Max Verstappen edges closer to a third straight title with a dominant win from pole (with fastest lap) in the Japanese Grand Prix. The McLarens are strong, but not quite good enough. Talking of good enough, our summary covers the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix Result for the big event and so much more.
This 2023 Japanese Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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2023 Latest Grand Prix Driver Ratings
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2023 Japanese Grand Prix Result Main Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Wow, Max Verstappen is good. He takes pole with ease, proving Singapore was a blip, and that he is just a bit better than his team mate. McLaren look string and Oscar Piastri’s second on the grid on his track debut is almost as sensational, and certainly ticking a box for his recent contract extension. Further behind the rest are playing catch up, and in all likelihood are battling for scraps behind Verstappen and the McLarens. It’s a hard track to pass on, so star and strategy is critical, which is always a worry for Ferrari. But it’s a great track to watch the great cars and drivers do their thing.
On race day it is hotter than any other point of the weekend, so strategy and track position v undercut will be the big battles on track. Some drivers have opted for the harder tyre to start. But they will probably be too far behind the Red Bulls to make too much difference. It seems that just the margin of victory for Max is to be decided, but who knows, there’s barriers and average drivers to bring out an inconvenient Safety Car…..
GRID (Starting Order) – VER PIA NOR LEC PER SAI HAM RUS TSU ALO
Lap 1 – Pole sitter ax Verstappen gets away OK and pushes Piastri over to the side of the track on the right but that leaves a gap on the outside that Lando Norris almost fills but Verstappen holds his lead. That means the McLarens have now swapped positions. Ferraris almost touch. Lewis Hamilton almost goes off the track twice, once thanks to Sergio Perez who is having another grape weekend – he has his front wing changed under the Safety Car which will extend the thrashing his team mate will give him.
Further back there’s a clash between someone and someone as carbon fibre goes flying, it later revealed as Valtteri Nottas and Alex Albon – with the Williams driver lucky not to go flying. Liam Lawson threatens his popularity in Japan by getting past Yuki Tsunoda for 10th. Fernando Alonso is a winner, moving up to 6th from 10th.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC SAI ALO PER HAM RUS LAW
RACE RESUMES
Lap 5 – Max Verstappen opens up a handy gap as the race resumes and the field spreads out evenly. Except for Valtteri Bottas who is off at the hairpin – later replays show it was Logan Sargeant who bumped Nottas into the spin. Further around the Mercedes are battling for 7th with George Russell getting past the damaged Lewis Hamilton into the chicane, but Hamilton retaking the place on the following straight into the first corner.
Lap 7 – A window into the rest of the afternoon as Max Verstappen sets fastest lap on the first flying lap of the afternoon and is already more than two seconds up on Norris in second.
Lap 9 – Valtteri Bottas is the race’s first DNF. Logan Sargeant receives a five second penalty for his part of it. Sergio Perez gets a five second penalty himself for a Safety Car infringement.
Lap 12 – Fernando Alonso pits to replace his Soft tyres, but this should be interesting for strategy. Sergio Perez continues his ordinary, ordinary drive by T-Boning Kevin Magnussen into the hairpin. Perez will need a new front wing, and a brain. Magnussen simply loses places thanks to the incident before his car gradually would have on race day.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC SAI HAM RUS STR GAS OCO
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 14 – Oscar Piastri pits just as the Virtual Safety Car pits. This could be super handy for the Aussie. He comes out 8th, but is well placed against his top rivals. The VSC only last less than a lap meaning he has saved himself a little bit of time. Piastri wastes no time getting past Pierre Gasly for 7th a lap later.
VIRTUAL SAFETY ENDS ALREADY
Lap 15 – Sergio Perez retires his Red Bull. They had probably run out of front wings.
Lap 16 – The Mercedes are at it again, this time Lewis Hamilton pushes both cars off the track at the fast Spoon Curve, serving themselves both up some lost time.
Lap 17 – Max Verstappen pits, and his 2021 title rival Hamilton pits as well, but exits a full seven second behind Fernando Alonso – showing the benefit of pitting early. Verstappen exits 5th and in front of Piastri.
