The 2025 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix was overshadowed by the news that Yuki Tsunoda had been promoted to a car capable of winning races. The Japanese crowds turned out in force to see their favourite racing son with in Tokyo during the week and in Suzuka for the racing.

Yuki was building well into his driving of the tricky RB21 and in practice was just a tenth behind team mate Max Verstappen. Again in Q1 Tsunoda was a tenth shy of Max, but s strange decision by Red Bull to send their Japanese driver out on used soft tyres at the start of Q2 was the beginning of his troubles.

A used set of soft tyres was never going to allow Yuki to set a time good enough to progress and so he had one shot at the end of the session to put it all together. The lap was gone before Tsunoda really started. A mistake at the final chicken compromised the start of the run then a gust in turn two causing a snap of oversteer on the car, meant Yuki would not make it to the top[ ten shootout, despite significant early promise.

 

 

 

Suzuka obsessed with Tsunoda

The fairly tale was not to be and the Japanese fans wait another year for their first Japanese driver to win the Grand Prix in Suzuka. Meanwhile other important issues were being worked through across the weekend including Jack Doohan after a less than impressive start to his F1 career.

In what seemed an unfair deal of the cards from Alpine, Doohan was forced to sit out FP1 in favour of Alpine’s junior Rio Haryanto. Of course while Suzuka is a nice treat for their Japanese reserve driver, the team should be prioritising the familiarisation of their full time Aussie rookie signed for 2025.

Come practice two and Doohan was clearly trying to familiarise himself with some cockpit changes or anomalies and on his fourth lap of the day the Alpine driver left open his DRS into turn one, causing a huge loss of downforce and a crash into the barrier estimated at 185mph. Clearly a driver mistake and Doohan refused to answer questions on the matter later in the paddock.

Whilst everyone else was fine tuning their setup for qualifying, in practice three it was about getting some miles in for the Aussie. Yet mechanical issues related to his huge crash again surfaced meaning Doohan could only manage 15 laps before the chequered flag.

Fantastic news for Michael Schumacher

 

 

 

Doohan rookie DRS mistake

Only Lance Stroll who had a big moment in the Esses was slower than Doohan in qualifying and come race day it was to be more frustration for the Alpine driver. Whilst he came home in a respectable P15 he was almost 20 seconds slower than team mate Pierre Gasly in the same car.

More ominous for the son of the world biking champion Mick, was the fact that Franco Colapinto was absent from the Alpine garage in Japan. Colapinto was released by Williams over the winter as team boss James Vowles confirmed he had a better chance getting grand prix experience at Alpine than he did at Williams.

News has it, that Franco was in fact testing a previous car with Alpine following his duties in the simulator on Friday night which were focused on finding the best setup for Doohan and Gasly. Images have emerged of the TPC which Colapinto undertook and now the speculation is under way as to why Alpine were doing this now.

Testing of Previous cars is how teams prepare their drivers for imminent full time F1 service. With Doohan under threat and allegedly holding just a five or six race contract with Alpine for the start of this season, Franco’s outing in Monza is surely preparation for the team’s own driver swap, as famed by Red Bull.

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Doohan: “Not certain to be at next race”

Former F1 driver and Sky Germany pundit, Ralf Schumacher, believes there are moves to oust Doohan before even five or six rounds of this year have been completed. Speaking of the increasing rumours of a driver swap with Doohan out, Schumacher reveals, “It’s being driven by his own team, but also by his driving. He (Doohan) makes a lot of mistakes and isn’t fast enough. We saw Ryo Hirakawa get in that car in the first practice session and was right on par with Pierre Gasly. Then Doohan got in and made that huge mistake.

“At the moment, he’s overwhelmed by the situation. I’m curious to see what happens, but he’s not certain to be at the next race.”

The rumours are powered by a number comments made by Alpine special advisor Flavio Briatore, who is the de facto team principal with Oliver Oakes a figure head. Before the season began Briatore was quoted in Italian publication Courier della Sera saying that Doohan’s future ws not secure.

“Doohan starts [the season],” he said, “then there will be a review of where we are,” said the Italian. Yt in Japan Oliver Oakes tried to play matters down saying, “He’s staying,” when asked about Doohan. “It’s a clear yes. He’s with us. There’s a lot of pressure on him, but he’s taking it well. My message is to leave him alone.”

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Colapinto absence to prepare for Alpine F1 drive

As for Franco Colapinto, he is focused on one thing at present which is challenging at Alpine for a full time F1 race seat. “I’m an Alpine driver,” he told the Nude Project podcast. “I have a contract with them. I’m working hard and hoping for an opportunity with this team. They went out of their way to bring me in.”

Colapinto of Argentina now carries the hopes of a continent that produced the greats of Senna, Fangio and Fittipaldi. Franco’s following across the Latin world is growing each day and his commercial sponsorship values are eye watering for any team who recruits his services.

Doohan did look deflated at the end of the race in Japan, and maybe it would be a relief to be absent from Bahrain this weekend. Jack knows the high level of competition and the talent around him and with the likes of Antonelli, Hadjar and Colapinto all having excelled, the progress of the Aussie looks to be slow. With Red Bull having taken all the flack for ditching their driver Liam Lawson after just two race weekends, Alpine would be likely to fly more under the radar were they to make a similar change.

Franco Colapinto was honing his skills in a modern F1 car during TPC testing, with the goal set to be replacing Doohan as soon as possible. Meanwhile Jack Doohan appeared too exhausted to get out of his car at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix and was helped by a mechanic.

McLaren safe strategy lacks ‘winning mentality’

 

 

 

 

Red Bull short term strategy

The start to the 2025 Formula One season for Red Bull Racing is in stark contrast to the previous two campaigns. After three rounds in 2023 the team had almost double the points of Aston Martin in second place. Last year Max had brake failure in Australia and did not finish, yet both he and the team led in both championships as they headed into round four.

This year things are much worse for Red Bull with them having a 50 point deficit to McLaren who lead the constructors’ and a 14 point gap to Mercedes ahead, yet in terms of their ambition for this year, Verstappen is in the ball game.

The 8 point deficit Max took into this year’s Japanese Grand Prix could easily have become 18 had qualifying and the race gone to form and delivered a McLaren 1-2. It is almost universally accepted in the paddock that McLaren have the quickest F1 car at present with most analysts having the pace advantage between 2 and 3 tenths of a second…. READ MORE