In the aftermath of the Suzuka Grand Prix, F1 sees a flurry of records and remarkable streaks, from Verstappen’s consecutive poles to Red Bull’s front-row lockout.
Qualifying Highlights
For the 27th time in its history, Red Bull secured the front row.
At Suzuka, across 34 Grand Prix events, nearly half (16) have seen a constructor lock out the front row.
For the second time in his career, Max Verstappen is on a streak of 5 consecutive poles – repeating his performance from Monaco to Silverstone in 2023.
Last year, Verstappen achieved pole with a 581-millisecond advantage, but this year, the margin was just 66 milliseconds over Sergio Pérez.
In Q3, Pérez clinched his first top 3 finish at Suzuka in 12 attempts.
Lando Norris started in 3rd place, mirroring his last year’s position at Suzuka (and as in Australia).
Starting 4th on the grid was Carlos Sainz’s worst qualifying performance this year (when he has participated in a Grand Prix)!
In just a few months, F1 cars have gained significant performance. Evidence: Oscar Piastri ranked 6th, even though his Q3 lap time was 0.698s faster than last year’s, when he started from the front row.
Charles Leclerc had never qualified worse at Suzuka as a Ferrari driver (8th).
Yuki Tsunoda made it to Q3, for the third consecutive race, and for the second time in a row at his home race. It’s his best streak since 2021.
Valtteri Bottas finished 13th in qualifying, marking Kick Sauber’s best start of the season (along with Melbourne).
Alex Albon qualified 14th, his worst starting position of the season.
Esteban Ocon, for the second consecutive time, avoided a Q1 elimination, while Pierre Gasly has been eliminated in Q1 at every race this year. The same fate befell Logan Sargeant and Guanyu Zhou (who has finished 20th in Q1 for 3 Grand Prix!).
Lance Stroll was eliminated in Q1 at Suzuka for the third consecutive year. A driver’s circuit?
Kevin Magnussen was eliminated in Q1 for the first time this year.
Race Insights
Max Verstappen won at Suzuka for the third consecutive Grand Prix, a feat only previously accomplished by Michael Schumacher (2000-2002) on this track.
Verstappen won from pole position for the 30th time in his career.
The Red Bull driver became the 4th in history to lead 3,000 career laps (joining Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton).
Red Bull achieved its 31st one-two finish, just two shy of Williams (the fourth-highest total in history for Grove).
Never has a season started with four consecutive one-twos involving multiple constructors (three for Red Bull and one for Ferrari).
Whenever Carlos Sainz has started a Grand Prix this year, he finished on the podium (3 podiums in 4 races, compared to 1 podium in the last 13 races of the previous season).
The podium in Japan was identical to that in Bahrain.
Leclerc has finished in the top 4 in every race this year (he also finished 4th at Suzuka last year).
6th place, Fernando Alonso’s best result in Japan in 11 years.
For the second year in a row, George Russell finished 7th at Suzuka.
Lewis Hamilton missed the top 5 at Suzuka for the first time in the hybrid era (since 2014).
An impressive 10th place, Yuki Tsunoda became the first Japanese driver to score points at home since Kamui Kobayashi in 2012 (podium).
By just one position, Nico Hülkenberg (11th) missed a 3rd consecutive points finish.
Two of Alexander Albon’s four first-lap retirements have occurred at Suzuka (2022 and 2024).
For the 5th consecutive Grand Prix, there was a gap of more than 10 seconds between the 1st and 2nd place finishers.
Post-Japan GP: Key Stats Unveiled 2024. Post-Japan GP: Key Stats Unveiled 2024
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