#Formula1 @Honda #JapaneseGP 2022 Preview. #F1
Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019 Race Start, Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie-Prefecture, Japan. Image credit to Peter J Fox/Getty Images. 2022 Japanese GP Preview, Japanese Grand Prix Preview, F1 Japanese GP Preview, F1 Honda Japanese GP.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – After Sergio Perez dominated on streets of Singapore to take claim victory ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as both driver’s keep their very slim title chance alive to point’s leader Max Verstappen who came seventh and could very well wrap it up this weekend in Japan, round 18 of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads straight to the fast and flowing Suzuka International Racing Course for the Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022. This is the first time the event has been held since 2019, with the 2021 and 20 events cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This will be the 45th Japanese Grand Prix, the thirty-sixth edition as part of the Formula 1 World Championship since the sport began in 1950 and the thirty-first time the event has been held at Suzuka.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – A look at the Suzuka International Racing Course
Suzuka circuit is a permanent racing circuit located Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by the Mobilityland Corporation a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Located in a theme park with the big wheel dominating the Suzuka Skyline, the circuit was designed as a test track for Honda in 1962 by John Hugenholtz (most notable designer of the Zandvoort, Zolder, Jarama and the stadium section of the Hockenheimring circuits), Suzuka is one of the few circuits in the world to have a figure-eight layout with the 1.2km back straight passing over the front section by an overpass. The circuit features some of the most challenging corners on the calendar including the Esses, the high-speed 130R and the famous Spoon Curve. The circuit has been modified four times during its time.
In 1987, having hosted sportscar racing and Formula 2 and having lost out initially to Fuji Speedway in the race to host the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda finally succeeded and Formula 1 had a new Japanese home (2007-2008 aside when the race was held at Fuji Speedway), the circuit has stayed ever since and has provided the scene for many nail-biting title deciding finales including the famous collisions between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in 1989 and 1990. These moments added to Suzuka’s appeal with fans around the world and of course the circuit is a favourite amongst the drivers due to its difficult and demanding challenges. Suzuka is also one of the most demanding circuits on tyre wear.
The Suzuka Circuit is 5.807km (3.609 miles) in length with 18 corners and runs uniquely in both a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.
Race distance is 307.471km (109.062 miles) in length with 53 laps in total.
Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record with a 1:30.983 set in 2019 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W10 EQ Power+.
Michael Schumacher holds the record for most victories at the Japanese Grand Prix with six.
McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Japanese Grand Prix with nine victories.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – Onboard Pole Lap of Suzuka
Here is the onboard pole lap of the Suzuka International Racing Course set at the 2019 by Sebastian Vettel in his Scuderia Ferrari SF90 racer. The four-time World Champion posted a blistering 1:27.064, which broke the track lap record. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUbHn7egKHs
2022 Japanese GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2021-20: Not Held. 2019: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Suzuka, the white side-walled C1 Hards, the yellow-marked C2 Medium tyres and the C3 red-branded Soft rubber along with the green-branded Intermediate and blue-marked Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – DRS Zones
As in 2019, there will only be a single DRS Zone at Suzuka which is on the main straight. The detection point is 50 metres before turn 16 and the activation point is 100 metres before the control line.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Perez withstands pressure from Leclerc to clinch victory in wild Singapore GP.
Perez Singapore GP victory – Red Bull’s Sergio Perez withstood pressure from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to claim victory in a thrilling Singapore GP, but the Mexican faces a post-race investigation from the stewards.
The Grand Prix was delayed by an hour and five minutes due to an intense thunderstorm cell, which hit the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the build-up to the 8pm local start time, but the result was not actually confirmed at the chequered flag as Perez is currently under investigation for a safety car infringement.
The safety car was deployed twice, with three virtual safety cars also taking place in the action-packed race.
When the 61-lap Singapore GP began, pole-sitter Leclerc and Perez both made similar reactions from the front row, but the latter accelerated better as they launched off the line and swept by the Ferrari to comfortably take the lead into the first corner.
