Normal transmission has resumed with Red Bull dominating a Grand Prix and Max Verstappen at the top of the pile. Talking of a pile, here is our 2024 Japanese F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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2024 Japanese GP Preview
2024 Australian Grand Prix Summary and Review
2024 Australian Grand Prix Driver Ratings
Our 2024 F1 Calendar & Results
Our 2023 Full Season Reviews
2024 Japanese F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – It’s a Red Bull 1-2 with Max Ve3rstappen looking comfortable again. Sergio Perez stepping up helps him keep his seat for 2025 and Lando Norris did an outstanding job to secure third. Further back there looks like not much between Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Fernando Alonso. Under pressure RB driver Daniel Ricciardo qualified 11th behind his team mate and local hero Yuki Tsunoda. Race day is dry and hot, which is a surprise according to forecasts a week ago and the rain we saw on Friday. Fernando Alonso is the lone warrior on soft tyres in the top 10 drivers.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA HAM LEC RUS TSU
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen is good away and the top drivers behave themselves for the first sweeping corners. Further back not so much. There’s two cars into the barrier after the third turn, buried in nicely. Drivers are OK and the panning camera reveals it is Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo in the melee. Replays show both RBs had shocking starts, Riccardo’s worse than Tsunoda’s. This put Ricciardo in the Alpine-Stroll region, and he had Albon racing up on the outside of turn three and squeezed him off the track, but not before the Williams tapped the RB and they both crashed into the barriers. Should be classed as a racing incident, but Albon could have realised there was no more room earlier.
RACE RED FLAGGED
The damage to the tyre barriers is big, so this will be a long wait. Lucky it is a daytime grand prix for some. Unlike for the UK viewers, as Sky’s UK Broadcasters continue to point out how early in the morning it is. As a resident on the other side of the globe they need to quit their griping, as this side only get three daytime grands prix.
The wait for restart is around 30 minutes. Plenty of time for shots in the crowd of Japanese F1 fans. They love their F1. Anyone, and everyone gets some support.
ORDER – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA HAM LEC RUS HUL
RACE RESTARTS
Lap 3 – Start number two gets underway, and same as the first start up the front as the front runners behave themselves again but this time the midfielders leave each other alone. So with the racing on track a little plain, it’s over to strategy and Alonso is on soft tyres compared to the rest of the top drivers. Mercedes are on hards, and Tsunoda is on softs too. He overtakes George Russell quickly not long after the restart. Replays of the race restart show the Alpines hitting each other. Always up for some intra Alpine spice.
ORDER – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA LEC HAM RUS
Lap 8 – Yuki Tsunoda already in for new tyres after a five lap stint on the softs. Alonso is dropping off too but staying out for now. Not quite working out then. Valtteri Bottas was in to rid himself of soft tyres a lap earlier. Tsunoda rejoins in 16th.
ORDER – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA LEC HAME RUS STR
Lap 10 – Thank Christ this race is on during the day, because there is very little happening. Max Verstappen is three second ahead of Perez, and there’s similar gaps going through the field, except for Alonso slipping further back on soft tyres and holding up a few cars behind. To emphasise the point of stuff-all happening, we are taken to Logan Sargeant overtaking Pierre Gasly for 13th. Gasly must be having a bad day then.
Lap 12 – First of the front runner pitstops start. First Lando Norris then Oscar Piastri. Fernando Alonso not long after that. Lando leaves the pits in 10th place, just ahead of the midfield crew. Piastri rejoins lower down but makes light work of some of the midfield cars in quick time.
Lap 13 – Lewis Hamilton suggests on team radio to let George Russell past. That’s a first for F1 drivers in general. Russell does get by into the chicane. Amazing.
Lap 15 – The question to whether Guanyu Zhou is still in the race is answered. He now isn’t as his Sauber is retired with gearbox problems. He was in last position.
