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2025 Japanese Grand Prix

2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Formula 1/Lando Norris

Norris says McLaren’s car is “a lot more back to my liking” in Suzuka · RaceFans

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Lando Norris missed pole position by a slim margin at Suzuka, but said he feels more confident at the wheel of his McLaren than he did at the previous round.

“I’m much happier than in China,” said Norris. “The car’s a lot more back to my liking.

“I’ve got some front end in the car and I’m much, much happier with that. I’ve been feeling confident all weekend.”

In China, Norris only qualified sixth on the grid for the sprint race and third for the grand prix. He said in Japan the field has closed up more because they have the usual three practice sessions for preparation.

“If quali was in FP1 and it was a sprint race, I feel like I’d be much further ahead,” he said, “but everyone’s good enough that by the time you get to quali, they kind of catch up a bit.

“I’ve been feeling good, the car’s been feeling good from the off as well. We’ve been chipping away.”

The McLaren drivers were quickest in all three practice sessions and the first two phases of qualifying. Norris admitted it was therefore a “little frustrating” Max Verstappen beat him to pole position by a hundredth of a second.

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Norris said there are still some aspects of his car’s handling he’d like to improve. “The corners I still struggle with, the corners I’m still not happy with, are the corners I still just don’t have the front end and I don’t have the grip in the car when I need it from the front,” he explained.

“It’s clear what suits me and what doesn’t, or just what allows me to be quick and what doesn’t. China was one of those weaker tracks, and we come here and the car’s a lot more how I want it. Much better again.”

His first lap in Q3 left him only fifth. Norris said he held back a little on his final lap.

“I was pretty happy with my lap, honestly. I tried pushing on a good amount more in Q3 run one and it didn’t work out, clearly, so I just had to kind of peg it back a lot.

“I was happy with the balance and happy with the car at the end. The margin is so small – I think it was a hundredth in it – and you’d probably say yes [pole was possible], but just not enough for pole.”

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Formula 1/Max Verstappen

Verstappen thought he was going off six times during Suzuka pole lap · RaceFans

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Max Verstappen thought he had over-committed on several occasions during his pole-winning lap at Suzuka.

The Red Bull driver produced a superb lap at the end of the session to beat Lando Norris to pole position by one hundredth of a second.

He said he felt “a lot of happiness when I crossed the line” to score his first pole position since June last year.

He had been sixth after Q1, third in Q2 and second following the first runs in Q3. “The whole qualifying, we just kept on trying to improve the situation a bit,” he explained.

“On the final lap, honestly, it was very good. I had a lot of fun out there, being fully committed everywhere.

“In some places I was not sure if I was actually going to keep it or not. But it was really nice. And also great for the team as well.”

Verstappen said there were six points on the circuit where he thought he was going to go off. “I think exit of [turn] one, into two, six, seven, eight and then Spoon – those places I was like, well, I hope it’s going to stick. But it did.”

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After taking provisional pole position from Norris, Verstappen had to wait for Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren to finish his lap to know he had secured pole.

“When I crossed the line, I could see my name pop up, but I knew Oscar was still behind me. But I was already just very happy with what I did there because I didn’t even expect to be close to that. So that was a nice moment.”

Red Bull tested a range of set-up approaches on Verstappen’s car during practice and at one point he said on his radio it felt as if it was flexing. However it handled much better by qualifying, said Verstappen.

“It was a bit better, I think that issue was a lot better today,” he said. “At the same time, the through-corner balance is still what we need to work on.

“On low fuel over one lap, some bits you can mask a little bit. But it’s still not like I go into the lap fully confident and comfortable.

“So the last lap I was like, well, I’m just going to not try and feel uncomfortable, just send it in and see what we get. It’s very rare that a lap like that then can stick, but this time it worked well.

“We know that we have some issues that we want to solve, but it’s clearly not easy to solve them at the moment.”

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2025 Japanese Grand Prix

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Isack Hadjar

Hadjar drove “nearly fantastic” lap despite seat belt causing pain in sensitive area · RaceFans

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Isack Hadjar was especially pleased with his qualifying effort after suffering pain in a sensitive area during qualifying.

