Here is our full text trascript from the fourth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season:
We are ready for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, a track that has delivered some of F1’s biggest moments.
Max Verstappen starts on pole in a Red Bull front row lockout from team-mate Sergio Perez, with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz on the second row. Further down, Lewis Hamilton is seventh, with Charles Leclerc and George Russell right behind him. Strategy will be vital today and there are plenty of unknowns about tyres.
We expect a two-stop race but the top teams all have different tyres left, which makes for a fascinating strategy. Both Red Bulls and Ferrari cars have one hard and two mediums, whereas the Mercedes and McLaren drivers have two hards and one medium. Then you have fifth-placed Fernando Alonso who has one new soft, one medium and one hard. If the medium is clearly stronger than the hard, or vice versa, two teams may have gone the wrong way with tyres.
The formation lap is under way and everyone is off the line cleanly. Everyone in the top 11 is on the mediums apart from Fernando Alonso who is on the softs.
“It will be important to have a decent start and to also protect from Fernando who has a set of softs. “But then I think the degradation will be important – it’s much hotter than it was yesterday morning. Yesterday the deg was under control for us but it will be another game today with track temperature. Let’s see, it could be a good one. It makes sense at the start [for Alonso] as you can make a position, but we’ll see.” – Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said ahead of the race.
Max Verstappen makes a brilliant getaway and comfortably stays ahead of Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz has a look up the inside of Lando Norris but the McLaren defends well to keep the top four as they started.
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Lap 1/53: Oh no! Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon have tangled at Turn Three and race control call for a red flag. Both drivers are out of the car thankfully. It’s another crash featuring a Williams! With the team still operating without a spare chassis, they are once more going to be hard at work between now and the Chinese GP in two weeks’ time to have two cars ready. We may be waiting a little while for a resumption here, given the quite significant damage to the tyre barriers. When we do get back under way, it will of course be another standing start, which gives Sergio Perez another shot at taking on his team-mate Max Verstappen.
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The current order will be implemented when we get a standing start restart. Nico Hulkenberg gained two places to 10th and Ocon gained two positions too to 13th, so they are the big winners here thanks to their good starts. The top nine stayed the same with no movement through the first sector before the red flag was called.
The drivers who made significant progress at the start there were on soft tyres, which could prompt some others to consider starting on the C3 compound. Given the difficulty of overtaking around this track, gaining a few places at the start could be crucial. We’ll soon find out if anyone has made a switch.
Lap 3/53: It’s another strong start from Max Verstappen, who cuts across Sergio Perez to retain the lead once more. The only front-runner to lose out at the start is Lewis Hamilton, who drops behind Charles Leclerc into eighth.
Lap 7/53: Valtteri Bottas has come in for an early stop to switch from soft to hard tyres. It’s a relatively impressive one for Sauber’s struggling pit crew, as they get the Finn away after just four seconds. We’ve just seen Yuki Tsunoda come in a lap later, and he’s come out behind Bottas, with the pair now running in P15 and P16.
Lap 9/53: Verstappen leads Perez by two seconds, with Norris another two seconds back in third. Carlos Sainz spots that Norris is “struggling” with tyres and is nearly within DRS range of the Ferrari driver. Then comes Alonso on the softs in fifth, with Piastri and Leclerc close behind the Spaniard. The Mercedes are biding their time on the hards in eighth and ninth.
Lap 10/53: George Russell reports a vibration with his steering from ninth place. He’s going along nicely though at the moment. Meanwhile, just ahead, Leclerc is attacking Piastri for sixth place.
Lap 11/53: Lando Norris comes in from P3, and Carlos Sainz behind him stays out. That might suggest Ferrari are planning to go significantly longer, given they’ll be aware of the strength of the undercut. Norris is onto the hard tyre.
Lap 13/53: In comes the other McLaren now of Oscar Piastri. On go the hard tyres and Piastri is in a bit of traffic, behind Logan Sargeant in 12th place. That’s far from ideal. Out in front, Verstappen leads Perez by four seconds with Carlos Sainz another four seconds back. Anod something you would not necessarily expect to hear: Lewis Hamilton has just come onto team radio to offer to let team-mate George Russell, who has closed up to him, through into P5.
Lap 14/53: Wow, Hamilton does let Russell through going into the final chicane. Not often you see a driver call for team orders before the team. That’s Russell in fifth and Hamilton in sixth, both drivers are on the hard tyres.
Lap 16/53: Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz both pit from second and third respectively. Both drivers put on a new set of mediums and Norris has jumped Perez!
Lap 18/53: Lando Norris overtakes George Russell now into Turn One as Sergio Perez bravely goes down the inside of Lewis Hamilton at 130R! It’s all happening at Suzuka in terms of overtakes.
Lap 19/53: Lewis Hamilton loses another place as he drops to seventh. This time it’s Carlos Sainz into the Spoon Curve on Hamilton.
Lap 21/53: Max Verstappen is back in front after cruising past Charles Leclerc at Turn 1. The Monegasque is yet to stop and looks to be attempting to pull off a one-stopper.
Lap 24/53: Charles Leclerc is still going strong on a set of medium tyres that are now 22 laps old. He is only five seconds back from Verstappen, and is keeping his advantage over the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez over a second. “Leclerc is doing a remarkable job in this race so far,” says Anthony Davidson on Sky Sports F1.
Lap 25/53: Different strategies and tyres mean a lot is happening out there!
