Suzuka spectacle could take a hit in qualifying but a step forward for the race, drivers say

A qualifying lap of Suzuka is likely to be “a little bit less exciting” than in the past but should come to the benefit of the racing in the Japanese Grand Prix, according to Charles Leclerc.

The FIA has made changes to the energy harvest limits in order to try and create a better balance between driver performance and power unit deployment over one flying lap, with Japan expected to be closer to Australia in terms of energy demands. Leclerc believes this to be a positive step although it cannot fix the entire issue, yet accepts the trade-off with the racing potential that is delivered on a Sunday.

“I don’t think it will be all power-limited through [the first sector],” Leclerc said. "It would be a very big surprise, but with these cars we’re probably not going to have a lot of power through the Esses. I would like to see also what are the implications of the change that has been made since I was last on the simulator, because it goes in the right direction.

“I think we will at one point hit a limit with those cars, but it comes at the benefit of racing, because honestly I don’t think that we’ve seen in the last quite a few years in Formula 1 as many overtakes as we’ve seen in the first few races, as much excitement as well at the head of the pack, so that is a good thing.

“However, it comes at a bit of a cost where in qualifying we need to find compromises. We are trying to work around that at the moment, but we didn’t quite find the fix. So yes, I expect the first sector [will be] a little bit less exciting compared to last year iin qualifying.”

Championship leader George Russell agrees, saying the spectacle of qualifying was enjoyable for the drivers in the past, but previous cars meant racing was in short supply at Suzuka.

“The previous generation cars, you would say, are perfectly suited to a track like Suzuka because the cars in the past had a lot of high-speed downforce,” Russell said. “I think the lap times we saw last year were probably the fastest lap times we'd ever seen in Suzuka, yet the race was super boring.

“We will be slower through the Esses this year. I think it will probably be an easy one-stop, same as last year, but it was an easy one-stop in China and it was a very exciting race. I guess this will be a good test for the regulations – if this track now becomes an exciting race and it was once a boring race, that will be quite interesting.”