Behind, the other Ferrari F1-75 entry of Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ran alongside each other into turn one and made slight contact into the apex of turn two, which sent the seven-time world champion wide and down to fourth, the incident reviewed by the stewards was deemed not worthy to be investigated further.
The same thing happened for reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who cut the opening corner after he had a dismal start off the line after almost going into anti-stall and dropped from eighth to 12th.
At the front, Perez pulled away from Leclerc – but only to around a second over the opening proceedings, with Sainz and Hamilton – complaining about his intermediate rubber to his Mercedes early – soon behind by over five seconds.
Perez posted a string of fastest laps but could only manage a 1.4 second gap before Leclerc began to reel the Red Bull back in, reaching 0.8 seconds behind the Mexican at the end of the eighth tour.
But then the race was stabilised by the first deployment of the safety car, extending the 100% record of safety car appearances in Singapore.
It was brought out to cover Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu being recovered from the escape road of turn five, where the Chinese driver had parked it after Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi had drifted across the C42’s path and sent him into the wall.
This broke Zhou’s front-right wheel and eliminated him from the race, whilst Latifi slowly returned to the pits with a puncture, where the Canadian too retired.
The race went green on the 11th tour with none of the leaders having opted to pit – the circuit as it did between FP3 and qualifying took a long time to dry, as Perez and Leclerc ran in the two-minute bracket.
Perez got a great restart and immediately re-established his one-second lead to Leclerc, who also again rapidly dropped team-mate Sainz and Hamilton – the pre-safety car scenes recreated as both front-runners were the only drivers running in the 1:59’s.
They switched fastest laps between each other before Perez pulled away from the Ferrari, with his lead reaching 1.7 seconds by the 15th tour and quarter race distance, where the leaders began to be warned by their respective teams to cool their intermediate tyres on the remaining wet spots on the track, with the circuit still not ready for slicker rubber.
The leaders got into the 1:58’s bracket just before the 20th tour, at this point Perez’s gap went over two seconds for the first time.
Leclerc had just started sliding rapidly further back, when the race was stabilised again due to a virtual safety car on lap 21 when Alpine’s Fernando Alonso pulled off at turn ten, his 350th Grand Prix ending with an engine problem.
The front-runners again not pitted for a fresh set of inters, but back in 15th Mercedes’ George Russell took a risk by putting on a fresh set of C4 yellow side-walled medium compounds.
The virtual safety car lasted two laps, with Perez’s gap over Leclerc continuing at 2.5 seconds, but just after a further three tours the first of two further VSC deployments kicked in when Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon – an opening lap spinner at the rear – slid into the turn eight barriers and broke off the front wing of his FW44 racer.
The Thai-Briton driver reversed away and drove back to the pits to retire the other FW44, as the virtual safety car ended on the 27th lap but being deployed again a tour later because Esteban Ocon’s Alpine A522 racer had also retired with an engine problem – the Frenchman’s power-train blowing up over the Anderson Bridge and approaching the 13th corner.
The race went green again on lap 30, with Perez’s lead up to 4.3 seconds before Leclerc went into the 1:56’s and he cut the gap down to under three seconds within two laps.
Here a series of dramatic events took place, with Hamilton, who was frustrated stuck behind Sainz’s F1-75 racer and slid into the barriers as he chased the Spaniard on the 33rd tour.
Hamilton reversed and rejoined just in-front of 2021 championship-rival Verstappen, who in-turn had been chasing McLaren’s Lando Norris.
On the opening tour, Verstappen looked to have made fast progress back past Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen but found it difficult against the Dane.
Verstappen dived past the VF-22 at turn seven, but on the exit appeared to squeeze Magnussen towards the wall, the duo making contact and Magnussen’s front-left wing end-plate getting damaged.
Magnussen then forced his way passed Verstappen at the tight turn 11 just before the Anderson Bridge, but the Dutchman got his way by on the following tour.
