Latest news with #JapaneseGrandPrixVenue
BBC News
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Red Bull and McLaren stunned by 'special' Verstappen lap
Japanese Grand PrixVenue: Suzuka Date: Sunday, 6 April Race start: 06:00 BSTCoverage: Live on BBC Radio 5 Live from 05:30. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app Was the lap that put Max Verstappen on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix the best of his career?The Red Bull driver himself certainly thought it was up there."It's difficult," Verstappen said. "I mean, I've had some really nice ones also in other places. But I think if you look at how our season started, even during this weekend... yeah, it's very unexpected, I would say. And I think that makes it probably a very special one."His Red Bull team were stunned. And so were had not looked as if he was in contention for pole at any point of the weekend until the final lap of qualifying at Suzuka. If McLaren had a rival, it had looked until then as if it would most likely be George four-time champion was struggling with the balance of his Red Bull throughout the practice team were making change after change to the car to try to make the driver happier. But on the first runs in the final qualifying session, he was still more than 0.2 seconds slower than the quickest McLaren, at that time Oscar then Verstappen did something special. Really special."The last lap," he said, "I was like: 'Well, I'm just going to not try and feel comfortable - just send it in and see what we get."It's very rare, of course, that a lap like that then can stick, but this time it worked well."Where, exactly, had he "sent it" and hoped for the best?"Exit (Turn) One," he said. "Into Two, Six, Seven, Eight and then Spoon (Curve). Those places I was like: 'Well, I hope it's going to stick.' But it did." In the end, Lando Norris was the McLaren driver who ended up next best. The Briton, who had made a mistake at Turn Seven on his first lap, turned it on for his second attempt, improving by 0.2secs over his previous best lap, and snuck ahead of Piastri. But it was not enough to stop Verstappen's genius."You've got to credit something when it's a lap that good," Norris said, "which he must have done, you know?"McLaren team principal Andrea Stella added: "It looked like we were on the way to pole position. Lando managed to improve significantly on his second set. But with Max, I have stopped being surprised."He is such an incredible driver and for me this is one of the many cases in which we have to just acknowledge and say: 'Hats off to Max.'" Verstappen being at the front sets up an intriguing race. Rain is forecast overnight and into the morning, and in the wet the Dutchman always excels. But the first race of the season in Australia was also wet, and there the McLarens had his Melbourne, Norris and Piastri pulled out a significant lead over Verstappen as the track slowly dried before further rain. Verstappen came back at Norris later on, but Norris held him off, even with a car with a damaged if it's dry, there has to be a question mark over whether Verstappen can keep up a pace fast enough to fend off the the supernatural ability to pull off a single qualifying lap that gets every last millisecond out of a car is one thing. But if the car is not balanced, it's unlikely to be able to be as competitive over a race winner last time out in Shanghai, said: "We've got good pace. Max has obviously done a great job getting up on pole. But we've also got a great car for tomorrow and (are) still in the fight for the win."Norris was looking to the weather forecast when he said: "It's probably going to be a bit of a race like Melbourne, and that was an exciting race for everyone."Now I've got to try and do some overtakes, you know? The unknown of the weather is going to make it exciting and nerve-racking for everyone. And I've got to try to get past the guy on my left (Verstappen). So, yeah, excited."If it's wet, the stakes are high for everyone. Suzuka is arguably the most challenging race track on the calendar - hence the extreme satisfaction Verstappen felt at producing such a lap to grab should lessen the risk of the race being interrupted by the grass fires that have caused five red-flag stoppages through practice and qualifying - certainly that's the hope of the governing body - but it makes the challenge of Suzuka even more Albon, who starts ninth in his Williams, said: "This track in the wet is really difficult. It's got a lot of rivers and it's quite dangerous around here. The one good thing about it being wet is hopefully no grass fires."