The Racing Bulls driver took seventh on the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix. However he experienced severe discomfort early in the session, particularly during Q1, where he became concerned he might be eliminated.

Hadjar explained afterwards he was in pain due to the position of a seat belt strap which was holding him in place in the car. The problem surfaced during final practice earlier in the day but wasn’t solved before qualifying.

“It compromised my first run in Q1,” he told the official F1 channel. “Then it was drive-able, thankfully, on that final lap in Q1 to get through to Q2.

“But I was in pain a bit and then for the rest I could reset and just focus on driving fast and it worked.”

Hadjar reached Q3, unlike his team mate Liam Lawson, and went on to beat Lewis Hamilton to seventh on the grid. He described his final lap as “Nearly fantastic.”

“I left, like, a whole tenth in the final chicane, so quite disappointed with that, but the rest was fantastic.”

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Hadjar’s radio messages on his seat belt problem

Hadjar alerted his race engineer Pierre Hamelin to the problem following his first run in Q1. They tried to fix it between his two runs, but lost time as he was called at random to visit the weigh bridge:

HadjarStill same issue, man. Still same issue. In the cockpit.
HamelinCharge off. Reminder, SOC toggle.
HamelinSOC toggle on.
HamelinBox, box. Push on your in-lap.
HamelinOffset forwards.
HadjarYeah…
HamelinOkay so Liam did a 29.0, your lap time 29.2.
HadjarI don’t know what’s wrong with me. Fucking hell.
HamelinOkay we’ll try to adjust it in the garage. Keep your pace up.
HadjarI mean I just can’t focus, I have so much lap time. It’s just not drive-able.
HamelinUnderstood, Isack. We’ll try to reposition it in the garage.
HamelinWhat about the flap, Isack?
HadjarYeah I’m happy.
HamelinCopy that.
HadjarIt’s not the main issue.
HamelinUnderstood, we’ll help you. We will help you in the garage. We’ll do everything we can.
HamelinYou’re on the bridge.
HadjarThe belts are twisted, you know?
HamelinOkay, we’ll help you.

As he headed out to begin his final run in Q1, Hadjar was dismayed to discover the problem had not been solved:

HadjarIf this is what ruins our qualifying, just so you know, I’m very sorry.
HamelinThat’s okay I know you are doing your best on there.
HadjarMate the issue is still here. I can’t believe it. Can’t believe it.
HamelinCopy that Isack. Sorry to hear that. Let’s try to nurse it. Try to do what you can in the back straight.

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Despite his discomfort, Hadjar set a quick enough lap to reach Q2. His team agreed he could climb out of the car between the first two sessions in order to attempt another solution, which seemed to work:

HadjarMate it’s… I can’t believe that.
HamelinOkay do we need to jump out of the car quickly, question?
HadjarYes
HamelinOkay, push on your way in, please, push on your way in.
HadjarCopy.
HamelinOkay. This will have to be quick, Isack. We’ll try to do something.

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Fernando Alonso/Formula 1/Max Verstappen

Alonso hails Verstappen’s ‘magical’ Suzuka pole · RaceFans

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Fernando Alonso described Max Verstappen’s surprise pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix as a “magical moment.”

The Aston Martin driver was eliminated in the second round of qualifying and was able to watch Verstappen snatch pole away from Lando Norris by a hundredth of a second with his final lap in qualifying.

“Only he can do it, only he can do it,” Alonso told Viaplay after the session finished. “I think there is no other driver at the moment that can drive a car and put it so high, or higher than the car deserves.

“I think it was a magical moment for everyone here.”

Alonso has claimed 22 pole positions in his career, the last of which came at the German Grand Prix in 2012. Verstappen arrived in F1 three years later and took his 42nd pole today.

While Lance Stroll qualified the other Aston Martin last, Alonso reached Q2 and will start from 13th place. He doesn’t believe the car was capable of much better.

“I think we gave it everything on track today,” he said. “Unfortunately, maybe we don’t have the pace yet to be in Q3. P14 in Q1, P13 in Q2, maybe it’s where we deserve [to be] today.”

