“Not right” Mercedes rivals trying to slow them down – Russell
George Russell says it is “not right” that Mercedes’ rivals are trying to slow them down after their front wing came under the spotlight ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. The team has won the opening two Grands Prix and the Sprint this season, with Russell tied on Grand Prix wins, while teammate Kimi Antonelli dominated the opening races.
In both Grands Prix, Mercedes has fended off an early challenge from Ferrari before dominating the remainder of the race. But, video footage of Antonelli during his maiden F1 victory last time out in China has caught the attention of teams, as his front wing did not appear to fully close under braking.
Moving images showed that the wing ran completely flat on the straights and, as it transitioned to corner mode, ran briefly in a halfway state initially under braking. Under the regulations, the wings are designed to open fully on the straights, known as Straight Line Mode / SM, then close when the drivers hit the brakes.
F1’s technical regulations state that the transition time between the front and rear wings’ opening and closing must be no longer than 0.4 seconds. Antonelli’s front wing in China seemed not to fully close immediately during the braking phase, and was beyond the four-tenths mark in the video footage.
The FIA have held discussions with Mercedes, who claim it was not done by design and may have been caused by forces. Russell, who leads Antonelli by four points in the Drivers’ Championship, said, “It wasn’t intentional, and I don’t think it’s not an advantage, for sure.”
“It’s actually a problem, so something we’re trying to solve. It isn’t a straightforward solution, but there is definitely no advantage to that because when we brake, the front wing is still open. Kimi had the lock-up [towards the end of the race]. I think this was a contribution to the front wing, so it’s definitely not intentional.”
Mercedes wasn’t noted for the incident, and it appears to have been a driver error.
Following the race in Shanghai, there has been a tweak to the regulations, which will see the permitted energy recharged reduced from 9.0 megajoules to 8.0 megajoules. This means there should be less super clipping, when the car recharges its battery towards the end of a straight and slows down before a corner, so the drivers can attack the corners more normally at a higher speed.
All five of F1’s power unit manufacturers – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull-Ford, Audi and Honda – unanimously agreed with the FIA on the tweak. Despite rivals believing that will reduce the advantage of Mercedes, the German manufacturer has always insisted that the change doesn’t change anything.
Russell explained, “You can recover less from your battery, so it means you need to be slightly more wise with how you spend it. Hopefully, what it means is we’ll be going slightly slower in the middle of the straight, but slightly faster at the end of the straight.”
One way Mercedes’ rivals could catch the Silver Arrows is through the three periods of Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) during the season.
Teams judged to be at least two per cent behind the manufacturer with the best-performing internal combustion engine are awarded development opportunities, this comes after Monaco in June, round six the quarter of the way through the season, though this may change following the cancellations of April’s Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.
Verstappen admits unlikely to win five times in a row
Max Verstappen goes into this weekend admitting that he is unlikely to win his fifth Japanese Grand Prix in a row because Red Bull’s performance deficit is too great compared to their rivals.
A fortnight ago in Shanghai, the four-time champion had a challenging weekend where he failed to score a point in both the sprint and Grand Prix, finishing ninth on Saturday and retiring from sixth on Sunday. Red Bull’s drop in form has not only seen them drop behind the rest of the top four, but also midfield leaders Haas.
This has made Verstappen keen to maximise their performance at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. After winning the last four races at Suzuka, including a superb victory that saw him eclipse the dominant McLaren’s last season, he said: “I don’t really think about the previous years because every year is different. We have to be realistic that we are nowhere near that kind of level at the moment, so I just go into the weekend and see where we will be.”
Looking towards the break in April, Verstappen is hoping the team can use the unplanned break to understand the car and learn from the opening races, as they can try to close the gap to the front.
Red Bull goes into this weekend tied on points with their sister team Racing Bulls, who have scored at every opportunity this season. Isack Hadjar who didn’t score at the first two opportunities, did score four points in Shanghai, after retiring in Melbourne with a reliability issue and a collision in the sprint.
But there are flashes of potential that have undoubtedly helped him to settle into his new seat, as he reflected ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix: “I’ve done two races so let’s see how it keeps going. It’s definitely a hard challenge, but at the same time, I really feel at home so far. It’s been going well, Max is always very fast, very impressive, delivers every lap, but I’m trying to stay there.”