Lap 18 – Norris and Leclerc pits, and where will they exit, and is it too late? 7th and 9th is the answer with Alonso being the 8th placed meat, and gaining another spot from his early stop. Norris is now behind his team mate too.
Lap 19 – Sainz pits and exits behind his team mate overtaking Alonso for 6th. Leclerc also overtakes Esteban Ocon half a lap later. Max Verstappen re-takes the lead from George Russell who is yet to stop, and cranky at Lewis Hamilton pushing him off the track.
ORDER – VER RUS PIA NOR LEC OCO ALO SAI HAM TSU
Lap 22 – Lewis Hamilton overtakes Fernando Alonso into the fastest corner on the track in a super brave move, and a few corners later gets past an Alpine too. Carlos Sainz had previously demoted Alonso, leading him to complain about his strategy being like he was “fed to the lions”.
Lap 24 – George Russell discusses with his team over radio about a strategy change, meaning a one stop is on the cards. He currently holds the track position in second, but the faster McLarens are closing in. Making a liar of us, George Russell pits and rejoins in 9th. Speaking of McLarens – Lando Norris is asking to be let past Norris. And they battle it out for a few laps, to a rising temperature of Lando Norris’ radio messages.
ORDER – VER PIA NOR LEC SAI HAM OCO RUS ALO GAS
Lap 27 – Oscar Piastri finally lets past Lando Norris. They seem to be worried about George Russell’s one stop strategy. Not sure why, they are way quicker.
Lap 28 – Sergio Perez is back in his car, maybe as punishment for his crap race he is going to test stuff. Ted Kravitz suggests that Red Bull are re-starting Sergio Perez’s race to serve the penalty.
Lap 29 – First in-race mention in the commentary about the early viewing time for UK fans. To which we reply from the GMT +10 region to quit your griping. We get 2 day time grands prix a season, whilst every other is mid afternoon of prime time for UK/Europe. Try a 3am Brazilian Grand Prix season finale. Suck it up, we say.
Lap 31 – A rare sighting of Max Verstappen who is 14 seconds up the road from the McLarens for the record.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC SAI HAM RUS GAS ALO OCO
Lap 35 – Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are the first front runners to pit for a second time. Oscar Piastri does so a lap later, and needs to stay ahead of Leclerc, which he does, just, trimming his lead from five seconds to just over two.
Lap 37 – Lando Norris pits now, and his race is against George Russell, who won’t pit again. Russell manages to get ahead but Norris is close enough and has fresh tyres. It takes only a lap for Norris to get past, so no doubt George Russell will pit anyway late and set a pointless fastest lap. It could be worse, as Ferrari have stuffed Carlos Sainz’s race by leaving him out.
Lap 38 – Max Verstappen pits from first and exits first. Excitement for him is probably over for the rest of the race. Carlos Sainz pits a lap later from second and drops to 7th.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA LEC HAM SAI ALO OCO GAS
Lap 40 – Oscar Piastri can see a first F1 podium in front of him in the shape of George Russell’s rear end. Much like a dirty perv on a train, he has a few looks without success. He gets by as lap 42 starts. But he’d better keep an eye on party pooper Charles Leclerc who isn’t too far behind.
Lap 43 – George Russell needs to keep Charles Leclerc behind now. Wonder how long before the Mercedes driver gives up and just tries to set another fastest lap. Leclerc finally gets past Russell at turn one on lap 45 in a great move around the outside. He is three seconds behind Piastri for the final podium spot.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC RUS HAM SAI ALO OCO GAS
Lap 47 – Decent battle between George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz for fifth. Russell is instructed by his team to let Hamilton past, Russell argues differently, Hamilton begs to differ and takes the position at the start of lap 49.
Lap 50 – Carlos Sainz overtakes George Russell anyway despite Mercedes claiming that the Hamilton swap was about protecting Russell from Sainz. Worked out well then.
Final Lap – Max Verstappen is found by the TV crews just in time to cruise to victory, and return F1 2023 to normal transmission. Red Bull wins the Constructor’s Championship too to add to the joy. McLarens follow the Red Bulls home with Piastri claiming his first podium with another excellent weekend. Ferrari and Mercedes pick up the scraps behind.
