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Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka
Dates: April 5-7
Coverage: Live radio watch on BBC Radio Five Sports Extra (BBC Radio Five Live for Sunday’s race) and BBC Sounds, BBC Sport’s online page and app.
Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes had its “best query of the year” at Friday’s consultation at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The seven-time champion finished fifth, team-mate George Russell fourth, just under 0. 5sec behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Times were fixed at the first consultation, while the second consultation became irrelevant due to rainy conditions.
Hamilton said: “It was a very smart session, the most productive feeling of the car this year.
Mercedes expects to struggle at Suzuka as its demanding speed is expected to reveal the car’s limitations in high-speed corners.
Mercedes wonders why the car produces less downforce on the track than its simulations suggest.
Hamilton said: “It was positive. I was excited, because it’s a circuit that all drivers like to drive and in the last few years we’ve had a tricky car and a balance to drive here. “
“And considering the last few difficult races we’ve had, it’s been a wonderful task and it looks like we’ve touched the ground in a better place, so I haven’t made any changes. “
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Japanese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Schedules
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Russell, who is 0. 013sec quicker than Hamilton, said the car’s functionality was “a pleasant surprise”.
Mercedes’ struggles this season have led team principal Toto Wolff to abandon his plans to miss the race. He will compete for the first time in three seasons.
“I had planned not to come to Japan because there are so many things to do in Europe,” Wolff said. “But then I felt that not coming to Japan was a bad choice. I think it’s vital to be with the race team as well. “”It feels smart to be around the action. “
“We’re experimenting with some things and being part of the team gives me energy. I hope it’s the other way around as well. “
Verstappen leads Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez by 0. 181sec, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, winner of the last race in Australia, is 0. 213sec off the lead.
Behind the Mercedes duo are Charles Leclerc’s second Ferrari and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.
Sainz said: “Honestly, we are a bit closer to the Red Bulls than I expected, so there are positive symptoms in terms of the progress made over the last five months [at the last F1 race at Suzuka] until today.
“It turns out that the situation is very close with the McLarens and the Mercs. Red Bull has an advantage to start with, but they have a smaller advantage than maybe I thought, so it will be an attractive fight. “
Both Red Bull and Aston Martin made aerodynamic innovations for the race, the fourth of the season, focusing on adjustments to the floors of their cars.
But Verstappen said he expected the pit box to be tighter than at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, when he claimed one of his most dominant wins in a season in which he won 19 of 22 races.
The Dutchman, who took pole by almost 0. 6sec last year, said of Friday’s practice: “It’s a smart start for us. The balance isn’t far off, but it turns out everyone is a little closer than they were last year. “I don’t expect the differences to be like last year. “
It’s another tricky day for Williams in a tricky start to the 2024 season, as Logan Sargeant crashed heavily in the first session.
The American missed the final race in Australia when team-mate Alex Albon overtook his car after a first crash in Friday practice because Williams did not have a spare chassis.
Sargeant, who was driving the chassis repaired this weekend at Suzuka, lost control in the high-speed Dunlop corner and caused severe damage to the front suspension, gearbox and nose. The chassis was not damaged, much to the team’s relief.
Sargeant opened up a bit on his first lap on the long left-hand corner that ends Suzuka’s standout Esses segment when he tried to use soft tyres for the first time midway through the session.
But he ran onto the sidewalk and then was sucked into the gravel, spun and hit the barriers with a huge impact.
Team principal James Vowles described the crash as “frustrating” and said Sargeant had swerved because he “didn’t realise where he was with the grass out and put a wheel on the grass”.
“What you saw here is not a driving force that made a mistake because it pushed to the limit,” Vowles said. “It’s a very different kind of mistake, notoriously frustrating, because it’s not at the limit of what the car can do. “Just do.
“There’s a lot more chance of cornering there. I just didn’t know where the car was on the track compared to where I expected anyway. “
Williams failed to fix the car in time for Sargeant to run in second practice (not a big loss in those cases), but will be involved for the rest of the weekend.
The light intermittent rain at Suzuka in the afternoon made the track too rainy for dry tyres and too dry for wet tyres, and 3 drivers set lap times.
And with a limit of five sets of intermediate tyres and two sets of wet tyres for the whole weekend, and combined weather forecasts for qualifying and the race, they were reluctant to use them in testing.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ruled Hamilton’s second consultation. They, along with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, were the only drivers to manage a fastest lap on slick tyres as the track dried at the end of the consultation.
Formula 2 driver Ayumu Iwasa finished 16th in the first consultation for RB, a home race in Daniel Ricciardo’s car as part of the driver progression programme for Red Bull. Iwasa’s fastest lap time put him just under a second behind RB. Yuki Tsunoda.
Andrew Benson Q
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