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He is hopeful the possibility of rain ahead of tomorrow’s race will “offer more opportunities” for Aston Martin. “I think by pure pace, we’re struggling to be in the points, probably.”

Alonso is yet to score this season after suffering a brake problem in China and crashing in the rain-hit Australian Grand Prix.

“In Australia I was pushing, I was fast but I didn’t finish the race,” he reflected. “That can happen in the rain tomorrow.

“You can be conservative and see what happens at the end of the race so you can attack and try to be fast with the risk of another DNF. We will try to do our best strategy tomorrow.”

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Max Verstappen/Qualifying reports

Verstappen stuns Norris and Piastri to claim record-breaking pole at Suzuka · RaceFans

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Max Verstappen broke the Suzuka track record as he denied McLaren a front row lock-out for the Japanese Grand Prix by just 12 thousandths of a second.

The Red Bull driver edged closer to the top of the times throughout qualifying and eventually eclipsed Sebastian Vettel’s 2019 benchmark at Suzuka to claim his first pole position since June last year.

However his new team mate Yuki Tsunoda fared little better than his predecessor Liam Lawson. He made it as far as Q2 but was eliminated in 15th place behind the driver he replaced.

The McLaren pair will line up behind Verstappen followed by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and the Mercedes duo.

Q1

The Racing Bulls drivers, who had looked in great shape on Friday, suddenly found themselves with a fight on their hands to get out of Q1. Isack Hadjar was clearly in distress, repeatedly radioing his team about the discomfort he was experiencing in his cockpit. He eventually made it through in 13th, then climbed out of the car so his team could make him more comfortable.

His new team mate Liam Lawson reached Q2 for the first time this year, but it took everything he had. He was the last driver to join the track for their final runs, and beat Nico Hulkenberg to the last place in Q2 by a hundredth of a second.

That meant both Sauber drivers failed to progress any further. Esteban Ocon also failed to make the cut, as did Jack Doohan, who ended up almost seven tenths of a second off his team mate. Lance Stroll was the first driver to be eliminated after going off in the Esses.

Piastri set the pace to begin with as Russell separated the two McLarens. The Ferrari pair were next, Lewis Hamilton needing a second run on softs after starting the session on the medium rubber.

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Q1 result

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Q2

Verstappen revealed more of Red Bull’s pace as Q2 began, chopping nearly half a second off his best time from the previous session. That left him third after the initial runs, behind Norris and Russell.

A strong lap from Albon put him fifth, but Sainz in the other Williams lay in the drop zone after the first runs. Alonso and Bearman also needed to improve – as did Tsunoda and Lawson. They all had extra time to consider how best to approach their final runs as a grass fire caused the third red flag interruption of the day.

Tsunoda was among the first drivers to set a time in Q2 and his hopes of reaching the top 10 quickly faded. Both cars from his former team Racing Bulls beat his effort, including Lawson.

Sainz narrowly fell short of reaching Q3, then remained on the racing line as he cruised into the first corner, causing Hamilton behind him to take evasive action. The stewards will look into the incident after the session, and a penalty could cost Sainz 12th place on the grid.

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Q2 result

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Q3

Verstappen continued to find time as qualifying progressed, beating Russell’s opening effort as Q3 began. Piastri was quicker than both, however, producing a 1’27.052 which beat the six-year-old track record previously held by Sebastian Vettel.

His team mate Norris fell short with his first run, however, and couldn’t even beat Russell. Then Leclerc produced a surprise lap to take third place behind Verstappen, relegating Norris to fifth.

A superb first sector for Norris appeared to put him on course to salvage pole position and he duly crossed the line with another record-breaking lap. But further behind Verstappen was working on something truly special, and clipped another 12 thousandths of a second off the McLaren driver’s time to take a superb pole position.

Piastri could have taken it back, but a small mistake in the first sector left him four hundredths of a second down. The Chinese Grand Prix pole-winner therefore fell from first to third with his final run.

Leclerc took fourth, while Antonelli joined Russell on the third row of the grid. After his earlier travails, Hadjar salvaged an excellent seventh. Albon took ninth on the grid despite clipping the barrier as he approached the finishing line.

