The 2019 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019) was a
Formula One racing
A Formula One Grand Prix is a sporting event which takes place over three days (usually Friday to Sunday), with a series of practice and qualifying sessions prior to the race on Sunday. Current regulations provide for two free practice sessions ...
event held on 13 October 2019 at the
Suzuka International Racing Course in
Suzuka in the
Mie Prefecture, Japan. The race was the 17th round of the
2019 Formula One World Championship
The 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which marked the 70th running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fé ...
and marked the 45th running of the
Japanese Grand Prix
The Japanese Grand Prix ( ja, 日本グランプリ, Nihon-guranpuri) is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Gran ...
. The 2019 event was the 35th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
, and the 31st time that it had been held at Suzuka.
Background
Formally called the "Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019", this Formula One Grand Prix event took place on 13 October 2019 at the
Suzuka International Racing Course in Japan.
The circuit, which held its first Grand Prix in 1987, has a lap length of and the 53-lap race distance is .
Going into the race, the lap record, of 1 minute 31.540 seconds, was held by
Kimi Räikkönen who took it at the
2005 Grand Prix.
Weather
Due to the weather forecasts relating to
Typhoon Hagibis
Typhoon Hagibis, known in Japan as Typhoon No.19 or , was a large and costly tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction in Japan. The thirty-eighth depression, ninth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, ...
, all the events planned for Saturday were cancelled. This included the Free Practice 3 session and qualifying, the latter of which was rescheduled for Sunday morning, a few hours before the race was due to start.
Championship standings before the race
Heading into the 17th round of the championship,
Mercedes driver
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
led the Drivers' Championship with 322 points, 73 points ahead of teammate
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from to and Williams from to . Bottas has scored race wins and podiums. H ...
. Third in the Drivers' Championship was
Ferrari's driver
Charles Leclerc
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in .
Leclerc ...
with 215 points, with
Max Verstappen from
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned ...
and Leclerc's teammate
Sebastian Vettel in fourth and fifth places respectively. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a 162-point lead over second place Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing in third place.
McLaren and
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
completed the top five.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. However, Japanese driver
Naoki Yamamoto drove in the first practice session for
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Re ...
, replacing
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula One under the French flag, racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 ...
.
As a result, Yamamoto became the first Japanese driver in F1 since
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and ...
.
The main title sponsor of
Ferrari,
Mission Winnow, returned from this race, after it was used by the Scuderia at the
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
,
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
Grands Prix, but was not used at the and from the until the
Russian Grand Prix
The Russian Grand Prix (russian: Гран-при России, Gran-pri Rossii) was an annual motor racing event held at Sochi Autodrom – a permanent circuit built around the Olympic Park in Sochi – as part of the Formula One World Champion ...
for legal reasons.
Qualifying
Qualifying began on Sunday morning at 10:00am
JST (
UTC+9:00), just over 4 hours before the race was due to start. The skies were clear after Typhoon Hagibis had passed the previous day, however, there were still heavy winds affecting the circuit.
Q1
Two minutes into the session
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...
hit the outside wall at the exit of turn 18 after running wide onto the grass destroying the car's front wing and left-hand wheels and causing significant damage to the survival cell. Kubica was uninjured and the session was
red-flagged whilst his car was recovered and debris was cleared from the track. Four minutes after the session restarted
Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Jan Magnussen (born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Haas F1 Team.
He is the son of four-time Le Mans winner and former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen. Kevin Magnussen came up through Mc ...
spun at the same corner causing him to reverse into the outside wall, damaging his gearbox, front and rear wings. The red flags came out again, however, Magnussen was able to continue driving completing a lap and entering the pits. Neither Kubica nor Magnussen were able to set a qualifying time, however,
Williams and
Haas were able to repair their respective cars before the beginning of the race with Kubica starting from the pit lane after his survival cell was replaced.
Charles Leclerc
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in .
Leclerc ...
set the fastest time of Q1 whilst
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( "Ricardo", ; born 1 July 1989) is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HR ...
,
Sergio Pérez and
George Russell were eliminated alongside Kubica and Magnussen.
Q2
After setting the 15th fastest time,
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the ye ...
's car suffered a loss of hydraulic pressure causing him to be stuck in gear. Hülkenberg slowly returned to the pits and his car was retired from the session.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from to and Williams from to . Bottas has scored race wins and podiums. H ...
set the fastest time of Q2 with
Antonio Giovinazzi
Antonio Maria Giovinazzi (; born 14 December 1993) is an Italian racing driver who currently serves as the reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari, Haas and Alfa Romeo Racing. He was the 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship runner-up and rac ...
