2023 Japanese Grand Prix: Sunday Tyre Analysis

Mediaon September 24, 2023

SUZUKA, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 24: Lando Norris, McLaren, 2nd position, Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, and Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 3rd position, on the podium during the Japanese GP at Suzuka on Sunday September 24, 2023 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Jake Grant / LAT Images)

2023 Japanese Grand Prix: Sunday Tyre Analysis - Podium

2023 Japanese Grand Prix: Sunday Tyre Analysis – Max Verstappen rounded off a perfect weekend, dominating the Japanese Grand Prix from start to finish. Thanks to the Dutchman’s 48th win, Red Bull today clinched its sixth Constructors’ World Championship title, with six Grands Prix still remaining this season. The Milton Keynes squad is now also sure of taking the Drivers’ crown as only Sergio Perez, who retired today, can theoretically stop Verstappen from picking up his third title.

Joining Max on the podium were the two McLaren drivers, with Australia’s Oscar Piastri securing his first Formula 1 top three finish. This was Norris’ tenth trophy winning result, his podium appearances split equally between second and third places.

For the start, 13 drivers went with the Medium for the first stint, seven for the Soft. Apart from those who had to rapidly change their plans because of collisions in the opening moments of the race, it was clear to see that the great majority of drivers had opted for a two-stop strategy, making the most efficient use of the sets of tyres available. In fact, those who had two new Hard sets used them both, with the exception of Russell who – having done a good job of managing his Medium set from the start – tried to mix things up by going for a one-stop strategy, using the Hard for no fewer than 29 laps. The Mercedes driver also did the most laps (24) on one set of Medium tyres, while Zhou (Alfa Romeo) did the most (19) on the Soft.

MARIO ISOLA – DIRECTOR PIRELLI MOTORSPORT

“First and foremost, I want to congratulate Red Bull for their achievement in taking their sixth Constructors’ title as well as ensuring that only Max or Sergio can now take the Drivers’ crown. The team led by Christian Horner is making its mark on the current Formula 1 era, beating all the records and this amazing result is well deserved.

The Suzuka track is one of the toughest on tyres and this year we saw higher temperatures than usual which increased the demands on them. This afternoon, everything went as we had expected and all three available compounds were used, thus creating a situation where we saw several different strategies between the teams and drivers. After studying the data from free practice, we reckoned that a two-stop strategy was the quickest and that was confirmed. Those who tried something different, Russell for example, had to give best in the closing stages to their two-stopping rivals. Compared to Friday, we saw that the Medium was the most used, even if the difference in terms of degradation when compared to the Soft, also today, was not that big. Clearly the C2 offered greater flexibility in terms of management and that’s why the majority of drivers opted to start with it.”