ROUND 17: 🇯🇵 FORMULA 1 LENOVO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 2023
| Circuit stats | |
|---|---|
| First Grand Prix | 1987 |
| Number of laps | 53 |
| Circuit Length | 5.807 km |
| Race Distance | 307.471 km |
| Lap record | 1:30.983 Lewis Hamilton (2019) |
| 2022 winner | Max Verstappen |
The biggest problem with Sargeant is that these crashes are costing the team having less money to develop the car.
Same thing as Mick. Not fast enough while costing the team a lot of money through wrecking the car. Mick was closer to magnussen though
Exactly! If I was James Vowles, I’d be pretty pissed.
Absolutely, although the Haas was just shit. Mick did show progress in the second half of the season, handling the car better and earning points. Rookies who demonstrate that kind of improvement definitely deserve a second chance.
I don’t see that with Logan.
Well mick was not a rookie in 2022 so holding him to a higher standard is not wrong.
although the Haas was just shit
The Haas last year was as good (in relation to other cars last year) or even better than the Williams is this year.
Whew, it’s hot and humid here (for Suzuka, for sure). Crowd is fantastic (and geared up in fun home made stuff), and so is the food :)
ええ？羨ましい！You lucky fucker…
Oooooooh I’m so jealous
What food have you been having?
It’s great. I’ve been to a fair few races and this is one of or the best one to go to. Extremely safe and respectful, easy to navigate (though a long wait in the rain for buses to the train station last night), tons of visibility, it’s beautiful with the mountains, and it’s one of the cheaper ones to attend!
Some yakisoba, a beer, and a fantastic ice cream. All very cheap, beer is ¥500, like $3 US, and food is similarly inexpensive
Ever since I learned Japanese, I’ve been wanting to make my way out to Suzuka. How’d you manage to snag a ticket? Secondary market?
It’s a great race. Japan is great in general. I went a long time ago with very limited Japanese and had a wonderful time. Now with N5/N4 level Japanese it’s even better!
I got a ticket through the Suzuka website. I’m American, so I had to stay up pretty late to do so, and there was some website fuckery, but once that was settled they were very reasonably priced and good seats!
Oh shit. Fellow American here, so if you have any tips, feel free. By the way, feel free to DM me if you ever want a practice partner. I’ve passed N1, but not living in Japan anymore means that I rather don’t have many chances to use my Japanese.
Heck yeah! I might hit you up on that, and on what life in Japan was like! We’ve thought about moving a few times; my work is techy-enough to be able to probably get work here
I should clarify– the tickets sold out that night, so if you didn’t get one from the venue within a few hours, you were forced to buy from a reseller. I’ve had good luck with a reseller once before but it’s definitely cheaper from the source
Yeah I ended up having to pay out the ear to go to last year’s USGP, but since I’m only like 15 minutes from the track anyway, at least I didn’t have to suck up flights, hotels, etc. But I’ve never seen an F1 race that didn’t sell out within like an hour from the primary source. I guess I should plan on 2025…
Really want to get to Zandvoort, Suzuka, and Canada next year.
Oh cool! Yeah we’ve been to the USGP twice. It was such an expensive and logistical nightmare in 2021 that I was like “surely we can do better for this price” so we went to Mexico and I was near Silverstone for work during it last year. I’ve been to Japan and China for the GP a long time ago and was like let’s do Japan, the place is the best!
My tl;Dr of F1 races is to book a refundable hotel as soon as you see the schedule, then get flights if you manage to score F1 tickets. For Suzuka, I’d recommend staying in Nagoya (or nearer the circuit if you can), or near Chubu airport if you can manage the high speed boat logistics. I’m not sure how they work other than we were too late for them, but it seems a very nice route if you can pull it off.
Canada is great, Montreal itself is lovely too. Cool that you’re in austin-ish; it’s also a great city.
Man max is just different.
Also tsunoda outqualifying his idol
He’s one with the car. He clearly feels very comfortable with it, and puts it to its limits.
It would not surprise me if he has some sort of brain implant that’s tied to the car.
Damn Max. Moments like last week really put into perspective how insane this is. Max pulling so much time on everyone, and meanwhile Checo isn’t even second. Sargeant’s position is also getting quite bad. Until Singapore I was still thinking that they’d give him another year. He’s not that fast or promising, but sometimes rookies just need that warmup year to get going. Look at Yuki for instance. But he just keeps crashing, and the pace isn’t great either. There can be some lenience for rookies, but with Piastri and Lawson showing what rookies can do, I’m not sure if Sargeant will get that seat next year.
Yuki to Q3! 頑張れ！Let’s goooooo!
Logan Sargeant doing what he does best…
At this point it seems better to just let Albon drive by himself as Logan cost the team so much money.
It might seem harsh, but I doubt we’ll see Logan in F1 next year.
I’m also biased, hoping Mick Schumacher gets another shot. Despite his initial struggles, he showed improvement and scored points in the second half of the season, something I can’t envision for Sargent.
Wow. Lawson absolutely having a hell of a quali.
Side note: I’m surprised he hasn’t done any sort of CM for the identically-named conbini chain.
Edit: Tragic Q1 for Alfa Romeo.
Max putting down a 1:28 and addressing the crowd. He must be really happy.
Verstappen sub 29, it seems.
Edit: confirmed!
Yup. Absolutely mental!
Oof Sargeant. Making it really hard for people to support him for that last available seat.
It cannot be possible that he retains his seat for next year, right?
Hopefully not.
No Alpine in Q3, one AT (second very close to make it). Alonso being Alonso, putting the Aston in Q3.
Crazy how Aston has fallen. AT is looking faster than them
How long will Stroll senior be able to defend his son role in the team?
Well Honda wants tsunoda in that seat in the future so hopefully we get to see yuki with his hero in the Aston
The Max Show is back on, everyone.
RIP Sargeant.
Hoping Lawson gets the Williams seat and he and Alex demolish the (re-branded) AlphaTauri next season.
How many European fans up early this weekend for the racing?
Must be nice having basically every race be watchable.
Qualy is at eight so not really a big deal, no? And tomorrow it’ll be seven for the race start. It means in both cases I can spend the rest of the day doing other stuff, so I wouldn’t mind every weekend being like this.
Absolutely insane that Max is going sub-1:30 on older tyres. He’s not human.
Unless something really weird happens, this will be another win for him. The interesting stuff will be behind him.
So like the rest of the season. Max P1 with absolute chaos behind him
Yeah, pretty much. We could see Ferrari at least approach Mercedes in the WCC standings, if Ferrari continue their run of form, and LH has a poor showing.
Yep. And Qatar beckons for Max’s third WDC title.
