From what we have witnessed in Japan, the Mclaren seems to have improved on their car drastically, as Oscar Piastri looked pretty competitive the entire weekend, with Lando Norris not too far behind him. Piastri was able to keep up with the much faster Mercedes and even led the race for a while, before he was hindered by the safety car. Oscar Piastri finished the race 2nd while Norris finished 5th, which is not bad considering they had a double DNS in China.
The least impressive team this race has to be Red Bull, as both drivers have been struggling greatly with the car and its energy deployment. Max Verstappen has continuously expressed his dislike for the new regulations and seems to be struggling with adapting to the new power engine and system. Isack Hadjar seems to be struggling less than Verstappen in terms of qualifying as this is the second time since the season started where Hadjar has outqualified his more experienced team mate. Just like Oscar Piastri however, Hadjar pitted right before the safety car, which blocked him from being able to get into the points with Verstappen, who pitted during the safety car.
When it comes to Ferrari, it seems to the public that they aren’t able to keep up like they used to, being overtaken by the Mclaren and Mercedes during the race. However, I do have hope that they will be able to take it back to the factory and fix the problems they were experiencing during the race. They have great qualities like their race starts but they lack general speed, so lets hope they fix this issue before Miami.
Although Mercedes have been accused of having an illegal engine, they continue to show their developed car, with Kimi Antonelli winning the race and becoming the youngest championship leader ever. George Russell was hindered by the safety car this race and was held back by traffic after coming out, which costed him a podium. With the trajectory they are going at, there is no doubt that they will be at the top of the leader board this year, but that does not mean they don’t have competition.
When looking at the midfield cars, it seems to be two teams that dominate it, Alpine and the Racing Bulls. This was more expected from the racing bulls because they had an amazing car last year, but not the Alpine. So this improvement came to a shock to many people, especially when Pierre Gasly has outqualified Max Verstappen for every race so far. However, the Williams, Cadillac, Audi, Aston Martin and Haas don’t seem to be doing well, with them continuously being kicked out in Q1. The Aston Martin especially seems to be having the most issues with vibrations and overall weight, which is having physical affects on the driver, with Fernando Alonso having to retire the car in China due to said vibrations.
But one thing is for sure: The racing has been amazing! They are able to overtake much easily and this was very evident when Kimi Antonelli overtook 6 cars in a track that is known for being hard to overtake at. So no matter the complaints, the wheel to wheel racing has been the best i have seen in a while.
sumaya on the grid⋆.𐙚 ̊ 
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