Here is our full text transcript from the 2023 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix:
A very good morning to you all and thank you for joining us at this very early hour for all the build-up to the Japanese Grand Prix. Max Verstappen starts on pole position for the first time since Spa as he looks to return to winning ways after Red Bull’s rare blip in Singapore. The Dutchman was in a league of his own in qualifying yesterday, but the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will be trying to cause him a few more problems today as they line up second and third on the grid, while Charles Leclerc will start the race from fourth and his Maranello teammate from P6.
But despite Verstappen’s dominant form this weekend, today’s race could be very intriguing with strategy playing a big role in the race result. It is a hot, sunny day at Suzuka and teams and Pirelli are expecting at least a two-stop race.
The green light is on in the pit lane and out head the drivers for their reconnaissance laps. Interestingly, the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers only have one set of hard tyres, so will be relying more on the mediums. Whereas the McLarens and Mercedes drivers have two sets of hard tyres. With Lewis Hamilton starting seventh and George Russell in eighth, they may pit early to try and undercut their rivals. The undercut will be very powerful. Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson says: “The hard tyre is the race tyre today, that’s the compound you’ll make headway with today.”
A quick reminder of how Red Bull can be constructors’ champions today – they need to be 309 points ahead of their nearest challengers. So to win the title today, Red Bull must:
Outscore Mercedes by one point or more
And
Not be outscored by Ferrari by 24 points or more
Pirelli predict a two-stop race will be the way to go. But, a three-stop shouldn’t be ruled out either we think because it is very hot at Suzuka for this time of year and the tyres have been getting punished all weekend.
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All about the start: this will be the best way of stopping Max Verstappen today. If either Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris can get a great launch and jump the Red Bull driver off the line, we will have a race on our hands – especially if both drivers can do it. Charles and Carlos will also look to gain some places at the start and most importantly to stay ahead of the Mercedes cars.
Strategy so important today. The top eight are all on the medium tyre, so McLaren decide against putting Oscar Piastri on the soft tyres to try and get a jump on Max Verstappen. The two AlphaTauris and Fernando Alonso do start on the soft tyres in 9th, 10th and 11th, along with Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg and the two Alfa Romeos further back. Everyone else is also on the mediums, with everyone opting to save hard tyres for later in the race.
Go go go! Max Verstappen just about holds off the McLarens through the opening few corners as he moves over immediately to cover off Oscar Piastri, then fends off Lando Norris into Turns 1 and 2. It’s Verstappen from Norris, Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Lap 2/53: For debris strewn on track on the run to Turn One after what was quite a hectic start. Damage for both Alfa Romeos. Also at the start, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton made wheel to wheel contact on the way down to Turn 1. Hamilton goes onto the grass as Perez nudges him. The pair were four-wide with the Ferraris, which contributed to the incident.
Lap 3/53: Still under Safety Car conditions here and Red Bull are in the pits to welcome Sergio Perez. A nosecone change for the Mexican driver after that contact with Lewis Hamilton. Alfa Romeo have done the same with Valtteri Bottas – but their stop took rather longer with issues getting the car jacked up off the floor.
Lap 5/53: It’s a superb restart from Verstappen as he pins the throttle in the middle of the last chicane and is one second clear of Norris.
Lap 6/53: Wow, Russell overtakes Hamilton into the final chicane with a great dummy move. But Hamilton fights back and makes a small jink to the right before the braking zone at Turn 1 and swoops around the outside. They very nearly made contact a couple of times. Valtteri Bottas is a past winner here at Suzuka – but it’s been a nightmare opening start here for the Finn. He’s now spun out at the hairpin after contact with Sargeant’s Willams. He’s now back in the pits again.
Lap 8/53: Verstappen leads by two seconds from Norris, so he’s not clearing off into the distance yet. Piastri, Norris, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton and Russell are all around one second apart from each other in a long train. Lap 10/53: Sergio Perez has made up a couple of positions and is attacking his former team-mate Esteban Ocon for 14th place. However, the stewards have given Perez a five-second time penalty for a Safety Car infringement. We saw Perez flying out of the pit lane earlier, overtaking multiple cars then let some cars by too. Valtteri Bottas’ race is now finally over after that double trouble in the opening six laps as the Alfa Romeo comes in to the pits to retire.
Lap 12/53: Carlos Sainz is running in fifth place and is told the tyre degradation is as expected. The tyre wear is very high today for those just joining us.
Perez spins after Magnussen contact! “He was so late. He will have been wincing like I am now,” says Anthony Davidson after Sergio Perez makes a right old mess of overtaking Kevin Magnussen’s Haas down the inside of the hairpin. He hits the side of the Haas and spins round. He’s back in the pits again for a second new nose! And he has to first serve his 5s penalty too. Don’t bet against him getting another yet either.
Lap 14/53: We have a Virtual Safety Car just as Oscar Piastri pits. This could be great news for Piastri, but the leaders will probably all come in at the end of this lap if we still have a VSC.
Lap 15/53: We are back to green flag conditions so this has worked beautifully for Oscar Piastri because he has saved lots of time by pitting during a VSC.
And so that brings to an end a fairly awful weekend for Sergio, it must be said. If it wasn’t looking nailed on already, Max Verstappen will be right in the box seat to clinch the drivers’ title next time out in Qatar. Hamilton makes a mistake at the second Degner which puts Russell right on his tail! Russell gets alongside going into the Spoon Curve but is forced off by Hamilton.
