#Formula1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019 Preview – #F1 #JapaneseGP

After Lewis Hamilton took a surprise victory in Russia as Ferrari’s race imploded, round 17 of the 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads to the fast and flowing Suzuka International Racing Course for the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019. This will be the 44^th Japanese Grand Prix, the thirty-fourth edition as part of the Formula 1 World Championship since the sport began in 1950 and the thirtieth time the event has been held at Suzuka.

 

 

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.

 

Kimi Raikkonen holds the fastest lap record with a 1:31.540 set in 2005 in his McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20.

 

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.

 

Onboard Pole Lap of Suzuka

 

 

Here is the onboard pole lap of Suzuka set at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W09 EQ Power+, which gave the Briton his 80^th career pole position in the sport. The reigning World Champion posted a blistering 1:27.760. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoCca4kUTf4

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

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.

 

Mercedes have selected less sets of the red side-walled C3 softs than their rivals, where teams will use Pirelli’s hardest selections of compounds for the weekend.

 

The Silver Arrows opted for eight sets of the soft rubber, one fewer than the entire field, which it has used to take on an additional set of mediums compared to rivals Ferrari and Red Bull.

 

Haas F1 Team and Renault F1 Team have gone aggressive with their tyre allocations, selecting 10 sets of the C3 soft tyres, while SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team are the only outfit to bring more than the mandatory single set of hards, selecting two for both Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.

 

DRS Zones

As in 2018, 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.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Russian GP Rewind – Hamilton claims surprise Russian GP victory as Ferrari’s race imploded

 

 

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton claimed victory at the Russian Grand Prix in surprising Silver Arrows one-two as Ferrari’s race imploded.

 

Sebastian Vettel refused to let Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc back into the lead after flying past the latter and Hamilton from a lightning quick start and slipstream on the rundown into turn two on the opening lap, but the German eventually retired from the Grand Prix after suffering an MGU-K failure.

 

Leclerc got back in-front of Vettel and into the net lead of the race at this point by the benefit of the undercut, but the latter pulled off on track, deploying the Virtual Safety Car.

 

This allowed Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to take advantage of pitting during the cautionary period, which converted into a surprise one-two finish for the Silver Arrows as Leclerc came home in a disgruntled third.

 

Vettel got an impressive start from third place at the start, getting by Hamilton immediately and then slipstreaming Leclerc on the rundown into the second corner, grabbing the lead.

 

The race was equalised quickly after the safety car was deployed due of a three-car tangle involving Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean, Renault F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

 

Giovinazzi was stuck between both cars braking for the fourth corner, made inside contact with Ricciardo and sent the Renault into Grosjean, whose VF-19 racer slammed into the outside barriers.

 

After the Haas was cleared, the war of words at Ferrari began when the Scuderia had ordered Leclerc not to battle Vettel if the German used the slipstream to move in-front at the start and agreed to swap drivers back when the race went green.

 

However, one week after Leclerc was left furious by Ferrari’s strategy giving Vettel victory in Singapore, Vettel ignored orders to let the Monegasque youngster by, and then pulled away from his frustrated team-mate.

 

Leclerc was the first of the front-runners to pit and used his four laps on a fresh set of yellow-marked medium compounds to mount very quick pace meaning he jumped in-front of Vettel when he stopped on lap 26.

 

Shortly after returning on track, disaster struck for Vettel as he suffered an MGU-K failure and pulled his SF90 racer off at turn 15.

 

This deployed the virtual safety car and was a double-blow for Ferrari, as Hamilton and Bottas remained on track while Leclerc was outside the Mercedes pit-stop window in the event of a full safety car.

 

Hamilton and Bottas dived straight into the pits as Leclerc circulated the Sochi Autodrom at the required reduced speed, switching to the red-branded softs, emerging first and third respectively.

 

ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell suffered a strange crash under the virtual safety car due to an unknown failure, which turned the VSC period into full safety car conditions.

 

Ferrari decided to sacrifice Leclerc’s position to swap his mediums to softer rubber, dropping the Monegasque youngster to third behind Bottas but eliminated Mercedes’ tyre advantage over the sole Ferrari driver in terms of age and compound.

 

However, Leclerc could not mount a serious battle with the Finn at any point after the race resumed.

 

That left Hamilton to claim his 82^nd Formula 1 career victory in unpredicted circumstances as the Briton extended his World Driver’s Championship lead over team-mate Bottas to 72 points with five Grands Prix remaining.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had a quiet race to come home in fourth place, with the Dutchman starting ninth after being hit with a five-grid placed penalty for installing a new Honda V6 Internal Combustion Engine and lost touch with the front-runners as he gradually moved his way up to fifth in the early stages.

 

He used VSC conditions to put on medium compounds and reached the chequered flag nine seconds off Leclerc.

 

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Alexander Albon completed the top five despite starting the race from pit-lane, charging from the rear of the top ten during his second stint.

 

He relegated McLaren’s Carlos Sainz to sixth place, denying the Spaniard a top-five finish for the Woking-based squad – although he still kept the best-of-the-rest honours after leading the midfield fight for the entire proceedings.

 

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez overhauled Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen to finish seventh, as the latter settled for eighth but was demoted to ninth at the chequered flag.

 

Magnussen got hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track at the second corner after his attempt of defending seventh position from Perez was dashed.

 

The other McLaren of Lando Norris was promoted to eighth as Renault F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg fell too far back to also move in-front of Magnussen and settled for tenth.

 

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of home favourite Daniil Kvyat who finished 12^th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who took 13^th.

 

The second Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly ended the Russian Grand Prix 14^th and in-front of the aforementioned Alfa of Giovinazzi who finished at the rear.

 

ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica was the other retirement of the race, with the Grove-based outfit ended his race straight after Russell’s crash to “conserve parts.”

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to the “Land of the Rising Sun” sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 322 points and a 73-point advantage over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 249 points while Charles Leclerc is third and a further 107 behind the Briton on 215 points.

 

Mercedes returns to Japan comfortably on top of the Constructors Championship with 571 points and a 162-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 409 points while Red Bull Racing are a further 260 behind the Silver Arrows in third on 311 points.

 

After Mercedes went with three Grands Prix without a victory, the Silver Arrows returned to winning ways at the Russian GP.

 

Hamilton lead home a Mercedes one-two, in which saw the team given a helping hand from Ferrari’s implosion and a timely deployment of the Virtual Safety Car.

 

The championship leaders will introduce a smaller update in Japan as it attempts to clawback some extra performance in it’s fight with Ferrari who have held the upper hand in the development war.

 

Will Red Bull be a thorn in the side between Mercedes and Ferrari in Japan as the Milton Keynes based-outfit race with Honda-power for the first time at the Japanese manufacturers’ circuit?

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 322 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 249 Points.
3. Charles Leclerc – 215 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 212 Points.
5. Sebastian Vettel – 194 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly – 69 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 66 Points.
8. Alexander Albon – 52 Points.
9. Lando Norris – 35 Points.
10. Daniel Ricciardo – 34 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 571 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 409 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 311 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 101 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 68 Points.
6. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 55 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 52 Points.
8. Alfa Romeo Racing – 35 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 28 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 1 Point.

 

The Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019 weekend begins with Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday October 11, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 12 and the 53 lap Race Sunday October 13.

 

You can catch up on the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar confirmation plus pre-testing news at the following link: @F1 2020 World Championship Calendar confirmed. #F1 #Formula1