a number of adjustable parameters, particularly in relation to energy management, which allow optimization based on real data.

All interested parties agreed on the need for a structured review after the initial phase of the seasonin order to collect and analyze sufficient data. Several meetings are therefore planned for April to evaluate the functioning of the new regulations and determine whether any improvements are necessary.

Any potential modificationin particular those relating to energy management, requires careful simulation and detailed analysis. The FIA ​​will continue to work in close and constructive collaboration with all interested parties to ensure the best possible outcome for the sport and safety will always remain a central element of the FIA’s mission. At this stage, any speculation about the nature of potential changes would be premature. Further updates will be communicated in due course.”

Does it really change?

In the press release the FIA ​​reiterated a position already established after the first two races, namely the willingness to sit around a table during the long forced break in April to evaluate the pros and cons of the new rulesespecially regarding electrical power and energy management.

Equally clear is how the Federation wanted to underline that is not solely responsible for these regulationsbut the pool that worked on it and still works on it is much larger and includes teams, engineers and FOM. It would therefore be a It’s a mistake to point the finger only at Tombazis and his staffalso for what we saw at Suzuka with Bearman. We’ll see if this episode – and the words of Sainz and Verstappen – will shake things up from here to Miami…

There’s a new sheriff in town

Andrea Kimi Antonelli he almost risks not making the news anymore, even if it is only his second career success in Formula 1. And while his records continue to be counted – he is the youngest leader of the World Championship ever, as well as the first Italian to achieve two victories in a row after Alberto Ascari (and it was the 1950s) – the Mercedes talent admits that he still has to make some steps forward to be able to fully consider himself in the fight for the title. Starting, above all, from the management of the starts, given that his race was complicated with that slow motion shot that made him slip to sixth position a few meters after the start.

Comment by Andrea Kimi Antonelli

“Oh mama! Fortunately – explains Kimi Antonelli to the microphones Sky after the end of the Japanese GP – now I have three weeks to try to figure out how to get decent starts every time I go to the race. It’s a shame because over the weekend, during free practice, I felt quite good at the start, but there on the grid my fingers slipped a little, I didn’t have a great grip on the clutch and this meant that I released the pressure on the lever a little more than I should haveand then I made the rear wheels spin. It’s a detail that needs to be improved because today it went really well with the Safety Car, even if the pace was truly incredible, to be honest”.

And it is precisely that, the unsustainable pace for anyone, George Russell including, to turn the spotlight on the 19-year-old who, who knows, perhaps could have won even without the stroke of luck caused by the entry of the Safety Car at the right time: “Throughout the weekend I felt very good in the car. Surely the Chinese GP lifted a big weight off my shoulders, and I immediately felt calmer behind the wheel. Obviously there is still a lot of work to do and we will need to continue raising the bar, because our opponents will get closer. However, George is going very fast and will return to the top. This is why I have to work on the details, which are the ones that will make the difference”.

Can the World Cup dream be reality?

Meanwhile, there is the leadership of the ranking, a result that was unexpected at the very least until a few weeks ago: “I didn’t expect it and it’s nice, but I don’t want to think about it too much because there are still 19 races left until the end of the World Championship. The championship is still very long and it is essential to maintain this level of form and indeed try to improve it every time. The car is really strong and we are in a great position. I’m happy to be able to enjoy some rest in these three weeks. I will certainly practice with the clutch and analyze these three races well, trying to get back on track even stronger”, concluded Kimi Antonelli after the 2026 F1 Japanese GP.

Charles Leclerc takes office

Hats off to the quality of the standard equipment Charles Leclerc his race engineer has already put it live worldwide Bryan Bozzi. But it is true that, steel attributes or not, the weekend of Suzuka once again highlighted the ability of the 29-year-old from home Ferrari to throw his heart over the obstacle: so, the Monegasque beat first Lewis Hamilton in the rematch (but in a small way) of the wheel-to-wheel duel in Shanghai, only to then carefully and patiently repel all the attempted attacks George Russell strenuously defending third place at the finish line of the Japanese GP.

The story of the Ferrari driver’s race

A solid performance, which leaves Charles Leclerc quite satisfied. Thus the Monegasque at the microphones Sky at the end of the race, underlining the proud reaction after the Safety Car came out which caused him to lose time and positions: “Today it was a bit difficult with the pace, also because McLaren also took a step forward. It’s also true that we had some bad luck with the Safety Car which came in at an unfavorable moment. But, in the end, these things happen and so I tried to take advantage of the anger I had about the neutralization of the race at the wrong time”.

“I wasn’t very confident – he adds – even if when the GP starts again and the visor closes, you always push to the maximum. With the Hard tires it is indeed a little more difficult to bring them back up to temperature, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Maybe there would have been a chance to do something more if I had stopped with the Safety Carbut a third place today is the type of result I have to bring home while waiting to have, I hope, one day the best car”.

Hope from Miami onwards

The Ferrari driver therefore underlined the importance of the updates which, as also done by Frederic Vasseur after the qualifications, they will be able to upset the balance of power: “At the moment, Mercedes is ahead and McLaren has also made an improvement step, but it will be a championship that will be won or lost with the quality of the technical developments. All the people at home are pushing hard and, in Miami, we will have a fairly new car like everyone else. It will be essential to start on the right foot from Miami onwards“. “Power units? Yes, the engine is certainly the area in which we struggle more than the Mercedes and there is no doubt about it, but it’s not just that” concludes Charles Leclerc at the end of the Formula 1 weekend in Suzuka.

Overtaking suffered, on the track and in the standings

The first ‘cue’ of 2026 at Mercedes is signed by the driver you don’t expect, that is, the ‘veteran’ George Russell who didn’t even get on the podium for the first time in the season at Suzuka, finishing the Japanese GP in fourth place. English has in this way also lost the leadership of the championship to the advantage of his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who now leads the World Championship with a margin of nine points over Russell.

There was definitely one bad luck component in Russell’s defeat: the Safety Car caused by the terrible accident that occurred to Ollie Bearman entered the track immediately after his pit stop and immediately before Antonelli’s stop, thus guaranteeing the driver from Bologna a ‘free’ pit stop which allowed him to take the lead of the race. Russell then also paid some battery management problem during the restart phase and in the following laps, being overtaken at two different times by the two Ferraris. His ascent then stopped at the foot of the podium, hindered by the magnificent defense and a splendid counter-overtaking by Charles Leclerc.

It always happens to me

To the microphones of Sky Sports F1 Russell let go of one vent precisely on the misfortune that he says is haunting him and has seemed to see a few too many ghostsin an internal dualism with Antonelli that #63 seems to be starting to suffer quite a bit.

“I definitely don’t feel lucky – said Russell – but that’s how races are. Over the course of the year, sometimes it goes well, other times it goes badly. It’s annoying that I wasn’t able to get on the podium because on the restart behind the Safety Car I wasn’t able to recharge the battery and was overtaken by Lewis. After that I had another problem with the battery, with Charles. Dangerous situation? I was going so slowly that it was clear he could avoid me, but they are still very complicated cars.”.

“It’s still very early and you have to make mistakes in order to learn – added the Brit – though at the moment all the problems seem to be coming my way and that’s quite frustrating, honestly. Did I lack speed? I wouldn’t say that. If there hadn’t been that difference in the flying lap maybe we would have won the race and it would have been another conversation. I don’t have much else to say“.

Ferrari on the podium in Japan

Three GPs and three podiums. There Ferrari confirmed in Suzuka with third place for Charles Leclerc, undoubtedly among the best of the day with a series of breathtaking overtaking on the outside of turn-1. With the same maneuver, the Monegasque first overtakes teammate Lewis Hamilton and then George Russell, who overtook him as he exited the 130R. The result of #16 therefore brings a smile to team principal Frederic Vasseurwhich thus comments on the Japanese GP and clarifies the “new championship” which will start in Miami.

Vasseur’s words

“There were several misunderstandings about my statements. When I said that there will be a new championship starting from Miami I was referring to the updates and the work of all the teams on the grid: we will bring updates and have time to work on the software; for this there will be a new championship, I didn’t mean to say that we will be the only ones working between Suzuka and Miami“, these are the words of the Frenchman a Sky Sports F1. “Performance comes from all components, we have to work on every theme. We definitely have a deficit in the straightsbut this is almost frozen until there is ADUO. We can work on the aerodynamics, on the tires, on the set-upand we’re already doing it: if you only focus on one aspect of performance, you lose your pace“.

“I don’t want any misunderstandings, everyone will develop the car and improve it by Miami, we are certainly at the beginning of a new generation, so there is greater potential for development compared to last year“.

The gap with the Mercedes proves to be more evident in qualifying than in the race: “I think it’s the trend since the beginning of the season. I don’t know if they have 5, 6 or 7 tenths of an advantage in qualifying, while they have a little less in the race. I think it’s also due to the Overtake Mode, because as soon as you’re in a fight you can have a sort of trail that allows you to stay with them. But this means that to stay ahead we have to take a small step, and that is our goal“.

Eighth place for the Dutchman

Isack Hadjar was not wrong at all to place Red Bull in the role of fifth force on the grid on the eve of the Japanese GP. Max VerstappenIn fact, he finished in eighth position, failing to get the better of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, seventh at the finish line.