Lap 17/53: So the race leader heads for the pits for the first time today and it’s a typically slick service for Red Bull who stick with the mediums. Lando Norris, who hasn’t stopped, takes over the lead for now. Verstappen rejoins in fifth place, 3.7s ahead of Piastri who has stopped. More pit stops at the front as Lando Norris pits and is now seventh. Charles Leclerc pits too and is behind Fernando Alonso in ninth. Carlos Sainz and George Russell are first and second but yet to pit. Carlos Sainz is the latest driver to pit and comes out in eighth behind Alonso, who has just been overtaken by the Monegasque. Russell is briefly in the lead but Verstappen goes up the inside at the hairpin to take back first place.
The high tyre degradation means there is A LOT going on at Suzuka.
Verstappen leads from Russell by four seconds, but the Mercedes driver still hasn’t pitted. Piastri is in a net second place and trails Verstappen by seven seconds, with Norris another three seconds behind. Piastri leapfrogged Norris in that pit stop phase thanks to the VSC. Then comes Leclerc, Sainz and a big battle between Alonso, Ocon (yet to pit) and Hamilton.
Lap 25/53: So George Russell has made it a decent way into this race on his first set of tyres then. He moves on to the hards and returns in ninth place. He’s got Alonso and Ocon right ahead of him. McLaren will be scratching their heads now because Norris is on the back of Piastri. Lando Norris asks “what’s he doing?” as McLaren have a decision to make about using team orders. Piastri lets Norris by going into Turn 1. But the pair are 12 seconds behind Verstappen.
Lap 30/53: Verstappen is on the medium tyres but is comfortably quicker than everyone else. Norris is 13 seconds behind, with Piastri another three seconds adrift. Both drivers are on the hard tyres. The Ferraris are running along nicely in fourth and fifth, with Hamilton and Russell rounding out the top seven. But, Russell looks like he’s going to the end and won’t pit again, whereas the drivers ahead of him will pit one more time.
As it stands, Red Bull are on course to win the constructors’ championship thanks to Max Verstappen. Red Bull simply needed to outscore Mercedes today and not be outscored by Ferrari by 24 points. With a Verstappen win and the Mercedes set to finish off the podium, that will happen.
Lap 35/53: Lead Ferrari is followed by lead Mercedes into the pit lane for the second time. Can Mercedes undercut Sainz, who has stayed out? Oscar Piastri now pits from third and goes onto the hard tyres. He comes out in fifth and has eight seconds to make up on George Russell in what will be the battle for a place on the podium.
Lap 40/53: Nearly an hour after he apparently retired after all that contact in the opening laps, Sergio Perez is back out on track. Why? Well, we’ll wait to hear from Red Bull later, but in addition to any data gathering his re-appearance means he’ll likely be taking his 5-second penalty for the Magnussen contact earlier, which he didn’t while he was still in the race. By bother? Under the regulations, it seems to mean he’ll avoid a grid penalty next time out in Qatar. He may be able to snare the fastest lap too if his car isn’t too badly damaged after repairs.
Lap 43/53: All of the top runners have pitted for a second time, apart from George Russell who might be trying to get to the end. To make things easier, everyone is on the hards.
Verstappen leads by 16 seconds from Norris, with Piastri now in third and on course for a maiden podium. Russell is fourth and trying to hang on to the end it seems but Leclerc is only another second behind. Hamilton is four more seconds down the road, with Sainz and Alonso currently set to finish seventh and eighth, depending on what happens to Russell.
Lap 45/53: Russell is doing a great job and isn’t falling away massively. Leclerc sets the move up with good traction out of the final chicane and it’s a carbon copy of Piastri’s overtake on Russell, as the Ferrari driver swoops around the outside at Turn 2. Russell fights harder this time but is forced to concede going into the right hander of Turn 3.
Lap 47/53: Hamilton and Russell find each other on the same part of the track again in this race. Hamilton is on much fresher tyres and is told by his engineer Peter Bonnington: “Just make sure you give each other plenty of room.”
Lap 48/53: It’s now two laps Hamilton has been stuck behind Russell and he says “we are going to lose both of these positions” because Sainz is now in the mix. Russell is told to move over but he replies and says to do it on the last lap. Russell does let Hamilton through at Turn 1 but Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson says “that was the wrong decision” because now Russell is under threat from Sainz.
Lap 51/53: Sainz breezes by Russell into Turn 1 and the Mercedes driver is not happy about having to give way to Hamilton. “If you want to play the team game…he pushed me off the track earlier,” says Russell. Lap 52/53: And now Sainz is going after Hamilton as he’s just 1.2 seconds behind. Hamilton says “we wasted a lot of time for no reason” as he refers to being stuck behind Russell for those two or three laps. Up front, Verstappen is on his way to victory from Norris, Piastri and Leclerc. It’s all about this battle for fifth now.
Max Verstappen dominates the Japanese Grand Prix to give Red Bull the 2023 constructors’ championship. An impressive double podium finish for McLaren, with Norris and Piastri ahead of Charles. Carlos isn’t close enough to Hamilton on the final lap, as the seven-time world champion hands onto fifth. George Russell settles for seventh from Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
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