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Official 1 Journal Formula 1 Grand Prix Round Up- China

21/4/2024

Before the 1st Chinese Grand Prix in half a decade could begin there was drama for Fernando Alonso who damaged the floor of this Aston Martin by taking to much kerb on his lap to the grid. Luckily for Alonso the Aston Martin mechanics did a great job of repairing the damage before the race start. Max Verstappen started on Pole ahead of team mate Sergio Perez followed by Alonso & Norris in 3rd & 4th and Lewis Hamilton had it all to do in his Mercedes after only Qualifying in 18th.

The Chinese Grand Prix

Verstappen & Perez got a great start but it was Alonso who got the best get away and he was straight onto the back of Perez before passing the Redbull to take 2nd place, Norris passed his Mclaren team mate Piastri for 4th place and after the 2 Ferrari's almost came together at turn 2 letting Russell and Hulkenberg through into 5th & 6th they had both dropped 2 places by turn 5 and Zhou put a great move on Magnussen to move up to 17th. The Ferrari's didn't stay behind for long and Leclerc was back past Hulkenberg by turn 14 and as the first lap ended Verstappen already had a 1.6 second lead over Alonso in 2nd.
Lap 2 Russell was closing on the back of Piastri as Magnussen took 17th back from Zhou and Hulkenberg fell back as he was passed by Sainz and Sargeant. Zhou fell back to 19th when he was passed by Hamilton on lap 3.
Team mates Ocon & Gasly swapped positions for 12th leaving Gasly open to attack from Albon behind them, Albon aggressive with the Alpine pushing him onto the run off but the Stewards deemed it fair after the incident was referred to them.

Lap 5 Perez had caught Alonso and passed the Spaniard into Turn 6 with team mate Max Verstappen over 5 seconds ahead in the lead. Norris was the next man chasing down Alonso and just 1 lap after getting into the DRS zone passed the Aston Martin into turn 14 with little fight back from Alonso who was struggling on his Medium tyres after pushing hard early to keep Perez behind.
Lap 9 Leclerc finally caught and passed Russell for 5th after letting the Mercedes past in the first few corners of the race squabbling with his team mate Sainz who also passed Russell 2 laps later after some great battling around the lap when the Mercedes dove into the pits reacting to the early pit stop of Alonso his closest rival on track. Both swapped their dead Medium tyres for a fresh set of the same. Gasly also pit but his stop was far from ideal when a tyre that wasn't secured properly came off the car as Gasly was trying to pull away from his pit box and hit one of his mechanics in the chest and face. Very luckily the Alpine team member escaped without serious injury but a very scary moment none the less.

Lap 14 Verstappen had enough of a lead over Perez in 2nd that Redbull felt confident double stacking the cars in the pits, making the very difficult maneuver look easy, with both going onto the Hard tyres for their 2nd stint. Verstappen rejoined in 4th behind Piastri and Perez in 6th behind Sainz. It wasn't long before Verstappen passed Piastri who was lapping 1.6 seconds a lap slower than his team mate who was in the lead of the race after the Redbull pit stops. With Norris & Leclerc both feeling happy on the Medium tyres they started the race on it was decided for both that they would try and go for the difficult 1 stop strategy as Perez passed Sainz at turn 15 just before the Ferrari dove into the pit lane coming back out in 10th on the Hard tyres.
Lap 19 Verstappen retook the lead from Norris with very little resistant, Norris knowing that fighting Max would only hurt his tyres and any chance of a podium.

Lap 21 Bottas was forced to pulled on the run off of turn 11 when the engine in his Stake Sauber car blew and got stuck in gear. Initially a Virtual Safety car was called just as Lando Norris passed the pitlane entry meaning he was unable to take advantage of slow moving cars behind and pit without losing as much time, Leclerc however did make it into the pits to take his cheap stop but luckily for Norris it was taking longer than normal to recover Bottas' car because it was stuck in gear and the VSC lasted long enough for Norris to pit on the next lap and come out ahead of Leclerc before a full Safety car was brought out on lap 23. Also in Norris' favor was Redbull's decision to re pit the 2 Redbull cars(again beautifully double stacking them) bringing Max back out in the lead but more importantly Perez down in 4th behind Norris( now 2nd) & Leclerc (now 3rd).

Lap 27 Racing resumed with Verstappen building a big enough for there to be no challenge from Norris into the 1st corner. Perez was straight onto the back of Leclerc looking to make the places he lost pitting back as quickly as possible. Further back it was not such a clean restart with Lance Stroll who ran into the back of Ricciardo HARD, hard enough to lift the RB off the ground and push it into the back of Piastri ahead of him. It was a dangerous crash from Stroll and shortly after he was handed a 10 second penalty for the incident that left both Ricciardo & Piastri with defuser damage that ruined their races. Also coming together at the restart was Tsunoda and Magnussen who aftera short battle came together when Magnussen rammed the RB of Tsunoda forcing him to retire and bring out another Safety car.

The 2nd Safety car returned to the pits at the end of lap 31 and as Vertsappen lead the grid across the line to start lap 32 the track was finally green again. Verstappen built a decent gap by the 1st corner for Norris' not to challenge again, this time all the cars made it round without incident but the damage from his hit from Stroll was really showing itself as the Aussie fell back being passed by Hulkenberg, Ocon & Albon before retiring the car on lap 33 as Magnussen was given a 10 second penalty for his contact with Tsunoda and Sargeant was given the same penalty for over behind the Safety car when one of the Alpines was exiting the Pits.