This is the situation. Max Verstappen leads Charles Leclerc by eight seconds. However, Leclerc is yet to pit and is holding up Sergio Perez, who is stuck behind the Ferrari driver. Lando Norris is two seconds back on the hard tyres, with Carlos Sainz another two seconds adrift. Then comes Alonso and Piastri. Russell and Hamilton have just pitted for new hards and are going to the end. Everyone else should pit one more time.
Lap 26/53: Leclerc runs wide at Degner 2! He was going so well, keeping Sergio Perez back brilliantly. Lando Norris is now on Leclerc’s tail in the battle for third.
Lap 27/53: Leclerc and Norris both pit! Russell is in between them though on the pit exit, so it’s Leclerc in sixth, Russell in seventh and Norris in eighth. They are all on hard tyres and going to the end. This is working out really well for the Monegasque, even with the mistake.
Lap 28/53: It’s another stunning move from Lando Norris around the outside at Turn 1. Just as he did to Lewis Hamilton earlier, Norris shows complete commitment to take P7 from his good friend.
Lap 30/53: Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is 10 seconds ahead of Perez and cruising to another win. We should get a big battle behind him though for second as Perez and Sainz still need to pit one more time and will come out in the Leclerc-Norris-Russell battle.
Lap 32/53: Oscar Piastri is having a relatively quiet race in fifth but cuts the chicane. Leclerc is catching Piastri on those fresher tyres, so the Australian could help Norris by holding Leclerc up.
Lap 34/53: Perez and Alonso both pit for hard tyres. Perez comes out behind Leclerc and Norris but has seven-lap fresher tyres. Alonso is in eighth, nine seconds behind Hamilton. Max Verstappen is the latest front-runner to stop. He comes out in second behind Carlos Sainz, who still needs to stop. More significantly, he is seven seconds clear of the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Sergio Perez gets past Norris straight away on the main straight and is up into a net fourth place.
Lap 36/53: And it’s a carbon-copy move a lap later for Perez as he goes to the inside of Leclerc for what will be second place. We are on course for a Red Bull one-two if you’re just waking up.
Lap 37/53: Carlos Sainz ends a 21-lap stint on the medium tyre by coming into the pits. He emerges in seventh, just behind Lewis Hamilton. It would appear pretty certain that he will be able to pass both Hamilton and the other Mercedes of George Russell to get up to P5. Whether he can apply any pressure to Lando Norris for fourth remains in question.
Lap 38/53: Carlos Sainz gets past Lewis Hamilton and is now in fifth. Next up the road is Norris at six seconds ahead. Norris is the latest driver to run wide at Degner 2.
38/53: George Russell will not be one-stopping after all. Mercedes bring him in and put on a fresh set of mediums for the final 15 laps. He comes out in P9, 10 seconds back from the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, had just said over team radio that he might try to get the end on his hard tyres.
Lap 41/53: Carlos Sainz is rapidly closing on Lando Norris for fourth. It appears to be a formality that he will get past his former team-mate. The bigger question is whether he will be able to chase down and pass his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who is six seconds ahead of Norris. A Ferrari vs Ferrari battle for the final podium over the final laps could be coming up…
Lap 44/53: The inevitable has occurred. Carlos Sainz applies some pressure to Lando Norris and eases past up the home straight. He is less than two seconds behind team-mate Charles Leclerc. How much resistance can the Monegasque put up on tyres that are 10 laps older than Sainz’s. The Spaniard gets within one second of Leclerc, who is told he is racing Norris. That basically means, don’t waste time fighting your team-mate.
Lap 46/53: Leclerc covers the inside into Turn One but Sainz comfortably goes around the outside. Sainz is going to make it three podiums from three starts with Leclerc in fourth. It’s been a great execution of strategy from Ferrari for both drivers today.
Lap 48/53: George Russell is catching Oscar Piastri at a rate of knots, around one second per lap quicker. Piastri is stuck behind Fernando Alonso, who is brilliantly keeping the McLaren driver at bay. Russell is just one second behind Piastri, with Hamilton another five seconds back. Russell dives down the inside at the final chicane but makes wheel to wheel contact with Piastri, who make slight contact. Piastri cuts the chicane, keeps the place and then defends into Turn One again to stay in sixth place. The incident has been noted by the stewards.
Final Lap: Max Verstappen has set a new fastest lap of the race, which will give him an extra point. Verstappen leads by 13 seconds from Sainz, with Leclerc two seconds ahead of Norris in the battle for fourth. Alonso is still keeping Piastri in his DRS, so Russell can’t get by the McLaren driver. Hamilton is two seconds back from the trio in ninth and Yuki Tsunoda looks like he will hang onto 10th place on home soil.
Final lap: Piastri runs wide going into the chicane which puts him off line and Russell gets a run onto the main straight and gets past into Turn One.
Max Verstappen is back to winning ways at the Japanese Grand Prix. He cruises home 12 seconds clear of team-mate Sergio Perez, who seals a third Red Bull one-two in four races this season. Carlos Sainz secures another podium finish for Ferrari, while Charles Leclerc completes a great recovery race to take fourth place behind his Maranello teammate. Carlos Sainz therefore leads home a Ferrari three-four from Charles Leclerc to maintain his record of having finished on the podium at all three of the races he has competed in this season.
Further back, Yuki Tsunoda gets that home point for Japan.
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