Winners and losers from the qualifying for the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

A driver can rarely, if ever, be as locked in for a Grand Chelem as Verstappen is in the Japanese GP.

He will vanish up the Suzuka road and the race will be over if he makes it out of Turn 1 unharmed and with all four wheels pointing in the same direction.

It appears as though he has taken Singapore’s defeat very personally and is out for vengeance because of the supreme display of dominance he has put on.

For a driver who, despite the issues in Singapore, was still a serious contender for the victory, his pole lap was a thing of beauty.
The Safety Car’s precise timing was the only thing that could have prevented him from winning.

The best he can hope for is a lead of 177 points after 53 laps with 180 points still up for grabs, and the race isn’t over until the fat lady sings.
This means he cannot win the championship in Japan.
However, she has been clearing her throat for months and is about to sing at the top of her range.

Verstappen is at his stunningly destructive best in this unadulterated, unfiltered, raw form.
In elite sports, it is uncommon to observe such high levels.

Vertappen said what, right?

“We had a bad weekend in Singapore, but I thought from our preparation that this was going to be a good track.
Of course, you can never really tell how good a track is going to be, but [the car] has been really nice from lap one.
“.

Sergio Perez is a loser.

Sergio Perez shares the unfortunate circumstance of playing on the same team as the person who is regarded as the “man to beat” of his era, just like Rubens Barrichello and Valtteri Bottas did before him.

Of the three, Bottas was the most likely to have a strong weekend and surpass his teammate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, possibly winning the race.
However, he was unable to do so on a regular basis.

In qualifying, Bottas consistently finished ahead of Hamilton by about a third of the time.
This made his Sundays much simpler than Perez has been making them recently.

The simple truth is that Perez cannot blame his poor performances on his inability to properly configure the car.

Although the RB19 is a better race car than a qualifying one and hasn’t been fully unlocked this season, Verstappen will typically find the car’s absolute raw pace. Perez needs to work on getting closer to Verstappen more frequently.

The McLaren team and Charles Leclerc happily inserted themselves into the seven-tenths-of-a-second chasm on equal machinery on the same track in the same conditions in a healthy car.

Even though Verstappen has taken over Hamilton’s role as the “man to beat,” Perez’s deficit to Verstappen is simply unacceptable.

Perez said what, exactly?

“Using that second set [of tyres] in Q2 was not ideal, and that put us on the back foot to McLaren, primarily by not having a set of new tyres [in Q3].
“.

Oscar Piastri is the winner.

Oscar Piastri considers it a successful day’s work when he visits one of the most treacherous tracks in the world for the first time in Formula One and outqualifies the top drivers on the grid.

With a brand-new three-year contract in his back pocket, the Australian quickly won the “non-Verstappen class,” finishing 0 points, 581 behind the Red Bull.

He trailed Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and Lando Norris in the sister MCL60 by less than a tenth, though.

Remember that this is also his first weekend with the most recent round of upgrades.
It is important to put forth the best effort you can, and the race will undoubtedly see him earn his first-ever podium finish in Formula One.

Piastri said what?

I’ll try to pass that car because there is only one left, so that will be cool.
“.

The loser is Mercedes.

Look no further than Singapore and Japan for an illustration of how drastically Mercedes’ fortunes have changed in recent years.

During their previous dominant run, the Brackley cars dominated at fast-flowing tracks like Suzuka or Silverstone while typically faltering at slower tracks like Marina Bay or Monaco.

The W14 dislikes a variety of corners and performs best on completely fast, medium-fast, or slow-speed corners.
It is challenging to tune the W14 for tracks with fast sweepers, chicanes, and hairpins.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are eighth and seventh respectively on the starting grid, indicating Mercedes is clearly fourth-best at Suzuka, which is always a good indication of a package’s potential.

The high-speed rear-instability has not been fixed since Silverstone first discovered it, both drivers cautioned the team.

Mercedes will spend the entire year of 2024 attempting to catch up to Red Bull if it is unable to address this weakness over the winter for the W15.
If this happens, it can forget about catching Red Bull in 2024 or 2025.

The fact that Aston Martin and McLaren, two teams that this behemoth should have no trouble defeating, have both been able to make significant strides this season—in McLaren’s case twice—is even more concerning.
The efforts of Mercedes are insufficient.
Finding solutions urgently is necessary.

What said Hamilton?

“Our slow start in the first sector is because we have a long way to go on rear downforce.
The laps felt great though; it’s crazy how close it was by just one second.
It is concerning for us as a team to be able to close the gap for the following year but still be behind at this point.
“.

Yuki Tsunoda is the winner.

Yuki Tsunoda has had a good few days.

First off, despite rumors to the contrary, AlphaTauri decided to keep him on for a fourth season, saving him from losing his race seat and becoming a third Red Bull driver in 2024.

Second, significant AT04 upgrades are finally starting to transform the vehicle into a midfield contender with a chance of qualifying for Q3.

Finally, he delivered that Q3 spot, with teammate Liam Lawson missing out on both a full-time 2024 seat and a top 10 spot.

Since Tsunoda was performing at his best when the car was at its worst earlier in the year, 2024 actually begins here for him.
He must now turn on the car that is capable of producing better results.

At Suzuka, scoring points in front of his adoring home crowd would be a good place to start.

How did Tsunoda respond?

“I am certainly content.
Especially qualifying for the [my] home Grand Prix in Q3, it’s just incredible.
The team performed admirably considering that we had difficulty during the practice sessions.
I was impressed with the car and eagerly anticipated the competition.
“.

Sargeant, Logan, is a loser.

There is now a sense that Logan Sargeant is in a spiral that can only lead to one outcome, in place of the mid-season performance spike around Austria and Britain.

After that boost in the middle of the season, he is regressing rather than advancing.
You should now be demonstrating your qualifications for a spot for the following season, not just trying to hold onto your current seat.

Even though he crashed in the race, he did well to qualify for the third round at Zandvoort despite the challenging conditions.
This is because the car suffered a hydraulic failure.

The move to hit the wall in Singapore was clumsy, but dropping the car through the last corner at Suzuka is bad.
Although it is bad, it is not as bad as Robert Kubica’s comparable act in 2019.

Alex Albon starts in the 13th position, usually a midfield contender for the Williams.
Sargeant wouldn’t be doing the FW45 justice if he were to remove Albon from the circumstance and observe it.

With Lawson’s ascent and his failure to win the AlphaTauri seat, Sargeant now faces a serious threat to his chances of winning the 2024 race. Williams can’t afford to be sentimental and keep the Driver Academy alum. Sargeant won’t be on Bahrain’s grid in March unless he stops this slide.