Lap 34 It was Stroll & Magnussen having a mega battle swapping position back and forth corner for corner in a great display of racing despite their previous conduct in the race and resulting penalties with Stroll ultimately taking 16th position from the HAAS.
Lap 38 Perez was on the back of Leclerc, following the Ferrari closely for another lap before passing the Ferrari at turn 7 for 3rd posotion just 5 seconds behind Norris in 2nd with 18 laps to go.
Hamilton & Hulkenberg went wheel to wheel for 9th position with Hulkenebrg initially keeping his position but Hamilton ultimately passing him 2 laps later at turn 7 putting Hamilton just 1.5 behind Piastri in 8th with 15 laps to catch him.

Lap 44 Aston Marin pit Alonso for the 3rd time putting Mediums on to get hi to the end of the race with lots to do rejoining in 12th position. Meanwhile Lando Norris was doing a mga job of keeping Perez at a distance with the gap almost unchanged since the Redbull driver passed Leclerc for 3rd. The tyre change had given Alonso's car new life and in 1 lap he passed Albon(11th), and Ocon(10th) while setting the fastest lap of the race, going on to pass Hulkenberg and Hamilton by lap 50 with 5 laps to find the 11 seconds he was behind Russell in 6th.
Lap 51 Norris was still keeping Perez a respectable 5 seconds behind him as the race drew to a close and Guanyu Zhou gave the Chinese crowd something to cheer about in the closing laps passing Sargeant & Magnussen to finish 14th at his first home race. His result not really reflecting the brilliant weekend he had in China.
Max won the race by a smaller margin than many this year 'only' 14 seconds ahead of Norris who put in a mega drive to come 2nd on a 1 stop strategy that really show cased his driver skill and tyre management skills.
Leclerc and Sainz never seemed to have the pace today and came home in 4th and 5th with Russell holding on to 6th from a rapidly advancing Alonso behind and Lewis Hamilton was hot on the heels of Oscar Piastri in 8th as they crossed the line with Hamilton ending the day driving from 18th -9th in a car he was far from happy with.

Chinese Grand Prix Result

1 VER (2s) 2 NOR (1s) +13.773
3 PER (2s) +19.610 4 LEC(1s) +23.623
5 SAI(1s) +33.983 6 RUS(2s) +38.724
7 ALO(3s) +43.414 8 PIA(2s) +56.198
9 HAM(2s) +57.986 10 HUL(2s) +60.476
11 OCO(2s) +62.812 12 ALB(2s) +65.506
13 GAS(3s) +69.223 14 ZHO(3s) +71.689
15 STR(4s) +82.786 16 MAG(2s) +87.533
17 SAR(2s) +95.110
RIC DNF L33
TSU DNF L27
BOT DNF L21

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

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Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Sprint Saturday Round Up- China

20/4/2024

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Its the first Sprint Race of 2024 here at the Shanghai Circuit in China and w have a new format, rather than the 'Sprint Saturday' format that saw the cars Qualifying and race the Sprint in one day in 2024 Sprint Qualifying is on a Friday after the only Practice session of the weekend and the Sprint is run on the Saturday morning before Qualifying for the Sunday Grand Prix.

Sprint Race

Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton lined up on the Front row and as the lights wet green they both got a great start and were side by side round the 1st 2nd and almost 3rd corner before Norris just couldn't hold the line out of turn 3 and ran wide, on to the runoff tarmac and dropped down to 6th before Leclerc also passed him leaving him down in 7th after just 5 corners. Alonso had a good start from 3rd, fending off Verstappen through the first sequence of corners. Hamilton had a decent lead over Alonso in 2nd and Sainz was on the back of Verstappen in 3rd with Perez close behind the pair looking to pass the Ferrari. Home Driver Zhou had a safe start holding onto 9th after the 1st lap.

Lap 4 Alonso was within DRS range of Hamilton, Russell was pushing forward and was up to 10th, almost in the points and Leclerc and Norris were having a great battle for 6th but despite some good tries the Mclaren just couldn't pass the Ferrari as they both made gains on Perez ahead in 5th.
Lap 7 Verstappen began to catch Alonso for 2nd dropping the gap from almost 1.5 seconds to passing the Spaniard in just 2 laps with 1.8 seconds to find to catch Hamilton for the lead. As it would turn out Hamilton would help max to close the gap by going deep on the brakes at turn 14 allowing the Reigning Wold Champion to close on him and just half a lap later he passed Hamilton for the lead with 10 laps to go.

Lap 11 Alonso was at the head of a growing DRS train as Max disappeared into the distance from Hamilton pulling out a gap of almost 4 seconds just 2 laps after he passed Hamilton. Russell (the only man to start the race on the Soft tyres) was starting to reap the rewards of his controversial tyre Strategy as he began to lap almost half a second faster than the Mclaren of Piastri ahead of him and occupying the last points paying position.