“We’re not the lightest car for sure. I wouldn’t say it’s very hard to drive, it’s just slow. It’s been definitely more inconsistent in Shanghai than it was in Melbourne. Melbourne I had a better feeling, but it’s not like it’s an unpredictable car, un-driveable. We spend too much time in the corners. It’s just not fast enough. That’s it.”
Verstappen ejects journalist from press briefing
During that media briefing, Max Verstappen ejected The Guardian journalist Giles Richards because of a row that dates back to last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The Red Bull driver refused to start his session with the written media at Suzuka on Thursday after spotting Richards among the journalists present. Verstappen said, “One second, I’m not speaking before he’s leaving.”
Richards asked whether Verstappen was serious and whether it was to do with a question he had asked in the news conference after the final race of last season. Verstappen responded to each of Richards’ questions with a curt: “Yeah,” before adding: “Get out.”
When Richards left the room, Verstappen said, “Now we can start.”
Verstappen’s problem with Richards arises from a question he asked after the race in Abu Dhabi last year. At that race, Richards asked if the Red Bull driver “regretted” his incident with Mercedes’ George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix in June earlier that year.
Verstappen appeared to deliberately drive into Russell’s car and was given a penalty that dropped him from fifth on the road to tenth. That cost him nine points. Verstappen responded: “You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season. The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. You’re giving me a stupid grin now.
“I don’t know. Yeah, it’s part of racing at the end. You live and learn. The championship is one of twenty-four rounds. I’ve also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me in the second half, so you can also question that.”
Richards responded to a request for a comment from BBC Sport by saying he would be writing a piece about it in the Guardian.
When speaking to BBC News about the incident, Verstappen replied, “Probably because I’m too… driven. Because I never settle for ‘not good enough’, and we, of course, look for a comfortable podium.”
“Then, of course, I got put on a strategy which was completely different to others. Then I get driven into the straight, I get driven into Turn One, and I get told that I have to give the position back, which I find ridiculous. And I never settle for that.”
McLaren confirm cause of the DNS in Shanghai
Mercedes and McLaren have confirmed that two separate battery issues which prevented them from starting the Chinese Grand Prix.
Two weeks ago, the reigning back-to-back champions suffered a disastrous Sunday in Shanghai when Norris was unable to get to the starting grid, with the team scrambling to fix what was described as an electronics issue on the power unit side. Soon after, Piastri suffered a similar-looking issue while already on the grid, with the Australian’s car having to be wheeled back as both drivers failed to start the grand prix.
At the time, team principal Andrea Stella said it was “quite exceptional” that McLaren suffered “two terminal problems pretty much at the same time on the same component, which in this case is on the electrical side of the power unit.” Following further investigation by McLaren’s power unit provider, Mercedes HPP, both Norris and Piastri were struck by battery issues of a different nature.
Though McLaren and Mercedes haven’t confirmed the sources, Motorsport.com understands Norris’ battery was plagued by a software problem that bricked the battery and made it unusable, and it is believed the unit is permanently damaged and removed from Norris’ component pool.
Piastri was instead understood to be struck by a hardware issue with an auxiliary component connecting the battery, and there is some optimism that the Australian’s battery can continue to be used after fixing the individual part.
The Norris battery issue appears to have potentially more serious consequences for the season as he has lost one of his three for the season, though all drivers have been given a ‘joker’ third battery because this is the first year of the cycle.
Norris said ahead of this weekend, “Of course, it hurt us as a team,” Norris said on Thursday in Suzuka ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. “It certainly didn’t make us look good to have two cars not starting a race. I think what hurt more is the fact it was out of our control.”
“But with HPP, we’ve worked hard to figure things out, to understand how it happened, why it happened. And of course, we’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But you live, and you learn.
Piastri sets goal of starting the Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri has joked that he hopes to “at least see the lights come on” at the Japanese Grand Prix. The McLaren driver’s tough run of form dating back to Baku last season has continued, with him failing to start the first two Grands Prix this season.
In Melbourne, he crashed on his recognisance lap to the grid, while two weeks ago, he was removed from the grid in Shanghai because of a technical problem. Speaking during Thursday’s media day in Suzuka, Piastri was asked if one of his targets this weekend would be to simply take part in the Grand Prix, to which the nine-time race winner laughed: “That would be good, yes!