FINAL ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC HAM SAI RUS ALO OCO GAS
| Pos | Driver | Time |
| 1 | Max VERSTAPPEN | 53 Laps |
| 2 | Lando NORRIS | 19.387 behind |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | 36.494 behind |
| 4 | Charles LECLERC | 43.998 behind |
| 5 | Lewis HAMILTON | 49.376 behind |
| 6 | Carlos SAINZ | 50.221 behind |
| 7 | George RUSSELL | 57.659 behind |
| 8 | Fernando ALONSO | 74.725 behind |
| 9 | Esteban OCON | 79.678 behind |
| 10 | Pierre GASLY | 83.155 behind |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | 1 lap behind |
| 12 | Yuki TSUNODA | 1 lap behind |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | 1 lap behind |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | 1 lap behind |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | 1 lap behind |
| R | Alexander Albon | DNF (26) |
| R | Logan Sargeant | DNF (23) |
| R | Lance STROLL | DNF (20) |
| R | Sergio PEREZ | DNF (13) |
| R | Valtteri BOTTAS | DNF (7) |
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
Simply too good all weekend. Sue he has the fastest car, but he is also so fast, so consistent and too good. Withing smelling distance of the Championship now.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Quickly becoming best of the rest in most races and another solid one here. Outqualified by his team mate, he got the better of him on the start and for most of the race. Except the part where Piastri got in front thanks to a well timed pit stop, but they changed places to allow the faster Norris to protect his second place.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Qualified second in his race at the venue, out-qualifying his very well regarded team mate. Not quite as fast as Norris in the race, but claims a first podium in the process which he takes with his usual calmness.
LIAM LAWSON – Celebrates being overlooked for an Alpha Tauri or (insert new name here) drive for 2024 by finishing ahead of local hero Yuki Tsunoda in a minor up yours to Red Bull management.
THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ
Well beaten in qualifying, not great start as he clips Lewis Hamilton which requires a front wing change and change of end of the grid. He then gets a five second penalty for blasting out of the pits under the Safety Car and temporarily overtaking more cars than he should. Just another poor weekend in a season that is fast becoming rather underwhelming.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
VALTTERI BOTTAS-Involved in an accident on the first lap, then is hit by Logan Sargeant at the hairpin on the restart. Then retires his “undriveable” car a few laps later.
LANCE STROLL – Follows his Singapore Race no-start with a DNF and almost invisible weekend.
LOGAN SARGEANT – Big prang in qualifying, hits Bottas into retirement in the race. We wonder if he is signed for next season. Surely Williams will be having second thoughts.
HAAS – Continue their hopeless Sunday with a last and second last. Magnussen not helped after being punted by Perez during the race, but they are bad on race day.
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 8 / 10
Red Bull win the Constructors Championship, and Max Verstappen is within a race weekend of the driver’s title.
ON TRACK ACTION – 6/10
Some good racing behind the dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen, but not a classic.
ENDING 6 / 10
Good battles between George Russell and various cars as he fell backwards through the field in the final laps, to keep the viewers interested and disguising the Red Bull so far out in front again for a little while.
OVERALL RATING 20 / 30
A good but not great race. Helps that it is a rare daytime one for this side of the world. A first podium for an Australian makes it a little bit more special.
2023 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – 15/30
R2 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – 10/30
R3 – Australian Grand Prix – 23/30
R4 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 8/30
R5 – Miami Grand Prix – 20/30
R6 – Monaco Grand Prix – 23/30
R7 – Spanish Grand Prix – 15/30
R8 – Canadian Grand Prix – 12/30
R9 – Austrian Grand Prix – 18/30
R10 – British Grand Prix – 15/30
R11 – Hungarian Grand Prix – 15/30
R12 – Belgian Grand Prix – 14/30
R13 – Dutch Grand Prix – 19/30
R14 – Italian Grand Prix – 21/30
R15 – Singapore Grand Prix – 25/30
2023 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Who not check out last season: Our 2022 F1 Season Driver Ratings
