2023 Japanese Grand Prix

The **2023 Japanese Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2023**) was the sixteenth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Suzuka International Racing Course on the weekend of September 22 to September 24, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen leads the World Drivers' Championship with 374 points, 151 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 194 from Lewis Hamilton in third. Red Bull Racing, with 597 points, lead the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes by 308 points and Ferrari by 332 points.

Current World Constructors' Championship leader Red Bull Racing had an opportunity to secure their sixth title, their second in a row. Red Bull Racing could win the title as long as they outscored Mercedes by one point and Ferrari do not outscore them by 24 points. Red Bull Racing could win the title as their advantage would be the same as the number of the obtainable points remaining in the season (309), but Mercedes would not be able to win on a tie breaker due to Red Bull Racing achieving more wins than Mercedes.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were initially the same as the season entry list, with the exception of Liam Lawson, who was in the seat originally held by Nyck de Vries.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualifying was held on 23 September 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+9).

During the first segment, Logan Sargeant took his Williams to the walls, bringing out the red flag and taking himself out of the session. Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg, and Zhou Guanyu also found themselves knocked out. During the second segment, Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen were all knocked out while Charles Leclerc topped the session. During the third segment, Verstappen set the fastest lap, granting him pole position, bettering himself by over a tenth to secure it. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris completed the top three. Verstappen's time was 0.581 seconds clear of second place Piastri, a gap noted as being unusually massive.

## Race

### Race Report

The race was held on 24 September 2023, at 14:00 local time (UTC+9).

As the race began, Oscar Piastri dropped to third with Lando Norris taking his position. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas hit the car of Alexander Albon, bringing out the safety car due to excessive on-track debris. Lewis Hamilton was forced into the grass after trying to pass Sergio Pérez, who caught some damage; the Red Bull Racing driver went into the pit lane and swapped his front wing, dropping back into the race in last place. Following his Q1 crash the previous day, Williams engineers rebuilt the car of Logan Sargeant. However, using too many new replacement parts not from the original ones meant the car was deemed to be a third car, and Logan was given a ten-second time penalty to serve during the race. He also was required to start from the pit lane due to changes being made in parc fermé. Pérez also received a five-second penalty for infringing on safety car regulations. Albon took a new front wing.

In lap 5, Bottas was hit by a locked-up Sargeant and retired four laps later after complaining of his car's handling, resulting in another five-second penalty for Sargeant. Pérez would then hit Kevin Magnussen, taking the Haas driver out of the race. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll entered the pits and did not come out, and was soon joined by Albon in retirement. Both Mercedes ran wide at Spoon Curve as George Russell attempted to overtake his teammate who subsequently pitted for fresh tyres. Russell would pit later running a one-stop strategy. There was confusion about Pérez's retirement from the race; having hit Magnussen earlier, he went into the pit lane and appeared to have retired. Several laps later he rejoined the race, was immediately called to box and then served his penalty, in a tactic designed to ensure the unserved penalty was not carried over to the following Qatar Grand Prix in the form of a grid penalty. Once the penalty was served, Pérez retired once again.

At this point, polesitter Max Verstappen led the field away with a dominant 16 seconds ahead of second-placed Norris. Behind, Piastri passed Russell for third place. Soon, Charles Leclerc passed Russell for fourth. Verstappen won the race 20 seconds ahead of Norris and Piastri, the latter receiving his first career podium and Verstappen, who had had the fastest lap, allowing Red Bull Racing to win their sixth Constructors' Championship, their second in a row. Norris and Piastri's podium finish marked McLaren's first double podium since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix and Piastri's first career podium.

## Notes

1. ↑ Logan Sargeant failed to set a time during qualifying. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion. He was then required to start the race from the pit lane as the new elements of different specification from the ones originally used were installed on his car during parc fermé conditions. He also received a ten-second time penalty as his mechanics assembled a new chassis, this being considered a new car entered for him.
2. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
3. ↑ Already have won the 2023 World Championship.