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2026 Japan Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: It finally happened. What everyone was concerned about. And the basic lack of outrage is quite concerning. What happens when a car is launched off the back of another? And ends up in a marshall station? Or worse, debris in a spectator area?

EVENT: The tifosi at Monza. The Orange Army at Zandvoort (and Spa). The costume designers at Suzuka. The three best fan bases on the F1 calendar.

TRACK: This track did not lend itself as much as the others with easy passing. Other old style tracks will probably play out the same.

QUALIFYING: Antonelli maintains his momentum in commanding fashion, McLaren sends Ferrari a message, Verstappen shockingly again doesn't make it out of Q2 while Hadjar, Lindblad star again, and Cadillac beats Aston Martin.

RACE: Not like the first two, but still some back and forth passing. But ultimately, the safety car was the deciding factor for most.

START: And there goes a Ferrari ... wait, what ... where did that orange car come from?! Piastri finally gets a start this year and uses it to grab first place as Norris slots into third. All while Antonelli barely gets off the line, dropping to sixth.

ANTONELLI: Yeah, Kimi got a bit lucky with this win. But what driver hasn't before? He still put the car on pole and drove in a dominating fashion when he got the lead.

RUSSELL: George may have been screwed by the safety car, but he was not as fast as Antonelli since issues arose in qualifying.

MERCEDES: Their cars sure do love to run in open air. They sure do dislike running in traffic.

PIASTRI: Oscar started a race! And lands a podium in the process.

MCLAREN: Never should have done the undercut for Piastri. They had the necessary information to avoid it. Another McLaren strategy blunder.

FERRARI: Another podium. If they can get the race power to couple with the starting power, they will be a solid contender.

GASLY: Pierre is really liking this car. And look at what he did with a car he didn't like last year.

COLAPINTO: We don't think his move warranted a penalty, as he wasn't aware Bearman initiated boost mode. But it still should have been investigated further than it was. However, the real issue...

ALPINE: ...is why weren't the harvesting warning lights blinking on the back of the car? This is something that definitely should have been investigated.

BEARMAN: What must have been going through Ollie's mind. Very lucky to only come away with a serious bruise and has such a long time to recover.

OCON: Backed into a point because...

HAAS: ...the car just didn't have the speed this weekend.

VERSTAPPEN: Would Max really walk away from F1? On the one hand, he's always said it's not about running F1 as long as he can. But on the other hand, really?

LAWSON: Liam admits he got a point only because of the safety car.

ALBON: Literally used the second half of the race as a test session...

WILLIAMS: Just miserable. Again.

AUDI: It appears Mattia Binotto took his Ferrari politicking lessons over to Audi and had Jonathan Wheatley ousted. This may not turn out as well as he thinks.

CADILLAC: Faster than Aston Martin the whole weekend.

ASTON MARTIN: And the (down) beat goes on.

FIA: Issuing word salad press release is not the solution to a serious safety issue.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Differential.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 28mph -- The actual approximate closing speed for Bearman on Colapinto's car. This is not multi-class sports car racing where drivers expect and prepare for that. This is F1, where drivers are trained differently.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The last Italian driver to win two F1 races in a row was Alberto Ascari. He actually won nine races in a row from 1952 (all six races after the opening Swiss event which he skipped to enter the Indy 500) and the first three in 1953 (when he did not enter the Indy 500). Ascari also won two more races later that year for back-to-back world championships. It was the last year he was competitive in F1, as he never finished a world championship race again, before dying while testing a Ferrari sports car at Monza on May 26, 1955.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND:@elmejordelresto:

"What are you going to do this month without F1?"

Max: "Well, I'm going to keep racing, but in categories that I actually enjoy"

#F1 #JapaneseGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: When asked what should change, Lando Norris said, "There's no point in saying it. It doesn't matter what we say."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Even the drivers are all confused over this unexpected long break as Antonelli said, "See you in Miami in three weeks time." Umm, Kimi, it's five weeks.

SCHEDULE: Lots of teams will be glad for the long break as they will be able to concentrate on development. And the FIA should be concentrating on fixing the rules causing the safety issues.

Copyright © 2026 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Antonelli 53
2. Piastri 53
3. Leclerc 53
4. Russell 53
5. Norris 53
6. Hamilton 53
7. Gasly 53
8. Verstappen 53
9. Lawson 53
10. Ocon 53
11. Hulkenberg 53
12. Hadjar 53
13. Bortoleto 53
14. Lindblad(R) 53
15. Sainz 53
16. Colapinto 53
17. Perez 53
18. Alonso 52
19. Bottas 52
20. Albon 51
NC Stroll 30
NC Bearman 20

Time of Race
1:28:03.403

Margin of Victory
13.722 secs.

Safety Car
1 for 6 laps

Lead Changes
5 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders
Kimi Antonelli, Oscar Piastri, George Russell

Fastest Race Lap
Kimi Antonelli

Pole Position
Kimi Antonelli

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Antonelli 72
2. Russell 63
3. Leclerc 49
4. Hamilton 41
5. Norris 25
6. Piastri 21
7. Bearman 17
8. Gasly 15
9. Verstappen 12
10. Lawson 10
11. Lindblad(R) 4
  Hadjar 4
13. Sainz 2
  Bortoleto 2
15. Colapinto 1
  Ocon 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 135
2. Ferrari 90
3. McLaren 46
4. Haas 18
5. Alpine 16
  Red Bull 16
7. Racing Bulls 14
8. Audi 2
  Williams 2
 
 

2026 Thoughts
Australia China Japan Bahrain
Saudi Arabia Miami Canada Monaco
Barcelona Austria Great Britain Belgium
Hungary Holland Italy Spain
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
São Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2025 Thoughts
Australia China Japan Bahrain
Saudi Arabia Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Spain Canada Austria Great Britain
Belgium Hungary Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
São Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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