The Japanese Grand Prix is up next in the 2023 schedule, and all eyes will be on Red Bull and Ferrari after their surprising performance in the Singapore Grand Prix. Since the former will want to regain its dominant streak to solidify its spot as a contender for the World Championship title while the Scuderia team will fight them in their new form and new upgrades, it will be quite a spectacle to watch. Yet Max Verstappen stands on top of the Driver Standings and is practically invincible.
The Dutchman has a shot at getting closer to the championship trophy if he manages to secure a victory at the Suzuka race. Additionally, unless there is a major change in the Constructors’ Standings, Red Bull is destined to win the championship this year. But that will depend on a lot of factors, one of which is good weather. Suzuka is one of the favorite tracks among drivers and spectators, and it offers a thrilling weekend. The weather, however, may bring some surprises.
For Seb ❤️ #JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/ML9r8qkw4Q
— Charles Leclerc 16 Fan page 🇲🇨 (@Cl16__FanpageFr) September 21, 2023
The drivers may encounter unpleasant weather in contrast to Singapore’s dry weather. On Friday, rain is anticipated in the morning, with the possibility of clearing in the afternoon but leaving the sky partly cloudy. For the qualifying session on Saturday, the weather prediction calls for a bright day with a high of 84°F. The forecast on Sunday, the day of the race, anticipates a cloudy day, with a minor possibility of rain, and a maximum temperature of 78°F.
FIA startles the grid with a new qualifying rule ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix
The race at Suzuka is just around the corner and the FIA race director, Niels Wittich has announced that the governing body has decided to bring back a rule for the qualifying laps in the race weekend, according to RacingNews365. This rule, whose purpose is preserving track safety, was last in effect during the memorable Italian Grand Prix. During qualifying, certain drivers slowed down in the closing stretch of the circuit to attempt to complete a “clean” lap earlier on.
Vettel 🆚 Alonso
Last year’s intense battle left Seb a little bit confused by the time he crossed the line 😅#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/d41PSkPyFM
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 20, 2023
Wittich decided to take this step and said, “For the safe and orderly conduct of the event, other than in exceptional circumstances accepted as such by the stewards, any driver that exceeds the maximum time from the second Safety Car line to the first Safety Car line on ANY lap during and after the end of the qualifying session, including in-laps and out-laps, may be deemed to be going unnecessarily slowly” in response to the issues which might result from quicker cars crashing onto the immobile ones.
Something similar had happened during the Singapore Grand Prix which led to three FIA investigations towards Max Verstappen, where he was rendered to be not guilty. Wittich has made it clear that the ‘all laps’ rule will return for Suzuka which is a fairly good step to safeguard the drivers from crashes and will also result in a fair judgment of performance.
