Mercedes
Russell showed that his pace in practice was genuine, as he was one of the quickest cars in the opening stint. He was able to follow in Leclerc’s wake for lap after lap, showing that Mercedes are able to manage their tyres well. But he could not find a way past the Ferrari, and finished where he started. Antonelli ran a very long first stint and wound up leading the race for a handful of laps. He might have cut the chicane a couple of times when pushing flat out, but it was still a very composed drive by the youngster.
FACTS AND STATS: Mercedes rookie Antonelli becomes youngest ever race leader and fastest lap holder
George Russell, 5th
“Today’s race was a frustrating one. With the top six cars all finishing where they started, it was a Grand Prix dictated by yesterday’s qualifying performance. It was a relatively easy one-stop strategy and, on a circuit that is very difficult to overtake at, there were few opportunities to make forward progress. We tried our best to make the undercut work on Leclerc at the end of our first stint. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have the pace to pull it off with the traffic that we had to clear in those two laps. Whatever strategy we had attempted though, I think we would have ultimately finished P5.
“Our frustration mainly comes from the fact that we didn’t optimise qualifying yesterday. With the pace we showed over practice, we had a car that could have been competing for the front two rows of the grid. It is the first qualifying session of the year where we haven’t maximised our full potential. That was a shame, but we can bounce back straight away in Bahrain. It is a very different track to Suzuka, much hotter and a more abrasive circuit. It will be fascinating to see where everyone’s relative performance is and is going to be another test for everyone.”
Kimi Antonelli, 6th
“Today was a good race from my side. I am happy with how it went and the speed we were able to show. Once I got in free air, the pace really improved, and I was able to extend my stint on the Medium tyre. That was a good feeling. Once we switched to the Hard tyre, the car still felt positive. I was able to put in some consistent lap times. I was catching the cars ahead but ran out of time in the end to get on the back of them. It was also a nice feeling to lead the race for a few laps and become the youngest driver in F1 history to have done so. The next goal is to do that on the only lap that matters: the final one!
“It has been a good weekend overall. It’s a great track and one that I felt that I was getting on top of by the end of the weekend. Every time I get in the car, I am building my learning and feeling more comfortable with the W16. I am looking forward to heading to Bahrain. Hopefully we can keep improving and begin to fight for some of the positions further forward than we managed today.”
Bradley Lord, Team Representative
“We come away from Japan with solid points but ultimately feeling that there was the potential for more this weekend. Suzuka is a difficult track to overtake at and today’s race was a good example of that. George looked to have the pace on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in the opening stages but didn’t quite have enough speed to make a pass. Being in the dirty air likely hurt his tyres and he therefore couldn’t deploy the necessary pace to make the undercut work before his stop. The positive is that, had we started further forward and where we believed our qualifying pace was, we likely could have competed for the podium.
“Kimi meanwhile ticked off several more milestones today. He has built his confidence over the weekend at a demanding track and achieved a solid result. He also led his first laps in F1 and took his maiden fastest lap, becoming the youngest driver in history to achieve these feats. His development is encouraging to see and it’s a third consecutive strong race performance from him.
“We now head to Bahrain and will be aiming to be amongst the fight for the podium there. It is a very abrasive circuit and will be another good test of the progress we have made with the W16.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“Today’s race was a case of what might have been for us as a team. We had shown promising pace all weekend, but Suzuka is a track that is heavily biased towards qualifying, rather than race pace. Failing to optimise our session yesterday therefore meant we knew we would be fighting an uphill battle to make significant progress today from P5 and P6. We had one eye on the weather this morning but ultimately it proved a dry Grand Prix, which limited opportunities.
“The second limiting factor was the durability of the tyres, which made it a comfortable one-stop strategy for most. With George, having sat in the Ferrari’s dirty air for a good portion of his first stint, we attempted the undercut. We were close to making it work but just fell short. That left him running in a frustrating fifth to the flag.
“Kimi meanwhile ran longer on his opening stint and then showed good pace in clean air to extend. That helped him not only cover the undercut from Lewis (Hamilton) but create a tyre offset to those ahead. He used that to close onto the back of George by the end of the race and take fastest lap in the process. It was another mature performance from Kimi as he continues to build his experience.
“Bahrain is a very different type of circuit to those that we have raced at so far this season. The abrasive tarmac makes it a real challenge for the tyres, and it will be a good yardstick of the progress we have made with our car since last year. Hopefully we can put in a solid performance and be back in the fight for the podium once again.”
