2024 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix Highlights

After the most challenging qualifying of the season so far, Scuderia Ferrari made up for it on Sunday in Japan, leaving Suzuka with a third place courtesy of Carlos Sainz, while Charles Leclerc fought his way up from eighth on the grid to fourth at the flag, a strong points haul confirming the team’s second place in the standings. Ferrari put its drivers on different strategies, aiming to bring home the best possible result. This was the team’s fifth podium finish in four races, including Carlos’ win in Australia.

Ferrari is now on 120 points, 21 behind the leaders Red Bull. That’s almost double the total after four races last year when the fourth round in Azerbaijan also included a Sprint. This is Sainz’s 21st podium, the third from the three races in which he has taken part this year. Charles was voted “Driver of the Day,” and the Scuderia drivers have won this accolade at every race so far this season.

Carlos Sainz #55

It was a good day for the whole team. We executed an excellent race and brought home many points, maximising our package’s potential. An intense couple of starts kept me in a good position, and from there onwards, we managed it perfectly with a very strong pace on both compounds and good overtakes to make the strategy work. We obviously want to fight a bit further up, but if we keep pushing like this, I’m sure we will have more opportunities. Now it’s back to the factory with the team, and starting tomorrow, we’ll start preparing for China.

Charles Leclerc #16

Looking just at today’s race, I’m pretty happy because there is nothing that we could have done better. Our pace, tyre management, communication and strategy were all really good. However, our qualifying yesterday was mostly what prevented us from getting a better overall result. Since Australia, we’ve had some difficulties putting the tyres in the right window on the out laps in qualifying, which is something we never struggled with before, so we really have to focus on that in the next few days to make sure we can put it all together in China.

Frédéric Vasseur – Team Principal

Today, our team worked calmly and focusedly to achieve its goals. We made a real step forward over the winter, and the results can be seen on track. We had a very solid Sunday, securing the best result possible after a difficult qualifying yesterday, and that’s something we definitely have to work on.

The team did everything perfectly in the race, from strategy to tyre management. Both drivers did an excellent job in managing their respective strategies. With Carlos starting nearer the front, we could be more aggressive so that he could finish on a charge and pull off several great passing moves. We were a bit more limited with Charles, as he was down in eighth on the grid, but he drove an excellent first stint, so we were able to execute a one-stop strategy that meant he made up a lot of places. Looking at the result, it’s clear there is still room for improvement if we want to put Red Bull under pressure, and that’s what we’d like to do from the next round in China.

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