The Dutch driver also has greeted the former garage partner when the Frenchman easily overtook him before Turn-1 after suffering Verstappen’s attack at the chicane in what was defined as the ‘Yo-yo’ between an overtaking takeover and then immediately returned in the exchange of use of electric energy.

“Did I say hi-hi to Gasly? Yes – said Verstappen to the microphones of Viaplay – if I can draw its rear wing in detail? I have already studied it well in China, in China I studied a lot of rear wings because we were behind so many cars. You can’t overtake normally with these cars, you use the battery and then you get overtaken again because the other guy uses the battery. I counted the laps remaining to the finish line15, 10, 5 it’s over!”.

This F1 is dangerous

It wasn’t at all edifying to see how much pain he was in Oliver Bearman once he got out of the cockpit of his Haas after the accident which forced the entry of the Safety Car just as the drivers had started to make the only pit stop.

Above all, the dynamics that led Bearman to lose control of his car cannot help but arouse anger: the English driver, in fact, suddenly found himself in front of Colapinto’s Alpine which slowed down noticeably approaching the Cucchiaio curve. Bearman couldn’t help but try to overtake, Colapinto defended himself and for the Englishman there was nothing else to do but end up on the grass and consequently into the barriers.

Blaming Colapinto for what happened is excessive, so much so Race Direction did not penalize the Alpine driver. Neither pilot expected to attack nor the other to defend himself. The current regulation can lead when one least expects it and these episodes in which two cars have clearly different speeds and when it happens in a fast corner as in this case this can be the result.

Luckily at least Bearman seems to have gotten away with only one bruisethe ‘hot’ images were not at all heartening.

Italy dreams with Antonelli

Position	Pilot	Stable	Points
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	72
2	George Russell	Mercedes	63
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	49
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	41
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	25
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	21
7	Oliver Bearman	Haas	17
8	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	15
9	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	12
10	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	10
11	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	4
12	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	4
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	2
14	Carlos Sainz	Williams	2
15	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1
16	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1
17	Alexander Albon	Williams	0
18	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	0
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	0
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	0
21	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	0
22	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	0

Andrea Kimi Antonelli he is the new leader of the F1 Drivers’ Championship. An Italian driver hadn’t won two races in a row since the time of Ascari, while an Italian hadn’t been at the top of the World Championship since 2005 (then it happened with Fisichella winner of the inaugural GP in Australia).

Antonelli has a nine point margin over George Russell and 23 over Charles Leclercamazing today in defending the podium from George Russell’s attacks.

Leap forward of Oscar Piastrisplendid second today. Precious points for Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen moves up the rankings, Liam Lawson does the same and Esteban Ocon is unblocked.

F1 Japan, the GP ranking

Pos.	Pilot	Team	Turns	Detachment/Withdrawal	GpV
1	K. Antonelli	Mercedes	53
2	O. Plates	McLaren	53
3	C. Leclerc	Ferrari	53
4	G. Russell	Mercedes	53
5	L. Norris	McLaren	53
6	L. Hamilton	Ferrari	53
7	P. Gasly	Alpine	53
8	M. Verstappen	Red Bull	53
9	L. Lawson	Racing Bulls	53
10	E. Ocon	Haas	53
11	N. Hülkenberg	Audi	53
12	I. Hadjar	Red Bull	53
13	G. Bortoleto	Audi	53
14	A. Lindblad	Racing Bulls	53
15	C. Sainz	Williams	53
16	F. Colapinto	Alpine	53
17	S. Perez	Cadillac	53
18	F. Alonso	Aston Martin	53
19	V. Bottas	Cadillac	53
20	A. Albon	Williams	52
Rit.	L. Stroll	Aston Martin	31	Technical problem
Rit.	O. Bearman	Haas	22	Accident

F1 Japan, the GP news

Yes, Formula 1 speaks Italian. We’ve waited 20 years for a rider capable of winning a GP, and now the tricolor flies at the top of the podium for two GPs in a row. Kimi Antonelli shows us that the victory in Shanghai was not an isolated episode and is repeated in Suzuka, taking the lead in the World Championship with a nine-point advantage over George Russell, who was off the podium today after an unlucky Safety Car.

(updating)

F1 Japan, live coverage of the GP

You can relive the emotions of the Suzuka Race with our live commentary.

The next appointment

Due to the war in Iran, the events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were cancelled, so F1 only returns to the track in May (1-3) for the Miami weekend, the second Sprint weekend of the year. It starts on Friday at 6.30pm with the only free practice session, while the Sprint Qualifying will begin at 10.30pm; on Saturday at 6pm the Sprint and at 10pm the Qualifying; The GP will begin on Sunday at 10pm.

F1 Suzuka, race hub: all useful links

To best follow the live broadcast of the race, the highlight of the Japanese F1 GP, here are all the useful links from the race weekend in Suzuka, third round of the 2026 World Championship:

F1, the live commentary of the Japanese GP race

Live coverage of the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix will begin at 6.45am on Sunday 29 March

F1 GP Japan, the race live

Come on, we’re here with the last (at least for the moment) early wake-up call on Sunday, dear readers of . We are live to tell you about it competitionhighlight of the weekend of Japanese F1 GPwhich will begin with the usual formation lap at 7.00 am Italian time and will finish approximately 90 minutes later, red flags and suspensions permitting. Starting in pole position we will have the Italian, for the second GP in a row Andrea Kimi Antonelliwho in qualifying was very good at once again mocking his (higher rated) teammate George Russell.

Yesterday the Mercedes However, they showed a safety advantage in terms of performance, which it will be difficult for everyone else to try to erode in the race. Rather, barring technical problems, a very close fight seems to be looming between Ferrari And McLaren for the third step of the podium, but obviously also pay attention to how the start could upset the balance on a circuit where overtaking is anything but simple. So will there be surprises or will everything go as it did in the first two weekends of the year for the Silver Arrows? Find out with us by following and commenting live minute by minute on the live textual commentary of the race GP Japan 2026 Of F1.

F1, the qualifications are not convincing

Suzuka it is traditionally considered one of the most demanding test beds for pilots. It is a complete track, universally recognized as one of the most beautiful in the World Championship. Those who go fast in qualifying very often win the GP due to the limited overtaking possibilities, and also for this reason those who want pole must take an extra risk in iconic sections such as snakethe Spoon and the 130R. This morning we witnessed something totally different.

The qualifications of this Formula 1 they are a cry of pain. Where talent should emerge and risk be rewarded, in a totally counterintuitive way the opposite aspect prevails, that management that should not find citizenship in F1, at least on Saturdays. The characteristics imposed by the current regulation have reduced the burden of driving in high-speed corners, and the difference between the drivers seems to derive more from the ability to avoid mistakes than from the search for the limit.

Norris’s words

Now the drivers are trying to make their voices heard: the only ones who can’t do it (for reasons of expediency) are those of Mercedes, but it’s clear that nobody likes this Saturday. Max Verstappen started, everyone else is following him, starting with Lando Norris: “Well, if I compare it to previous years, I certainly don’t have the same enjoyment driving here. It still hurts your heart to see your speed drop so much“, this is the comment of the world champion.

“The feeling is still special, because it remains that of always being at the limit despite the 56 km/h less on the straight. But it’s not as exciting as 2025, and I don’t think any track will ever be. You’d better get used to it…“, he concluded. The hope of the drivers and the majority of fans is that the spring break will bring advice to F1.

Antonelli and Russell are ready to battle for the championship lead in Suzuka. Much will be decided at the start, in the face of a race where Pirelli expects a low level of degradationthanks also to the falling temperatures. Graining, however, should not be particularly critical, shifting the emphasis to managing thermal degradation on both axes. Simone Berra, Chief Engineer of Pirelli, illustrates the strategic framework for the Grand Prix.

The best strategies

In Japan, a one-stop race is expected, like the previous ones. Berra explains: “Considering the levels of degradation observed in free practice, you will almost certainly go on a single stopalso because in the race 5-10°C less is expected on the asphalt compared to when the simulations were done. This should help keep thermal degradation under control, which is the main source of long-distance degradation.”

Despite a pause, however, Pirelli considers all three compounds in play: “We do not exclude any of the three. On paper, the fastest strategy is the medium-hard single stop, with the pit stop around the 19th-25th lap. Otherwise, you can think about starting on the soft to have extra grip at the start and then going on the hard. In that case, we should shorten the first stint on the soft a little and lengthen the one on the hard.”

Berra continues: “The advantage of going with the medium and hard is that you have more flexibility in the event of a Safety Car, while the soft forces you to stop earlier. We don’t even rule out the use of soft and medium, but it is a much more aggressive strategy and requires more management. On a severe circuit like Suzuka, it is probably not the winning strategy and on paper it is slower than the other two mentioned.” Setting the race over three stints doesn’t seem to be advantageous either: “Two-stop strategies are significantly slowerabout 12 seconds longer. They can only be an option in the event of a Safety Car in the second part of the race.”

The keys to the race

Graining was the main limiting factor in Australia and China, but in Suzuka the race situation will be different: “We have not seen any significant graining phenomenaonly a few relative cases from some teams in particular, but not in a generalized way for everyone. It is linked to the balance of the individual cars and the driving style of the driver, we do not consider graining to be a big problem. It could happen for some teams with a full load of fuel if they are in traffic or if they do little management.”