,
Lance Stroll
Lance Strulovitch (born 29 October 1998), better known as Lance Stroll, is a Canadian–Belgian racing driver competing under the Canadian flag in Formula One. He has driven for Aston Martin since , having previously driven for Williams and R ...
,
Kimi Räikkönen and
Daniil Kvyat being eliminated alongside Hülkenberg.
Q3
Sebastian Vettel took
pole position ahead of Leclerc and Bottas. This was Vettel's first pole position since the
Canadian Grand Prix
The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a spor ...
and the fifth consecutive pole position for
Ferrari. The team took their 64th front-row lockout, equalling
Mercedes's record. The pole position time of 1:27.064, which was set by the German driver, meaning the fastest ever lap made in Suzuka, beating the previous best ever lap of 1:27.319, which was set by
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
during the qualifying of the
2017 edition. Vettel's pole would eventually turn out to be his final in Formula One.
Qualifying classification
;Notes
* –
Max Verstappen and
Alexander Albon set identical times in Q3; Verstappen was classified ahead as he set his lap time earlier.
* –
Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Jan Magnussen (born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Haas F1 Team.
He is the son of four-time Le Mans winner and former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen. Kevin Magnussen came up through Mc ...
and
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...
both failed to set a Q1 time. They were allowed to race at the stewards discretion. Kubica was also required to start the race from the pit lane for changing his survival cell.
Race
At the start of the race
Sebastian Vettel, on pole position, moved a fraction of a second too early. He was able to stop before overstepping his grid line, but this led to a poor start and the
Ferrari was passed by the
Mercedes of
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from to and Williams from to . Bottas has scored race wins and podiums. H ...
almost immediately. Vettel was investigated for a
false start
In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can result ...
, however the stewards later decided against penalising him given that he did not overstep his line and thus the sensors used to detect a false start were not triggered.
Max Verstappen attempted an overtake on the outside of
Charles Leclerc
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in .
Leclerc ...
through turn 2 for 3rd place, however, Leclerc
understeered into Verstappen causing the
Red Bull to spin out onto the grass. The collision resulted in significant damage to Verstappen's car and to Leclerc's front wing (also his left wing mirror), although both cars were able to continue racing.
Leclerc was instructed by his team to enter the pits at the end of the opening lap, however, he was not aware of the damage to his front wing and stayed out on track as the damaged front wing wasn't affecting his performance significantly. Over the course of the second lap pieces of Leclerc's front wing broke off before the endplate detached entirely on the straight after turn 14, this endplate then hit
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
's car, which was directly behind him, breaking off one of the Mercedes's wing mirrors. After initially informing the stewards that Leclerc would pit at the end of lap 2 the team felt his car was now safe and instructed him to stay out for a third lap after which the race director ordered the car be brought into the pits to change its front wing. On lap 2 the stewards deemed the collision between Leclerc and Verstappen a racing incident with no investigation necessary.
On lap 4
Alexander Albon attempted an overtake on the inside of
Lando Norris
Lando Norris (born 13 November 1999) is a Belgian-British racing driver currently competing in Formula One with McLaren, racing under the British flag. He won the MSA Formula championship in 2015, and the Toyota Racing Series, Eurocup Form ...
at turn 16. The cars collided and Norris was left with floor damage harming his pace for the rest of the race. The incident was not investigated by the stewards. Norris had also earlier collected debris from Leclerc's front wing in his brake ducts which forced him to pit to avoid a brake fire dropping him to the back of the field. On lap 7 the stewards decided to re-open the investigation into the lap 1 collision between Leclerc and Verstappen, later deciding that the incident would be investigated after the race. Both drivers were by now attempting to come back through the field with Leclerc passing Verstappen for 16th place on lap 9. Verstappen's car was later retired from the race on lap 14 after having only managed to pass the two
Williams cars with the team deciding that the damage from the opening lap incident was too great to continue.
On lap 15 Albon was the first of the front-runners to make a pit stop from 5th place, Vettel then pitted on lap 16 from 2nd place as did Bottas from the lead on lap 17 causing Hamilton to inherit the race lead. Hamilton pitted on lap 21 handing the lead back to Bottas and restoring the order of the top three. Hamilton was fitted with medium-compound tyres with the team informing him that the plan was for him not to make another pit stop. This was despite degradation from previous laps meaning that he was now over 20 seconds behind the race leader. This made it improbable that Hamilton would be able to stay close enough to the leaders for him to take the race lead when Bottas and Vettel made an additional pit stop if Hamilton would have to preserve his tyres to last till the end of the race. Hamilton criticised the decision not to use hard-compound tyres, telling the team over radio "I'm out of the race now" after the team admitted that it was likely that Hamilton would have to make a second pit stop.
Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz may refer to:
People
* Carlos Sainz Sr. (born 1962), Spanish rally driver world champion, father of Jr.
* Carlos Sainz Jr. (born 1994), Spanish Formula One driver, son of Sr.
Other uses
* '' Carlos Sainz: World Rally Championship'', 1 ...
made his pit stop from 4th place on lap 26 emerging behind Albon, meaning the Red Bull had gained a position over Sainz through the pit stops. Vettel made a second pit stop on lap 31 emerging in 3rd place. By lap 34 Leclerc had made it past
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula One under the French flag, racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 ...
and into 6th place from the back of the field. Bottas made his second stop on lap 36 coming out in 2nd place behind Hamilton. Hamilton was later pitted on lap 42 emerging in 3rd place behind Vettel. Leclerc was unable to keep up with Sainz's
McLaren in the closing laps and the team decided to pit him on lap 47 for an attempt to claim the point for fastest lap.
On the final lap
Sergio Pérez attempted an overtake around the outside of Gasly for 8th place at turn 2. The two cars collided sending Pérez into the gravel. Under normal conditions Pérez would have been classified in 17th place as the two Williams cars were a lap behind him. However, the chequered flag lighting panels had mistakenly been shown to the leaders a lap early meaning that the results of the race were taken from the end of the 52nd lap. Thus, Pérez kept 9th place. Hamilton spent the closing laps attempting to catch and overtake Vettel but was ultimately unsuccessful. However, Hamilton was able to claim the fastest lap point. With Bottas crossing the line to take victory, Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettel were eliminated from the Drivers' Championship title contention. This, together with Mercedes outscoring Ferrari, their closest rivals, by 17 points, meant that Mercedes were assured their sixth consecutive Drivers' and Constructors' championships (with the Drivers' Championship winner still undecided between Hamilton and Bottas), a feat never before achieved by a team in the history of Formula One (the previous record was 5 consecutive Drivers' and 6 consecutive Constructors' championships for Ferrari between and ).
After the race, Leclerc was handed two penalties: a 5-second penalty for causing the collision with Verstappen, and a 10-second penalty for driving in an unsafe condition in the following laps. This demoted him to 7th place behind
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( "Ricardo", ; born 1 July 1989) is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HR ...
.
Racing Point
Racing Point F1 Team, which competed as BWT Racing Point F1 Team and commonly known as Racing Point, was a British motor racing team and constructor that Racing Point UK entered into the Formula One World Championship. The team was based in ...
submitted a protest to the stewards over alleged illegal use of a "pre-set lap distance-dependent
brake bias The brake balance or brake bias of a vehicle is the distribution of brake force at the front and rear tires, and may be given as the percentage distributed to the front brakes (e.g. 52%) or as the ratio of front and rear percentages (e.g. 52/48). Th ...
adjustment system" by
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
. On 23 October, ten days after the race, Renault was found to have used illegal driver aids and both drivers were disqualified from the results of the race, hence Leclerc kept his 6th place.
On lap 45,
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
scored the new race lap record in Suzuka, with a time of 1:30.983, beating the previous race lap record time of 1:31.540, which was set by
Kimi Räikkönen at the
2005 Japanese Grand Prix
The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the 2005 Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One race which was held at Suzuka International Racing Course on 9 October 2005. It was the eighteenth round of the 2005 Form ...
. The win for Bottas was also the first for a Finnish driver in the event since Räikkönen's 2005 win.
Race classification
;Notes
* – The race was scheduled to run 53 laps, but the results were taken at the end of lap 52 due to the chequered flag signal being mistakenly shown to drivers one lap too early. As a result,
Sergio Pérez retained his ninth place, despite retiring from the race during the final scheduled lap. This later became eighth place after the disqualification of both
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
drivers.
* – Includes one point for fastest lap.
* –
Charles Leclerc
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in .
Leclerc ...
received two time penalties: five seconds for causing a collision with
Max Verstappen, and ten seconds for driving in an unsafe condition after the collision. After the disqualification of both Renault drivers, this did not affect his sixth-place finish.
* –
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( "Ricardo", ; born 1 July 1989) is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HR ...
and
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the ye ...
were originally classified sixth and tenth, but were disqualified ten days after the race for using illegal driver aids after a protest brought forward by
Racing Point
Racing Point F1 Team, which competed as BWT Racing Point F1 Team and commonly known as Racing Point, was a British motor racing team and constructor that Racing Point UK entered into the Formula One World Championship. The team was based in ...
.
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
*
Bold text indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References
{{F1GP 10-19
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
Japanese Grand Prix
Japanese Grand Prix
The Japanese Grand Prix ( ja, 日本グランプリ, Nihon-guranpuri) is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Gran ...