We are back this weekend for the third round of this year’s Formula 1 season.
It’s only been two weeks since Kimi Antonelli got his first GP win in China, but in a packed season that was filled with 24 races (now down to 22 due to the cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) everyone has to move on quickly to Suzuka.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere is no sprint race this weekend, so the drivers will get the full three practice sessions to prepare for Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
If you’re going to bet your money on anyone for this weekend, your best option would be one of the Mercedes boys, with both of them taking a win each in the first 2 races of the season. But new regulations this year mean new challenges at each and every track, so success largely relies on which team can get up to scratch first.
Mercedes driver George Russell is currently leading the drivers’ world championship on 51 points, but his teammate Antonelli is only 4 points behind, so despite both drivers wanting to do their best for the team, beating each other will also be a thought lingering in the back of both their minds.
On the other side of the grid, a team that needs to improve the performance of their car’s massively is McLaren. Oscar Piastri hasn’t managed to make the start of any race this season, and the current F1 world champion, Lando Norris, also failed to make the start line in China. Japan has to be a better race for the team if they want to avoid facing heavy scrutiny from their fans.
In the two week break there has been a lot of gossip and rumours travelling around the F1 community. One particular topic that has captured everyone’s attention is Aston Martin’s Team Principal.
Adrian Newey, one of the greatest names in F1 history after his impressive display of talent at Red Bull as Chief Technical Officer, is now facing an uphill battle as Team Principal at Aston Martin. Many believe that it won’t be long before Newey is no longer in his current role and returns to a more technical department. Who will take over from Newey if this does happen? Well, a large majority believe it will be his ex-Red Bull colleague, Jonathan Wheatley, who has had experience in a team principal role at Audi.
Lawrence Stroll, the Executive Chairman of Aston Martin, has done his best to try to put a stop to all the rumours and will be expecting the team to be putting their full focus into this weekend as they hope to try and get their first point of the season.
That is all from me for now, but make sure to keep up to date with all the action this weekend here on Overtime, where I will be reporting on all things F1 from the practice sessions to the race.