Mercedes march on
Sealing their sixth consecutive constructors’ championship and ensuring they will secure a record sixth constructors’ and drivers’ double had an almost inevitable air after Mercedes’ strong start to the season. Having clinched it in Japan, their inexorable march should not detract from a remarkable achievement. It stretches back to the groundwork laid by Ross Brawn and the structures he created back in 2010. Three years of hard work and development ensued and what has emerged since has been outstanding. The team has come through on top after two major regulation changes, a feat never achieved before. After 2014 they were untouchable and in 2017, while the fight intensified, they remained on top. Nor should it be assumed that their success is simply a virtue of spending. In recent times both Toyota and Honda have proved that money alone guarantees nothing. A tighter battle at the front would be more than welcome and long overdue but it means others stepping up to match a Mercedes team showing no sign of weakness.
Ferrari stumble again
Sebastian Vettel described Mercedes as “close to perfection” after the Japanese Grand Prix, where the Scuderia were once again found wanting. For the second race in succession they blew the chance to control the race. Vettel’s start cost him a shot at the win and Charles Leclerc hitting Max Verstappen took him out of contention. Perhaps worst of all, however, was how they dealt with the result of that. Mattia Binotto had spoken about how key it was to manage his drivers. Yet when Ferrari told Leclerc to come in to fix his damaged front wing, their driver stayed out. It was costly, dangerous and suggested that some control has slipped from the pitwall. Leclerc’s wing disintegrated, showering Lewis Hamilton with wreckage, and debris ended up in Lando Norris’s brake ducts, scuppering his chances. Leclerc and Ferrari took a penalty for not bringing the car in having told the FIA they would so. About which the race director, Michael Masi, described himself as “more than slightly annoyed from a safety perspective”. There is, it seems, a latitude between team and drivers that Ferrari must consider.
The one-handed backlash
Yeah, going through 130R is cool. But how about one-handed....?
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 13, 2019
Nicely done @Charles_Leclerc 😎#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 #F1 pic.twitter.com/JaCyKG3PNb
Leclerc’s clash with Verstappen left his wing mirror loose. F1 posted a video of the driver attempting to check its stability. He did so while going through 130R and consequently took the once fearsomely challenging corner one-handed. That the current formula enables a driver to so do is far from the advert F1 doubtless intended and it was mercilessly picked up on social media. Martin Brundle was, as ever, spot on with his considered response. “Whilst I admire the precision and confidence in driving one-handed while attempting DIY at the same time, and desperately staying away from ‘in my day’, but the legendary 130R corner becoming effectively a straight line saddens me,” he tweeted. Some team members have long bemoaned that the sport has become run by engineers for whom higher downforce is all and with whose supremacy the challenge for drivers has dissipated. The 2021 regulations are supposed to address this but in Suzuka six teams were revealed to still oppose the new rules as they stand and the 31 October deadline looms ever larger.
Ricciardo’s reason to grin
With Renault enduring a disappointing season and Daniel Ricciardo having had a particularly testing time at recent races, the Australian’s run from 16th to sixth was reason to be cheerful. Albeit one still subject to he FIA’s investigation into Racing Point’s protest at their brake bias system. Ricciardo had retired early in Russia and in Singapore started from the back after grid penalties. Japan had not looked like it would offer an improvement. A suspension problem cost him in qualifying and with overtaking tricky a long race awaited. However Ricciardo took to his task enthusiastically and unsurprisingly for one so adept at passing, began scything through the field. Renault too played his strategy well, giving him softs for a late charge and moving his teammate Nico Hülkenberg aside for him to do so. It paid off and he promptly dispatched Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly. It was the performance he and Renault wanted and need. As a works team, fighting back from 16th is not where they want to be.
Super Sunday flags up the future
With Typhoon Hagibis ravaging parts of Japan, Suzuka escaped lightly. High winds and rain turned out to be the worst of it on the coastline where the track sits 300km south-west of Tokyo. Qualifying was rightly postponed for safety reasons on the Saturday and by Sunday blue skies greeted the action. There was a lot to pack into the day but that it went well will have been noted by F1 as it considers how race weekends might change. There were only three hours between qualifying and the race, and some concern it would be difficult to turn everything around. But the teams and organisers managed it with aplomb. It even proved long enough for Williams to rebuild Robert Kubica’s car around a new chassis after his crash. Reverse grid sprint races on a Saturday are still hoped to be given a trial next year with France and Spa in the frame to host them. F1 is also believed to be looking at ways to shorten the race weekend. Sunday qualifying as demonstrated in Suzuka may yet be a proposal.