Lap 14 The 5 drivers from Alonso in 3rd and Norris in 7th were within a second of each other all desperate to pass a struggling Alonso. Turn 14 Sainz had his best look at Alonso yet and Leclerc also making a move on Perez but neither could get the move done as Norris started to fall out of DRS range of the 5 car battle for 3rd. Again on lap 16 Leclerc made a move on Perez into turn 14 but Perez just had the better left foot and held the position. Ahead Sainz was very close to Alonso down the start finish straight and as they went through turn 2 Sainz was shaping up for a pass into turn 6, Alonso struggled on the exit, Sainz managed to get along side and as they ran together through turns 7 & 8 the 2 touched going into turn 9 Alonso dropped behind Sainz but dove up the inside of turn 10(a very ambitious move to put it politely) pushing them both wide and allowing Perez past into 3rd with Leclerc now on the gearbox of his team mate who had now dropped to 5th. But Sainz wasn't done and went down the inside of Alonso at turn 12 finally getting the move done and leaving Alonso exposed to a rapid Leclerc behind who also passed the Aston Martin had dropped from 3rd to 6th in less than a lap with Norris looking to do the same.

As lap 17 began Leclerc was looking to pass his team mate on the start finish straight after almost coming together at turn 15, Leclerc made his move in to Turn 2, Sainz went wide almost drifting the Ferrari trying to keep it on the racing line but Leclerc was up the inside and ahead by turn 4, promoting him to 4th as Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin picked up a puncture forcing him to pit and ultimately retire the car, gifting Norris 6th place and Russell 8th and the final point of the morning after not making it into SQ3 yesterday.

Lap 18 Norris was on the back of Sainz in the Ferrari running on struggling rubber after some mega battling the whole Sprint race. Verstappen was now 10 seconds ahead of Hamilton in 2nd and over 14 seconds ahead of his team mate in 3rd. Sainz would hold off Norris till the end of the race, Hamilton drove a great race to finish in 2nd 13 seconds behind Max, with Perez in 3rd a further 2 seconds back from the Mercedes. Zhou had a great race to finish 9th in front of his home crowd unfortunately just missing out on the final Sprint race point for 8th.
Post race Alonso had a 10 second penalty added to his race time for the incident were he and Sainz touched at turn 8/9 on lap 16.

Sprint Result

1 VER 2 HAM +13.043
3 PER +15.258 4 LEC +17.486
5 SAI +20.696 6 NOR +22.088
7 PIA +24.713 8 RUS +25.696
9 ZHO +31.951 10 MAG +37.398
11 RIC +37.840 12 BOT +38.295
13 OCO +39.841 14 STR +40.299
15 GAS +40.838 16 TSU +41.870
17 ALB +42.998 18 SAR +46.352
19 HUL +49.630
20 ALO DNF + 10 sec pen

Grand Prix Qualifying

Q1

Cars were straight out onto the track for Q1 with everyone keen to make set up changes to the car more suited to Qualifying after the cars had been set up for the Sprint race earlier in the day(a change to the Sprint Weekend format for 2024). Everyone chose to run the Soft tyres with the exception of Sainz who started the session on used Medium tyres. Hulkenberg was noted for trying to push his way into the queue of cars leaving the pitlane rather unceremoniously. We didn't begin to see competitive laps from the cars until well into the session.
Piastri was the first man to set a true pace lap but was quickly dropped to 2nd by Sainz who had swapped his Mediums for Softs to make his flying laps. Ricciardo reported seeing smoke from his RB but it didn't stop him from putting himself safely out of the drop zone and through to Q2 while Norris and Perez both needed good laps to get get out of the drop zone.

Norris went top with his time and Perez found himself safely inside the top 10. Hamilton however was not so lucky and with his lap only being good enough for 12th and multiple other cars still to come most improving he ended the session down in 18th and out of Qualifying with Gasly doing a mega job for Alpine putting himself 10th fastest and knocking Zhou into the drop zone and sadly after his brilliant job in Sprint Qualifying out in the 1st round in front of his home crowd. Albon put his struggling William through to Q2 but the best his team mate Sargent could manage was 20th after spinning on his final run.

Q1 Result

1 VER 1'34.742 2 LEC +0.055
3 NOR +0.100 4 SAI +0.288
5 PIA +0.272 6 HUL +0.326
7 RUS +0.342 8 ALO +0.374
9 BOT +0.427 10 GAS +0.545
11 STR +0.592 12 OCO +0.614
13 ALB +0.642 14 RIC +0.701
15 PER +0.715 16 ZHO +0.763
17 MAG +0.774 18 HAM +0.831
19 TSU +1.004 20 SAR +1.616

Q2

Q2 began and it wasn't the same rush of cars out on track as Q1 with most of the cars coming out at the 12 minutes to go mark. As they began their first flying laps it was the Mclaren's who were setting Purple sectors before Verstappen went purple in all 3 and became the 1st man into the 1'33.0 times just before Carlos Sainz went wide out of the final turn and spun across the track and into the wall at the outside of the track, bringing out a Red Flag immediately. Despite the impact with the wall the car was relatively undamaged and after getting the car restarted he returned to the pits under his own steam and thanks to the Red Flagged the team had time to fix the car so he could continue to take part in the session (an action that would later cause Aston Martin to challenge the Qualifying result). As the Red flag came out Verstappen was fastest by half a second over the Mclaren of Norris, Piastri was in 3rd, Alonso 4th, Perez 5th & Albon, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz & Russell occupied the drop zone.

