Japanese Grand Prix: Another strong weekend from Mercedes, whilst other teams continue their track to improvement.

 It was yet another near perfect weekend for Mercedes with Kimi Antonelli taking out another P1 result. He has impressed based on results so far this year, even taking the championship lead away from teammate George Russell. George Russell had a tough weekend out in Japan only managing a P4 finish, which was difficult, especially given the safety car which partially ruined the result.

Oscar Piastri officially completed his first race weekend and managed a P2 result in that same weekend. Given how the previous 2 weekends had been, this was a brilliant result. His teammate Lando Norris was able to scrape points together for the team with a P5 finish.

Your top 3 in Japan; Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc was able to get through the race, working with various issues for both Ferrari drivers and secure himself another podium position, finishing P3. Both him and Lewis Hamilton had difficulties with battery and the power in which they were getting which put them at a disadvantage, but they were still able to profit anyway. Lewis Hamilton had to settle for a P6 result but still scored vital points for himself and the team.

The 4 outliers in the top 10 included Pierre Gasly scoring points for Alpine in P7, Max Verstappen finishing P8, despite struggling for general pace in the car. Liam Lawson was the main scorer for Racing Bulls securing P9 and an essential 2 points in the championship and finally Esteban Ocon who was the final driver scoring points finishing P10 and ensuring that vital 1 point got to Haas.

Alex Albon has had a tough start to the season, and Japan was no different. Another race well outside of the top 10. The team was able to ensure his car was good to race but ended up +2 laps on the remaining field. Carlos Sainz was forced to have another tough race result, finishing ahead of his teammate but only P15.

Carlos Sainz with a quiet weekend in Japan. A slow but confident build as a team at Williams.

The remaining 3 drivers had a quiet weekend, keeping to themselves, but not gaining much on their teammates or other drivers. Franco Colapinto was having a difficult weekend, ultimately finishing only P16. Arvid Lindblad was able to successfully finish a race weekend with very little issues going on, but couldn’t capitalise on positions, finishing P14. Isack Hadjar was almost able to prove his ability in the Redbull with the potential for a top 10 finish, but was forced to remain only P12.

Cadillac continues their long track of back of the field positions but still could not convert any higher than what they’d been sitting at. Sergio Perez managed a P17 result and was able to keep away from the field lapping the rest. Valtteri Bottas however, improved slightly from P20 to P19. The confidence for Cadillac is growing as they continue their hard work and effort as a team, with the hope to see more promising results later in the season.

Cadillac with a weekend to build on, showing progressive improvements every week.

Audi was close to capitalising on the top 10 positions, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto who were close to getting some points but missing out by a slim margin. Unfortunate given the pace that the pair did have in their cars but could be potential for better results after the break.

Oliver Bearman faced a difficult situation after a surge in power resulted in him going off the track and unable to stop. This resulted in a 50G crash, a normally devastating crash, but Bearman walked away with minor injuries.

Major damages to Ollie Bearmans car after a shunt in Japan.

Lance Stroll ended up with another DNF added to the long list from his previous results. As for his teammate Fernando Alonso, he was able to complete the entire race, bus remained 1 lap down to the rest of the field.

We are now on a long break due to the cancellations of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. We return to F1 at the Miami Grand Prix on May 2-4.