Disrupted Friday sets stage for scintillating Saturday at Suzuka

The Formula 1 fans of Japan encapsulate everything best about the sport’s fandom perhaps better than any other nation.

From their deep appreciation and knowledge of the history of the sport to their incredible creativity on display in the grandstands and in how they show respect and admiration for all drivers throughout the field, it’s no wonder the Japanese Grand Prix is an event loved by drivers and teams alike.

Which is why it is such an injustice that circumstances conspired against the thousands who attended Friday’s practice day at the circuit, left watching on as just five of the 20 drivers completed any kind of timed lap. A combination of restricted wet weather tyres and a track which was neither wet enough for intermediates, nor sufficiently dry enough for drivers to risk running meant that only the earlier opening practice session was of any significance.

Although it may have been a hard deal for the fans who arrived at Suzuka to watching the fastest cars in the world in action, Friday’s virtual washout could actually make qualifying day – and the grand prix itself – more exciting as a result. Teams will head into Saturday with just an hour of meaningful practice under their belts and far less data to use than they would have otherwise expected.

Despite the disruption, Max Verstappenand Red Bull still set the pace in the early session – a 1’30.056 on the soft compound. That was almost two tenths of a second faster than team mate Sergio Perez and just over two tenths quicker than Australian Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz Jnr in the fastest Ferrari. Verstappen described it as a “good start” to his weekend, but was conscious of the relatively small gap to the Ferraris and Mercedes behind.

“In general, it looks like everyone is a bit closer compared to last year and I don’t expect the same kind of gaps here at this track,” he said.

Sainz was also surprised by how relatively close he was to the world champion in the only worthwhile session of the day.

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“Honestly [we’re] a bit closer to the Red Bulls than I anticipated or expected,” said the Ferrari driver. “So it’s positive signs in terms of progress made from five months ago to now.

“Still, it’s obviously FP1 – you don’t know what fuel loads and engine modes they are running. Obviously last year we were eight tenths off in quali and here to be two tenths off in FP1 was a good feeling or a good starting base. But they’re going to be difficult to beat this weekend.”

This weekend is unusual in that rather than having 12 months’ of development to compare to in the lap times, the move to an April race date means that the last round in Suzuka was just six months ago. In that time, Verstappen improved on his own best time from the 2023 opening practice session by an incredible 1.5 seconds.

While some of that could be explained by the far cooler ambient and track temperatures compared with September, the key difference is that Verstappen was up to 15kph faster through the Esses in the first sector than at the start of last year’s Japanese Grand Prix weekend. However, Sainz’s hunch that the Red Bulls might not be running at maximum power unit capacity is supported by Verstappen’s top speed, which was almost 10kph slower at the end of the straights than on his fastest first practice lap last year.

Heading into qualifying, which should be dry without a significant risk of rain, it looks like Q3 could be as competitive as it has been at any point in the early phase of this new season. Mercedes have been out of touch with Red Bull and Ferrari so far, but the colder conditions are clearly kinder to the W15, and helped George Russell and Lewis Hamilton lap within half a second of Verstappen.

After a double podium finish at Suzuka in 2023, McLaren too were likely faster than they appear on the timesheets alone on Friday. Logan Sargeant’s crash in the middle of the session disrupted both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s laps on the soft tyre and Norris seems confident in the car’s potential over the rest of the weekend.

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“While I was on my best lap, the red flag came out and then the tyres drop off a lot on the second lap,” Norris explained.

“So I think we’re in a good position, probably around the third quickest team. But very, very close with us, Mercedes and Aston Martin – so kind of as you would expect – and Ferrari and Red Bull too far ahead. So I’m sure maybe it can narrow down a little bit into tomorrow but I think so far, probably as we expected and as it’s been all year.”

As a classic circuit, with fast turns and old-fashioned gravel traps galore, Suzuka often produces one of the more intense qualifying hours of the season. The track sees a frequency of red flag interventions that is much higher than average, as mistakes made at the limit will often result in crashes – just as Sargeant proved out of the final corner in Q1 back in September.

With another close field at the front, a punishing quick race track and teams not as dialled in on their set-ups as they would otherwise prefer to be, the ingredients seem to be in place for a genuinely exciting qualifying day. Which is exactly what the Japanese fans deserve after Friday’s disappointment.

Combined practice times

P.	#	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’30.056			18
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’30.237		0.181	18
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’30.269	No time	0.213	23
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’30.530		0.474	18
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’30.543	1’35.226	0.487	29
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’30.558	1’38.760	0.502	22
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’30.599		0.543	20
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’31.165	1’34.725	1.109	30
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1’31.230	1’40.946	1.174	28
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’31.240	No time	1.184	25
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’31.935	No time	1.879	22
12	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’31.943	No time	1.887	23
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’31.958	No time	1.902	24
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	1’32.054	No time	1.998	24
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’32.055		1.999	17
16	40	Ayumu Iwasa	RB-Honda RBPT	1’32.103		2.047	22
17	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’32.277		2.221	23
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	1’32.638	No time	2.582	25
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’32.803	No time	2.747	25
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’33.204		3.148	10
21	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT		1’41.913	11.857	9

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Teams’ progress vs 2023

2024 Japanese Grand Prix

• “Am I in a race here or what?”: How Ferrari aced their Suzuka strategies
• Suzuka showed Mercedes “have a more stable platform” now
• Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car” – Sainz
• Tsunoda ‘at Verstappen and Alonso’s level’ with Suzuka performance – Marko
• Japan was first race where Red Bull’s winning margin was bigger than last year

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