How Verstappen edged McLaren duo in F1 Japanese GP qualifying
Coming into Q3, McLaren had topped every session of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend – free practice, Q1, and Q2 – positioning the Woking-based team as the clear favourite for pole. Oscar Piastri led the way after the first runs in Q3, with Verstappen trailing by a quarter of a second. «I just thought, ‘I’m […]
Norris leads Piastri as grass fires interrupt practice again
Lando Norris closed out Japanese Grand Prix practice with the fastest time, just 0.026 seconds ahead of McLaren Formula 1 team-mate Oscar Piastri, as the session faced two red flags due to grass fires. The championship leader aborted two hot laps during his late-session qualifying simulations on soft tyres due to minor wide moments on […]
Why both Racing Bulls were ahead of Verstappen on Friday in Japan
«I think the people at Racing Bulls were a bit surprised themselves by the good car they’ve built this year,» Max Verstappen told reporters on Thursday at the Japanese Grand Prix. Two weeks ago in China, the world champion made it clear that his struggling team-mate Liam Lawson would be faster in the Racing Bulls […]
Alonso surprised by ‘weird’ Japan FP2 spin
Even Formula 1 world champions make mistakes – although Fernando Alonso indicated that fluctuations in the headwind at a critical part of the lap at Suzuka could have tipped him into the spin that brought second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix to a halt. Alonso lost control at the entry to the first Degner […]
Norris tops FP1 from Russell, Tsunoda sixth for Red Bull
Lando Norris headlined the opening practice session of Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix, as Yuki Tsunoda was just a tenth behind Max Verstappen in his first official run for Red Bull. Norris overcame a series of scrappy moments earlier in the session, particularly as his aggressive approach to the Casio Triangle ended in a near […]
How F1 drivers reacted to Tsunoda, Lawson swa
Lewis Hamilton believes it was “pretty tough” on Liam Lawson to be dropped by Red Bull after just two races – but said he was not surprised to see the team act so swiftly. Lawson struggled to get to grips with the RB21 in both the Australian and Chinese grands prix and was ultimately demoted […]
A Suzuka corner’s hidden history
‘Spoon’, ‘130R’, ‘Hairpin’, ‘S Curves’. The corner names at Suzuka have prescriptive, unembellished quality. Except for… Degner. For a brief time in the 1960s Ernst Degner was a proverbial thorn in Honda’s side, helping Suzuki develop a series of 50cc racing motorcycle engines capable of screaming beyond 17,000rpm, and enabling Mitsuo Itoh to become the […]
Yuki Tsunoda insists he can tame Red Bull’s u
New Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda doesn’t expect the tricky characteristics of the team’s Formula 1 car to be a problem for him. Tsunoda has earned promotion to Red Bull’s main outfit from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards after Liam Lawson spectacularly failed to get up to speed with the delicate RB21 machine, while the […]
“Definitely not something I expected”
Liam Lawson has revealed that his demotion to Racing Bulls, after just two grands prix at Red Bull in the 2025 Formula 1 season, came as a surprise. After Lawson struggled at both Melbourne and Shanghai – including qualifying 20th twice in China – Red Bull decided the situation called for an immediate driver swap, […]