Kon’nichiwa Suzuka. F1 is back in the land of the rising sun. This weekend, Formula One was racing in Japan for the first time since 2019. To say that it was an exciting weekend would be an understatement. Between rain, crashes, and confusion over a world championship, this weekend at the Suzuka Circuit was a fun one for F1 fans.
The 2023 Grid takes shape
On top of the rain and the actual racing, this weekend was key for 2023 drivers’ announcements. And no announcements. On Saturday morning, those of us in Europe woke up to some exciting announcements. To start with, Alpine announced that Pierre Gasly would be joining them from 2023 on a multiyear contract.
This was very exciting for the French team. They will soon feature a fully French driver lineup in the form of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. As it was announced over the summer, Fernando Alonso will be leaving the team to join Aston Martin, replacing four-time World Drivers Champion Sebastian Vettel.
As Gasly moves on to Alpine, he leaves behind the Red Bull family. Therefore, another seat freed up. And Alpha Tauri quickly announced that Nyck de Vries would be filling that spot. The Dutchman has had a fantastic start to his Formula 1 career in Monza.
In his first Grand Prix, he came home in P8 already scoring points. This young man clearly has a bright future in Formula 1. However, that does mean we will be saying goodbye to the Pierre-Yuki friendship that we all loved. But just as Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris parted ways, we can be sure that we will see them reunite in the paddock.
In some sadder news, Daniel Ricciardo announced that he is now very unlikely to be on the grid in 2023. Whoever is or is not on the grid, it will be a season to watch.
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Wet and wild race
After an exciting Saturday of driver announcements, Sunday was bound to be just as exciting. Well, however excited you can be for a Formula 1 race at 6:00am on Sunday morning. After the tough wake-up call, and a cup of coffee in hand to keep us awake, it was lights out and away we went. Or so we thought.
Charles Leclerc got a good start over Max Verstappen. But the Dutchman continued strong in the rainy conditions. Sebastian Vettel, who showed everyone that he wasn’t done on Saturday, had an unlucky collision with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. The Aston Martin and Alpine collided and sent Vettel in a spin and off the track.
Luckily, Sebastian was able to regain control of the car and rejoin the pack. Alonso barely realised it if we’re being honest. However, the action on lap one was not over. Indeed, just around turn 11 it seemed as if Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) suffered aqua planning, lost control of the car and ended up crashing on the barriers.
At the same time, Alex Albon suffered a problem with his radiator causing him to also stop on the track. The safety car was brought out but quickly a red flag was brought out. Race suspended and all cars returned to the pit lane. It was explained that the red flag was brought out in part because of the cars on the track and partly because of the horrendous conditions on the track.
From then on the race direction tried to restart the race but in futile attempts. Finally, at nearly 8:00am GMT a restart was announced. The drivers would start behind the safety car and would race for the remaining 40 minutes of the three-hour race timer.
Max Verstappen wins in Suzuka
Whilst it was only a matter of weeks before Max Verstappen would be crowned World Drivers Champion, it is Charles Leclerc’s 5 second time penalty that eventually put the dutchman above. Indeed, towards the end it was a battle between Checo Perez (Red Bull) and Leclerc. Gaining an ‘unfair advantage’ Leclerc was handed out a 5 second penalty. This promoted Perez to P2 and Leclerc to P3. Not ideal.
Instead of 53 laps, the drivers only drove 23. Therefore the battle was short. So short that no one was expecting the FIA to give full points to the drivers. With all the excitement many wondered: is Max a two time world champ? No one really knew. Not the drivers, not Verstappen.
However, it shortly came out that Max Verstappen was indeed being given full points and therefore winning the championship. Not as exciting as last year. But Verstappen’s 2nd win is clouded in confusion and controversy. A little like his 1st.
But he still is a 2 time world champion according to the FIA. We can expect Red Bull and Max to spend the evening celebrating. Whilst Max will celebrate other teams will pack up ready for the next race. A fan favourite, it’s the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Who will cling second place? Who will bring home the constructors championship? Four races left in this season and we are excited to see what else will happen.
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