Lap 16 – Perez and Sainz pit, they hit the track in 5th and 6th, behind the hard-tyred Mercedes cars and Norris whose early pit stop has worked out well. And Max Verstappen of course. Max pits the next lap and comes out behind Leclerc and Russell. Not behind Russell for long as he gets by him quickly. Norris passes Hamilton at the same time. It’s starting to get hard keeping up. A bit like Daniel Ricciardo v Tsunoda. Meanwhile a nice move from Bottas on an Alpine into turn one reminds us that he can still be good, and there’s plenty of good racing right now.
Lap 17 – Perez get by Hamilton in 130R. Woof and Wow. That’s only at 200 kph + into that corner where he overtook. Sergio is in one of those moods by the looks, which often happens in a race. Rarely in qualifying. A lap later Perez steal Russell’s 4th place into the same corner. Perez in the zone.
ORDER – LEC VER NOR PER RUS HAM SAI ALO PIA MAG
Lap 21 – It almost comes as a surprise but Max Verstappen takes first place from Charles Leclerc, almost forgetting he wasn’t leading the race for a change. Leclerc has yet to pit and is doing a good job. Further back Carlos Sainz gets past George Russell, while his team mate Lewis Hamilton is on the radio to his team questioning the strategy.
ORDER – VER LEC NOR PER SAI RUS ALO HAM PIA MAG
Lap 23 – Lewis Hamilton’s prayers are almost answered as his team mate George Russell pits for new tyres. Lewis comes in on lap 24.
Lap 24 – Lewis comes in on lap 24. Not long after he has pit does a bunch of midfield cars for new tyres all at the same time. Five cars jostling for post-stop positions. The RB of Yuki Tsunoda did the best job, making up a place for the local hero.
ORDER – VER LEC PER NOR SAI ALO PIA RUS HAM HUL
Lap 26 – Perez attacking Charles Leclerc who is doing a super job on his old tyres keeping the Red Bull at bay. But not long after typing that line the Ferrari goes a little wide after the turn into the underpass and he loses second to Perez. Lando Norris hounds him for the rest of the lap, which then includes the pit stop as Leclerc and Norris pit. George Russell split the two drivers as they rejoin.
Lap 28 – Lando Norris nails George Russell in a brilliant move in to turn one. Quality overtake. Max Verstappen comes on screen, only to remind us he is 10 seconds up from Perez. Easy like a Sunday morning for Max at the moment.
Lap 34 – Bit of a lull in the racing, so thankfully Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso decided to pit. They both drop down the field for now. Waiting and watching to attack. Perez lives up to that by getting past Lando Norris the next lap. Max Verstappen also pits for a second time and is second behind Carlos Sainz for now. Sainz is on the radio to his team about a pit stop, the team tell him to stay out. Sainz runs wide at the chicane in celebration. Sainz pits on Lap 37 rejoining in 7th.
Lap 36 – Sergio Perez makes a nice move on Charles Leclerc. Perez racing well and started from a decent qualifying position.
ORDER – VER PER LEC NOR RUS HAM SAI ALO PIA TSU
Lap 38 – Oscar Piastri hassling Fernando Alonso for 8th. A bit quieter a weekend for the Australian than in 2023 where he secured a podium. At least he’ll take out the best Australian result from the Grand Prix. Award for biggest catch of a mistake goes to his team mate Lando Norris whose car fishtails for a bit under the tunnel. Norris saves it nicely.
Lap 40 – Lewis Hamilton pits from 9th and rejoins 9th. A bit of a gap between the haves, have nots, and have everythings today.
Lap 42 – Logan Sargeant goes off at the second Degner curve near the crossover. He runs wide but avoids the barrier. Then, covered in dust, rolls back onto the circuit. Which is a bit risky given it is a fast, blind corner. All the drama leaves the American last, which is at least familiar territory. But an upgrade on the Australian Grand Prix, because he has a car.
Lap 44 – The Ferraris and Lando Norris in a group fighting for the final podium. Sainz picks off Norris for 4th easily enough, then sets about annoying his team mate. This is where different strategy is playing out. Leclerc done so well on the one stop. DRS helps Sainz fly past Leclerc into turn one on lap 46 to steal third.