BBC News
05-04-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
F1 officials hoping rain will solve grass fire issues
Japanese Grand PrixVenue: Suzuka Dates: 4-6 April Race start: 06:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live radio commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC 5 Sports Extra, race live on BBC Radio 5 Live from 05:30. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app Formula 1 officials are hoping that predicted overnight rain will solve the problem of grass fires that have afflicted the Japanese Grand Prix grass alongside the track igniting in different places has so far caused five red-flag stoppages at Suzuka, including one in qualifying on weather is expected from the early hours of Sunday morning, which should solve the problem before the the forecast is wrong, a spokesperson for governing body the FIA said, officials will water the grass around the track again in an attempt to prevent the problem out a pre-emptive burn of the most at-risk areas around the 3.6-mile track has been this is not an option favoured by officials because of the risks if the burn is not kept under control, environmental concerns and the aesthetics of blackened areas of grass around the the temperatures have been in the region of 13-15C so far at Suzuka, Japan's rainy season is in the summer and the grass is very dry. After two fires disrupted second practice on Friday, key areas of grass were watered before final practice on were the driest areas and those at fast corners, where there is the highest likelihood of sparks from the titanium skid plates under the cars, which are causing the same areas of grass were watered again, with greater quantities of water, after two further fires disrupted final practice.A fifth fire broke out in qualifying at the exit of the 200mph 130R corner, causing a red flag in the second session of Bull's Max Verstappen, who will start on pole for the race, said: "It will rain overnight and that will help. The grass is very dry and I guess with the sparks it can ignite."McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who starts third, added: "With the rain overnight, I don't think it will be as much of a problem."
BBC News
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Grass fires again interrupt Japanese GP practice
Japanese Grand PrixVenue: Suzuka Dates: 4-6 April Race start: 06:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live radio commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC 5 Sports Extra, race live on BBC Radio 5 Live from 05:30. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app Trackside fires continued to be a concern at the Japanese Grand Prix as Lando Norris led Oscar Piastri to a McLaren one-two in final session was stopped twice because grass beside the Suzuka track caught alight, once early in the session and once seven minutes before the scheduled issue remains a concern for the race as the latest fires happened despite mitigation measures that had been put in place after Friday's practice session was also red-flagged twice for the same second fire prevented some drivers from finishing their soft tyre qualifying simulation fires are believed to have been caused by a combination of sparks from the cars and dry grass - Japan's wet season is in the Friday's practice sessions, loose, dried grass was removed from affected areas and Formula's 1 governing body, the FIA, said that the grass would be dampened and response teams stationed around the takes place from 07:00 BST on Saturday with the race at 06:00 on Sunday, when rain is forecast earlier in the day. Norris, who twice ran wide at the tricky Degner Two corner, headed Piastri by just 0.026 seconds as the fight between the two McLaren drivers remained close and driver George Russell was third, 0.112secs off the pace, and ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Lewis was one of the drivers whose final run was curtailed - he had been impeded by Carlos Sainz's Williams in the Esses on his first flying lap and the fire brought the session to an end before he could go was continuing to complain about his car's lack of front grip, at one stage saying it was "undriveable".The four-time champion was 0.288secs and four places ahead of new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in ninth was seventh from Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar completed the top Martin's Fernando Alonso down in 15th was another driver not to get in a lap on the soft tyre.
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Proposal to bring back V10 engines set to be rejected
Japanese Grand PrixVenue: Suzuka Dates: 4-6 April Race start: 06:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live radio commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC 5 Sports Extra, race live on BBC Radio 5 Live. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app A proposal to bring back V10 engines to Formula 1 is set to be rejected by the sport's engine manufacturers next Ben Sulayem, the president of governing body the FIA, has been championing a plan to reintroduce high-revving, big capacity naturally aspirated engines to Sulayem has been pushing for the move to happen as early as 2028 or 2029 - despite F1 introducing a new engine formula next year that is scheduled to run until the end of under F1's governance system, the plan needs to be backed by four of the five engine manufacturers that will be in F1 next year, which are Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, Audi and Red Bull Powertrains, which is backed by had already indicated its support for the 2026 engine formula, which retains 1.6-litre turbo hybrid engines but increases the proportion of total power provided by the electrical part of the engine to about 50% from the current 20%. These will be run on fully sustainable which abandoned plans to quit