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Q3 result

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2025 Japanese Grand Prix

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/FIA

Drivers warned they may face tougher penalties for queue-jumping in qualifying · RaceFans

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The Japanese Grand Prix stewards have warned drivers they may issue tougher penalties for queue-jumping in the pit lane following four incidents during practice.

Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri became the latest drivers to receive formal warnings for overtaking drivers in the pits during final practice on Saturday. Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll received the same for similar incidents on Saturday during the second practice session.

The incidents occured as drivers queued in the fast lane of the pits as they waited for practice to restart following interruptions due to red flags. Verstappen and Piastri both overtook the drivers queueing in the fast lane by driving through the working lane.

Both drivers did so in order to perform practice starts from the designated area next to the pit lane exit lights. However, overtaking the drivers in the fast lane is forbidden under the race director’s instructions.

In Piastri’s case, the stewards noted that as the McLaren garage is closest to the pit lane exit, his infringement was less severe. “Car 81 [Piastri] overtook several cars whilst remaining in the working lane however it was noted that a review of video from car four [Norris] showed that due to the location of the McLaren garage, it was logical to drive directly from the garage to the practice start area.”

As Red Bull’s garage is further from the exit, Verstappen “overtook a significant number of cars whilst traversing the working lane en route to the practice start area, after having momentarily been in the fast lane,” the stewards observed.

However the stewards acknowledged that both drivers did perform practice starts and both attempted to ensure they did not leave the pits in front of the drivers they overtook. Piastri “tried to rejoin in the position he would have been in, had he been in the fast lane,” and Verstappen “rejoined after all cars in the fast lane had passed.”

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The formal warnings issued to all four drivers carry little force. Unlike reprimands, which can lead to grid penalties if drivers collect too many, warnings do not have a material impact upon a driver’s race weekend.

The stewards warned drivers they may issue harsher penalties for the same incident in the future. “In relation to the general subject of overtaking in the pit lane, the fact that a warning was issued for the four cases this weekend is not to be taken as a precedent and the stewards note that future breaches of pit lane procedures may involve a sporting penalty,” the stewards stated in their verdicts on Verstappen and Piastri’s infringements.

This has likely been done out of a concern that other drivers might overtake rivals in the pits during qualifying in order to gain a more favourable running position. The negligible impact of a warning might have been seen as an acceptable price to pay for a driver keen to ensure they do not miss an opportunity to set a lap time.

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2025 Japanese Grand Prix/RaceFans Live

F1 Live: 2025 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying

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This session is live. You are not logged in, so new updates will not appear automatically. For automatic updates, log in here or register a free RaceFans account here.

Red flag: Another grass fire. That’s the third of the day and the fifth this weekend.

Russell gets up to second again, Piastri is only fourth, Albon a strong fifth place with that lap.

Tsunoda goes six tenths of a second off his team mate. The Ferrari drivers can’t beat Verstappen’s time but Norris can, with a 1’27.156.

Q2 is go and Verstappen is immediately on it, taking four tenths of a second off his Q1 time to set a 1’27.502.

Lawson just creeps in, 15th place, only 0.867s off Piastri. Out in Q1: Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Doohan and Stroll.

Hadjar’s gone up to 12th, his team mate will probably be last to take the chequered flag.

Alonso goes to 11th temporarily, that puts Doohan in the drop zone. Doohan is out, he’s missed the cut.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli produces a badly-needed fastest final sector time to go eighth, 0.281s off the pace.

Piastri improves the fastest time to a 1’27.687.

Hadjar is struggling, down to 19th: “Mate the issue is still here, I can’t believe it.”

Lawson leaves the pits to begin his final run with only two minutes remaining – cutting it very fine.

Drop zone so far: Lawson, Alonso, Antonelli, Hadjar and Stroll.

Hamilton fell into the drop zone but moves safe with a lap on softs which leaves him four tenths of a second off Leclerc.

A big improvement for Jack Doohan leaves him only a tenth of a second off Pierre Gasly. He needed that.