“It’s obviously not been the best start to the year, but we’ll try and at least see the lights come on this week and go from there. We kind of know where we sit in the pecking order, so we’re not expecting too many surprises there. Just executing a solid weekend would be good.”
Pushed on whether he was left feeling angry or upset in light of those two non-starts, Piastri insisted that he had instead tried to learn from the situation as much as possible. The Australian said there was no ‘real anger’ about the way his season has started, though there was ‘disbelief and disappointment’, saying there was no need to be angry or too sad about it.
Adding “I tried to watch the race and see how the racing works, see where cars look good, see if there’s anything I can spot, and that’s all you can do, so for me that’s what I’ve tried to focus on.”
Despite his lack of racing experience in 2026, Piastri has not changed his approach in terms of trying to gain any extra time on the simulator, with the Australian explaining: “I think I’ve tried to learn as much as I can from watching the races. I think definitely the way we go racing now is pretty different, so [I’m] just trying to learn and pick up as many things as I can from watching that.”
He goes into this weekend, jokingly, suggesting that his goal is to start the Grand Prix.
Ferrari not as close as people think – Leclerc
Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari isn’t as close to Mercedes as people think to take the fight at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, with the Monegasque insisting the team are working “extremely hard” on upgrades to win races in 2026.
The Italian manufacturer has had an encouraging start to the season, with podiums in the opening two rounds. They look on race pace to be able to challenge Mercedes if they get everything right, but lack in outright pace to challenge the Silver Arrows when it comes to qualifying.
Asked just how close Ferrari is to Mercedes, Leclerc admitted, “I don’t think it’s as close as what people think. Obviously, seeing the first few races, we see lots of fighting between the cars, which is actually quite nice, but as soon as you’re a little bit suboptimal with these cars, you lose a lot of lap time.”
“Our only chance to stay with them is to annoy them in the first few laps, but as soon as they get free air, they’ve shown their real pace in the last race. I think there’s still these four or five-tenths that we’ve seen so far in the first two races, so it’s still a significant advantage. That doesn’t discourage me.”
Despite Mercedes having an advantage, in the early phases of races, Ferrari has managed at least during the first stint to stay with the front runners. There has also been a closely fought fight between Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton, but both are keen for development, which allows them to fight for the championship.
He added, “We want to win races, which at the moment seems very difficult because Mercedes are at a very high level. We are working very hard, especially the people back at the factory. They are working extremely hard to bring upgrades as soon as possible.”
Most teams would have been bringing upgrades to Bahrain in two weeks’ time, but the Iran War has created a six-week break before Miami, and the next traditional circuit is not until Barcelona in mid-June. Miami and Montreal have an added complication of a sprint weekend, followed by Monaco.
After he missed out on a podium to Hamilton at the Chinese Grand Prix, settling instead for P4 after an entertaining contest, Leclerc appeared keen to manage expectations surrounding his chances in Japan.
He said: “I think after the first free practice, we’ll already have an idea of where we stand compared to Mercedes. I don’t see any characteristics that will drastically change what we’ve seen in the first two races… but let’s wait and see.”
News in Brief
Haas Godzilla
Haas has unveiled a special ‘Godzilla’ livery for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix to commemorate one of the country’s most famous figures. Godzilla will feature on both sides of the Haas car alongside the usual white, red and black colours on the VF-26.
Haas are currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship after a strong start to the season for Ollie Bearman, who finished fifth last time out in China
Mercedes pokes fun
Mercedes has poked fun at the awkward slip-up at the Chinese Grand Prix, when Kimi Antonelli was announced as 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen. The Italian driver was noticeably taken aback and confused as he stepped on the podium. Footage was later released of the podium celebrations, showing Antonelli laughing as he was announced as Raikkonen.
A post on its social media voice from behind the camera said to Antonelli as they handed him a photo of the former Ferrari driver, saying “Is that Chinese Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen?”
“Bwoah,” Antonelli said as he signed the photo, referencing what became a catchphrase Raikkonen’s.
Last Time Out … Shanghai
Practice saw George Russell fastest with a 32.741, which put him tenth faster than Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in the weekend’s only practice session. Like in Melbourne, the silver arrows looked to hold a clear advantage; Lando Norris was four tenths behind Antonelli and half a second off. Norris put himself a tenth and three-quarters faster than his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, with the two Ferraris a tenth further behind.
