Safety Car Turns Sukuza Upside Down
- therookiereporters
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka brought strategy battles, unexpected incidents and intense fights throughout the field, in a race where every decision mattered.
Chaos at The Start Line
After a one-week break, Formula 1 returns to the Suzuka circuit in Japan. This weekend, fortunately, all 22 cars started from the grid after several weeks of technical problems.
On the front row, as we have become accustomed to, were the Mercedes cars, followed by Oscar Piastri, for whom the Japanese race was his first race of the 2026 Formula 1 season. After the start lights went out, Kimi Antonelli, who started from pole position, had a slow start, which allowed Piastri to become the leader, and Norris, who started from P5, also managed to overtake Russell at the start. The cars also had a good launch off the line, but there were tense moments as they tried to keep their positions as high as possible in the standings.
Verstappen did not have a very happy weekend. After being disqualified in Q3, he started from P11. He managed to make a few overtakes at the beginning of the race, but after numerous attempts he failed to pass Gasly, finishing in P8, while Gasly finished P7. While the drivers at the front of the grid entered tire management mode, there was an intense battle between Hadjar and Lindblad on lap 12 for a points-scoring position.
Safety Car
Some would say that with this race, the others are starting to become unenjoyable because drivers begin to conserve energy as much as possible and are more reluctant to overtake. However, a major incident happened to Bearman. He had gotten close to Colapinto, who was going slowly as he was approaching Spoon Curve. Trying to overtake him, he lost momentum and, in order to avoid him, he bounced into the barrier with an impact force of 50G. He got out of the car limping and later went to the medical center, where he was diagnosed with a knee contusion. Considering that there is a one-month break with no races, we hope he has enough time to recover.
A Podium Fight to the End
Given the seriousness of the impact, the safety car was deployed, which cost Russell the victory, as he had pitted one lap earlier. Many drivers took advantage of the safety car, including Antonelli, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and many others. After things settled down, the battle for the podium resumed in the final laps. Antonelli pulled away from Piastri, and Piastri from the pack behind him. Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton and Norris created tense moments for the fans at home and in the stands. Although it seemed that Hamilton’s car was running perfectly, he began to lose energy, allowing the three drivers to overtake him, but not before he made Norris’ life difficult in the final laps. Leclerc, however, defended excellently against Russell who, according to Mercedes team members and F1 fans online, has a rocket ship, and he managed his energy perfectly to secure third place.
Article written by Iuliana Mihai © Iuliana Mihai 2026