Hadjar tells his team: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just can’t focus.” He’s down in 17th.

Piastri beats Norris by nine hundredths and Russell get in between them again, just five hundredths off Piastri. Verstappen is fourth, two-tenths down, but complaining his front tyres aren’t gripping up.

An encouraging start for Yuki Tsunoda who is four tenths of a second off Norris on his first lap. Will this be the first time this year Red Bull get both cars through Q1?

Most drivers on soft drivers so far but Lewis Hamilton has opted for the mediums. Lando Norris sets the initial pace with a 1’28.233, a third of a second up on Charles Leclerc, followed by Alexander Albon and Lewis Hamilton.

The slowest five drivers across practice who will take part in qualifying were Bortoleto, Ocon, Bearman, Stroll and Doohan. Will all five escape Q1?

That could well prove to be a factor as we’ve had six red flags so far this weekend in practice, four due to grass fires at the edge of the track. The FIA has been watering the grass since practice in the hope of preventing any further conflagrations.

An important point to note ahead of qualifying – the stewards have issued four warnings to drivers for jumping the pit lane queue in practice but have also told them the penalty for doing the same in qualifying could be tougher.

The Racing Bulls duo fell short of their Friday pace in final practice. If they can rediscover it, they could give Ferrari and even Red Bull some headaches.

McLaren have looked like the team to beat so far having headed all three practice sessions so far. George Russell was the only driver to get within four-tenths of a second of them in qualifying, and will be eager to repeat his Shanghai incursion onto the front row.

Qualifying for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix is coming up next.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris/Practice reports

Norris completes practice sweep for McLaren after more grass fires at Suzuka · RaceFans

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McLaren completed a sweep of the three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix as Lando Norris narrowly led team mate Oscar Piastri in the final hour before qualifying.

The two MCL39s were separated by just two hundredths of a second at the top of the times. However the session came to an early end due to another grass fire next to the track, the fourth of the weekend.

Norris’s lap of 1’27.965 is the quickest seen so far this weekend. Only the McLaren drivers dipped under the 1’28 mark, as George Russell led the charge for Mercedes a tenth of a second behind.

Charles Leclerc was fourth-fastest for Ferrari, though he was displeased to encounter a Williams in the high-speed Esses section during one run. Lewis Hamilton was just a tenth of a second behind his team mate.

The two Ferraris were separated by Max Verstappen, who spent much of the session running on the hard tyres and lingering near the bottom of the times in his Red Bull. Despite a late improvement bringing him to half a second off the McLarens, Verstappen remained concerned about his car’s balance, telling race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase it felt “all over the shop.”

There was some good news for Red Bull, as Yuki Tsunoda lapped within three tenths of a second of his team mate. They were separated by Alexander Albon’s Williams and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Isack Hadjar was a mere thousandth of a second off Tsunoda in 10th place. The Racing Bulls driver pitted early in the session due to an unspecified problem in his cockpit which Hadjar warned his team was “bad”.

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Jack Doohan completed a trouble-free session in his repaired Alpine. Fernando Alonso also logged useful laps after causing a red flag yesterday. His team mate Lance Stroll was only 19th, however, his rear wing DRS flap visibly fluttering at one stage.

The stewards will investigate Verstappen and Piastri for potentially failing to comply with the race director’s instructions in incidents which appeared similar to those involving Hamilton and Stroll yesterday.

After the end of the session an FIA spokesperson said it will continue dampening the grass around the track before the start of qualifying in an effort to prevent any further fires occuring.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result

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2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times

