2023 Japanese Grand Prix - [QUALIFYING] discussion thread
ROUND 17: ๐ฏ๐ต FORMULA 1 LENOVO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 2023
| Circuit stats | |
|---|---|
| First Grand Prix | 1987 |
| Number of laps | 53 |
| Circuit Length | 5.807 km |
| Race Distance | 307.471 km |
| Lap record | 1:30.983 Lewis Hamilton (2019) |
| 2022 winner | Max Verstappen |
Whew, it's hot and humid here (for Suzuka, for sure). Crowd is fantastic (and geared up in fun home made stuff), and so is the food :)
ใใ๏ผ็พจใพใใ๏ผYou lucky fucker...
Oooooooh I'm so jealous
What food have you been having?
It's great. I've been to a fair few races and this is one of or the best one to go to. Extremely safe and respectful, easy to navigate (though a long wait in the rain for buses to the train station last night), tons of visibility, it's beautiful with the mountains, and it's one of the cheaper ones to attend!
Some yakisoba, a beer, and a fantastic ice cream. All very cheap, beer is ยฅ500, like $3 US, and food is similarly inexpensive
Man max is just different.
Also tsunoda outqualifying his idol
Heโs one with the car. He clearly feels very comfortable with it, and puts it to its limits.
It would not surprise me if he has some sort of brain implant that's tied to the car.
Damn Max. Moments like last week really put into perspective how insane this is. Max pulling so much time on everyone, and meanwhile Checo isn't even second. Sargeant's position is also getting quite bad. Until Singapore I was still thinking that they'd give him another year. He's not that fast or promising, but sometimes rookies just need that warmup year to get going. Look at Yuki for instance. But he just keeps crashing, and the pace isn't great either. There can be some lenience for rookies, but with Piastri and Lawson showing what rookies can do, I'm not sure if Sargeant will get that seat next year.
Yuki to Q3! ้ ๅผตใ๏ผLet's goooooo!
Logan Sargeant doing what he does best...
At this point it seems better to just let Albon drive by himself as Logan cost the team so much money.
It might seem harsh, but I doubt we'll see Logan in F1 next year.
I'm also biased, hoping Mick Schumacher gets another shot. Despite his initial struggles, he showed improvement and scored points in the second half of the season, something I can't envision for Sargent.
Wow. Lawson absolutely having a hell of a quali.
Side note: I'm surprised he hasn't done any sort of CM for the identically-named conbini chain.
Edit: Tragic Q1 for Alfa Romeo.
Max putting down a 1:28 and addressing the crowd. He must be really happy.
Verstappen sub 29, it seems.
Edit: confirmed!
Yup. Absolutely mental!
Oof Sargeant. Making it really hard for people to support him for that last available seat.
It cannot be possible that he retains his seat for next year, right?
Hopefully not.
The Max Show is back on, everyone.
RIP Sargeant.
How many European fans up early this weekend for the racing?
Must be nice having basically every race be watchable.
Qualy is at eight so not really a big deal, no? And tomorrow it'll be seven for the race start. It means in both cases I can spend the rest of the day doing other stuff, so I wouldn't mind every weekend being like this.
Hoping Lawson gets the Williams seat and he and Alex demolish the (re-branded) AlphaTauri next season.
Absolutely insane that Max is going sub-1:30 on older tyres. He's not human.
Lawson with a great lap.
Yo where did tsunoda find that lap from. Almost as quick as perez with both on similar tyres
ATs have solid pace here.
Yeah it's very surprising. Took them the whole year but the car seems to be improving
Sargeant's done. Gonna be interesting to see how Q1 is handled since not even 15 drivers set times. What happens now?
What do you mean? The clock is stopped during red flags
I forgot clocks stop during red flags. Ignore me being an idiot.
What the FUCK?! Did Max really just almost put up a sub-1:29?!?!
That RB looks glued to the track. No drifting, no corrections
Edit: monster lap for Max! :O
I guess you could say he's really Max-ing out the car
Holy shit, Ferrari!
They had new tyres and a extra run. Max will be on top in Q3
I mean, generally they've looked fantastic in the second half of this season, ignoring Max because I'm not convinced he's human.
Sargeant cannot remain in F1 based on performances like these. Atleast not if williams actually wants to improve
He's driving like he belongs in NASCAR (or whatever American series you want).
Quick track now
Leclerc 2nd, Piastri 3rd? Make your predictions
Piastri, Norris in the end. Ferraris not as quick.
Gasly channeling his inner Seb
Lando in trouble!
What?
Probably referring to the end of Q2 when he was in the pit and everyone was improving. Slid to 9th
The biggest problem with Sargeant is that these crashes are costing the team having less money to develop the car.
Same thing as Mick. Not fast enough while costing the team a lot of money through wrecking the car. Mick was closer to magnussen though
Exactly! If I was James Vowles, Iโd be pretty pissed.
Absolutely, although the Haas was just shit. Mick did show progress in the second half of the season, handling the car better and earning points. Rookies who demonstrate that kind of improvement definitely deserve a second chance.
I don't see that with Logan.