Q2 resumed with 6 minutes 44 seconds on the clock and 2 big names in the drop zone. Russell was straight out to set a time as he like Sainz were yet to put a time on the board. Verstappen soon joined him while everyone else waited to make their final runs. With 3 minutes on the clock Gasly lead the rest of the field out as Russell finished his lap putting himself 3rd fastest, splitting the Mclaren's and making Charles Leclerc the driver at risk. The Ferrari team did a great job to get Sainz back out and on to a flying lap that put him 2nd fastest, Leclerc couldn't beat his team mate, only going 3rd fastest as Valteri Bottas put his Stake Sauber car in to Q3 for the 1st time this year at the expense of Lance Stroll who was dropped into the drop zone and out of Qualifying.

Q2 Result

1 VER
2 PER +0.232
3 SAI +0.574
4 LEC +0.605
5 NOR +0.666
6 RUS +0.815
7 ALO +0.858
8 PIA +0.865
9 HUL +0.873
10 BOT +0.975
11 STR 1.044
12 RIC +1.140
13 OCO +1.429
14 ALB +1.447
15 GAS +1.669

Q3

Verstappen and Perez were the first cars out on flying laps initially going purple in sector 1 till Alonso went faster still. As Perez crossed the line he was almost half a second down on team mate Verstappen, Alonso could only manage 0.394 behind the pole time, Piastri caught the gravel at the final turn giving it everything to get the best lap possible keeping it on the road unlike Sainz, he still went 4th fastest till he was beaten by his team mate Lando Norris. Sainz could only manage 6th fastest and Leclerc 7th with Hulkenbrg 8th, Russell 9th and Bottas 10th after their first runs.

As final runs began with 2 minutes on the clock Sainz was working hard inside the car as his team mate went purple in the middle sector. Russell set a brilliant lap to go 3rd fastest till Sainz, Leclerc, Piastri and Norris all beat his time before Alonso & Perez beat their times putting Perez 2nd, Alonso 3rd Norris 4th & Piastri 5th. Russell despite a really strong lap ended Qualifying in 8th. Hukenberg finished in 9th but was under investigation for a pitlane incident.
After Qualifying Aston Martin officially registered a complaint with the FIA to Challenge the Qualifying Result based on Article 39.6 of the Sporting regulations which refrs to cars that stop on track during a session not being participate further in the session, which clearly refereed to Carlos Sainz's car in Q2. We are yet to hear the outcome at the time this article was posted.

Q3 Result

1 VER 1'33.660
2 PER +0.322
3 ALO +0.488
4 NOR +0.505
5 PIA +0.613
6 LEC +0.629
7 SAI+0.637
8 RUS +0.773
9 HUL +0.994
10 BOT +1.005

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

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Chinese Sprint round up: Lando continues his chase for a win

20/4/2024

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Max takes a dominant sprint win in china as Lando fails to keep his top spot longer than the first corner.

©Redbull media

After complaining about battery performance only 3 laps in Verstappen went on to finish 13 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 2nd and teammate Sergio Perez in 3rd.

©Aston Martin f1 media

Verstappen who started in 4th caught Alonso on lap 7 of the 19 lap sprint as he began his hunt for a win. Lewis Hamilton who took the lead off Norris managed to hold off the Redbull for only a few laps before locking up and allowing the dutchman with in DRS of his Mercedes. Max taking the lead on lap 10.

Fernando Alonso became the real loser of the sprint as an exciting battle for 3rd went from leading the DRS train to a race ending front right puncture on lap 17, a result of clipping the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez who saw his opportunity over took Sainz and Alonso coming out in front eventually leaving the Ferraris to continue to battle behind him. Charles finishing in 4th with Sainz and the Mclarens following.

Further down the grid home hero Zhou Guanyu just missed out on points as he finished in 9th after starting 11th.

But now the focus looks to qualifiers in just over 2 hours.

Bronwen Jones
Writer @ F1 Journal

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Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Friday Round Up- China

19/4/2024

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Practice

Cars were straight out on track for the only Practice session of the Sprint Weekend, ahead of Sprint Qualifying later in the Afternoon. Zhou made his first laps of his home track to the thunderous applause of a huge Chinese crowd.
The 2 Alpine cars were the only ones out on the Soft tyres to begin with while all other cars chose the Hard or Medium rubber for their initial laps, Verstappen went top on his Mediums to set the pace early over Gasly in 2nd. There was a steady stream of laps from all but the Ferrari's who with 50 minutes left on the clock left the pits for the first time in the session joining the Alpines on the Soft tyres.
The 2 Redbulls cars set the early pace with Verstappen fastest by 0.068 over his team mate and 0.382 faster than Hulkenberg in 3rd with 45 minutes to go.

A Red flag came out after just 15 minutes of running when the grass on the inside of turn 7 caught fire due to the sparks from the skid blocks on the bottoms of the cars, being blown onto the grass, causing it to catch fire. Once the grass had been extinguished the session go going again with 41 minutes of running left. Losing anytime in the only practice session of the weekend is tough for the teams but at a track we have not raced at for 5 seasons or in this generation of car it was all the more important to come back out as quickly as possible to continue the data collection for all the cars and drivers.

