Formula 1 will make an earlier than usual visit to Suzuka this weekend for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Red Bull suffered a rare defeat in the last round and will be seeking to reassert themselves. Will they have things all their own way again? Here are the talking points for this weekend’s race.
Red Bull rebound
For the second year in a row, Red Bull will turn up at the home race of their power unit manufacturer having suffered a rare defeat in the previous round (inflicted, again, by Carlos Sainz Jnr and Ferrari).
The dominant champions of the past two seasons will be expected to assert themselves once more, not least because the sinuous Suzuka track should play to the RB20’s many overwhelming strengths. It’s one of the most demanding circuits for tyre degradation, requires a strong handling balance through its many medium-to-high speed corners, and the final sector places an onus on straight-line performance.
Last tear Max Verstappen put his Singapore Grand Prix defeat behind him by blowing the competition away at Suzuka. He claimed pole position by well over half a second and contained the threat from McLaren to control the race. You’d be brave to bet against a repeat this weekend.
On top of that, since testing Red Bull have been rumoured to have earmarked this race for their first major car upgrade. Having made a significant change to the cooling arrangement of their RB20 when it was launch, will we see aerodynamic refinements which allow them to draw further ahead of the competition?
Tsunoda rising, Iwasa arriving
The only Japanese driver in the field heads to his home race on a high after scoring RB’s first points in Melbourne. It was a badly-needed boost for Yuki Tsunoda who needs to raise his profile in his fourth season at Red Bull’s second team if he’s to be regarded as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez.
He needs to avoid a repeat of last year where he was beaten to the chequered flag by Liam Lawson. However the team’s reserve driver is more a cause for concern to Tsunoda’s team mate Daniel Ricciardo, who has not impressed so far in the second RB.
However Ricciardo’s efforts to get to grips with their new car won’t be helped by his absence from first practice. RB is giving a run to junior driver Ayumu Iwasa, currently racing in Japan’s Super Formula series, meaning it will have an all-Japanese line-up for the first practice session.
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