The game will be played above all on the management of thermal degradation, which must be paid attention to in all sectors. The Pirelli Chief Engineer explains: “At Suzuka, as usual, both axles see particularly high energies. As for the temperature and degradation management, the front is very important in the first sector’s big snake, while in the second and third, where there are more traction zones, it will be important to manage the rear to avoid overheating and thermal degradation. We must avoid causing the wheels to spin,” concludes Berra.

Max Verstappen’s bad moment

It certainly cannot be said that the period is the best for Max Verstappen. The Dutch champion of Red Bull in fact, he first ended up in the eye of a storm of controversy for his unprofessional behavior last Thursday, when he threatened to boycott the press conference in his team’s hospitality area until an English journalist who writes for the Guardian had not left the room, only to end up eliminated in Q2 at the hands of his two young teammates Isack Hadjar And Arvid Lindblad. All this exactly one week after the disqualification from the order of arrival of the 4 Hours of the Nurburgring that Super Max had dominated and won, not without giving the fans who followed him live a memorable show.

In short, a “never a joy” phase, which seems perfect to describe the moment in the career of a Verstappen who not only does not seem particularly enchanted – to put it mildly – by the new rules of Formula 1, but who also struggles to achieve decent results, caged as he is by a Red Bull that is overall in great difficulty. So, after eleventh place on the starting grid, on Dutch TV Viaplay the four-time world champion returned to the pain of Thursday, explaining the scene towards the journalist Guardian, Giles Richards.

‘Journalist case’, Verstappen speaks

“When someone asks you that question in the press conference after the last race – explains Max Verstappen – and then he also laughs in your face, for me it’s a total lack of respect. And therefore, If you don’t respect me, then why should I respect you? Obviously you only see the camera pointed at me and not that person, who simply started laughing. And you could clearly see that there was malicious intent at that moment. That’s enough for me, I’ve been in Formula 1 long enough to know who has good intentions and who has bad ones. If you come to the press conference and laugh in my face, then you clearly have no good intentions”.

The Guardian’s response

In recent days, however, there has been no shortage of stories about Guardian by Richards himself regarding the unpleasant event on Thursday in Suzuka, as well as an explanation of the laughter in the incriminated press conference of the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, which Verstappen had defined as “stupid smile” replying piquedly to his question: “I’m not sure I had any stupid smirks. I was certainly taken aback by the vehemence of his response and it may have brought a nervous laugh out of me. But I didn’t think the situation was funny, nor was I having fun at his expenseFurthermore, on Friday it seems that Max Verstappen received a warning from Red Bull for his behavior in the press conference with the team principal Laurent Mekies in the role of mediator to positively close the dispute.

Max Verstappen’s bad moment

It certainly cannot be said that the period is the best for Max Verstappen. The Dutch champion of Red Bull in fact, he first ended up in the eye of a storm of controversy for his unprofessional behavior last Thursday, when he threatened to boycott the press conference in his team’s hospitality area until an English journalist who writes for the Guardian had not left the room, only to end up eliminated in Q2 at the hands of his two young teammates Isack Hadjar And Arvid Lindblad. All this exactly one week after the disqualification from the order of arrival of the 4 Hours of the Nurburgring that Super Max had dominated and won, not without giving the fans who followed him live a memorable show.

In short, a “never a joy” phase, which seems perfect to describe the moment in the career of a Verstappen who not only does not seem particularly enchanted – to put it mildly – by the new rules of Formula 1, but who also struggles to achieve decent results, caged as he is by a Red Bull that is overall in great difficulty. So, after eleventh place on the starting grid, on Dutch TV Viaplay the four-time world champion returned to the pain of Thursday, explaining the scene towards the journalist Guardian, Giles Richards.

‘Journalist case’, Verstappen speaks

“When someone asks you that question in the press conference after the last race – explains Max Verstappen – and then he also laughs in your face, for me it’s a total lack of respect. And therefore, If you don’t respect me, then why should I respect you? Obviously you only see the camera pointed at me and not that person, who simply started laughing. And you could clearly see that there was malicious intent at that moment. That’s enough for me, I’ve been in Formula 1 long enough to know who has good intentions and who has bad ones. If you come to the press conference and laugh in my face, then you clearly have no good intentions”.

The Guardian’s response

In recent days, however, there has been no shortage of stories about Guardian by Richards himself regarding the unpleasant event on Thursday in Suzuka, as well as an explanation of the laughter in the incriminated press conference of the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, which Verstappen had defined as “stupid smile” replying piquedly to his question: “I’m not sure I had any stupid smirks. I was certainly taken aback by the vehemence of his response and it may have brought a nervous laugh out of me. But I didn’t think the situation was funny, nor was I having fun at his expenseFurthermore, on Friday it seems that Max Verstappen received a warning from Red Bull for his behavior in the press conference with the team principal Laurent Mekies in the role of mediator to positively close the dispute.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli breathes a sigh of relief after the pole achieved in Suzuka, after having feared that the euphoria of the first victory could distract him. The Italian gains even more self-confidence after beating his teammate, this time free from technical problems. Antonelli and Russell will compete for first position in the race towards Turn 1, but Mercedes has already warned its drivers not to be reckless.

Mercedes’ recommendation

Antonelli reflects on the meaning of the second career pole together with the Italian press: “This pole for me is better than the otherbecause anyway [a Shanghai] George had had problems, even though I had had some with the wing, which was why the ride was still good. It’s nice to be back on pole after China. It was important, because after the race I won I was a bit afraid, I absolutely didn’t want to let my guard down. I knew it would be a snap to get carried away in the moment and lose focus. I’m glad I was able to keep it on what I needed to do. Now let’s think about tomorrow.”

Suzuka immediately becomes an important race, putting the lead in the world rankings up for grabs on the eve of the month’s break. A lot will be played out in the standing sprint: “First of all we will have to see what the starting point will be like, but the team has already told us to stay calm and not cause troublebecause anyway we are first and second again. It will be important to score important points, both for us and for the team.”

The comparison with Russell

The race for Antonelli starts with excellent premises, having found good harmony with the W17: “I felt good in the car. I managed to maximize the grip, but also the batterywith which, for example, George had a little more difficulty.” The Italian believes there was room to set an even better time: “It was a clean and calm lap, with each attempt I pushed harder. On the last lap I was a tenth down, then I stalled in turn 11 and lost everything. Too bad about that.”

The Italian’s maturity also emerges from the coldness with which he analyzes the areas in which his teammate is still superior, despite having beaten him in qualifying: “I could have done a little better in the first sector in the fast corners, I could have pushed a little more. For the rest, however, I believe that this qualifying went better than the others, because I managed to improve lap after lap. However, there is still work to be done, because George still has a bit of a difference in fast corners compared to me. It’s not a big effect, not much, but still a little bit ago.”

The challenge of energy management

Overall, Antonelli is also growing in energy management, an area in which after China he recognized he was behind Russell: “It’s very difficult to get everything to fit together properly, between how much to push in corners and how to manage the battery. In my lap I gained a tenth on the straights compared to him [Russell]but it was also because of the driving style, which is a little different.” Furthermore, the blue Mercedes driver manages to curb his exuberance, accepting the counterintuitive nature of this Formula 1, in which paradoxically pushing harder is counterproductive.

“It’s not the best, because at certain points you would like to go faster, but then you would be penalized on the straights”, explains Kimi. “Sometimes you would like to go for gas first, but it doesn’t pay. Indeed, especially if you have a bit of wheel spin, it penalizes you, which is why it is not easy to be able to maximize the result. This qualification went, I managed to do a better job, but for example in Melbourne I was penalized. It went well for me here, but I have to say Anyway the lap was fun, because you pushed yourself in the corners.”

Watch out for McLaren

A possible victory in the race would give Antonelli the lead in the constructors’ championship. For the Italian, however, it is too early to say that the world championship will be a private matter between the two Mercedes drivers: “My teammate is certainly my main rival, because he is the only one who has the same car as mine. Now we are in a phase where we have an advantage over the others, so he is my closest rival. This does not call into question the fact that the others can get significantly closer. We must remain on our guard, because for now it is me and my partner, but McLaren, for example, is still using the Barcelona aerodynamic package. I imagine the next one they bring will be an important step. We must be on our guard. The others are behind, but the situation changes in a moment.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli conquers a pole position which perfectly summarizes his technical and analytical skills. The Mercedes standard-bearer makes the difference on one of the most complete tracks in the world championshipputting to good use what we have learned about how to manage energy and how to deal with qualifications. McLaren is also growing, while Ferrari pays for the limits of the package, in addition to its own demerits.

Antonelli’s growth

Antonelli’s second consecutive pole position is even more special than the first, achieved on a much more demanding track than Shanghai and with his teammate free from technical problems. The Italian driver’s talent has never been in question, but the difference is that now he manages to put it all together. Its growth comes from the correct reading of the points in which to pushboth from the point of view of driving and battery management. “I managed to maximize the grip and also the battery, with which George for example struggled more”, comments Antonelli.

The Italian deserves credit for saving energy at the right time, then exploiting it on the forehand: “In my lap I gained a tenth on the straights compared to him, but it was also due to the driving style, which is a little different”. It is confirmation that Kimi has learned not to exaggerate too muchafter in Australia an error in using the accelerator during qualifying had messed up the energy management strategy.