Sprint Qualifying saw another Mercedes one-two, with Russell increasing his advantage by a tenth over Antonelli, despite not improving on his final run. Norris six tenths down in third, last year’s pole sitter Lewis Hamilton was a further two hundredths behind. Piastri split the two Ferraris; he was six hundredths behind Hamilton as he went a quarter of a second faster than Leclerc.
Sprint saw Russell take victory ahead of Leclerc by just over half a second, with Hamilton a second further behind. Early on, Hamilton and Russell traded places before the Mercedes driver pulled away, and in the closing stages after a safety car, the field closed up. Norris was fourth ahead of Antonelli on the road, but the Italian dropped to eighth following a ten-second penalty for causing a collision with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar on the opening lap.
GP Qualifying, saw Antonelli beat Russell by two tenths to take his maiden Grand Prix pole. The Italian became the youngest pole sitter for a Grand Prix after his teammate suffered an issue during Q3, leaving him scrambling just to get the lap in. Hamilton continued his strong weekend as he went a hundredth faster than Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli took his maiden Grand Prix victory as he finished five and a half seconds ahead of his Mercedes teammate Russell. He had briefly lost the lead to Hamilton in the open corners, but fended off the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, and then proved untouchable barring a minor lock-up at Turn Fourteen with three laps to go.
Throughout their battle for third, the two Ferraris were close as they nearly came to blows several times, but eventually Hamilton pulled slightly ahead to finish just over three and a half seconds ahead of Leclerc to take his first Grand Prix podium for Ferrari.
The world champions McLaren had a disastrous Sunday; it was over before the race began, with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to start due to power unit-related issues, which are believed to be unrelated. Also, not starting Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto with a hydraulics issue and Alex Albon after a suspension change
Talking Points Suzuka
Round three concludes the first leg of the season before the unplanned spring break, meaning all the teams want a strong end to the first four weeks of the season. The big question going into this weekend and the April break, with two races before the European leg in June, is whether anyone can close the gap to Mercedes.
It may not all be about George Russell, who went into this season as the favourite; his teammate Kimi Antonelli launched his title bid to draw level on Grand Prix wins a fortnight ago when he took his first Grand Prix win. Antonelli could be a dark horse as he has been a serial winner in F4 and F2.
The big question for the Italian is whether he can be a consistent challenger to Russell, who has proven himself ready to fight and avoid the collapse of his title bid in a manner similar to Oscar Piastri last year? Full answers will not come until much later, and is there a threat from Ferrari?
Ferrari, though slightly behind, has had lightning starts with Charles Leclerc leading the opening phase in Melbourne, before a strategy decision under the VSC saw them drop behind Mercedes. While in Shanghai, Lewis Hamilton replicated Leclerc’s efforts, though dropped back within five laps, and Antonelli was left unchallenged.
So, the opportunities have been there for Ferrari, and if it is to actually make a genuine attempt at winning the title, it needs to make the most of them and fast, otherwise Mercedes will just streak clear. Based on the middle sector in Sakhir, which is made up of medium-to-high speed corners, they looked decent.
It means there might finally be a genuine multi-team battle for pole, though achieving that this weekend is probably of less importance than in previous years due to how these nimbler cars have caused ‘yo-yo’ style racing with overtakes in places never seen before. But if Ferrari does beat Mercedes to pole, the race will be when the Mercedes power unit is very efficient.
Piastri is yet to start a grand prix this season, McLaren are looking to bounce back after Lando Norris also didn’t start in Shanghai, despite that they are third in the constructors. The Australian arguably hasn’t had a good weekend since Zandvoort.
Max Verstappen also has had a tougher start than expected after testing. Shanghai was a disaster as Red Bull didn’t score on Saturday, before the Dutchman retired from the Grand Prix. Isack Hadjar scored just four points in the Grand Prix.
Both Red Bull drivers are yet to enjoy a good start this year, as they’ve suffered from a lack of battery power for lights out, leading to Verstappen losing a combined six spots on lap one this year. So that’s obviously a big problem which needs fixing, otherwise achieving fourth in the standings might not be easy as it seems.
Crawford replaces Alonso for FP1
Jak Crawford will drive in FP1 ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, the American will replace Fernando Alonso. He was in s in the running for a Cadillac F1 seat, drove for Aston Martin in practice in Mexico City and Abu Dhabi last year.
F1 teams are mandated to run rookies in both of their cars at least two times during the season, and Aston Martin is the first team to use a rookie in practice this year.
