Well well wellâŠ
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Well then, a solid reason to get up at 6am.
Eventhough itâs a bit of a gift, still a solid job by Sainz, seems like he would have always given Max a running. But weâll never know for sure. And great by Le Clerc give Ferrari that oh so beautiful 1&2.
Oof for Merc losing the double riiight at the end with Russel having quite a hectic accident.
Saber with the auto 20 second penalty everytime they pit, damn⊠Need to fix that. But somehow they still finish ahead of Alpine and that must hurt those guys even more.
Shout outs to Mclaren keeping Ferrari honest.
Funny moment for Sainzâ engineer having to remind him of Smooth Operator
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Thatâs a ouchie for Alonso, it didnât look that bad on the angle I saw, pretty much just caught the moment it happened. will have to see the lead up to it.
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Great day to be a Ferrari fan!
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This makes me very happy 
Porsche Penske Motorsport have announced this morning that the former F1 World Champion will be testing the Hypercar as part of team preparations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 36-hour test will take place in Spain.
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix 
Suzuka International Racing Course | Suzuka City | Japan | Sunday, 7 April
2024 F1 Season - Round 4 (Grand Prix 4 of 24)
Round 4 of the 2024 season sees the Japanese GP at its earliest time on the F1 calendar ever. Itâs Spring in Japan and the cherry blossoms are in gorgeous full bloom. The move up the calendar from the eventsâ traditional second half of the year slot was to take advantage of better weather conditions in Japan at this time of the year. Ironically, today (Friday) has seen some very cold temperatures and rain for the Free Practice sessions. Early weather forecasts had some rain expected for race day too, but the probablity has eased a fair bit in the updated outlook.
Either way, the Suzuka circuit is a classic fan and driver favourite for good reason, and the race should be a good one.
Just The Facts
- Number of Times Held: 37
- First Held: 1976 at Fuji (Suzuka since 1987)
- Most Wins (Drivers): Michael Schumacher (6)
- Most Wins (Constructors): McLaren (9)
- Circuit Length: 5.807 km
- Turns: 18
- Race Distance: 307.471 km
- Laps: 53
- Race Lap Record: 1:30.983 (Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W10, 2019)
Last Race (2023)
- Pole Position: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT, 1:28.877
- Fastest Race Lap: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT, 1:34.183
2023 Podium
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT, 1:30:58.421
- Lando Norris, McLaren-Mercedes, +19.387
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren-Mercedes, +36.494
The Schedule
Another early morning event for us, with live viewing of FP1 and FP3 reserved for the true early risers while the rest of us will make do with highlights packages and replays at more sensible times. The bits that matter - Qualifying and the Grand Prix - are both at slightly more acceptable times for most though, so thatâs okay.
The Circuit
When was the track built?
In 1962. Soichiro Honda, whose car company you may have heard of, was a man with big ambitions. Seeking to turn Honda into an automotive powerhouse, he decided his company should have its own test track. Dutchman John Hugenholtz got the nod, and drew up the now-iconic âcrossoverâ Suzuka track â although original drawings saw the track pass over and under itself a full three times, which would have been sweet!
When was its first Grand Prix?
Despite most people agreeing that Suzuka is a worthy successor to sliced bread in the âBest Thingâ stakes, the Japanese track was a relative latecomer to the F1 calendar, making its first appearance in 1987. Nigel Mansell would remember that weekend well, after he suffered a crash in qualifying that ruled him out of the race, gifting that yearâs championship to his bitter rival Nelson Piquet.
Whatâs the circuit like?
Show us a racing a driver who doesnât love Suzuka, and weâll show you a liar. The high-speed track remains one of the ultimate driving challenges, with the snaking âSâ Curves, the two commitment-rewarding Degners and the white-knuckle ride of 130R all highlights in a series of highlights at what is one of F1âs seminal tracks. And hey, itâs got a crossover, which is always cool, right?