Where Antonelli is maturing, however, is also in his approach to the weekend. On Thursday the Italian explained that starting from China he understood that he had to choose the curves in which to be more daring, evaluating the margins of error against the potential gain. In Suzuka, for example, the blue stands out at the last chicane, losing instead in the first sector, where he recognizes that he still needs to improve: “Respect to me Russell still makes a bit of a difference in the fast corners”. There will be time to work on it, but not before having played a race that puts the lead in the standings at stake. The opportunity is tempting, with Russell never really comfortable with the W17 in Japan, struggling with oversteer exacerbated by the changes made after the last free practices.

Ferrari fails to improve

There is disappointment at Ferrari, which for the third time in a row fails to improve in Q3 despite an encouraging start. Leclerc does not hide his irritation, not so much for the spoonful, but for the time suddenly lost in the straight line compared to his best partials. The SF-26 suffers an undeniable lag in power and energy management from Mercedesbut the team still has some responsibility for not being able to optimize everything. On the one hand, Charles still has to get used to the new way of driving in this Formula 1, where, as frustrating as it may be, one must not take risks or accelerate too early, so as not to confuse the battery software. On the other hand, the impression is that the energy management logic is less flexible than the competition, without being able to adapt to the evolution of the driving style during qualifying to understand when to push with the electric motor and when not.

Looking at the sectors, however, where Ferrari improves the least in Q3 is in the first sectorthe most driven on the track, in which Leclerc shaved just over a tenth compared to Q2, against Antonelli’s three and a half tenths and Piastri’s almost half a second. It will be up to the Cavallino to understand whether the Monegasque driver was already very close to the limit in the second qualifying session or whether he left something along the way, perhaps in the preparation of the tyres. In Q3, with the asphalt 4°C colder than in Q1, in his two attempts Leclerc took to the track last and penultimate, without being able to freely manage his pace to recharge the battery and warm the tires.

	First sector improvements Q2-Q3 [s]
Antonelli	-0.351
Russell	-0.482
Plates	-0.485
Norris	-0.239
Hamilton	-0.269
Leclerc	-0.123

McLaren leap

Nonetheless, Ferrari can rejoice in the best overall partials in the first sector, confirming the good downforce of the SF-26, as well as the progress on balance compared to Friday. However, all this was not enough to contain McLaren, third and fifth respectively with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The world champion pays for the delay in preparation for the time lost in free practice due to technical problemswithout which it is reasonable to hypothesize that the papaya formation could monopolize the second row. In particular, the team was once again forced to replace the Briton’s battery, which had already prevented him from taking part in the Chinese Grand Prix, raising some doubts about the reliability of the Mercedes power unit.

In the race it will be tough for McLaren to keep the Ferraris at baywho in addition to having an advantage at the start boast a better pace. It will be even more difficult for Lando Norris, whose setbacks in free practice did not allow him to simulate long-distance pace. In any case, regardless of the final result, it is already an excellent sign for the team to note the progressive reduction of the gap to Mercedes, which went from 8 tenths in Melbourne and 5 in Shanghai to 3 and a half tenths in Suzuka. The improvements are evident, in the structure choices and above all in the energy management strategies. The slow understanding of Brixworth’s power unit is revealing all its sensitivities, helping to understand in which situations it is most profitable to push with the hybrid part, the main key to understanding this Formula 1.

Red Bull crisis

If McLaren improves, the same cannot be said for Red Bullwhich moved another 2 tenths away from Mercedes compared to Australia. The one in most difficulty is Verstappen, fighting against a car that is very understeering in the center of the corner and which tends to show off at fast speeds. It is difficult to say whether the new bodywork brought to Suzuka, available only to the Dutch champion, contributes to this, which certainly was not a step forward in any case. Hadjar on the other hand, with the RB22 not updated, is eighth, behind Gasly’s Alpine and ahead of Bortoleto’s excellent Audi. Also noteworthy is Arvid Lindblad’s tenth place with Racing Bulls, who deserves credit for being close to Red Bull with the same engine.

The picture on Saturday, however, could change during the race. Overtaking will be possible, which is why the pace over the long distance will weigh more than the pace expressed in qualifying, despite moving towards a single-stop strategy. After the checkered flag there will be time for reflection, with a month’s break available to think about any corrections to be made to qualifying, which continues to slow down the drivers’ exuberance.

 

The pole position won by Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Suzuka is not only a prestigious result, but a real turning point within Mercedes. On a technical and selective track like the Japanese one, getting three tenths off George Russell takes on a meaning that goes far beyond the single qualification: it is a clear statement, in a hierarchical and even global key.

If in China the comparison had been partly conditioned by Russell’s problems, in Japan the picture was much cleaner. Antonelli has appeared consistently superior so far throughout all the free practice sessions held, as well as qualifying, where he was able to express his best driving quality. The most obvious reference is the passage to the last chicane, where the Italian made the difference in practically all the sessions and where even in qualifying he had the courage to attack, breaking away from Russell, with courage in entering but also with superior rotation ability. An important signal, because Suzuka is a track that rewards pure talent and trust in the vehicle.

Mercedes, the turning point in Q3

Until Q2, Mercedes had given the impression of being in relative difficulty, unable to fully express its potential. Always very slow on the pit straight, aligned with the rivals on the rest of the track, with a power level that didn’t appear particularly superior. Then, at the decisive moment, something clearly changed.

In Q3 a change was observed in the management of the power unit, in particular in the torque curve in the central sector. In the acceleration sections before the Degner, the hairpin and the Spoon, the thrust became “fatter”, fuller, allowing Antonelli to build the advantage precisely in the most sensitive points of the track.

It is a technical detail that is anything but secondary: Suzuka is not just a race track, but a circuit where the traction phases, often uphill or with lateral support, put the less efficient drive units into difficulty. Mercedes found the key at the right time, and the result was visible, recalling the party mode that we already mentioned on these pages at the beginning of the season. The Brackley single-seater also has an excellent load level and a clearly optimal chassis setup, but when it exhausts the potential of the drive unit it becomes unattainable.

McLaren, clear progress on PU

The work of McLaren is also interesting, as it continues to make progress in understanding and exploiting the power unit supplied to it by Mercedes. We saw during the sessions that the power curves are becoming more and more similar to those of the parent company, a sign of growing maturity in the integration between chassis and hybrid system.

However, there is a detail that deserves attention: on the pit straight, McLaren has always pushed, while Mercedes has adopted a different, almost conservative approach, as if exploiting that downhill stretch to recharge energy. A strategic choice that could also have implications in the race, especially in the management of overtaking and defense. McLaren suffers from a chassis point of view in the first sector and the transition up to the Degner, but, from there, it gains strength thanks to the power curve which precisely follows that of the Mercedes. Note the excellent lap of Oscar Piastri, who has been particularly on top of the ball so far and who will try to fight for the podium in the race.

Ferrari, balance rediscovered but power never so insufficient

Ferrari exits qualifying with disheartening feelings. On the one hand, the progress compared to Friday is evident: the car appeared more balanced, the rear decidedly more stable and with a good ability both to turn on the soft compounds and to then manage them better. In particular, Leclerc showed traits of the highest level, especially in the first sector, both in Q2 and Q3. His passes at Turn 6, in preparation for the climb towards Turn 7, were among the most impressive of the entire session, a sign of great sensitivity, as well as the confidence he found in the car, as well as being confirmation of the chassis quality of the Maranello car, demonstrated by Leclerc’s best overall time in that stretch in both Q2 and Q3. The problem, however, remains evident in the central sector. In the pure power sections, Ferrari suffers markedly: when it comes to pushing uphill, in support or out of slow corners, the Maranello power unit is unable to guarantee the same level of performance as its rivals and in the high part of the power spectrum a high level of clipping comes into play, probably to recover energy for the following traction, and the time lost in sprinting is notable. Among those held so far, the Japanese one is probably the weekend in which the power limit emerges in a decidedly impactful manner, even on a track where many other variables matter. Looking at the data, the impression is of an SF26 that is “empty” of the necessary thrust in many points where the driving torque would be fundamental. An important aspect to underline is that both drivers largely complained about the hybrid energy deployment strategies during the Q3 lap, suggesting that one of the main reasons why Ferrari continues not to improve in the third part of the qualifying session is the inability of the Power Unit management software to adapt to the much tighter conditions of the heart-pounding final lap. Vasseur’s phrase “Another championship will begin from Miami” seems to refer decisively to the qualification, with the probable reduction of the electric power to return to a more “classic” flying lap, and therefore rewarding those who try everything in the last attempt.

Race: Mercedes favourites, but pay attention to the balance

Looking at the race, it is difficult to imagine anyone capable of seriously troubling Mercedes on pure pace. However, the context adds an element of complexity: Antonelli and Russell are clearly not just racing for the stage victory, but are starting to play for something much more demanding in world championship terms, on a track so universally recognized as consecrating in terms of riding. An internal dynamic that could open up interesting scenarios, especially in the initial stages or in the case of divergent strategies. If Wolff’s two champions are the only ones fighting for the victory (as seems to be expected), whichever of the two prevails will face the long break before Miami as leader of the World Championship.
Behind them, the most concrete battle seems to be that between Ferrari and McLaren for the podium. The reds seem to start favored over the Woking single-seaters due to better tire management on long runs, but McLaren’s growth is tangible and it probably won’t be an easy battle for Vasseur’s men. The spectacle offered with the new rules on a wonderful track like the Japanese one was disheartening in qualifying. We’ll see if there will be more fun situations in the race, waiting for a break which, we hope, will be clarifying.