Hamilton was in an aggressive mood, diving up the inside of Hulkenberg into turn 15 and pushing the HAAS almost 4 wheels off the track before almost coming together with Piastri at the last corner forcing Hamilton to bail into the pit lane narrowly avoiding Hulkenberg who was still just behind the Mercedes, Hamilton was given a Black and White flag by the stewards for the incident. 31 minutes to go Leclerc went fastest on the soft tyres followed by his team mate Sainz in 2nd 0.252 behind him. Ocon seemed very comfortable in his Alpine going 5th fastest on the Softs in front of Norris in 6th.
Fernando Alonso misjudged the tail wind & the pit entry, overshooting the left hand turn into the pits and had to weave his way through the bollards to find his way to his pit box, Piastri did a similar thing a few minutes later but chose to find Reverse to get back to the pit entry.

Sargeant went 2nd fastest with 12 minutes to go as we began to see the teams put the Soft tyres on to do their Qualifying Simulation runs for Sprint Qualifying later in the afternoon. Albon was purple in all 3 sectors on his first soft tyre flying run beating Leclerc's lap by 8 tenths of a second.
After all the cars had set their flying laps on the Soft tyres it was Piastri was fastest, his team mate Norris was forced to bail on a lap that looked faster than his younger team mate but traffic forced him to abort the lap, The 2 HAAS cars were enjoying the Shanghai circuit with both cars inside the top 4 with 2 minutes to go of the session. Stroll found his confidence as the session ended as he set a purple sector 2 and went fastest in his Aston Martin. The 2 Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton were down in 17th & 18th having not run the Soft tyres at all ahead of Sprint Qualifying.
It was a very mixed grid at the end of the sessions with 6 of the top 10 cars below 12th and neither Redbull in the top 2. Was it the track? the lack of data or was it all the teams running different data collection plans, luckily we didn't have to wait long to find out how it all shook out in China.

Practice Result

1 STR
2 PIA +0.327
3 VER +0.358
4 PER +0.388
5 HUL +0.799
6 MAG +0.816
7 OCO +0.911
8 ALB +0.927
9 RIC +0.936
10 BOT +1.228
11 ZHO +1.324
12 TSU +1.704
13 LEC +1.788
14 SAI +1.982
15 SAR +1.984
16 NOR +2.328
17 RUS +2.504
18 HAM +2.537
19 ALO +2.634
20 GAS +2.974

Sprint Qualifying

After a dry practice Qualifying began with the threat of rain on the horizon but many varying reports on when during the Sprint Qualifying it would start to fall if at all.

SQ1- Mediums Tyres for All

All the cars were straight out on to the track trying to get a banker lap in before the potential rain might fall being caught out without one could ruin your whole weekend. Leclerc set an early very competitive lap, faster than both Mclaren's, Mercedes and his team mate Sainz. Alonso beat the Ferrari's time before Verstappen went top of the times only to be beaten by Sergio Perez by over 3 tenths. As the track temperature continued to drop Russell found himslf in the drop zone with under 3 minutes left on the clock.

Sainz jumped up to 4th along side his team mate behind the 2 Redbull's until Norris put in a cracking lap to go 2nd and 2 tenths behind Perez while Oscar Piastri in the sister Mclaren could only manage 5th. Russell was under massive pressure when he started his final flying lap. He was dead last and out of qualifying until he managed a decent lap good enough for 12th and into SQ2.Daniel Ricciardo was happy with his efforts as he bested team mate Yuki Tsunoda in Qualifying for the 1st time this year. Tsunoda couldn't improve and was out in SQ1 joined by the 2 Williams and 2 Alpine's as the grass on the inside of turn 7 caught fire for a 2nd time today causing a delay to the start of SQ2
.

SQ1 Result

1 PER 2 NOR +0.274
3 VER +0.346 4 LEC +0.427
5 PIA +0.432 6 SAI +0.609
7 ALO +0.773 8 HUL +0.814
9 STR +0.851 10 MAG +0.923
11 BOT +1.002 12 HAM +1.071
13 RUS +1.200 14 RIC +1.211
15 ZHO+1.434 16 GAS +1.522
17 OCO +1.610 18 ALB +1.702
19 TSU +1.782 20 SAR +1.813

SQ2 All on Medium Tyres

After a short delay while the fire at turn 7 was extinguished, the cars were straight out on track to set their laps with the threat of rain now imminent and the need to set a dry lap before the track becomes wet is essential to progress through to SQ3 for the Sprint Pole shoot out. Norris was the 1st car on a lap followed by the sister Mclaren of Oscar Piastri. Norris went top till his time was beaten by Piastri, Sainz went 3rd fastest and Alonso 4th till Leclerc wnt fastest by a tenths of as second. Both Stake Sauber cars had good pace on their first runs and as the Redbulls crossed the line to set their first SQ2 times they went 1st(VER) and 3rd(PER) as they were given a 3 minute warning for the rain to begin.

