FP3 in Japan, at Suzuka, marks a point of no return for the teams who will have only one opportunity to make the final adjustments in view of qualifying and the race. They all immediately take to the track on a windy day. Who knows if this very wind will bring some news here too or if Red Bull will bring everything back to normal, forcing the other teams to chase it. The day opens with some good news on the driver market front. AlphaTauri has indeed officialized the two riders who will make up the 2024 line-up. Let's see how FP3 went in Japan, at Suzuka.
Red Bull starts again at the front
The first part of the session is dedicated to the flying lap test. We remind you that at 8:00 the qualifications. Everyone gets out on the softest tire. The first to set the time were the two Ferrari drivers followed by the McLarens and the Mercedes. A great evolution of the track is expected. Ferrari in FP1 and in FP2 obtained positive feedback, testing the new surface on both riders in one session and the other. However, the work is not finished, today the team will test other solutions to find the ideal set-up for the rest of the weekend. “We went straight to the track because we needed to collect data” Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal, tells Sky Sport F1
At his first FP3 attempt in Japan, Max Verstappen placed ahead of the group in Suzuka with a time of 1:30.960, around two tenths faster than Lando Norris. The Dutch driver has dominated both free practice sessions so far. Perez, however, does not seem particularly satisfied, finishing in sixth position on his first attempt. Red Bull and Max must redeem themselves after the Singapore Grand Prix where, in addition to the victory, they also missed the podium. The Austrian team showed up on the track today with a greater aerodynamic load than yesterday. There is also a lot of attention on Mercedes, which was not particularly incisive yesterday.
After half an hour the top 5 is made up of Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton and Russell. The gap between the Monegasque and Max is around 7 tenths. No one is being improved because they are all on used tyres. There were many errors due to the strong wind which made the single-seaters less stable. Sargeant complains a lot about the rear while Albon considers the brakes "strange". Alpine fails to do more than P13 after this first half of the session. Stroll came in last, the only one to ride the hard ones. Qualifying will be tight considering the traffic and the risk of a yellow or red flag, as happened yesterday in FP2.
Race pace FP3 Japan at Suzuka
With 20 minutes to go before the end of the session, only the Ferraris remain on track, still with the soft tires for a mini long run of 6 laps. Sainz turns in a high 36, Leclerc first on the low 36, and then goes up to Sainz's times. Yesterday almost all the riders suffered various problems with tire degradation. A small mistake by Sainz takes him partly onto the gravel without consequences. Ferrari must find a compromise in order not to lose too much performance, while still guaranteeing a certain driveability.
McLaren takes the lead of the group
With 10 minutes to go the FP3 standings in Japan at Suzuka see the McLarens of Norris and Piastri in first and second place, followed by Verstappen and Alonso. Aston Martin, in particular Fernando, are aiming to recover points in the standings, to allow the Spaniard to compete for the position with Hamilton. Judging by what we are seeing at the moment, Aston, despite being more than 1 second behind Norris with Alonso, could compete for the fourth place position with Mercedes, also about a second slower than McLaren.
Last qualifying simulation
The last qualifying simulation begins with a 1:30.267 by Verstappen who always gets those 2/3 tenths from the others, in this case from McLaren. Ferrari also sent its drivers out on track with the new soft tyres, so all eyes are on the Reds to see if they will be able to battle McLaren and Verstappen. But neither of them seems to succeed. Leclerc takes fifth place, 7 tenths behind Verstappen, clocking a time of 1:31.022, while Sainz takes sixth, 8 tenths of a second with 1:31.137. Ferrari was surprised by such a distance with McLaren. Leclerc asks the team where they lose respect to the papaya team. He also takes 7 tenths of a second from his teammate Sergio Perez, in fourth place. Closing the top 10 are Hamilton, Russell, Alonso, and Zhou. It would therefore seem that we should expect a three-way fight between Verstappen and the two McLarens.
Now the word will only be up to the track, however, with qualifying for the Japanese GP starting at 8:00!
