Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Japanese Grand Prix

I stayed up for the Australian Grand Prix.

I did not stay up for this one.

Thankfully, replay exists! So I was able to watch after the fact.

Which means I am able to definitively give you the five winners and losers from Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Sauber

Much like it’s expected that Max Verstappen will win a race, it’s now clearly expected that Sauber will have a horrible, horrible pit stop.

Sure enough, Japan was no different!

This is a very serious, and frankly ridiculous problem at Sauber.

4. Logan Sargeant

It wasn’t the best race for Sargeant, or Williams in general, and it was unlikely they’d get any points out of it.

Still, driving off the corner and into the gravel trap won’t help things at all.

3. Lance Stroll

I know his dad owns the team, but Aston Martin needs to very seriously consider if Stroll’s inconsistency is hurting the team.

I mean, it clearly is, but is it hurting them enough for a father to replace his own son?

It’s getting there.

2. Lewis Hamilton

It feels like Lewis Hamilton just doesn’t love Formula 1 this year.

If he hadn’t already signed a deal to go to Ferrari next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up calling it quits.

But it’s likely just senioritis mixed with a car that he doesn’t like.

1. Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo came into Japan knowing his seat is getting hot.

He was outqualified by his teammate again, but only by one spot. Hardly the end of the world. The race is where the points are won anyway.

So, you can imagine it was probably very disappointing that one corner into the race, he inexplicably turned into Alex Albon and crashed out of the race immediately.

The seat was hot.

It’s got to be on fire, now.

Winners

5. Max Verstappen

His car didn’t break down, so he won.

Shocking, I know.

4. Sergio Perez

Checo not only finished 2nd to maximize the points for Red Bull yet again, but he also qualified on the front row for the first time since Miami of last year.

Which is INSANE considering how fast that car is, but at least he did it!

Progress!

3. McLaren

McLaren, historically, has found a way to get faster and faster as the year has gone on.

Which is great, but it was a bit of a problem considering the reason they needed to get faster was being atrociously slow to start the year.

This year, however, they’re not!

They’re just genuinely the third fastest team on the grid.

And if they get faster as the year goes on, they could start fighting for wins.

2. Carlos Sainz

It is insane how confident and quick Carlos Sainz is this year.

He is dominating Charles Leclerc at the moment, and is really making a strong case to possibly end up in the 2nd Red Bull next year.

If not that, he’s at least making Ferrari question if they’re making the right decision or not letting him go.

1. Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda, at his home grand prix, put on an absolute masterclass in driving.

Some of the moves he made were absolutely ridiculous.

They were gutsy, risky, and executed flawlessly.

It was only one point for Yuki with his 10th place finish, but what a point it was.

Simply incredible, and very mature, which has ben easily his biggest drawback in the past.

If that gets fixed?

Sky is the limit.