Russell again was struggling down in 11th as the rain started to fall, Ricciardo pit not thinking he could improve now rain was falling but Russell wanted to give a lap a go but it was clear within a couple of corners that an improvement wasn't possible and he was out of Sprint Qualifying and would start the Sprint 11th. Zhou though had set a decent banker lap and had made it through to the top 10 shoot out for the first time this year and in front of his home fans who showed their appreciation by shaking the circuit with their cheers.

SQ2 Result

1 VER
2 LEC +0.105
3 PER +0.175
4 PIA +0.247
5 NOR +0.441
6 SAI +0.446
7 BOT +0.450
8 ALO +0.513
9 HAM +0.681
10 ZHO+0.701
11 RUS +0.739
12 MAG +0.867
13 HUL +0.872
14 RIC +0.947
15 STR +1.071

SQ3 Top 10 Shoot Out- All on Intermediate tyres

SQ3 was declared a wet session and rather than the planned Soft tyres for all the cars we saw the Green walled Intermediate tyres on all the cars as the rain continued to fall in Shanghai.
All the cars went straight out to try and set a lap before more water was laid on the track. Norris had a big snap and was on to the run off at turn 6 while Charles Leclerc had a big spin, causing him to hit the wall at turn 9, lucky for the Ferrari driver the car was ok and he could continue. It wasn't just Leclerc who was off the track though as we saw reigning World Champion off onto the gravel at turn 6.

In all the chaos both Mclaren's had found some speed and were setting purple sectors. Piastri went fastest till he was beaten by Perez. Zhou also had a moment at turn 6 while his team mate Bottas went 2nd fastest. Verstappen continued to struggle with his car in the wet having his lap deleted dropping him to 7th fastest, and then going off again(turn15) on his next flying lap meaning he again would lose that time as well.

Alonso went top after a great lap from the Spaniard as Norris had his latest lap deleted for track limits. Hamilton was the next man to show his skill in the rain as he put his Mercedes to the top of the times, faster than Verstappen who could only manage 2nd fastest and then 3rd as Norris went top of the times again......but Norris' lap was deleted!!! Putting Hamilton top again Sainz went 4th fastest ......untilllllllllllll Norris's lap was reinstated!!!!!! Robbing Hamilton of his first pole in 2024 as he crossed the line. Norris took a mega pole in the rain in what was honestly the best Qualifying we have seen in a long time.

SQ3 Result

1 NOR
2 HAM +1.261
3 ALO +1.975
4 VER +2.088
5 SAI +2.274
6 PER +2.435
7 LEC +2.626
8 PIA +3.050
9 BOT +3.104
10 ZHO
+5.597

Our 1st day of action back in China was a brilliant one and only served to inflate the already enormous anticipation for this weekends racing! Day 1 Mclaren are top.

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

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Official F1 Journal Track Guide- China Shanghai Circuit

19/4/2024

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We are back in China!! This weekend is an unknown for many reasons, not only because we haven't raced here in 5 seasons but also because of Weather, Track surface and the new Sprint layout that sees the Sprint Qualifying now happen on a Friday and the Sprint Race is now held on a Saturday morning before the Qualifying for the Grand Prix.
Lets hope we see some great racing and the pack closer again to the rapid Redbull's.

Race Stats

Sprint Laps- 19
Grand Prix laps- 56
Circuit Length- 5.451km
Sprint Race Distance- 103.569km
Race Distance- 305.066km
Corners- 16 7 Left 9 Right
DRS Zones- 2 Activation 1- Entry Turn 12
Deployment 2- Back Straight
Activation 2- Entry Turn 16
Deployment 2- Exit Turn 16
Downforce Level- Med
Tyre Degradation- High
Time @ Full Throttle- 54%
Time Lost in Pitlane- 22 secs
Pole Side- Left
Tyre Compounds-
Hard Medium Soft
C2 C3 C4
Minimum Starting Tyre Pressures-
Front Rear
26.0psi 22.0psi
Maximum Starting Tyre Camber-
Front Rear
-3.00º -1.75º

Weekend Schedule

Track Stats

Times Held- 16
First Time Held- 2004
Laps Raced- 894
Finishing Percentage-84%
Pole Record- 1'31.095 VET 2018
Lap Record- 1'32.238 SCH 2008
Winners- 9
Pole Sitters-6
Podium Finishers-16
Most Driver Poles- HAM 6
Most Team Poles- Mercedes 7
Most Driver Wins- HAM 6
Most Team Wins- Mercedes 6
Most Driver Podiums- HAM 9
Most Team Podiums- Ferrari 13
Most Fastest Laps(Driver)- HAM 4
Most Fastest Laps(Team)- Mercedes 3
Most Consecutive Wins(Driver)- HAM 2
Most Consecutive Wins (Team)- Mercedes 4
Most 1-2 Finishes- Mercedes 3
Times Won From Pole- 9
Times Won from Front Row-11
Lowest Starting Position to Win- 6th SCH 2006 & RIC 2018
Smallest Pole Margin- 0.023 BOT 2019
Smallest Win Margin- 0.714 HAM 2015
Largest Pole Margin- 0.715 VET 2011
Largest Win Margin- 37.776 ROS 2016
Safety Cars-7/16 races have featured a safety car
Red Flags- Never at Shanghai

Previous Results

2017

Qualifying-
1 HAM 1'31.678
2 VET 1'31.864
3 BOT 1'31.865
Race-
. 1 HAM (4 stop)
2 VET (5 stop)
3 VER (4 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'35.378 HAM lap 44