F1 because of the new rules, has now indicated it also backs hybrid engines. Koji Watanabe, president of Honda Racing Corporation, told Japan: "We know that the FIA intends to introduce naturally aspirated V10 engines from 2028. However, we have not received detailed information from the FIA. There will be meetings organised by the FIA, in which the engine manufacturers will participate, and we would like to discuss it there first."At the moment we don't have any details. We can't say whether V10s are acceptable or not in terms of efficiency. We would first like to understand the details of what is being proposed before we start a discussion."A meeting is planned, and at that meeting we want to express our point of view as engine manufacturers."As far as Honda is concerned, our reason for entering F1 again is electrification and (the type of) powertrains."Mercedes is open to discussing the idea of a new engine formula but says it would need it to retain a hybrid element for the company to stay opposition of Honda and Audi alone is enough to torpedo the plan. With Mercedes also against the idea of abandoning hybrids, it appears to have no chance of success, even though Red Bull and Ferrari are said to back the manufacturers will meet with the FIA to discuss the future of engines at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 11 FIA hopes to secure a clear answer on the manufacturers' vision for the Sulayem had signalled that the introduction of sustainable fuels, which cut the carbon emissions from an internal combustion engine from between 80-100% depending on the way the fuel is manufactured, could open the door to the return of loud, high-revving engines.V10s became the default engine in F1 from the mid-1990s until 2005, after which the sport switched to V8s, and have a resonance with a certain section of the fan Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff is one of a number of senior figures who have questioned whether the changing fan demographic means that V10s are no longer as younger, female fans have become interested in F1 following the Covid pandemic and the success of Netflix's Drive to Survive said: "You need to be open-minded. We're all racers, we like the engines of the past, and then you need to strike the right balance between what is exciting to us dinosaurs, screaming loud engines, and then the fanbase, and the audiences that are on the track."And maybe that has migrated a little bit from pure petrolheads to younger demographics, to feminists that are coming on to the track that haven't even been part of those years."All of this needs to be set as questions, as what are the objectives for a future regulation change in a few years, and then let's analyse that based on data and come to a conclusion that is for the best of our sport."Because this is the single most important denominator between the FIA, Formula 1, the teams, that we want to have the greatest product for our fans."
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Tsunoda sixth as Norris fastest in Suzuka practice
Japanese Grand PrixVenue: Suzuka Dates: 4-6 April Race start: 06:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live radio commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC 5 Sports Extra, race live on BBC Radio 5 Live. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app Yuki Tsunoda made a promising start to his Red Bull career in first practice at the Japanese Grand Japanese, promoted to the senior team in a swap with Liam Lawson after just two races of the season, was sixth fastest, 0.107 seconds slower than his four-time world champion team-mate Max Red Bulls were lagging more than 0.5 seconds behind the pace-setting McLaren of Lando Norris, who headed the times by 0.163secs from George Russell's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth, followed by Verstappen and Tsunoda and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. Tsunoda had a few edgy moments as he familiarised himself with his new car. He ran on to the kerb at Degner One, twice had an oversteer moment at the hairpin, and then a big wobble out of the final he kept the car on track and displayed a mature approach in the cockpit to getting to grips with a car that is renowned for its tricky his engineer told him at one point that he was about 0.3secs behind Russell, Tsunoda replied: "Let's focus on ourselves. I don't need much reference time."At the end of the session, he told his engineer: "I found the car interesting on track. Good 'sesh'."Norris made a couple of mistakes on his first run on the medium tyre, and his opening lap on the soft tyre was ruined by an error at the car bounced over the kerb at the second apex of the chicane, which flicked the car into an oversteer and Norris slid into the after a lap to cool down his tyres and recharge his hybrid battery, Norris laid down the benchmark time, displacing the impressive Russell from the top of the team-mate Oscar Piastri did not manage a representative time on the soft tyre and ended up 15th third and fourth fastest, the Ferraris were a chunk off the pace - Leclerc was 0.416secs slower than Norris, with Hamilton 0.086secs off his was 0.516secs slower than Norris, complaining early on that the car felt "super-weird" and "just flexing a lot", and Alonso was just 0.05secs slower than Tsunoda in a tightly packed second half of the top Hadjar in the Racing Bull was 0.003secs behind Alonso, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes was ninth ahead of the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alex and Albon both had almost identical offs at the hairpin, locking up their outside front tyres and sliding into the gravel before joining the demoted by Red Bull because they felt his confidence had gone and would not recover after a difficult first two races, was 13th on his return to Racing Bulls, 0.311secs off Hadjar.