The Weather Forecast
The initial forecast from F1.com from mid-week suggested Friday and Saturday would be cloudy but dry, while Sunday would see rain. It does seem like that rain front has moved forward quicker than expected and has already arrived in Suzuka today (Friday) with Sunday now showing only a slight chance of more rain at race time:
The Tyres
Formula 1 returns to Japan just over six months after its last visit to the country. This year, the Japanese Grand Prix takes place in April for the first time in its history: right up to last year the race was always scheduled for the second part of the season, in September or October. As a result, Suzuka has frequently crowned world champions â both in the driversâ and manufacturersâ standings. The last two years have been no exceptions: in 2022, Max Verstappen sealed his second title at the venue, while last year Red Bull were crowned constructorsâ champions.
The fourth event of the season coincides with the peak of the cherry blossom â or Sakura â season, between the end of March and beginning of April. Itâs also the very first time that the Japanese Grand Prix will be held at this time of year: the first Pacific Grand Prix took place at Aida on 17 April 1994, before moving to October in 1995. The early spring will also bring lower temperatures than the teams are used to in Japan, with average temperatures ranging between 8°C and 13°C.
Suzuka is a true classic: the 5.807-kilometre Honda-owned track tests every driverâs talents with a demanding layout characterised by a figure-eight layout, unique in Formula 1.
In addition to representing an extraordinary challenge for cars and drivers, the track also tests the tyres: both in terms of wear â due to high levels of asphalt roughness and abrasiveness â as well as through the forces and loads to which they are subjected throughout the variety of corners that make up the lap. As usual, Pirelli has selected the hardest trio of compounds: C1 as hard, C2 as medium and C3 as soft. This is the same selection as was used in Bahrain for the first race of the season.
A two-stopper is the most common strategy, due to the energy going through the tyres and the stress to which they are subjected. However, lower temperatures might mean that a one-stop strategy becomes possible, especially for drivers who are gentle on their tyres. On the other hand, this might make it harder to keep the tyres in the correct operating window, particularly when bringing them up to temperature on an out-lap from the pits. A one-stopper also decreases the effectiveness of the undercut, which is usually very useful at Suzuka, even with the hard and medium compounds being the preferred race compounds.
More News and Info
As always, get all the results, press conference packages, highlights, and live commentary and timingfor the official F1 site throughout the weekend:
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It is sad, I have stopped watching really, I missed this race and havenât even bothered to check highlights
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So itâs not Alonso then
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Same. Also cancelled my F1TV but it only expires in May or June. My team is so ridiculously bad and to top it off the races are so boring that I just have no interest in F1 anymore.
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what a q3 for the sprint
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alot of squirrels on the track
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Sjoe that sprint was spicyâŠ
then the Quali was eina for my dear Ferraris
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Missed majority of the race, rewatched now⊠damn, Stroll strikes(literally as usual) againâŠ
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Iâm glad he cocked things up a bit. The only change I made to my F1 Fantasy team was swapping Yuki out and putting Stroll in. (Wanted but canât afford Fernando).
also used the No Negative chip thing because I thought it would rain, combined with a track they hadnât been to for years, and the third race in a row with cars that havenât had a chance to be properly looked at in the factory.
I was expecting car carnage and lots of failures, which happened a little. But only to Stroll in my team. So it wasnât a complete waste of the chip.
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You donât see Danny upset alot
https://www.reddit.com/r/formuladank/comments/1c9wfn1/well_ricciardo_is_pissed_off_and_we_are_too/
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Ferrari in classic blue for Miami! You know youâll love it⊠Canât wait to see what the race livery will look like.
Racesuits, team kit, and merch to match tooâŠ
Back to Blue
One colour. Two shades. Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary in the United States with an unprecedented programme of events marked by two historic shades of blue: Azzurro La Plata and Azzurro Dino.
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Yeah saw the blue merch yesterday, waiting on that livery drop
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