2022 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix

guenther steiner at the japanese grand prix.jpg

Will Max Verstappen become World Champion this weekend?


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One of the most exciting circuits on the F1 calendar will host the racing action this weekend as the field battles for late season points in Japan.

Suzuka’s complex layout has given F1 fans exciting races for decades, and this weekend’s grand prix looks to be no exception. The 2022 cars have allowed for longer and closer battles compared to recent years, and we can expect mid-pack scrapping in Japan this Sunday.

This is the first trip Formula 1 has made to Japan since 2019. Last time out, Sebastian Vettel was the winner, and Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest lap. Neither of these facts is likely to repeat based on the 2022 results to date. Vettel has struggled for consistency and pace this season, and Hamilton has been unable to reach the championship form we’ve come to expect from him.

Just five races remain in the 2022 season. After Japan, the teams will face off in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Behind the dominant Red Bull and Max Verstappen, rankings of cars and teams from P2 downward should see some reordering before the end of the season. Teams will be putting their best cars forward, and drivers will be trying to extract the most from them to score late season points.

The most recent F1 race, last weekend in Singapore, produced interesting results and saw Sergio Perez maintain a lead throughout nearly the entire race despite frequent safety cars and virtual safety cars in drying conditions.

The cars winding through the legendary S-curves and ripping through 130R flat out should provide exciting racing action this weekend. What are your predictions for the results? Let us know in the comments below.

Image via: Haas F1
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. (think Seattle) It rains A LOT in Seattle but it does not rain hard. Seattle has far more days of rain than New York City, but the total inches of rainfall each year is greater in NYC. So when we watched movies or other shows that had heavy heavy rainfall, it always seemed fake. Until we moved to Texas...BOY DOES IT COME DOWN HARD AND HEAVY when it finally does rain.
If the racers only had to deal with Seattle type rain, I'd demand they race, but since Japan has some serious storms, I guess we have to wait and see just how much comes down.
 
Complacency at it's finest today. The Halo came in the wake of Bianchi's death, and it has exceeded all expectations in regards to injury/death prevention since. But Bianchi didn't die because he had no Halo, he died because he crashed into a tractor, so what do they do? DRIVE A BLOODY TRACTOR OUT NEAR THE RACING LINE.

Heavy vehicles aside, F1 used to race in the wet no problem. It wasn't pretty, but you have to be able to race in these conditions because that's just what weather is like sometimes. So a failure to race on schedule is a failure of F1 to create cars capable of doing so in the wet.
 
Premium
Why there wasn’t a mandatory start at wet tyres in these conditions in first place? Now almost everybody started on inters because they had free choice.
 
Complacency at it's finest today. The Halo came in the wake of Bianchi's death, and it has exceeded all expectations in regards to injury/death prevention since. But Bianchi didn't die because he had no Halo, he died because he crashed into a tractor, so what do they do? DRIVE A BLOODY TRACTOR OUT NEAR THE RACING LINE.

Heavy vehicles aside, F1 used to race in the wet no problem. It wasn't pretty, but you have to be able to race in these conditions because that's just what weather is like sometimes. So a failure to race on schedule is a failure of F1 to create cars capable of doing so in the wet.
The problem is not that the cars aren't capable to drive in the wet, the problem with these conditions is the visibility. The drivers can't see anything more than 10 meters in front of them. Try driving with 300 km/h (= 83 mtr/s) in those conditions.
 
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The problem is not that the cars aren't capable to drive in the wet, the problem with these conditions is the visibility. The drivers can't see anything more than 10 meters in front of them. Try driving with 300 km/h (= 83 mtr/s) in those conditions.
When they started mandatory on full wets behind the SC then it would be fine to race. FIA killed the race for all this enthousiast Japan fans.
 
Unfortunately, it does not look like the race will restart. Another controversial F1 weekend, I'm sure we will have a flood of finger pointers in due course.

As much as I want to see a race we have to be realistic, it's the driver's vision that is also playing a big part the rooster trail spray with full wets is massive and obviously creates poor visible for the drivers behind.

The race will resume when it's deemed safe, safety should always be paramount in these conditions it's not a sim game you can't just walk away from all accidents !!
 
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I don't know where to discuss when noone discusses at the discussion thread, but at the article instead.

Anyway, I miss the times where rain RACES where actually that. Nowadays I see rain, I can turn off again. If we will have 30 minutes of race, we can be happy ...
 
You have got to love the driver's radio messages during the rolling start procedure.
Fingers crossed we have a good lil mini race from now on

As a side note, the Japanese fans are awesome
 
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