2018

Qualifying-
1 VET 1'31.095
2 RAI 1'31.182
3 BOT 1'31.625
Race-
. 1 RIC (2 stop)
2 BOT (1 stop)
3 RAI (1 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'35.785 RIC lap 55

2019

Qualifying-
1 BOT 1'31.547
2 HAM 1'31.570
3 VET 1'31.848
Race-
. 1 HAM (2 stop)
2 BOT (2 stop)
3 VET (2 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'34.742 GAS lap 55

Random Facts

we have not raced in China in 5 years due to Covid 19 and the political issues
It cost £132 million to build the Shanghai Circuit
1st race at Shanghai wasw on by Ruben Barrichello
The Shanghai track is built over swamp land and is sat on top of 40,000 stone pillars to support the circuit
The shortest race ever in Shanghai was 1h 29 minutes compared to the longest which was 1h 57 minutes

342 cars took the lights
286 cars saw the Chequered flag
= 84% finishing percentage.

Enjoy guys

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

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Yuki Tsunoda becomes the latest Japanese driver to secure points at home!

7/4/2024

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Tsunoda has become the first Japanese driver, since Kobayashi in 2012, to score a point at home. After two previous attempts Yuki finished 10th at Suzuka, managing to keep his starting position.

“I’m feeling relieved. After I lost some positions on the first start, I felt a little disappointment for sure, but at the same time, I just focused on the second start. I had a good one and was able to make up a few positions.” - Tsunoda, RB media following his result in Suzuka.

Three seasons into his career Yuki has collected 68 points.

Before Yuki 24 other drivers represented Japan.

Here are the impressive few that have scored points for Japan:

Kamui Kobayashi 2009 - 2012 (125 points)
After being a test and reserve driver for Toyota in since 2017, Kobayashi finally made his formula one debut at the 2009 Brazilian grand prix and Abu Dhabi. Finishing off the season after replacing Timo Glock due to an injury sustained in free practise the previous weekend in Japan.

After an impressive debut and withdrawal from Toyota, Kobayashi was signed by Sauber for the 2010 season.

Murray Walker stated at the end of the season that Kobayashi is "without a doubt Japan's best [F1 driver] yet" due to his aggressive and confident driving style that saw him out brake drivers car lengths ahead of him.

Sauber signed Kobayashi for the next two season which eventually saw the Japanese driver gain his maiden podium Infront of a home crowd in 2012.
Kobayashi is one of three Japanese drivers to stand on the formula one podium however was not signed for the 2013 ending his formula one career.

Takuma Sato 2002 - 2008 (44 points)
Although most famous for becoming the first Asian driver to win the Indy 500, winning the event in 2017 and 2020, Sato is one of three Japanese formula one drivers with a podium.

Maiden points were picked up during Sato’ at his home race where he finished 5th in his Honda powered Jordan. In 2004 British American (BAR) signed Sato to a seat after having him as a team test driver in 2003. 2004 became Sato’ most successful season, collecting his third place podium at the US Grand Prix, finishing in the points 9 out of 11 race. Sato finished the season in eighth, helping BAR secure second in the constructors’ championship.

After a disasters 2005 season that saw BAR banned from two races, including Monaco due to being under the car weight regulations, and another two race disqualifications Sato moved to Super Aguri to spend his final three season, as financial issues forced Aguri to withdraw for the sport.

Satoru Nakajima 1987 – 1991 (16 points)
Being named Japans first full-time formula one driver, Nakajima picked up 7 points in his rookie season. Competing for Lotus Honda he become the first Japanese driver to score points and later the first to record a fastest lap.

Nakajima went on to complete 80 grand prixs and 4 seasons in formula one however his rookie season would be his most successful, finishing 12th in the standings.

Kazuki Nakajima 2007 -2009 (9 points)
Following in his fathers foot steps, Kazuki Nakajima took part in two full seasons.

Making his debut at the Brazilian GP for Williams next to Nico Rosberg in the 2007 season finale, following Alexander Wurz retirement. Soon after finishing 10th in Brazil Williams signed Nakajima as a full-time driver in 2008 and later retained him for the 2009 season. Nakajima did not have the luck for formula one as a delay in the pit lane lost him points at the 2009 Turkish GP and poor pit strategy compromised a points finish the British GP.

Rubens Barrichello replaced the Japanese driver in 2010, ending Nakajimas F1 career. However, he went on to be successful in endurance racing, winning 24hrs of Le Mans three times! And winning the 2019 FIA World Endurance Championship.

Aguri Suzuki 1988 – 1995 (8 points)
The first to stand on the podium for Japan. Becoming the 8th driver from Japan, Suzuki made his debut in 1988 in Suzuka for Larrousse-Lola.

After failing to pre-qualify in 1989 with Zakspeed, Larrousse picked him back up again for the 1990 and 1991 season, which led him to third place at his home grand prix. Also setting the 2nd fastest lap.

However after his podium, Suzuki did not see much more success as he was out performed by his following team mates at Footwork and the again in Ligier. Suzuki ended his career as it started in at home in Japan, 1995, as he announced his immediate retirement following a crash that caused a neck injury.

