THE BIG PICTURE: Drivers always matter. Always.

EVENT: Always love the crazy Japanese fans.

TRACK: Still one of the classics. Even if the races aren't always classics.

QUALIFYING: Verstappen gets pole with a car that had no right to be there, Hamilton is outqualified by his teammate and his former team, Hadjar suffers through belt issues to get to Q3, Bearman also does fantastic to Q3, Albon continues to do Albon things, and despite a strong debut Tsunoda is outqualifed by Lawson.

RACE: Less than 10 laps in, we thought, nothing is going to happen in this race. We may remember this weekend by a brilliant display of Max Verstappen talent, but certainly not for the race.

START: The front row angles their cars towards each other, so Verstappen blocks out Norris who blocks out Piastri, while the rest of the field behaves perfectly on a damp track.

VERSTAPPEN: Is there anything else to say? Just imagine if Red Bull finally fixes the problems on their cars...

TSUNODA: It was looking good during practice. Then, a mistake in qualifying led to the typical Red Bull second car uninspired race.

HADJAR: While Isack, looking solid in three races (minus the Australian formation lap crash), continues the tradition of a Racing Bulls car qualifying and finishing ahead of the second Red Bull car.

LAWSON: What must he have thought when he outqualifed Tsunoda. Liam is going to be all over the place mentally for the rest of this season.

RED BULL: The driver lineup messes they keep insisting on making.

MCLAREN: Once again has us scratching our heads over their strategy decisions. Pitting on the same lap as the leader? There's a zero chance in that helping you to make a pass because of pit stops.

NORRIS: So Lando has no choice but to try a bonzai pit exit maneuver.

PIASTRI: While Oscar is wondering whether favoritism is already beginning on his team.

LECLERC: Salvaged some Ferrari pride.

HAMILTON: How unhappy is Lewis becoming?

RUSSELL: When Verstappen and the McLaren drivers don't have issues, it's tough to make the podium.

ANTONELLI: Now the youngest driver in history to lead an F1 race and get fastest lap, at 18 years, 224 days. He no longer can beat the yongest driver to win a race record as Verstappen has that at 18 years, 228 days.

ALBON: Very upset with his team.

SAINZ: How much longer are we going to give the benefit of the doubt to Carlos before we say, maybe Albon is a lot better than being given credit for.

BEARMAN: Super, super impressed with Oliver this year.

OCON: Expected more from Esteban. Especially considering what his teammate is doing.

HAAS: They took a huge gamble fast tracking a new floor. It appeared to have worked. This isn't the old Haas team.

STROLL: The only driver who was lapped.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Grass fire.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 4 -- Consecutive number of Japanese GP wins for Max Verstappen.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Verstappen may have broken Michael Schumacher's consecutive win mark in Japan, but Schumacher still owns the total win mark in Japan at six (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004). He's followed by Lewis Hamilton (5), and then Verstappen and Sebastien Vettel (4).

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: From the official @F1 account:

18-year-old Kimi Antonelli becomes the first driver to score points in their first three races since... the man he replaced, Lewis Hamilton, 18 years ago!

#F1 #JapaneseGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Christian Horner on Isack Hadjar's painful belt issues during qualifying, "It's a nuts issue, and I'm not talking about wheel nuts."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Jolyon Palmer during the F1 TV commentating, "Honestly, no one's strategy is making any sense."

SCHEDULE: Everyone should be familiar with Bahrain, so a lot of interesting story points may play out. Though, it will be a lot hotter, a lot, than it was during preseason testing.

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