Formula One arrived this week for its 36th visit to the Suzuka circuit which many of the drivers’ cite as their favourite track. Its an old school venue with a narrower track than its modern equivalents, with small run off areas and super high speed cornering.

Friday practice was curtailed as the rain came for Free Practice Two with Max Verstappen setting the fastest time in the dry FP1 with a 1:30:056 – over a second and a half quicker than the comparable session held last year.

 

 

 

Suzuka lap times reveal….

The F1 race in Japan has been moved from its historic slot of Autumn on the F1 calendar and the result was track temperatures were around ten degrees cooler than the last time the teams visited. Despite this the teams are watching the timing sheets closely because with only a small amount of in season development brought thus far, the lap time improvements are mostly from the new car designs implemented over the winter.

Red Bull did bring four upgrades to the fourth round of the year which may in part account for Verstappen smashing the FP1 time set from his last visit. Aston Martin appear to have made progress as Fernando Alonso set an FP1 time over two seconds faster than he did last September, closing the gap to Max by over half a second.

There’s been huge interest in the Aston Martin team in recent weeks following the in fighting at Red Bull, Autosport reported team boss Lawrence Stroll had made an “astronomical” offer for Adrian Newey to leave his role Milton Keynes and move to take charge of the Silverstone team.

Aston Martin F1 were recently joined the the ousted Bob Bell from Alpine F1 and he sits alongside ex-Red Bull design guru Dan Fallows, Tom McCullough and Luca Furbatto – who all report into team principal Mike Krack.

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Aston Martin deny Newey offer

The Silverstone based team has not hit the highs of the early part of last season which saw Fernando Alonso claim six podiums in the first seven races. They do however sit just one point behind Mercedes following the silver arrows failing to score in Melbourne. Though once again after three rounds so far the majority of the Aston Martin haul of points is down to Fernando Alonso (16) following Lance Stroll’s mistake which resulted in a dramatic crash into the barriers in Saudi Arabia which saw the Canadian register his first DNF of the year.

The press were keen to find out the Aston Martin angle on the reported Newey mega offer and Sky F1 presenter Rachael Brooks was first to pop the question to Mike Krack. When asked if there was any truth to the published claims, he was blunt, replying “No.”

“Look, we have a very strong technical team. With Dan, with Tom, with Luca, we were joined lately by Bob Bell, so we’re quite happy with what we have at the moment.”

Fallows who had a nigh on twenty year career in Milton Keynes, left for Aston Martin in April 2022. His role alongside Newey was significant and so Red Bull forced him to serve his full notice on garden leave, although skeptics will suggest the new found pace at Aston under the new ground effect rules had the hallmarks of an Adrian Newey design before even Fallows arrived.

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Verstappen confident

The killing of the ‘Newey to Aston’ rumour will no doubt see Max Verstappen relieved as the F1 world champion had faced difficult questions on the topic last time out in Australia.

“We have a lot of people working on the car right, so it’s a whole team effort that has to come together,” Max said ahead of the Japanese GP. 

“Everyone’s ideas get taken into account and you build the car that we have today, so yeah for sure, having someone part of the team like Adrian, I think it’s a massive boost for everyone and many people work together to achieve the car we have today.”

Having arrived in Japan, Max was again cornered with questions over Newey’s intentions, but he was adamant that “nobody” within the team was concerned their design guru was on his way out of Milton Keynes.

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Sainz says Ferrari are closer

Verstappen did concede at the height of the Red Bull drama in Jeddah, the unity within the Red Bull team was shaken.

“Two weeks back, though?” he said. “That may be. But some people also read a lot, I don’t. And I think in general that does help. That’s what I do try to tell people, yes, that they better not read it all for a while, certain things. And if there are any questions, anyone in the team can always call me.”

As the timesheets suggested, Ferrari have indeed closed the gap to Red Bull racing and Melbourne Grand Prix winner, Carlos Sainz, was clearly happy.  

“FP1 was a bit closer to the Red Bulls than I anticipated or expected, so positive signs from five months ago [in Japan] to now,” Sainz said. “Still obviously, it’s FP1 and you don’t know what fuel loads and engine modes they’re running.

“Last year we were eight-tenths off in qualifying and here, to be two-tenths off in FP1 is a good feeling and a good starting base. But they are going to be difficult to beat this weekend.”

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Hamilton tells Mercedes not to recruit Alonso

Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes after twelve Formula One seasons racing with them has left a prized seat available with the eight time world championship winning team. Despite Mercedes failing to conquer the “physics” of the new ground effect F1 cars, they have finished second and third in the title race since the new FIA regulations were enacted for 2022.

Whether the Brackley based squad can match either of those results this season, is yet to be seen, but after just three outings the former world champions seem to be off the pace of both Ferrari and McLaren and currently sit just one point ahead of Aston Martin in fifth place… READ MORE