With an exceptional weekend at Suzuka Circuit in Japan, Red Bull Racing claimed their second consecutive constructors’ title with Max Verstappen’s win. McLaren had a dominant weekend with a double podium after skidding in last week’s race, while Ferrari cooled off, finishing P4 and P6. The other top team, Mercedes, made another bad strategy call and cost themselves a couple of points in the constructors’ standings. Finally, Williams’ struggles continued through the weekend and AlphaTauri made some interesting moves going into the next season.
Red Bull finally clinched their constructors’ championship, which seemed inevitable early on in the season. It wasn’t a perfect weekend for the team, though. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez finished the day with a DNF after crashing multiple times in the opening laps and picking up two five-second penalties, so Verstappen’s 26 points helped carry Red Bull to the title this weekend. Verstappen himself has a chance to win the drivers’ championship during the next race weekend. Depending on the results of the Saturday sprint race in Qatar, he could win before the Sunday race even begins. Unless Perez starts to score more consistent points, he is at risk of being passed by Lewis Hamilton who has shown his immense talent in a below-average car this season. While the team’s championship win seemed to be a long time coming, Ferrari and Mercedes are still fighting for second place.
McLaren had the best weekend in terms of driver and car performance at Suzuka. Lando Norris finished P2 for the fourth time this season and showed incredible pace around the high-speed Japanese track. Oscar Piastri, the 21-year-old McLaren rookie, took home his first trophy and made his first podium appearance in Formula 1. After qualifying P2 on Saturday, he made a run at Verstappen in the first turn, but ultimately backed out and lost a position to Norris. Despite never racing at the Suzuka Circuit, arguably one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar, Piastri showed his resilience and helped McLaren creep up in the standings.
After incredible results in Singapore, Ferrari struggled with pace in Japan and couldn’t match the performance of the upgraded McLarens. Carlos Sainz, last week’s race winner, qualified sixth while Charles Leclerc qualified fourth. Leclerc was essentially racing Mercedes driver George Russel during the last half of the race, and passed him on fresh tires while holding off Hamilton behind. Sainz also made a move on Russell near the end of the race, but couldn’t catch Hamilton despite only being less than a second behind. Ferrari gained two points over Mercedes in the standings, but still remained behind after Mercedes’ improvements in the second half of the season.
P5 and P7 weren’t bad results for Mercedes, but another bad strategy call potentially cost them fourth and sixth place. Instead of the Mercedes drivers working together to give each other DRS (drag reduction system) and defend from Carlos Sainz behind, they decided to switch the drivers because Hamilton was lapping faster. Although this strategy call only cost them two points, it certainly could shake out to be what makes the difference at the end of the season because of how close the two teams are in the standings.
At his home race, AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda finished in P12, right behind his temporary teammate Liam Lawson. Daniel Ricciardo is expected to return after his wrist injury in time for the Qatar Grand Prix on October 6, even though Lawson has put together incredible performances for the last-place team. At the beginning of the weekend, it was announced that Tsunoda and Ricciardo would return to the team next season, meaning Lawson would have to find a seat with a different team. He’s demonstrated too much talent to remain on the pitwall, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see some changes over the winter.
Williams Racing had a difficult weekend, with a double-DNF after Logan Sargeant’s floor damage and an issue with Alex Albon’s car. Sargeant is the only driver remaining to not have signed a contract for next year, and while rumors point to his return to Williams, Lawson is a proven candidate for an F1 seat. After a promising couple of qualifying sessions, Sargeant is struggling to finish races or finish within the points-scoring positions. There have to be some doubts swirling around the paddock about the final seat and Sargeant’s return.
With Red Bull firmly at the top, Ferrari and Mercedes race for second place in the standings, which would provide a greater monetary bonus than third place. Further down the rankings, McLaren is approaching Aston Martin, who have struggled since Fernando Alonso’s hot start to the season. With only six races remaining, the top four teams will look to climb as high as they can up the standings.
