Qualification for the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen, narrowly beating teammate Sergio Pérez.
Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz stood in the second row. The third row belonged to Alonso and Piastri, the fourth to Hamilton and Leclerc, the fifth to Russell and Cunoda.
Race start and accident
After the start, the order at the front did not change. Verstappen already took the lead in the first meters, Pérez kept the second position.
Alex Albon tried to get ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, but he moved slightly to the right and there was contact, after which both ended up in the barrier at the third turn. Due to damaged barriers, red flags were displayed and the race was suspended for half an hour.
Restart
The race management chose a fixed restart and determined the order according to the situation at the end of the first sector. Cunoda suffered from this, dropping from 10th to 12th place behind Hülkenberg and Bottas.
Alonso kept the soft tires for the restart. The Mercedes drivers switched to hard, as did the Alpine and Sargeant drivers.
The order at the top did not change even at the second start. But Leclerc got ahead of Hamilton, which was important because he had medium tires and Hamilton hard.
Norris went to the mechanics at the end of the 11th lap. Hamilton asked the team if they should let Russell in front of him, which eventually happened.
The Red Bull drivers fell behind the non-building drivers after their stops. Leclerc took the lead for a few laps. But Pérez also fell behind Norris, who at that time already had a pit stop behind him. However, the Red Bulls were able to handle all the riders.
Charles Leclerc stayed on track on the medium compound until the middle of the race, which proved to be a great strategy. He entered the pits together with Norris in lap 27/53. But the McLaren driver was building for the second time. The Monaco stayed in front of him and it stayed that way until the end of the race.
Pérez also fell at the second stop, this time not only behind Norris but also behind Leclerc. But he was able to overcome both again.
Sainz built only at the end of the 36th lap and dropped to seventh place behind the Mercedes driver. He overtook Hamilton (even for the second time in the race) and Russell went to the mechanics. Sainz subsequently dealt with Norris and Leclerc let him in front. Ferrari was thus able to get both of its cars ahead of Norris.
On the 42nd lap, Sargeant went off the track. Yellow flags flew on the track. The Williams driver was able to return to the track and subsequently headed to the mechanics for new tyres.
Oscar Piastri caught up with Fernando Alonso in the end. Instead of a duel with him, however, came an attack from Russell. He didn’t make it the first time, but he did in the last lap, and Russell got seventh position thanks to it.
The point for the tenth place was won in Japan in front of the home fans by Júki Cunoda.
Max Verstappen won the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Pérez and Sainz
The results
P. Driver Team Time / lost Laps Points 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 53 25+1 2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 12.535 53 18 3 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 20,866 53 15 4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 26,522 53 12 5 Lando Norris McLaren 29,700 53 10 6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 44,272 53 8 7 George Russell Mercedes 45,951 53 6 8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 47,525 53 4 9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 48,626 53 2 10 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1 lap 52 1 11 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1 lap 52 12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1 lap 52 13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 lap 52 14 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber 1 lap 52 15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1 lap 52 16 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1 lap 52 17 Logan Sargeant Williams 1 lap 52 – Kuan-yu Chou Kick Sauber 12 – Daniel Ricciardo RB 0 – Alexander Albon Williams 0
- Fastest lap of the race: Max Verstappen
- Driver today: Charles Leclerc
Progress
Target:
53/53: Russell ahead of Piastri.
51/53: Fastest lap of the race by Verstappen.
50/53: But instead came a sharp fight with Russell! Piastri had to go off the track.
49/53: Piastri just behind Alonso. The tires are both almost the same age.
47/53: Stroll ahead of Magnussen in 11th place. He has soft tires but Cunoda is still 7.6s ahead of him.
47/53: And the fastest lap of the race taken from Pérez.
46/53: fresher tires, DRS, Sainz fastest in the first sector.
46/53: Sainz ahead of Leclerc.
44/53: Leclerc was ordered not to waste time with Sainz. Racing with Norris.
44/53: Sainz ahead of Norris.
43/53: Sainz overtook Norris.
43/53: Sargeant in the pits, continues but is last.
43/53:
42/53: Sargeant wandered in a duck. His car is pretty dusty, but he keeps going.
42/53: yellow flags…
40/53: Hamilton in the pits.
38/53: Hamilton is overtaken by Sainz (again), Russell in the pits. Now Sainz is 7 seconds ahead of Norris.
37/53: The Spaniard returns to seventh position. A Mercedes driver is in front of him. They will still build, but now they are delaying Sainz.
37/53: Sainz in the pits…
36/53: And Pérez before Leclerc.
35/53: Pérez before Norris.
35/53: Verstappen in the pits. Sainz takes the lead.
34/53: Pérez falls behind both Leclerc and Norris.
34/53: Tsunoda ahead of Hulk in tenth place. Pérez in the pits. Alonso too.
33/53: Piastri in boxes. Leclerc now has Alonso in front of him.
32/53: Sainz loses 5 seconds to Pérez. That’s not bad either. Leclerc’s situation is now complicated by Piastri, whom he overtook.
30/53: Low degradation, good driver and strategy work and suddenly Leclerc is in contention for the podium. Norris will have to overtake him. Sainz will also be in the game towards the end on new tires.
28/53:
27/53: In addition, Norris drove to Russell.