P.#DriverTeamFP1 timeFP2 timeFP3 timeGapLaps
14Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.5491’28.1631’27.96553
281Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1’29.7081’28.1141’27.9910.02655
363George RussellMercedes1’28.7121’28.5671’28.0770.11257
416Charles LeclercFerrari1’28.9651’28.5861’28.4140.44954
51Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’29.0651’28.6701’28.4970.53253
66Isack HadjarRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’29.2251’28.5181’28.7860.55356
744Lewis HamiltonFerrari1’29.0511’28.5441’28.5240.55952
823Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1’29.3921’29.0231’28.5540.58940
930Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’29.5361’28.5591’29.1040.59445
1010Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1’29.5471’28.7571’28.6030.63851
1122Yuki TsunodaRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’29.1721’30.6251’28.7850.82052
1255Carlos Sainz JnrWilliams-Mercedes1’29.3331’28.8321’28.8460.86759
1327Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’30.0231’29.0621’30.6211.09750
1412Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes1’29.2841’29.7331’29.1261.16161
1514Fernando AlonsoAston Martin-Mercedes1’29.2221’29.9781’29.7721.25747
165Gabriel BortoletoSauber-Ferrari1’30.1471’29.3351’30.1341.37052
1762Ryo HirakawaAlpine-Renault1’29.3941.42924
1831Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1’30.1231’29.5071’30.1831.54251
1987Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1’30.0771’29.6541’30.0841.68944
2018Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’29.7581’30.8451’30.2671.79353
217Jack DoohanAlpine-Renault1’31.6591’29.7671.80219

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/alpine/Comment/Jack Doohan

Doohan’s crash is on him, but benching him for first practice made no sense · RaceFans

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The Japanese Grand Prix is Jack Doohan’s fourth appearance as a Formula 1 race driver.

As opportunities to test and practice are so limited, it therefore came as a surprise when Alpine announced he would not take part in the first practice session this weekend. The team wanted to run its test driver Ryo Hirakawa at his home event, and chose to bench the rookie rather than his team mate Pierre Gasly, who will start his 156th grand prix on Sunday.

Asked on Thursday whether the team’s decision would put him at a disadvantage, Doohan diplomatically toed the PR line. “In China, a similar situation and I only had 40 minutes before that [power unit] issue in the end and then we still did a solid sprint quali and qualifying.”

This was true, but Shanghai’s circuit is a totally different prospect to Suzuka. The Chinese track is wide with vast run-offs, while Suzuka is narrow, has far more quick corners and the run-off is very limited in places.

Doohan admitted that “on paper, it looks more difficult and it sounds more difficult.” It certainly looked and sounded more difficult when he suffered a monumental crash early in the second practice session.

He was only on his second attempt at a flying lap when his car snapped out of control as he turned into Suzuka’s fearsomely fast and unimpressively named turn one, which he approached at around 330kph. He made a heavy impact with the six-deep tyre barrier on the outside, ripping the left-rear portion of his A525 to pieces.

Mercifully, Doohan emerged unscathed. Indeed, he was well enough to ask his race engineer three times before he got out of the car what had caused him to lose control. Sparing his blushes, his engineer Josh Peckett replied: “We’re just looking at everything on our side here.”

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But as the footage from his car showed, Doohan hadn’t deactivated his DRS as he headed into the corner. There was no way to put this down to anything besides driver error. “It was a misjudgement of not closing the DRS into turn one,” team principal Oliver Oakes confirmed in a statement hours after practice had finished.

Rookies are inevitably more susceptible to crashing than experienced drivers. All six drivers who embarked on their first full seasons this year have already bent an F1 car at least once.

At a track like Suzuka it makes sense to give them every chance possible to build up to the limit. Alpine was the only team who deprived their rookie of an hour’s running on one of F1’s most punishing courses.

It’s not hard to see why Alpine wanted to grab the opportunity to run their Japanese test driver at his home track. But this could just as easily have been achieved using Gasly’s car.

Moreover, had Alpine swapped Hirakawa with Gasly instead, it would have helped them meet the FIA-imposed requirement to give practice opportunities to inexperienced drivers. Each team must run “a driver who has not participated in more than two championship races in their career” twice in each of their cars during the season.

Alpine had already fulfilled this requirement on Doohan’s car before reaching Suzuka, as he had not yet started his third race when he took part in first practice in Shanghai. RaceFans has asked the team why it made this decision.

Long before Doohan started his first season of F1, rumours surfaced that he would not see it out, and be replaced by the likes of Franco Colapinto. This has frustrated Alpine, who claimed the speculation around its driver was “not fair.” But the strange decision they took at Suzuka is only going to add more fuel to that fire.

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