It may have been a return to business as usual out front with Red Bull securing their third 1-2 finish of the season, but fans were treated to a largely entertaining race at Suzuka. Find out who starred and those who faltered in the report cards from round 4 of the 2024 season:
Top of the class:
Yuki Tsunoda – Qualifying: 10th | Race: 10th
Yuki followed an excellent P7 in Australia up with his first point at his home race, becoming the first Japanese driver since Kamui Kobayashi in 2012 to achieve this. He did so with a superbly executed race post the red flag.
The VCARB team opted to start on hard tyres, which was not their finest move as Tsunoda and teammate Ricciardo were sluggish as the lights went out. Both ended up losing positions, but with the race red flagged Yuki was able to give it a second go.
Yuki made up places and snuck back into the fringes of the top 10 with a strong restart and some beautiful overtakes, including both Alpines and Nico Hülkenberg in the Esses.
His mechanics pulled off a stellar second stop when a chain of six cars all came into the pit together, it was Yuki who led them out and it enabled him to come home P10 which is arguably the maximum he could achieve.
Tsunoda is 4-0 up the qualifying head-to-head and 3-1 to the good in races against Daniel and the momentum is firmly with the #22 side of the garage.
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 3rd
Ferrari’s qualifying pace was clearly lacking on Saturday as neither Sainz nor teammate Leclerc would challenge for pole, but their race pace runs in Friday Practice were far more promising.
It was Carlos who led the way again for the Scuderia, lining up on row 2. A long second stint left Sainz with a handy tyre advantage in the closing laps as he was able to pick off Lando Norris and later teammate Leclerc to once again take a podium finish.
Carlos finds himself just four points behind Leclerc despite missing the Saudi Arabian round, he’s certainly doing his chances no harm in finding a drive for next season.
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 1st | Race: 1st (+FL)
The margins may have been smaller than recent races – less than a tenth in qualifying and around 12 seconds when the chequered flag was thrown, yet the reigning Champion was in dominant form around Suzuka once more.
The Dutchman topped all three sessions of qualifying, controlled proceedings pretty much from lights to flag and took the fastest lap. There wasn’t much the rest of the field could do, it feels strange not to have lots of words of praise but I guess it’s such a formality I’m running out of adjectives to summarise.
In spite of the DNF in Australia he still has a 13-point lead and with Sergio still not in the picture to fight at the front, the gap will just continue to grow.
The honourable mention of the day goes to Fernando Alonso. Some strategic driving that didn’t get penalised this time helped him fend off both McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell in the final stages of the race.
Aston Martin may be in a fight with Mercedes for the 4th best car, but finishing ahead of a McLaren deserves extra credit as Alonso placed his car further up than it should be finishing. A haul of 8 points moves him level with George for P7 in the early standings.
The struggle bus:
Williams
Logan Sargeant – Qualifying: 19th | Race: 17th
Alexander Albon – Qualifying: 14th | Race: DNF
The team arrived in Japan with two cars, had to repair one after a heavy crash on Friday and left the track after the race with one functioning and the other facing a hefty repair job. It was yet another horror show for Williams.
Logan was on just his second lap in FP1, using the repaired chassis formerly used by Albon, before running into the gravel and the barriers at Dunlop Curve. He sat out FP2 and at least was able to participate on Saturday.
There was little to celebrate though, another Q1 exit followed by a lowly P17 in the race after narrowly missing the barrier when he took a trip through the gravel at the second Degner (turn 9).
Albon may have got into Q2 but his race lasted just three corners when an over-optimistic move around the outside of Daniel Ricciardo ended in a shunt into the barriers, bringing out the red flag.
With zero points and already suffering $2 million in damages in just four races, it’s going to be a long slog for Williams at this rate.
Daniel Ricciardo – Qualifying: 11th | Race: DNF
The Australian has had a pretty disastrous start to 2024, and found himself on the wrong side of the headlines once more, as a lap 1 tangle meant his race was run after less than a mile.
A terrible start saw him slip to 13th, after which he took his line into turn three, where he made contact with Albon and crashed into the barriers. With Yuki scoring a point and finding himself among the top of the class, this was the worst possible result for the Aussie.
Finding the positives, he has sliced that qualifying deficit to Tsunoda from Australia, but he really needs to start getting some points on the board. As the F1 directors like to point out, Liam Lawson is waiting for that call-up, and you get the feeling it may come very soon if Ricciardo doesn’t improve.
Lance Stroll – Qualifying: 16th | Race: 12th
There is a clear gulf between Aston Martin/Mercedes and the midfield pack, which means Lance should look to be scoring points at every round, but it didn’t work out that way in Suzuka.
A disappointing qualifying consigned him to a first Q1 exit of the season, whilst teammate Alonso was 11 places further up on the grid and three-quarters of a second faster in the first segment of Saturday’s session.
The Canadian made up ground after the restart in Sunday’s race and was fighting Tsunoda for P10. He was gambling on a third post-red flag stop, as he couldn’t make the soft tyres last to the end. Meaning the Canadian fell behind Hulkenberg to finish 12th.
It’s especially disappointing since Aston brought updates to this race yet Stoll still slipped down the field.
Today’s dishonourable mention goes to Alpine. Their first small upgrade of the season didn’t really change the team’s fortunes, as both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly sunk through the field on race day after promising starts. They were sitting ducks with their lack of engine power and a poor strategy compiling the team’s woes. At least Ocon got comfortably into Q2 this round.
The paddock (minus Williams) will enjoy another little break before heading to the Shanghai International Circuit in China for round five. What better way to prepare drivers on a track that hasn’t featured on the calendar in five years is, of course, to make it a Sprint Round.
There’s just one Free Practice session to get dialled in so expect a bit of a jumbled order. The Sprint Race takes place at 4 am Saturday 20th April whilst the race is at 8 am on Sunday 21st April, which will feel like a lie-in for fans in the UK.