Lap 48 – Oscar Piastri still fighting Fernando Alonso for 6th, and George Russell has joined the party. Piastri and Russell were almost joined at the chicane on lap 50 as Russell takes a dive down the inside but it isn’t enough to take Piastri’s place but enough to force him wide over the chicane. Piastri stays in front for now. But can’t hold on forever, as Russell overtakes him around the outside of turn one after making a little mistake.
FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen wins easy, setting a fastest lap just before the race finishes, no doubt a rapid Up Yours to the rest of the F1 field. Perez completes a 1-2 in his best drive for the season. Carlos Sainz continues to defy the driver market with a handy third place.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VEE PER SAI LEC NOR ALO RUS PIA HAM TSU
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
A win from pole position, with a fastest lap thrown, it sounds like a copy-paste from so many races over the past few seasons. But after Australia where his Red Bull suffered a rare break down it will be reassuring for him to be back at the front. And convincingly so. And the neutral fans will have to suck up the business as usual.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
SERGIO PEREZ – Did all he has to, with pushing Max Verstappen in qualifying, and a fine race to collect second place. With no Red Bull family driver really pushing their claims, it’s his seat to lose at the moment.
CARLOS SAINZ – Well, Perez’s seat is safe from red Bull drivers but external, like Carlos Sainz. The soon to be out of work Ferrari driver put in another great shift to take the final podium.
CHARLES LECLERC – Drive a great race without the reward it probably deserved being on a different strategy. Made the odd mistake which cost him higher places, but at least was having a proper crack.
FERNANADO ALONSO – More points for Fernando Alonso, who is constantly out-driving that Aston Martin.
YUKI TSUNODA – Grabbed the final World Championship point, made Q3, beat his team mate in qualifying, his team mate then went into the barriers on the opening lap. Yep, a pretty good day out for him. Might not be enough for a Red Bull ride, but plenty good enough to keep an RB.
THE GRAPE-EST – DANIEL RICCIARDO
Came into the weekend under pressure, and while this may have been a better weekend than the Australian Grand Prix, he continues to be outpaced by Yuki Tsunoda. His 11th was just short of Tsunoda’s 10th and meant he missed Q3 again. Both he and team mate Tsunoda made terrible starts and ended up in the traffic, Ricciardo’s worse start saw him in the lower midfield pack and collide with Alex Albon and finish his afternoon. One wonders if a first lap exit was a mercy as his poor start probably meant he probably would have battling 12th to 17th.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
ALEX ALBON – Involved in Red Flag crash, another big crash in consecutive weekends. At least he didn’t take his team mate’s car this time.
GUANYU ZHOU – Won the race’s most obscure driver with a solid midfield effort of anonymity until he retired in the pits to the surprise of many who had forgotten he was in the race.
LOGAN SARGEANT – Looking to get his marching orders from Willaims with an off in the race.
ALPINE – Drivers hit each other on the restart and they scored no points. At least Esteban Ocon made it out of Q1.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 8 / 10
Not a great deal of action at the front at first, as the Red Bull’s drove into the distance, but pit stops saw the racing come alive with different tyre strategies playing out for the rest of the afternoon.
ANY SURPRISES? – 1 / 5
No, not really.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5
Red Bull 1-2 is ominous, so important that they will probably win everything if they don’t retire. The battle for next best looks a moving feast for the season.
ENDING 6 / 10
Whilst the race winner question had no need to be answered, the position lower down were fought keenly until the end.
OVERALL RATING 18 / 30
This looked a real dull race in prospect in the early laps but came alive with the tyre strategy. It was the same old winner at the front, but the rest of the podium was a moving feast for most of the race. Not a classic, but a decent afternoon of viewing.
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Australian Grand Prix Ratings
Or check out our 2023 Season Driver Rankings and Stats