Ukyo Katayama 1992 – 1997 (5 points)
Katayama, although competing in six season of formula one only classified as a championship finisher in 1994, placing 17th, where he picked up his five points.

Japan Tobacco arranged a seat for Katayama with Tyrrell for 1993 after his original seat with Larrousse left him with an unreliable car and a team-mate that saw the significant portion of the teams’ resources. Tyrell not providing much better.

Tyrrells car remained unreliable in the 1994 season, with the Japanese driver only season the chequered flag four times. However, the improvements made helped Katayama become a consistent top six runner.

Katayamas’ form declined in the following season before announcing his retirement at his home GP in 1997. Later he announced that he had been diagnosed with back cancer early on in his career, causing pain. His racing delaying his treatment. This diagnose allegedly denied him a seat with a top team.

Shinji Nakano 1997 – 1998 (2 points)
A short but sweet Formula one career, Nakano, collected 2 points with Prost Grand Prix team in 97’, each point form finishing sixth.

Bronwen Jones
writer @ F1 journal

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Official F1 Journal Track Guide- Suzuka 2024

4/4/2024

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I LOVE THIS RACE TRACK. Suzuka is a law onto it's self and has become a hub of brilliant 2 & 4 wheel racing. There have been so many controversial, monumental and truly saddening moments here and its hard to come here without thinking of Jules Bianchi and his tragic accident that lead to his passing. But we race in his honor and hopefully the racing will be up to its normal top notch standards.

Race Stats

Laps- 53
Circuit Length- 5.807km
Race Distance- 307.471km
Corners- 18 8 Left 10 Right
DRS Zones- 1 Activation- Exit Turn 15
Deployment- Exit Turn 18
Downforce Level- Med/High
Tyre Degradation- High
Time @ Full Throttle- 66%
Time Lost in Pitlane- 17.65secs
Gear Changes per Lap- 48
Pole Side- Left
Tyre Compounds-
Hard Medium Soft
C1 C2 C3
Minimum Starting Tyre Pressures-
Front Rear
25.0psi 23.0psi
Maximum Starting Tyre Camber-
Front Rear
-2.75º -1.50º

Weekend Schedule

Track Stats

Times Held- 33
First Time Held- 1987
Laps Raced- 1704 laps
Finishing Percentage- 71%
Pole Record- 1'27.064 VET 2019
Lap Record- 1'30.983 HAM 2019
Winners- 17
Pole Sitters- 14
Podium Finishers-41
Most Driver Poles- 8 SCH
Most Team Poles- 10 Ferrari
Most Driver Wins- 6 SCH
Most Team Wins- 7 Ferrari/Mclaren
Most Driver Podiums- 9 SCH
Most Team Podiums- 24 Mclaren
Most Fastest Laps(Driver)- 4 SCH
Most Fastest Laps(Team)- 8 Williams
Most Consecutive Wins(Driver)- 4 SCH
Most Consecutive Wins (Team)- 3 Ferrari
Most 1-2 Finishes- 3 Mercedes/Redbull
Times Won From Pole- 17
Times Won from Front Row- 29
Lowest Starting Position to Win- 17th RAI '05
Smallest Pole Margin-0.009 SCH '00
Smallest Win Margin- 0.344 BER '91
Largest Pole Margin- 1.730 SEN '89
Largest Win Margin- 27.066 VER '22
Safety Cars-11
Red Flags- 4 '94, '14 & 2022 (2 in 2022 race)

Previous Results

2019

Qualifying-
1 VET 1'27.064
2 LEC 1'27.253
3 BOT 1'27.293
Race-
1 BOT (2stop)
2 VET (2stop)
3 HAM (2stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'30.983 HAM L45

2022

Qualifying-
1 VER 1'29.304
2 LEC 1'29.314
3 SAI 1'29.361
Race-
1 VER (2stop)
2 PER (2stop)
3LEC (2stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'44.411 ZHO L20

2023

Qualifying-
1 VER 1'28.877
2 PIA 1'29.458
3 NOR 1'29.493
Race-
1 VER (2stop)
2 NOR (2stop)
3 PIA (2stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'34.183 VER L 39

LETS GOOOO SUZUKA

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

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FORMULA 1

Official 1 Journal Formula 1 Grand Prix Round Up- China

The Chinese Grand Prix

Chinese Grand Prix Result

Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Sprint Saturday Round Up- China

Sprint Race

Sprint Result

Grand Prix Qualifying

Q1

Q1 Result

Q2

Q2 Result

Q3

Q3 Result

Chinese Sprint round up: Lando continues his chase for a win

Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Friday Round Up- China

Practice

Practice Result

Sprint Qualifying

SQ1- Mediums Tyres for All

SQ1 Result

SQ2 All on Medium Tyres

SQ2 Result

SQ3 Top 10 Shoot Out- All on Intermediate tyres

SQ3 Result

Official F1 Journal Track Guide- China Shanghai Circuit

Race Stats

Weekend Schedule

Track Stats

Previous Results

2017

2018

2019

Random Facts

Yuki Tsunoda becomes the latest Japanese driver to secure points at home!

Official F1 Journal Track Guide- Suzuka 2024

Race Stats

Weekend Schedule

Track Stats

Previous Results

2019

2022

2023

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