Japanese Grand Prix Recap & Review
Pre Weekend Thoughts:
Do not let them distract you.
After the absolute chaos that was our first off week, we were finally blessed with a race week. Japan is Mr. Yuki Tsunoda’s home race which I believe makes the timing for all of this extremely opportunistic. Japanese driver stepping up to the senior team during his home race is the best distraction a team could ask for. Oh, and here is a special livery on top of that! Red Bull is taking all the abilities to gain an advantage in public favor as they can heading into this weekend. Honestly? I do not blame them.
Free Practices
These 3 sessions were rather eventful and brought up some thoughts that I need to bring forward to the forum for discussion.
FP1
To start off, my own personal highlight - the conversations about the chicanes on the track having different personalities is why I love this sport. Also, the fact that this conversation was the highlight of FP1 says all you need to know about the session.
FP2
Now, Free Practice session 2 made up for the quiet of FP2. It was like I lived through multiple different sessions. We had 4 red flags and 2 were caused by the track literally catching on fire. The other 2 red flags were brought yo us by crashes provided by Fernando Alonso and Jack Doohan. While, yes, Liam Lawson has been the center of the conversation for the last 3 weeks; my question is when do we think the media is going to turn and start having the Jack Doohan conversation or, even better, the Alpine conversation. Such a side note, Jack Doohan looks like Benson Boone to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve had Benson be in conversations a lot this week but please let me know your thoughts on this comparison.
It was also in FP2 that it dawned on me that I really did record these sessions (they were on past my bedtime) and yet I sat through every commercial and delay like it was live. Now, I’m not saying I deserve a medal for the pure dedication to the sport but, I am also saying exactly that.
FP3
I did watch this session live and had hopes of it being wickedly uneventful after the FP2 session we had. Starting it off with the track being on fire yet again! F1 needs to look more into the track maintenance as one of the pillars of their environmental efforts. (I will spare you the long chat for now. I literally have done research on this) This session brought up the Lando vs Oscar conversation. That narrative is exhausting and overplayed. Please find something else to talk about.
To round out my observations on this weekends free practices: Charles has been quite sassy on. the radio so far this season.
Qualifying
My live observations, notes, and thoughts of the qualifying sessions as it was happening
Q1
I’m just so glad we have normal times for the weekend next week I’m so tired
Yuki first time around throwing that thing into P3 let’s RIDE
Seatbelt issue???
“I can’t focus” real but almost too real? Isack my king don’t let them see you falter
Kimi has been quiet all weekend
Isack what a legend for that run
Q2
Grass fire!
Ollie showing out rn I told yall- let him cook
The Liam/yuki qualifying situation
Impeding??
Ollie, isack, and Kimi into Q3? What a time for our rookies
Q3
The mini max, lando and Charles are genuinely my favorite thing in the world
everytime I see someone go off I’m now afraid the grass is going to catch on fire
OP new track record #slay
Crofty loving a birthday winner he’s so real for that
Beltgate
Literally max where tf did that come from but how dare you
Max happy on the radio is crazy
Race Day
There are certain advantages to what I would say is a rather quiet race. For starters, as a fan I don’t have to spend my time angrily yelling at the screen at 1 am on a Sunday morning. Also, it will allow us as fans to look back at the race with extreme fondness when inevitably one of the next 2 races has an unprecedented level of chaos and causes me to consider changing my prescription.
The down side to that is: as someone who is now writing and relying her thoughts and feelings on the race weekend, it leaves me feeling like the world is out to get me because what do you mean 20 men decided to be normal while driving high powered race cars for 2 hours?? Seems rude if you ask me.
Now, it’s not like this race gave us absolutely NOTHING to discuss and dissect. Right off the rip, we had a start that will never not fail to stress me out no matter who P1 & P2 are. When those drivers are sitting waiting for the lights to go out and they have both positioned their cars in toward each other, I am holding my breath for the entire first lap. So, I would like to thank Max and Lando for not making the opening lap an absolute metaphorical bloodbath.
Japan 2025 will always be dear to me because it gave us the first laps led by a rookie this season and allowed us to witness F1’s youngest race leader. If this is the only time that we witness that the entire rest of the season, I am so glad it happened during a 1 am race because it gave me a reason to stay awake and something to hold so close to my heart if the rest of the season becomes a circus. So thank you Kimi for your service.
Sometimes, I strongly dislike that they share team radios with us because hearing the back and forth between driver and the pitwall makes me want to throw something at my screen or sometimes in the most extreme of cases, turn off coverage all together. I am known to more often than not, turn the volume off and simply just watch the race in silence. There was a moment towards the end of the race where the McLaren radios had me contemplating just going to bed.
I don’t want to jump the gun but after witnessing even just one weekend of the new Red Bull lineup, I think that this is the proper teammate duo. They have someone in that 2nd seat who has a better feel for the car and is able to compete in the way they want. I have a feeling that the more comfortable that Yuki gets in the Red Bull, the better results he will produce for them.
Post Weekend thoughts:
No more middle of the night races. My sleep schedule could not handle another one of these.
Well y’all, the results aren’t anything we are foreign to seeing. Truly, I don’t think I realized how badly I needed that race to be uneventful until it was over. Also, at some point during this race it dawned on me that this is the beginning of a triple header.
Have a joyous week and chat so soon :)