Note: the data provided by the Federation continues to be incredibly irregular and incomplete. Unfortunately, on the lap that earned Antonelli pole, from the exit of the Spoon onwards his data control unit blocked as can be seen from the graph. It’s not just a problem for Mercedes but one that alternated with all the teams throughout the entire session.

George Russell is not happy

Arrived at Suzuka with the braids of the great favourite, for the second consecutive qualification George Russell he is forced to chew bitterness. And if in China a clear technical problem had prevented him from fighting with his (by this point increasingly cumbersome) teammate Andrea Kimi Antonellionce again according to the English driver something happened that took him off the right direction. Not, therefore, a real failure like in Shanghai, but still an error in the set-up changes that made him lose the right confidence at the wheel of his very fast Mercedes, relegating him to second place on the starting grid, three tenths from pole position.

The problem that affected the qualification

“It was really strange, to be honest – explains George Russell in the press conference – because we made a change to the set-up just before qualifying and the car no longer looked the same compared to how it had performed all weekend. You saw my first laps in Q1 when I ended up in seventh or eighth place, and then we had to adapt by substantially changing the incidence of the front wing during qualifying (a change to the structure also permitted under parc fermé regime, ed). The team is already taking a look to understand more, but at the moment we don’t know if we did something wrong or what else happened. But, in a certain sense, I’m happy to be in this position because after Q1 I didn’t know how qualifying would end”.

The World Championship leader then explained how he felt in difficulty on the track: “There was something problematic about the rear, which showed up especially in the snake. I couldn’t attack any of the corners, the rear end skidded the whole timebut there’s really nothing we can do right now. It’s a good starting position for tomorrow, and the race will be long. Of course it’s not ideal because I had felt comfortable with the car all weekend while in qualifying something seemed to have broken. So we’ll see, maybe we’ll get some answers from the data analysis, maybe I can adapt my riding style to compensate, but it definitely wasn’t the session we would have liked. For two weeks straight I experienced somewhat complicated qualifying…”.

Watch out for McLaren and Ferrari

“To be honest, qualifying was very close between the Ferraris and McLarens, and that was probably a bit of a surprise for us. We both had a very good FP3 session and thought we had a bit more of an edge over our rivals. Obviously we’re still in first and second place, so that’s great, but it’s clear that the others are catching up”, concluded George Russell after qualifying for the 2026 Formula 1 Japanese GP.

Second pole for the Italian

An indisputable pole position with a clear margin on one of the most selective circuits: Andrea Kimi Antonelli He seems to be in a state of grace and the first to pay the price is his Mercedes pit mate George Russell, trailing by 298 thousandths, an eternity.

If in China Russell could cling to the problems he had in Q3 to explain himself defeat this time there is no doubt, Antonelli was faster, evenly distributing the margin between the second and third sectors, a pole therefore not ‘episodic’, but built curve after curve.

The Italian driver commented on a promising weekend so far, to say the least: “The secret behind the pole and my effectiveness in the third sector? Having carried out three clean free practice sessions in constant growth – he told the microphones of Sky – the weekend in China gave me more awareness, especially regarding the start because I finally got off to a good start in the GP. Tomorrow I will definitely have a lot of butterflies in my stomach, but obviously I’m happy because I’m in the best position possible. I’ll try to make a good start without overdoing it, the goal is to be first in Turn-1 and then make a good pace“.

Charles Leclerc always tries

Let it not be said that this time too Charles Leclerc did not try to throw his heart over the obstacle by giving the Ferrari an unexpected result. In the end, however, it didn’t go as hoped, certainly due to an oversteer at the Spoon curve which partly nullified the effort in the first sector – where the Monegasque had obtained the partial record – and above all due to the management of power from the batterywho once again betrayed him, sending him into a rage on the radio at the end of Q3.

The Monegasque’s frustration

In short, Leclerc has to settle for fourth place on the starting grid and look at the rear of the two Mercedes and also of novelty McLarenoffered by a Oscar Piastri rather on the ball throughout the GP weekend Suzuka. However, there is no shortage of positive aspects, because Charles himself admits that it was practically impossible to do better: “The ride wasn’t perfect, but honestly I’m very happy. But I lost a lot of time on the straight compared to my previous attempts, and that’s really frustrating. Even if you know it when you get in the car and expect that something like this could happen, when it happens… Punch the steering wheel. Here I also had a big straight, so I could have done quite a bit of damage, but I held back”, Leclerc joked, playing down to the microphones Sky.

“In any case – he adds – it’s very frustrating, because we can do so many things in the car, but once we are 100% with the accelerator pedal on a straight line at that point you can’t do anything anymore and when you see that you waste more time on a straight line than in curves then it’s just super frustrating. In Q3 I don’t know what happened, but unfortunately I lost quite a bit of time from turn 14 to turn 16. But that’s how it is, apart from that it was a good lap, I had a fairly delicate moment in turn 8, but in the end that section was very good. I tried, it went quite well, but being in fourth place is a disappointing result“. “In the race? I think we will be in a little bit better situation at least than McLaren. With the Mercedes, however, I think it will be difficult to battle”, concluded Charles Leclerc after qualifying for the Japanese F1 GP.

The story enlivened the day before

The question related toMercedes front wing which in China had highlighted a ‘double’ closure animated the eve of the Japanese GP. The FIA ​​closed the matter by underlining that it had accepted Mercedes’ explanation, which explained that it had made a calculation error, triggering what was ultimately a problem to be managed and not a solution that guaranteed a performance advantage.

Questioned by Sky on why Ferrari didn’t complain about the Mercedes winger to the Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur he responded like this: “We didn’t notice it live, we noticed it when analyzing the GP and at that point it was a bit too late to protest. I don’t want to make any controversy about it, I just want to focus on our team.”

The number one on the Ferrari wall underlined that it is important at this moment win points without looking too much at the gap from Mercedes because another championship will begin from Miami.

The words of the Ferrari team principal

Second row for the Ferrari at the end of the Qualifying for the Japanese GP. Charles Leclerc, with a considerable amount of oversteer at the exit of the Cucchiaio curve, managed by four thousandths to get behind Lando Norris’s McLaren and tomorrow he will be able to take advantage of the Ferrari SF-26’s starting point to attack Piastri’s McLaren and the Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell who start from the front row.

The Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur this is how he commented on Suzuka Qualifying to the microphones of Sky: “We need to understand why we didn’t improve between Q2 and Q3, energy management isn’t simple because it turns out to be counterintuitive for the riders, but we will analyze and try to understand where we can improve. However, everything is at stake, we have a good pace and in the first two races we have always managed to start well.”

Vasseur highlighted that at this moment of the season it is important to continue collecting points: “Another championship will begin from Miamiwe must continue to think about ourselves and collect maximum points. The season will be very long and the rate of development equally high so we must not be frightened by the current situation.” Vasseur’s reference to the fact that another championship will start from Miami could be attributable to the many developments being prepared in Maranello for the SF-26 and perhaps to any regulatory changes that could reduce Mercedes’ current advantage in terms of power unit.

Round number

One lap after another, one weekend after another, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is rewriting the history of Italian F1. The pole and the victory obtained in Shanghai had reconnected a thread that had been broken in qualifying in 2009 and in the race in 2006; today the young talent from Bologna did it again on one of the most spectacular tracks of the championship, Suzuka. The pole position achieved today has many special meanings: it is the first ever by an Italian in Japan, the 50th in the history of Italy in F1 and above all it is the first ‘double’ in two consecutive qualifying races for 35 years.

Like Patrese

The last Italian driver capable of starting two consecutive GPs from the first spot on the grid was in fact Riccardo Patrese in 1991 at the wheel of Williams. The driver from Padua even achieved an incredible consecutive trio that year, obtaining the best time on Saturday in Canada, Mexico and France. Unfortunately, in his case, victory only came to him in Mexico City. The hope for Antonelli is that this double on Saturday could only be the appetizer of a back to back on the top step of the podium. Even in this case we would then have to reopen the history books to find out the last time it happened. For the moment, also out of good luck, we are not anticipating anything.

The starting grid of the Japanese F1 GP

Here is the complete ranking at the end of qualifying and the starting grid for the 2026 F1 Japanese GP:

The chronicle of Qualifying in Suzuka

Updating

F1 GP Japan 2026, live, ranking and starting grid

You can relive the emotions of the qualifying session in Japan, which gave us the third starting grid of the 2026 Formula 1 season, with our live commentary.

The weekend program

F1 returns to the track on the morning of Sunday 29 March, for what will be – at least for the moment – the last early rise of this phase of the 2026 championship. The Japanese Grand Prix, the third stage of the 2026 F1 World Championship, starts at 7.00 am Italian time, but be careful of the pitfalls of the time change, given that in our area we switch to summer time on the night between Saturday and Sunday. Here are all the weekend times with details of television coverage.

Jean Alesi, a voice out of the chorus

At the Suzuka weekend, the former driver Jean Alesi gave an interesting interview to the French of Canal+explaining about not having appreciated the many criticisms rained down on the 2026 regulations especially by some former F1 drivers. The former Ferrari driver underlined that as a spectator he found the new course of the category truly enjoyable and invited enthusiasts to take a less engineering approach.

