2024 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix Highlights

Fernando Alonso achieved a point finish at the 2024 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, while Lance Strollgained positions throughout the race with a series of good overtakes.

The team achieved another points finish after Fernando classified in P6 while Lance finished P12. Drivers used different strategies to complete their races at Suzuka Circuit, with Lance on a three-stop while Fernando had a two-stop race. Lance initially started on Mediums from P16. Fernando, starting in fifth, opted for Softs.

After an opening lap red flag, Lance restarted the race on the Soft tyre before switching to Mediums and later Hards. He finished the race after heading back onto the Soft tyre. Meanwhile, Fernando restarted on Soft tyres and later used Mediums, followed by the Hard compound until the end of the race. Lance made a series of strong overtakes, resulting in him making up several places to finish the race in P12. In the closing stages, Fernando fended off the duelling pair of George Russell and Oscar Piastri to secure eight valuable points.

Fernando Alonso

It was a great weekend for me, as I had fifth place in qualifying yesterday and sixth place in the race. It was one of my best for a while. I think we slightly outperformed our actual position here this weekend, but we are executing our races very well this season and scoring good points for the team. Our plan for today worked well, and a special thanks for the pitstops, which were very impressive, so credit to all of the team for that. We still need to analyse our update package, so we’ll have a look at all our data from this weekend in Japan ahead of our return to Shanghai.

Lance Stroll

It was a difficult race today. Starting from P16 meant we had a compromised strategy and struggled to find any clean air. We also lacked the straight-line speed we needed. I did make some good overtakes at Turn 6, though, so that made for some fun racing. We were hoping to catch Yuki [Tsunoda] for P10, but the soft tyres just didn’t have the grip towards the end of the race, so it was disappointing not to finish in the points. We’ll take these learnings into China in a couple of weeks’ time.

Mike Krack, Team Principal:

P6 was the best available to us today and a solid result. The updates we have brought seem to be a positive step, and we have been able to finish ahead of our nearest competitor, Mercedes, and come home with eight points. Fernando drove really well today, and the team executed flawless and consistent pitstops. With Lance, he was fighting with Tsunoda, who started six places ahead of him on the grid after Qualifying. He battled well and made some impressive overtakes in the Esses, but unfortunately, we couldn’t take the fight with him today. We have a short turnaround now back at the Campus, and we look forward to returning to Shanghai and having the first Sprint weekend of the season.

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