The turn seven incident was investigated by the stewards, but no penalty was applied despite Magnussen being forced to pit to have his front-wing changed by the race officials just before the safety car was deployed.
Verstappen by that point, had also overtaken AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda before getting stuck behind Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and running 20 seconds adrift of his Red Bull team-mate Perez’s race lead.
The gap was erased and stabilised, after which Verstappen passed Vettel and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly to run in seventh.
But again the Verstappen got stuck, this time behind Alonso and remained there until the Alpine retired in-front.
Verstappen was soon right behind the rear of Norris’s McLaren but did not look likely to make a quick overtake before Albon and Ocon VSC deployments – at the end of the second corner nearly passing Norris when trying to get an early restart jump and dropping back.
It was into the gap that Hamilton slotted, but his front-left end-plate got damaged, which Verstappen reported over the radio in the hope the Mercedes would be given a black-and-white flag.
Just passed the halfway point of proceedings, Russell was setting purple sectors on his slicker tyres, but way off the back of the pack.
This brought in a wave of cars to pit, with Tsunoda the first to stop and put on a set of mediums.
But the Japanese driver pushed too hard on his second full-flyer on the mediums and smashed into the turn ten barriers, bringing out another safety car.
Perez and Leclerc had already been in the pits to stop – the latter doing so first on the 34th tour – before the Grand Prix was stabilised again on the 36th lap so Tsunoda’s AT03 racer could be removed.
Sainz, Hamilton and Magnussen done likewise, with the Silver Arrow getting a new nose fitted, whilst Norris stayed out.
The Briton came in under the safety car, which preserved his gap over Verstappen, and they were the main focus of attention on the 40th tour restart as Perez and Leclerc, weaving to get temperature into their medium tyres, easily rebuilt their advantage over Sainz.
On the restart lap, Verstappen moved rapidly to overtake Norris after the turn six kink down the circuit’s first long acceleration zone following the corner where Zhou and Latifi tangled earlier before.
But his RB18 racer appeared to bottom out as he went off-track and the Red Bull driver locked both his front-wheels, severely flat-spotting his mediums.
The reigning world champion pitted at the end of the tour and dropped to 13th, with the action up-front intensifying as Leclerc fired his tyres up to optimal temperature better than Perez.
He put the Mexican under intense pressure for almost ten laps, with it now clear the Grand Prix will end at the two-hour time limit and not go the scheduled distance.
Perez reported driveability issues under braking and whilst accelerating out of the corners, which compromised his efforts to break-free from Leclerc’s lost attention.
This became more of a challenge when DRS was finally enabled on the 43rd tour and here Leclerc’s push began.
Time-and-time again the Monegasque driver moved to Perez’s inside at every major stop around the Marina Bay Street Circuit – suffering a lock-up briefly at turn 15 on the 45th lap.
The next two times at that point, Perez suffered massive lock-ups too, but was managing the pressure from the Ferrari well.
Leclerc cut the gap down to 0.4 seconds at the end of the 47th tour but having to catch a massive snap of over-steer and slide at turn 16 meant the Ferrari driver lost crucial momentum and fell out of DRS range.
He never regained it after, a 52nd lap near-off finally ended his pursuit as Perez’s gap reached 2.6 seconds.
There was still work to do for Perez as he was placed under investigation by the stewards following the second safety car restart, for allegedly dropping more than ten car lengths back allowed to the safety car too early, something Hamilton also reported that Perez also did at the initial safety car restart.
Perez therefore went onto clinch the Singapore GP victory by 7.595 seconds over Leclerc with the final race distance of 59 tours, with Ferrari telling Leclerc after he crossed the line in second place that Perez could be hit with two five-second penalties added to his time if found to be guilty by the investigation.
Sainz came a distant third never having the same pace as his Ferrari team-mate at any point of the race, with Norris also in a quiet fourth and in-front of McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who had also pitted under the safety car and gained an advantage to his Aston Martin rivals.
