2023 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix highlights

Fernando Alonso returns to the points in the 2023 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Fernando qualified 10th, and Lance 17th, and both made moves at the beginning of the race on Soft tyres. However, the Safety Car was deployed on Lap One – halting their progress on the faster compound.

Fernando pitted on Lap 12 for Hards, two laps before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, while Lance pitted for Mediums on Lap 15. Lance continued a solid pace and looked to be moving into the points.

Unfortunately, Lance was pitted after 20 laps to retire the car due to a rear wing failure. Fernando meanwhile made a second stop on Lap 26 for Hards and finished eighth.

Fernando Alonso

It was a good race today: a mega start moved us up to sixth, and the car felt good despite a lack of performance yesterday. Having started on the Softs, we pitted a little earlier than those around us, and we struggled a bit once we switched to the Hard tyre. On the second set of Hards, we were pretty competitive, so we were able to push and keep the Alpines behind at the end. Everyone is working flat out at the track and the AMRTC, so we will keep going and look forward to Qatar.

Lance Stroll

My race was ended by a rear-wing failure today. It wasn’t enjoyable because I had a good start, making up five places on the opening lap, and I think a point or two would have been possible. That’s racing sometimes. We’ll investigate what happened and go again in a few weeks in Qatar.

Mike Krack, Team Principal:

Realistically, with our performance this weekend, we achieved the maximum possible result with Fernando this afternoon – there wasn’t much more he could have done out there. He brought home some valuable points for us. Lance also raced well – he made a good start, passed some cars and was on course for a top-10 finish when we noticed an issue with his rear wing. We chose to make a precautionary stop and had to retire his car. He deserved more from today.

Now it’s time to refocus ahead of the next race in Qatar.