Formula 1 Live: Punizione retroattiva per Russell?
09:52 Uhr
Hülkenberg: What happened at the start?
The German driver himself can’t quite explain it yet. During the restart, he dropped from P10 to P17. He reports: “The first start was really good. But during the second start, I went into anti-stall mode as soon as I released the clutch.”
He now needs to take a look at himself to see “what happened there,” says Hülkenberg, who considers it “half a miracle” that he still finished eleventh. “It shows that we had a good pace,” he emphasizes.
“It’s a shame, of course, because maybe we could have fought against Yuki or beaten Yuki in the fight for the one point that was still up for grabs,” says Hülkenberg. But his start shouldn’t have gone so wrong for that to happen.
09:42 Uhr
Tsunoda ends drought
The Japanese driver scored one point today as the tenth-place finisher – the first Japanese driver to do so in twelve years! The last time this happened in Suzuka was with Kamui Kobayashi, who finished third for Sauber at the time.
Tsunoda is only the fifth Japanese driver in the history of Formula 1 to score points at his home race. You can find all this information in our extensive database!
09:34 Uhr
Albon: Couldn’t back off
The Williams driver also confirms that he had a “grip advantage” at the start and was somewhat “surprised” by the good traction. Exactly what Ricciardo had already suspected.
“He clearly didn’t see me,” says Albon, emphasizing, “I tried to back off at the last moment. […] I hit the brakes and tried to get out of there.”
But he was already too far beyond the VCARB 01. “I couldn’t avoid it anymore,” explains Albon, adding that the most important question now is how damaged the car is.
Because Williams is notoriously thin on spare parts.
09:26 Uhr
Ricciardo: Didn’t see Albon
Let’s start with the race reactions right at the beginning – the collision between Ricciardo and Albon. The Australian himself says that he had a poor start because he had the mediums on while most behind him had the softs.
“I didn’t have the grip we expected,” he reports and says about Albon: “I’m not even sure if he wanted to be there [next to me]. But his grip on the soft tire was so much better that he thought, ‘There is space.’ Until he had none left…”
“I didn’t see him,” admits Ricciardo, explaining that there simply “wasn’t enough space.” “All in all: If we could turn back the clock an hour, I would start with the soft tires,” he emphasizes.
But second chances in Formula 1 are very rare…
09:17 Uhr
Rate the drivers now!
Once again this year, you have the opportunity to rate the drivers for their performance this weekend. In your opinion, who were the best drivers at Suzuka? Vote now!
By the way, Charles Leclerc was voted the official driver of the day. But our results often differ…
06:50 Uhr
Open the session ticker now!
In ten minutes, the fourth race of the year will begin, and we will shift the action back to our session ticker. We will continue with the race reactions from Suzuka as usual on this platform.
In the meantime, I recommend checking out our watch party on the Formel1.de YouTube channel. There, you can enjoy the Suzuka race with Kevin Scheuren and Kevin Hermann.
06:38 Uhr
Suzuka belongs to Red Bull and Mercedes
Let’s be honest: Do you know off the top of your head when the last time a driver won in Suzuka who wasn’t driving for Mercedes or Red Bull? It’s actually been 13 years!
Jenson Button won in 2011 for McLaren in Suzuka, followed by Sebastian Vettel winning twice in a row for Red Bull. Between 2014 and 2019, all six Suzuka victories went to Mercedes.
The race was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19, before Max Verstappen took the lead for Red Bull in 2022 and 2023.
Also interesting to note: The last Ferrari victory in Japan was in 2004 by Michael Schumacher.
For more exciting statistics about Suzuka and more, you can find them in our extensive database!