Alesi: “This F1 puts on a show”

“I hate former drivers who speak badly of this new generation of cars“, underlined Alesi, arguing his statement as follows: “Most, if not all, of them wouldn’t be able to drive them! I find this F1 extraordinary on television. The battles we have seen recently, in the last 2 GPs, have not been seen for a long time, and they were achieved thanks to the new regulation”.

Alesi then invited everyone to approach more as spectators than technicians: “It takes a great adaptation on the part of the pilots to force themselves to think: ‘Here I recharge the battery, here I use it’. So it is certainly a new way of piloting. But we too, on the media side, we have to send a positive message: what is important is the battle on the track. We all look for the show and starting to be an engineer is not good.”
It is no mystery that after the Japanese Grand Prix, F1 will evaluate whether to introduce changes to the regulations and the first point of discussion will concern different energy management in qualifying. In fact, there has been a lot of talk about how unproductive it is for drivers to look for the crazy lap in qualifying: Leclerc on Thursday at Suzuka explained how an early release of the accelerator by 2-3% caused a recalibration of the software that manages the energy and then caused a loss of lap time.

 

Audi no longer two-headed

Over the past week, the Audi has taken note of the will of Jonathan Wheatley to leave his position as team principal for “personal reasons” and entrusted the role to Mattia Binottoalready head of the German company’s Formula 1 project. In the following days, however, indiscretions emerged telling of clashes and tensions between Wheatley and Binotto that continued from 2025 to define their respective perimeters of action, so much so that Gernot Dollner – CEO of Audi – understood that the two-headed solution would not have a long life.

Binotto denies the tensions

Interviewed on Suzuka Friday by Sky Deutschland, Mattia Binotto told what happened, effectively denying the rumours: “It was a total surprise, sometimes things go like that. Last Friday Jonathan informed us that he was unable to commit long-term to Audi for personal reasons. We cannot judge him but only respect him. As a result we decided to relieve him of his duties, but Jonathan was very well integrated into the team and had significant influence“.

Mattia Binotto then clarified that Audi is not looking for a new team manager: “We’re not looking for a new team principal. We have to develop the team and the car and I have to concentrate fully on my job. We are evaluating how to reorganize. An April free from competitions will help us, we have many ideas about it.”
However, Wheatley’s explanation for his departure did not convince former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher: “I don’t entirely believe Binotto when he says he didn’t know Jonathan wasn’t happy and was leaving. Binotto wants to make decisions alone and this was the problem they had. Obviously the previous approach was not a sustainable one, too many cooks spoil the broth. The gears must fit together without hitches and friction.”

Red Bull presents itself in Japan with an important package of innovations. The Milton Keynes team has redesigned the bodywork of the RB22restoring the flat-bellied configuration that was so fashionable during the ground effect era. Verstappen is the only driver to have the developments, despite which, however, he continues to complain about problems with the car’s balance, which are in addition to those of the power unit and being overweight.

Red Bull updates

The team led by Laurent Mekies goes against the grain, bringing an evolutionary package at an unusual moment of the season. Red Bull’s updates arrive at the last race before the long break in April, moreover in a trip very far from the factory and therefore even more impactful on the budget cap. From this perspective, the team could have waited for the next round in Miami and worked in the wind tunnel in the meantimebut debuting the updates in Suzuka has the advantage of being able to collect valuable data to reprocess during the break. Furthermore, Max Verstappen is the only driver in the team to have the new featureswhich is why the team saved on the cost cap by avoiding creating a second package for Hadjar, in a very expensive match.

The developments affect the bodywork of the RB22an area already subject to evolution during the tests in Bahrain. Red Bull has redesigned the vents of the side radiators, but above all it has extended the slide of the sides to the rear, a job that also required a reorganization of some internal components. Thus the flat-bellied configuration returns, conveying the flows from the upper part into the gearbox area, from where they then vent behind the diffuser. The floor is the same as that raced in Shanghai, except for some changes to the connection with the lower part of the bodywork. Furthermore, at Suzuka, Red Bull races with new cooling ducts for the rear brakes, more suitable for a track that is not very severe for the braking system, where it is difficult to keep the rear axle at temperature.

The window is narrow

Unfortunately for Red Bull, Japan’s evolutionary package is not enough to cure the ills of the RB22which in China Max Verstappen had defined as undriveable. At Suzuka the Dutch champion describes a car that goes from one extreme to the other, oscillating between understeer and excessively unstable behavior, a symptom of an operating window that is too narrow. Added to all are the problems of being overweight and the lack of horsepower from the best power units of the lot, which however are not enough to hide the aerodynamic deficiencies. The impression is that Red Bull is suffering the backlash of the resources sacrificed to the 2026 project during the last season to make up ground on the McLarens, as well as a technical department orphaned by the protagonists of the ground effect era, above all Adrian Newey and Rob Marshall. To get back on top, other updates will be needed, starting with those that will most likely arrive in Miami.

 

Williams, progress can be seen

After a limping start to the season, Williams is showing some timid signs of recovery. The two points scored by Carlos Sainz in Shanghai gave morale to the Grove team, which showed up at Suzuka in a lively manner, obtaining a top-10 in the second Japanese free practice. It was Alex Albon to reach it, and the Anglo-Thai himself says he is amazed by the performance of the FW48, plagued by weight problems of around 20 kg.

Albon’s words

“I think today was a more positive day than the last two weekends. We have to be realistic: I think this result is better than what we will get tomorrowbut the machine seems to work better“, this is Albon’s comment. “We have fixed some issues and, also regarding the set-up, we found something more interesting in FP2. We are going in the right direction“.

Sainz’s words

“Today it was difficult to make full use of the car, but in the short sessions of FP2 we showed good pace“he added Sainz17th in FP1 and 13th in the afternoon. “We seem more competitive on the flying lap, but we struggle with the high fuel race pace. Tonight we will evaluate what changes to make to the set-up to improve performance and hope to make progress before qualifying“.

 

A ninth position each

Free practice on Friday Suzuka in the name of 9th place at home Haaswith the US team seeing its drivers place in the same position both at the end of FP1 and FP2. In the first session, the ninth time was set Esteban Oconsandwiched between the two Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad (10th and making his debut on this track) and Liam Lawson. Different, however, as regards the outcome in FP2, where the winner of the ‘challenge’ between the Haas teammates was Oliver Bearmanwho had instead ranked 14th in the first session.

More can be done

11th at the end of FP2, Ocon released a brief statement at the end of Japanese free practice, however highlighting the team’s state of mind: “Today was one overall positive day. We had a great start, being able to test everything we wanted in FP1 and FP2. There is room to improve further tomorrowso I can’t wait to see what we can do. It’s always a pleasure to drive on this track and behind the wheel of a Formula 1.”

The main objective

Bearman is also very satisfied and optimistic for the rest of the weekend, who will have the main objective of once again fighting in the middle of the top 10 after the notable results obtained in Australia (5th) and China (7th): “It’s been a good day. The gap is very small and the battle in the middle of the pack is still the same, with the VCARB team in excellent form, as well as Williams and Audi. It’s our battle ever, so we’ll try to gain some lap times during the night ahead of tomorrow. Last year it was very difficult to overtake here and it was perhaps one of the races with the fewest overtakings. With the new regulations, however, there will be more and more opportunities, but qualifications will still remain the number one priority“.

 

The free trials of Japanese Grand Prix have once again highlighted the crisis that is going through at the beginning of the season Red Bullboth with the four-time world champion Max Verstappen and with Isack Hadjarin his first year as a driver for the Milton Keynes team. While the Dutchman did not go beyond the 7th place obtained in FP1, the French-Algerian achieved his ‘best’ personal performance in the same session with the 13th halfand then remain still in 15th position in FP2.

A weekend therefore started on an uphill climb for the former Racing Bulls driver, who commented on his first activity on the track during the Japanese weekend as follows: “Today wasn’t our best day, we have struggled with balance and grip in both sessions and this made it difficult to put together the laps we would have liked. In FP2 we made a step forward in feeling with the car, but we were a little behind in lap times. I don’t feel as comfortable in the car as I would likebut I’m sure that before tomorrow we will be able to change things and put ourselves in a better position for qualifying.”

He also highlighted hopes of being able to make progress in an interview with the official F1 website Paul Monaghan, Red Bull Technical Director: “You can see from our pace that the cars are not performing to the standards that we have set for ourselves, as well as the standard that Max has set for himself. We have identified some things that are wrong, which is good because we have the ability to correct them. The problem now is how to correct them. There are some problems relating to certain subtleties. Will we be able to fix them quickly? I don’t know, but you will notice. The car now is what it is. Now we need to identify what It’s not working, understanding, repairing and being faster is a small challenge for us.”

 

A year ago, on the occasion of the Japanese GP, Liam Lawson came back in Racing Bulls after a disappointing start to the season in Red Bull, a team that decided to replace him with home idol Yuki Tsunoda during the championship in progress. Today, again with the single-seater of the Faenza team, the New Zealander took part in the first two free practice sessions on the Suzuka track, finishing with a good 8th half in FP1, but not entering the ‘points zone’ in the following session with 12th place.