Lance Stroll was the leader of the AMR22 racers – ahead of Verstappen who put in another charge now on the softs, getting back into the points-paying positions over the closing stages.
It looked as if Verstappen would finish ninth as he was bottled up again, this time behind Hamilton’s F1 W13 before the seven-time world champion made another error.
Whilst in-between Verstappen and Vettel up ahead, Hamilton attempted to pass Vettel’s Aston Martin on the 57th lap, but the Briton ran deep having taken to a still-wet part of the circuit approaching the eighth corner.
This allowed Verstappen through, and he passed Vettel on the final tour, with Hamilton ending the race in ninth in-front of Gasly’s AlphaTauri.
Russell brought up the rear behind Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas (finished in 11th), who he had slightly hit with in an overtaking lunge during the earlier proceedings.
Magnussen finished 12th and in-front of team-mate Mick Schumacher, who Russell also tangled with – this time at the opening corner just after the second safety car restart in an incident, which was investigated but was not worthy of punishment.
Russell pitted four times, with a late final stop for a second set of softer compounds that he used to post the race’s fastest lap with a 1:46.458, which he did not get the bonus fastest lap point for as he finished in 14th place.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – The Situation
Max Verstappen returns to the “Land of the Rising Sun” sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 341 points and a 104-point advantage over closest rival Charles Leclerc who is second on 237 points while Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is third and a further 106 behind the Dutchman on 235 points.
Oracle Red Bull Racing returns to Japan comfortably on top of the Constructors Championship with 576 points and a 137-point lead over nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 439 points while Red Bull Racing are a further 203 behind the Milton Keynes based-outfit in third on 373 points.
Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi carries a five-grid placed penalty for his tangle with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
2022 Japanese GP Preview – Max Verstappen Title-Permutations
Verstappen can secure his back-to-back World Drivers’ Championship this weekend at Suzuka. The Dutchman needs to outscore Leclerc by eight points and team-mate Perez by six. If Verstappen wins the Japanese Grand Prix with the bonus fastest lap point, he will secure the title regardless of where Leclerc and team-mate Perez finish.
If Verstappen wins the race without the fastest lap bonus point, he will get the championship if Leclerc finishes outside the top two, with Perez’s position irrelevant. If Verstappen finishes in second place without the fastest lap, he will take the crown if Leclerc finishes outside the top four without the fastest lap bonus point, and Perez outside the top three without the fastest lap.
Verstappen can secure his second-consecutive Driver’s Championship if he finishes second with the fastest lap bonus point, with Leclerc placed outside the top four and Perez outside the top three.
If Verstappen finishes third without the fastest lap bonus point, he wrap up the title if Leclerc finishes outside the top six and Perez outside the top five. By finishing third with the fastest lap, Verstappen is world champion if Leclerc finishes outside the top five and Perez outside the top four.
Concluding fourth, Verstappen will be world champion if Leclerc finishes outside the top seven without the fastest lap bonus point and Perez outside the top six without the bonus point for fastest lap.
If Verstappen finishes fourth with the fastest lap, is back-to-back champion if Leclerc finishes outside the top seven and Perez outside the top six.
Winning the race by finishing fifth, Verstappen will secure the title if Leclerc finishes outside the top eight without the fastest lap bonus point, and Perez outside the top seven without the fastest lap. Verstappen can finish fifth with the fastest lap bonus point and wrap up the title crown if Leclerc is outside the top eight and Perez is outside the top seven.
Concluding six, Verstappen will take out the title if Leclerc is out of the points and Perez is outside the top eight without the fastest lap bonus point. Finishing the race in sixth position with the fastest lap, Verstappen is world champion if Leclerc finishes outside the top nine and Perez is outside the top eight.
Click here for the 2022 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.
The Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2022 weekend begins with Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday October 7, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 8 and the 53 lap Race Sunday October 9.
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