2024 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX F1 DRIVER

Top 5 rank

Started: 4th Finished: 3rd

Carlos Sainz had the better of Charles Leclerc across the weekend, which was built on being stronger in qualifying, as once again the challenge of extracting the most from the Pirellis over a single lap proved tricky.

The key to maximising his race result was getting ahead of Norris, which he did in the final stint with a 10-lap tyre advantage before breezing past the compliant Leclerc.

Verdict: Strong all-round weekend.
Started: 3rd Finished: 5th
Top 5
Lando Norris probably overachieved by putting the McLaren third on the grid, which meant he was always fighting a rearguard action in the race.

McLaren felt stopping him early to cover an undercut from Sainz was his best chance at a podium, leaving him with two hard stints.
But that also meant he was left with a 10-lap tyre disadvantage in the final stint, giving him no chance of keeping Sainz at bay.

But a brief excursion at Degner 2 aside, he executed the race well and couldn’t have done much about the Ferraris that jumped him.

Verdict: Made a fight of it with a faster Ferrari.
Top 4

Top 3
Started: 10th Finished: 10th

Again, Yuki Tsunoda got the RB into Q3 and proved to be the faster of the team’s drivers.
His race wasn’t straightforward as he was undercut by Valtteri Bottas at the first round of pitstops, then had to deal with some non-stopping traffic during his pursuit of the Sauber before jumping back ahead in the second round of pitstops.

Tsunoda later passed Nico Hulkenberg around the outside in the Esses, albeit with a big tyre advantage. He then subsequently ensured he kept well clear of the Haas drivers and Lance Stroll, who had a tyre advantage late on.

Verdict: King of the midfield.
Top 2
Started: 1st Finished: 1st

Max Verstappen was pushed surprisingly hard in qualifying by Sergio Perez, taking pole position by just 0.066s, albeit by setting two laps good enough for pole.

But he was on another level on race pace, executing two good race starts to control the grand prix from start to finish despite concerns about the long-run speed after practice.

Verdict: Qualifying wasn’t perfect, but supreme in the race.
Top 1
Started: 5th Finished: 6th

Fernando Alonso characterised his weekend as one of the top five in his career. That might be a stretch given the sheer volume of great weekends he’s produced, but it’s certainly true he dragged everything out of the Aston Martin
Along the way, he showed his usual relentlessness and also guile by allowing Oscar Piastri to get into DRS range late on to help him keep George Russell behind given the Mercedes driver was a potential threat.

Verdict: Couldn’t have done more.
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