An overall performance which, however, satisfied the 24-year-old, even more than a season after that negative turn in his career, when the chance to demonstrate his potential in a top team ended: “It’s great to be back at Suzuka e I had a really pleasant day – he commented – things are very different than last year with these new cars. We made some changes between FP1 and FP2 because we were struggling with the car at high speed, but we managed to improve the balance and we learned a lot in the process. We are now in a good position to get the car into an optimal window for tomorrow’s qualifying. It will be a close fight, so everything is still at stake.”

Finally, there was a certain curiosity about ‘s debut at Suzuka Arvid Lindbladwho has already amazed on his F1 debut this season. The British, in fact, signed the 10th time in FP1only to then remain in the pits in the Japanese afternoon due to a breakdown: “Today was a bit of an unlucky day. We had a gearbox problem in FP2which is why I couldn’t shoot in that session. Both Liam and I started with a similar set-up in FP1, but we found the same limitations of the car, so we decided to proceed in a similar direction to try to improve: he was happier, so it’s promising for tomorrow. Overall, the track is really fun to drive and I can’t wait for the grip to increase, especially in qualifying. It’s hard to know where we’ll be at the moment, but the mid-table group is pretty tight. We will work together with the team to try to get to Q3.”

Suzuka, Audi closes Friday in the top-10

THE’Audi it is one of the most positive surprises of the 2026 World Championship. With a home-made power unit and the pressure of bringing such a big name to the track, the former Sauber is interpreting the new regulations very well, and even on Friday in Japan it was solidly in the top-10. Thanks to Nico Hülkenberga guarantee in terms of continuity and performance: seventh fastest for the German at the end of an intense and productive day of free practice, focused on finding the best set-up to face the characteristics of Suzuka.

A few more problems for Gabriel Bortoletostopped for most of FP2 due to a gearbox problem, replaced as a precaution. The Brazilian still managed to beat an Alpine and get within a tenth of Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull.

Hülkenberg’s words

“Overall it was a positive Friday“, commented the German. “We had two sessions without a hitch, completed the entire program and laid a good foundation. The car’s performance seems goodis a positive starting point. The midfield seems very compact, it is tighter than in the first two races, so the competition should be very intense on the track. We will analyze everything overnight, but the direction to follow is clear and we have a good base to work on for tomorrow“.

Bortoleto’s words

“It was a bit of a back and forth Friday“, added Bortoleto. “The morning session went smoothly, but we identified a problem in the early stages of FP2 and decided to proceed with a preventative gearbox replacement as the quickest solution to getting back on track. This resulted in a loss of time in the pits, but the team did an incredible job in getting the car back on track and getting me back on track for the end of the session. I would like to thank him, he allowed me to complete some laps and gather useful information“.

Formula 1 lands on the splendid track of Suzuka and gives us a first day full of ideas, although, it must be said, not always exciting. In general terms, somewhat as expected, the Honda track, which has always been super technical and interesting, also highlighted the difficulties of these new cars, partly due to the lack of load in the first sector, but above all due to the many sections where the power is lacking and the braking is decidedly less aggressive than it is nice to see, not to mention, obviously, the slowdown of almost 60 km/h in the transition to the very famous 130R. In the hope that in the long break following the Japanese Grand Prix interventions will be planned to minimize these critical issues, let’s focus on the values ​​on the track, because there are elements of objective interest.

Has McLaren found the Power Unit instructions? A few caveats

Seeing Piastri at the top of the standings immediately raises the question of whether the Woking team has finally understood how to make the most of the Mercedes power unit and the impression is that on the flying lap the progress of the engineers led by Andrea Stella is notable.

Looking at the data we first see one truly explosive power of the MCL40 in the first straight, where Piastri makes a huge difference over everyone else. Overall, throughout the session we saw a papaya car capable of making the most of its energy, especially in the stretch from the last chicane to the first corner, albeit split in two between the start and end of the lap. The gap opened by Piastri on Antonelli, first of the two Mercedes, at the exit of turns 1-2 is actually around four tenths, with the Mercedes itself showing a very conservative attitude in the first sprint throughout the session. From the entrance to the “Snake” section onwards, it is Antonelli who immediately recovers the gapto the point of almost canceling it at the hairpin. In the slow turn 11 and then in the stretch up to Spoon, however, it is the Australian who extends his lead again, showing good traction in his car. The enormous recovery in the long back straight is not enough for Antonelli to grab the first position because once again, exiting the triangle chicane, the McLaren shows a better performancewith Piastri finishing in front thanks to the tenth found in the final stretch. Overall, McLaren shows notable progress in energy management and understanding of the Power Unit, although it uses it in a very different way than Mercedes. Piastri appeared particularly fit, as we hadn’t seen him for a long time, but it cannot be said that the technical difficulties disappeared as if by magic in the McLaren garage, with World Champion Norris having to give up about half the session due to major problems with the propulsion unit. The solidity of McLaren seemed to fail, at least in part, on the race pace front and this is further confirmation of the work on the Mercedes Power Unit, which in fact opens the gap with its rivals especially in the qualifying sessions.

Mercedes already has a set-up in place, to be optimized on the energy front

The one who certainly started off on the right foot was La Mercedes, which already appeared in its ideal operating window from the point of view of the overall set-up of the car. It is clear from the data that in the snake section Antonelli’s pace is unstoppable for his opponents, all supported by very high levels of torque in delicate points, such as the entrance to turn 3 or the climb to turn 7, up to the extension before the Spoon. The Mercedes advantage was then evident on the home straight with the highest top speed (331) and the speed at the braking point of the last chicane still higher (278), demonstrating the usual advantage in the super clipping phase. For now, the Brackley side is lacking a release of energy superior to their opponents on the main straight, we’ll see if this is something that will change in view of qualifying.

Ferrari in difficulty: the engine is missing and the balance is not optimal, but you can fight on race pace

The one who apparently seems to have taken a step back compared to the last few races is the Cavallino team. The set-up brought to the track on the SF-26 did not prove to be up to par with its rivals. The rear of the car was unstable for the entire session and this compromised performance even in the purely chassis sections where the red car hoped to prevail. In the snake, Leclerc’s performance is similar to that of McLaren but decidedly inferior to that of Mercedesalthough the most important shot of the latter is precisely at turn 7 uphill. In the central section of the track Leclerc recovers and comes close to Piastri at the hairpin, but from then on the great criticality of the red emerges on the Power Unit issue, with around half a second left on the track by the Monegasque compared to Piastri throughout the subsequent stretch of pure power. Looking at the repetition of the passages, the impression is one notable lack of thrust from the red enginewhich this time is combined with a basic balance that is certainly not optimal, opening the gap up to the 7-8 tenths seen on the track. The impression is also of an excessive aggressiveness of the SF-26 on the soft tyre, which led the Ferrari duo to struggle with a marked overheating of the soft compounds on the flying lap, which instead appeared much more manageable on the medium and hard compounds at race pace. There is room for improvement on the set-up side, e.g Leclerc and Hamilton’s objective is certainly to confirm themselves as second force, ahead of McLarenat least as far as race pace is concerned, given that on the flying lap it doesn’t seem entirely easy for the SF-26 to keep up with the McLaren, a situation that appeared much more favorable in the short pace simulation carried out. We will therefore see if McLaren will try to compete for a front row seat with Mercedes, and who between Antonelli and Russell will be Wolff’s first standard bearer this weekend. On the other hand, it will be interesting to note from the third free practice whether Ferrari will have found a better set-up that will allow it to overtake the McLaren duo.

 

Hamilton, a worrying radio team

After the first two races of the Formula 1 world championship, Ferrari fans found themselves faced with something new Lewis Hamiltonsmiling and in great harmony with his SF-26. But in the radio team of the FP2 of the Japanese Grand Prix seemed to be affected by Hamilton from last season: “I’m very slow because I don’t have confidence in the car“.A few minutes before the end of the session and with a large gap from the leader Oscar Piastri, the Englishman was unable to contain his frustration and the international directors immediately broadcast his outburst.

Hamilton explains the radio team

Interviewed by the F1 microphones precisely on that radio team, Lewis Hamilton he tried to explain his feelings: “The circuit is extremely challenging and is fantastic to drive, but it’s not easy to find the right balance. I think it’s simply something in the set-up of the carthere were similarities with last year’s sensations. We’re working on it, so I’m confident that overnight we can find something to improve the situation. You need to be able to stay on the rear and feel comfortable knowing that the car will follow you, whereas today I had some spurts and I just wasn’t able to keep up with the others.”.

However, Hamilton tried not to lose his optimism: “Tonight we will do an in-depth analysis and get some interesting data from the simulator. I feel like I have some sort of North Star, it’s just a matter of figuring out how to get there and I’m going to try to figure that out. There’s more potential in the machine, it’s just a matter of understanding how to unlock it and we will focus on this.”

McLaren grows, but Norris suffers

While McLaren takes the Friday cover by leading the second free practice session in Japan, on the Suzuka Lando circuit Norris he lost half an hour in the pits due to a hydraulic problem on the MCL40 (discovered already in FP1 but resolved late). A problem that costs him laps and performancebecause the world champion remains half a second behind and cannot test the race pace in the testing session which is held in conditions more similar to those of the GP.