Crawford said, “I’m really excited to get behind the wheel and drive for the team at Suzuka. It’s such a historic yet demanding circuit, and I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned in the simulator to real track conditions.”
“A big thank you to the team for giving me this opportunity. As with my previous FP1 sessions, I’m looking forward to making the most of it and learning as much as I can.”
BBC News says it understands it is because Alonso’s partner, Melissa Jimenez, has had their first baby. Alonso prefers to keep his personal life private, and no further information has been made public.
The two-time world champion is arriving late at the Suzuka Circuit for this weekend’s race.
A statement from Aston Martin said: “Fernando is arriving slightly later this weekend for personal family reasons and won’t be attending media day at the Japanese Grand Prix. All is well and he will be at the track in time for Friday.”
Online abuse faced by Ocon
“Best close your DMs now” was one journalist’s advice to Esteban Ocon in the post-race media after a collision with Franco Colapinto in the Chinese Grand Prix. The Haas driver was duly on the receiving end of a torrent of online abuse in the days that followed.
While Ocon brushed off the abuse, which included death threats, as the work of “keyboard warriors”, it forms part of a wider pattern of online toxicity in the fan community.
The online abuse from fans has been growing in recent years, and that could possibly be down to two things: the hugely successful Drive To Survive series on Netflix and the highly controversial 2021 season, which took place during the Covid pandemic.
Ocon said, “Obviously, there’s been a lot going on. To be honest I didn’t pay too much attention to it, but I’ve seen what was going on online. The important thing for me was really to speak with Franco directly, to really tell him what I thought and that I was sorry about the incident, because it was my fault on that one.”
“And we had a good chat, everything was okay between us of course and I’m glad that he had a good race nevertheless, and he still managed to score points, which was good.”
This all started with an incident half way through the race, Colapinto had stopped around half distance when rejoining. Ocon was awarded a ten second penalty and took full responsibility for the incident, but faced the wrath of the online community nevertheless – despite Colapinto’s management issuing a plea to fans to be “positive and respectful”.
Ocon revealed he had received a letter of support from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who has been a prominent campaigner for measures to counteract online hate speech.
He said, “The FIA, the president sent me a letter afterwards, so it’s been a talking point. For sure any kind of abuse online that we saw should not be tolerated and it should have big consequences. It should not have any place in sport or in our sport in general.”
Wheatley not a complete surprise – Bortoleto
Gabriel Bortoleto says that the departure of team principal Jonathan Wheatley did not come as a complete surprise, with the former Team Principal unable to “commit to the project fully” due to personal reasons.
Days after the Chinese Grand Prix, Audi announced that Wheatley would be leaving his role with immediate effect having been at the team for less than a year. In a statement, Audi stated that Wheatley had left “due to personal reasons”, having joined from Red Bull where he spent more than two decades.
Asked about Wheatley’s departure after just two races since Audi entered the sport, the Brazilian said, “I think he couldn’t commit to the project fully because he had personal things that he made public, and when you have personal things you need to put in place, that’s the priority.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise. Obviously, it’s a short period of time, it’s only two races, he has been with us last year as well so it’s not only that he has done two races.” Bortoletto believes that Wheatley did a very good job and everything was going smooth with the team improving in a lot of areas.
Head of the Audi F1 project, Mattia Binotto, will take on Wheatley’s responsibilities, having previously been Team Principal at Ferrari, with Bortoleto optimistic about what the change in leadership will bring.
Saying “It is what it is but we move on and I’m happy to have Mattia pointing us in the right direction. Mattia is taking over completely and taking full responsibility. He’s a guy that I fully trust and a guy that gave me the opportunity to be in F1 so I’m extremely grateful and I’m also very optimistic about what he can bring with more responsibility.”
His teammate Nico Hulkenberg added, “The mood is good, it’s a race weekend so back to business. Focus on the work ahead. I found out pretty much with the world when it started to pop up. I think it’s all been said, there’s not any new info I can give. Is what it is. We perform our duty as a team and keep working.”
You can join us for coverage of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix with reports and analysis on our website and in This Grand Prix, on Sunday evening. FP1 starts Friday 11:30 JST / 02:30 GMT, Qualifying Saturday 15:00 / 06:00 and the Grand Prix Sunday 14:00 / 06:00 BST