27/53: Leclerc in the pits and Norris heads there for the second time! Both put on hard and Leclerc (more like mechanics) kept ahead of Norris.
26/53: Pérez overtook Leclerc, for whom it increasingly looks like one stop.
24/53: Also Hamilton in the pits. Leclerc is still circling on the medium compound.
23/53: Russell in the pits. Also Magnussen, Bottas, Sargeant, Cunoda, Stroll.
23/53: Pérez has newer and softer (medium vs. hard)p tires. So he didn’t have a hard time… he comes in third.
22/53: Alonso overtook Hamilton, who is asking the team for a different strategy. Pérez overtook Norris.
21/53: Verstappen ahead of Leclerc.
19/53: Sainz overtook Hamilton. The Mercedes drivers, Leclerc, Magnussen, Sargeant and Ocon did not build.
18/53: Pérez ahead of Russell. But he had already lost 2.7s to Norris, who was building.
17/53: Leclerc, who had not built yet, took the lead.
17/53: Both Pérez and Sainz switched to medium again. Pérez is 2.4 seconds behind Norris. Verstappen in the pits.
16/53: Pérez, Sainz in the pits.
15/53: Chou retired due to gearbox problems.
14/53: Hamilton releases Russell. Hamilton asked the team if they should let Russell go. Then came the order to change positions…
13/53: Piastri, Stroll in the pits.
12/53: Norris in the pits…
11/53: Sargeant moves up to 13th ahead of Gasly.
10/53: But Alonso is running out of soft tires, so Piastri could now use DRS.
9/53: In the top ten, it is the closest between Piastre and Leclerc. A Monacan is looking for a recipe for an Australian youngster…
8/53: Hulk, Bottas, Chou, Cunoda were in the pits.
6/53: Pérez is already 2 seconds behind Verstappen. Lest he… he went off the track for a moment under the bridge.
6/53: According to Ocon, there was contact with Gasly’s car at the start.
5/53: Russell before Cunoda.
5/53:
4/53: Yes, Cunoda even ahead of Russell in ninth place.
4/53: So with Cunoda it should be a problem with the transponder rather than a drop in the ranking.
3/53: Start number 2. No change at the front, Leclerc fights with Hamilton and goes ahead of him. Tsunoda fell to the end of the field.
7:32: Looks like Alonso kept the soft tires. But the Mercedes drivers switched to hard. Also Alpine and Sargeant riders.
7:32: The riders make their way from the pit lane back to the starting grid.
7:22: Estimated order:
7.20am: the race will restart at 7.32am
7:18: Since the drivers did not complete a lap, we expected for the restart the order that was at the first start (without Albon and Ricciardo). But no… according to race directorate, the riders will line up as they were at the end of the first sector. Strange….
7:16: The stewards awoke to note the accident. We are waiting for a (re)start from fixed positions.
7:12: Thus, the repair of barriers takes place quite quickly.
7:09: We remind you that Williams does not have a replacement chassis.
7:07: Albon tried to get in front of Ricciardo, but he moved a little to the right. There was a small contact… and we can see it further in the barriers.
1/53: Big crash, red flags… Ricciardo and Albon crash. Riders ok, the tire barriers are seriously damaged. This will be a long time…
Start: Verstappen takes first place and drives away. Pérez second, Norris third. Red flag.
7:00: The riders go for the warm-up lap.
6:58: Alonso is the only one of the top ten (or eleven) who will start on soft.
6:56: Tires for the start:
- Soft: Alonso, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon, Ocon, Stroll, Gasly, Sargeant
- Medium: others
- Hard: nobody
6:45: Starting grid
Mr. Jezdec Team Note. 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 3 Lando Norris McLaren 4 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 9 George Russell Mercedes 10 Júki Cunoda RB 11 Daniel Ricciardo RB 12 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 13 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber 14 Alexander Albon Williams 15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 19 Logan Sargeant Williams 20 Kuan-ju Chou Kick Sauber
6:44: Pérez will start the race alongside Verstappen, who lost only a few hundredths to him in qualifying. Lando Norris will start from third place and Carlos Sainz from fourth. Unless something extraordinary happens, it will be a fight for third place between Ferrari and McLaren.
But Pérez said that Red Bull does not have such a strong race pace. In the second practice there was basically no driving, so we don’t know…
6:40: Strategy: Considering the higher degradation, two pit stops are expected.
6:38: Verstappen will be gunning for a third Suzuka victory in a row. Of the current drivers, Hamilton won the most here (4 times). Alonso and Bottas won here once.
6:34: In Suzuka, a driver won 17 times after starting from pole position (51%), 11 times after starting from second place. Overall, after starting from the front row, the driver won 85% of the time. He only won five times after starting outside the front row.
6:31: Now everyone on the starting grid, where we see some Japanese equivalent of the Haka dance.
6:27: It’s no wonder we’re seeing more runs before hitting the grid. Or so it affects us. Some even went into the pits.
6:22: The situation in Suzuka has changed significantly. It was cloudy on Friday and Saturday, and it even rained on Friday. The track temperature was around 25 to 27 degrees. Now the sun is shining, there will be no rain and the track temperature is 40 degrees according to the live timing! This will increase the degradation, which should already be high.
6:20: Riders take to the track.
6:20: Welcome to the 2024 Japan GP online broadcast.