Norris, despite third place in the first test session, considers Friday in Suzuka to be a bad day and wants to close the gap that separates him from teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris’s words

“It was a difficult day, we weren’t able to do the laps we needed“, this is the comment of #1. “Much of the morning was dedicated to working on the aerodynamics, so the FP1 laps were not really representative. On a track like this, you need laps to gain confidence and fine-tune the set-upand at the moment I’m two or three steps behind considering I haven’t tried long runs“.

“That said, we were eventually able to put some things together and learned something, although not as much as we would have liked“he added.”We will take advantage of the night to rechargeanalyze the data at our disposal and try to correct some aspects, so that we can perform a significant number of laps“.

The first free practice at Suzuka shows a growing McLaren, with a better ability to exploit the Mercedes power unit. The Silver Arrows, however, remain the favorites for the final victorydisputed between Antonelli and Russell, who start the weekend with different approaches. The Ferrari appears to be in more difficulty, accumulating delays on the straights and also in some driven sections, in which the SF-26 suffers from instability.

McLaren’s leap

Friday in Japan ends with Piastri’s MCL40 in front of everyone, while Norris, hampered for half an hour by hydraulic problems, is unable to fully express his potential. The overall picture, however, confirms that McLaren is growing, especially on the energy management front, a field in which the team had already seen progress in China. World champions are slowly closing the gaps in their understanding of the power unitcatching up with Mercedes which, having developed it first-hand, knows better than anyone how to optimize its battery use strategy. This is also why McLaren remains confident that it can compete in the long term, also trusting in the updates for Miami, the first since the debut of the MCL40.

This does not mean that, in the economy of the Grand Prix, there Mercedes remains the favourite. It cannot be ruled out that the slow start of Toto Wolff’s team depends on the late intervention of the FIA ​​in reducing the recoverable energy in qualifying to 8 MJ, messing up the management strategies that the teams had prepared. “I don’t think anyone was able to try them on the simulator, as these were changes introduced a few days ago”, commented Antonelli on Thursday.

The Italian is the fastest of the Mercedes duo, building his lap time differently from Russell. The Briton is more aggressive in the first sector, while Kimi excels in the second half of the lap, with some charge left in the battery to exploit coming out of the last chicane. The impression is that Mercedes is experimenting with different energy strategies, having to understand how to react to the recent intervention of the FIA. “I think some things were not optimized, especially on my side with energy management”confirms Russell. “There are quite large differences between the teams in terms of delivery and optimization throughout the lap. I don’t think we did everything correctly. Fixing it should be relatively simple.”.

Slow and nervous Ferrari

The first news of the day at Ferrari is the absence of the Macarena, the inverted mobile rear wing, which the team initially planned to try again in Japan. However, this change of program is certainly not enough to explain the gap between the SF-26s, which was more than 7 tenths and in line with what was achieved in previous qualifications. The Reds accumulate most of the delay in the second sector and not just due to the lack of horsepower and energy on the straights. Despite expressing good levels of aerodynamic load, the Ferrari appears nervous, unstable and with a dancing rear end, especially in the corners, so much so that Hamilton justifies his slowness with a lack of confidence in the car. Leclerc is also forced to make several corrections, which have repercussions on the temperature of the tires and above all on the battery, since repeated releases and returns to the accelerator increase energy consumption.

The Cavallino will try to make up ground by working on mechanical and aerodynamic balance, with the aim of competing with McLaren for the role of first pursuer. In fact, in the race pace simulations, the Mercedes stand outwith Antonelli slightly faster than Russell, but always with the variable of different energy strategies. Ferrari, for its part, still seems to have something more over the long distance than McLaren, without forgetting the precious advantage that the Red car enjoys at the start.

Race pace simulations

ANTONELLI	RUSSELL	LECLERC	PLATES
Medium, +8 laps	Medium, +9 laps	Medium, +7 laps	Medium, +7 laps
1’34”5	1’34”7	1’35”0	1’34”9
1’34”8	1’34”5	High	1’35”3
1’34”6	1’35”5	1’35”6	1’35”5
1’34”5	1’34”9	1’35”2	High
1’35”3	1’35”5	1’35”3	1’36”2
High	1’34”9	1’35”5	1’36”5
1’34”2	1’35”2	1’36”4	1’36”5
1’35”7			1’35”4

Red Bull in the middle of the group

Red Bull did not go beyond 10th place, despite the updates to the floor and bodywork. Although slow corners, the RB22’s Achilles’ heel, are almost absent at Suzuka, Verstappen continues to complain of strong understeerconfirming that the car’s problems also depend on the aerodynamics and not just on the power unit and overweight. On the other hand, the Milton Keynes team is often capable of making a leap from Friday to Saturday, which is very necessary now to avoid being stuck in the middle of the group.

The fight behind Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari also sees Audi as the protagonist, seventh with Nico Hulkenberg. At Williams, however, encouraging signs are arrivingperhaps thanks to the mechanical changes to the front suspension, after having found in China and Australia a tendency for the car to lift one of the wheels when cornering. It will also be appropriate to follow Haas, who in the first two races have shown that they can constantly fight for points. In any case, at the top as well as at the back, a lot will depend on the performance that the teams manage to find during the night, reprocessing the data to optimize both the set-up and energy management.

The return to command

The FP2 classification of the Japanese GP highlighted the performance of Oscar Piastriauthor of the fastest lap of the session in 1:30.133 ahead of the two Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell. A test that confirmed the good feeling of the McLaren on the Suzuka circuit after FP1, closed behind Mercedes and as the second force on the track, in this case with Piastri behind his teammate Lando Norris.

Not everything at the top

The reigning world champion, however, was less present on the track in FP2 due to a hydraulic leak of the MCL40 which forced him to pit, however completing the session in 4th place after careful repair work by the mechanics of the Woking team which allowed him to return before the checkered flag: “Difficult day, we didn’t do the necessary laps – commented the Briton – at the start of FP2 we weren’t able to do more than one lap at a time, and a lot of the morning was dedicated to aerodynamic work, so the laps we were able to do weren’t very representative. On a track like this, it just takes laps to gain confidence and refine the set-up, and right now we are two or three steps behindwithout long runs and with very few consecutive laps. That said, we ended up putting some things together and learning something, although not as much as we would have liked. We will use the night to reset, analyze the data available to us and try to fix some things so we can do significant laps and get back on track tomorrow.”

Confidence for the next commitments

Piastri’s statements were more positive, however, as he was satisfied with the progress made by the team compared to the last race weekends: “Overall, it was a decent day for us – added the Australian – we felt like we had made good progressespecially in the second free practice session, which was encouraging. The feelings are positive and we have collected valuable data that puts us in a solid position. We know there is still work to do and it is clear that some of our competitors, particularly Mercedes, are very strong. However, the focus is on our performance. We hope to consolidate today’s progress and use this momentum to be even more competitive.”

The wing of discord

The discussion onMercedes front wing and on his problems in the closing phasewhich emerged in China and dismissed as “calculation error“by the FIA, but without sanctioning measures being taken against the silver arrows. At the end of the FP2 of the Japanese GP, the deputy team principal of the Anglo-German team returned to the issue, Bradley Lord. Toto Wolff’s ‘second’ explained that the team used part of today’s two sessions to try to resolve the problems that emerged in China, apparently succeeding in their aim.

“We’ve been working on some reliability issues, trying to get the front wing to work as it should and we focused on that – explained Lord to the microphones of the official F1 channel – today the wing seemed to behave as it should, without problems. We can therefore continue to work on this aspect and continue to improve over the course of the weekend“.

We are all close

Regarding the outcome of today’s two sessions, with Oscar Piastri’s McLaren recording the best time in FP2, the Mercedes deputy team principal underlined how – in his opinion – the balance on the track is increasingly greater between Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari: “We had a solid session and ran through the program, but we’re all very close. Oscar is first in the timesheets and Ferrari is also under attack. It all seems much closer than it did in China two weeks ago“.

“Russell and Antonelli close in terms of performance? I expect to see this all season long – Lord commented – they exchange best times constantly and in any case they work very well together on the setup and on our weaknesses. We always knew that we would all be close (with Ferrari and McLaren) and we had already said it before the first two races. Obviously we were pleased to be ahead in these races, but we know that there is enormous margin for development and that the order of forces on the field can change from race to race“.

The Japanese Grand Prix weekend officially began this Italian morning with the first two free practice sessions, which ended with the best performances of George Russell and Oscar Piastri in FP1 and FP2 respectively. However, precisely in the course of these tests, several finite episodes occurred under investigationsome of which involved riders belonging to top teams.

The first case was that of Lewis Hamiltonguilty of having slowed down Max Verstappen in the 130R at a moment not captured by the international control cameras. The Ferrari driver, however, was later acquitted by the commissioners. ‘No further action’ also for what happened, again during FP1, between Alex Albon and Sergio Perezwith the pilots who however entered in contact at turn 16. In this case, the Mexican did not agree with the presence of the Williams representative, which is why he was not sanctioned. At Williams, no sanctions were issued against either Carlos Sainzguilty at first of having slowed down Liam Lawson.

The latest episode once again occurred against Max Verstappen, this time in FP2, with the Dutchman’s fastest lap ruined by Franco Colapinto just before the 130R, where the Frenchman from Alpine was proceeding slowly. Unlike previous decisions, the Argentine received a ‘warning’, which however is not equivalent to a penalty.