Mercedes remain the team to beat at Suzuka, but for the first time one of their rivals is performing even better than they are compared to last year.
Teams’ performance
The pecking order among the top five cars in terms of outright one-lap pace is exactly the same as it was in China. Haas, however, are much less competitive than they were in Shanghai, dropping to eighth-fastest team.
The performance gap between the best and worst cars is wider at Suzuka. Cadillac and Aston Martin are both well over a second off the ninth-fastest team, Williams (this is not a result of Carlos Sainz Jnr benefitting from track evolution by progressing from Q1; his best Q2 lap time was slower).
Audi are enjoying a strong weekend and, with Max Verstappen and Franco Colapinto failing to make the cut for Q3, could have had both cars in the top 10 in qualifying. Nico Hulkenberg said he didn’t manage to produce a clean lap in Q2, where he actually lapped slower than he did in the previous round.
Nonetheless, Audi got closest to their best lap time at Suzuka last year, when they competed as Sauber. Mercedes achieved this in the first two rounds of the season.
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Sector times
Only one driver was further away from his theoretical ideal time than Hulkenberg: Lewis Hamilton, who was capable of getting onto the second row.
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 31.827 (4) | 39.398 (1) | 17.464 (1) | 1’28.689 (+0.089) |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | 31.782 (3) | 39.607 (3) | 17.616 (12) | 1’29.005 (+0.071) |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 31.954 (5) | 39.557 (2) | 17.577 (9) | 1’29.088 (+0.044) |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 31.655 (1) | 39.855 (5) | 17.668 (15) | 1’29.178 (+0.125) |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 31.762 (2) | 39.933 (6) | 17.625 (13) | 1’29.320 (+0.247) |
| 6 | 1 | Lando Norris | 32.049 (6) | 39.716 (4) | 17.627 (14) | 1’29.392 (+0.017) |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 32.143 (7) | 40.029 (7) | 17.519 (4) | 1’29.691 |
| 8 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 32.164 (8) | 40.094 (10) | 17.608 (10) | 1’29.866 (+0.112) |
| 9 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 32.288 (9) | 40.149 (11) | 17.492 (2) | 1’29.929 (+0.061) |
| 10 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | 32.548 (14) | 40.043 (8) | 17.501 (3) | 1’30.092 (+0.017) |
| 11 | 3 | Max Verstappen | 32.369 (10) | 40.196 (14) | 17.565 (7) | 1’30.130 (+0.132) |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 32.400 (11) | 40.181 (13) | 17.564 (6) | 1’30.145 (+0.213) |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 32.481 (13) | 40.048 (9) | 17.700 (16) | 1’30.229 (+0.080) |
| 14 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 32.791 (15) | 40.175 (12) | 17.529 (5) | 1’30.495 |
| 15 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 32.463 (12) | 40.433 (16) | 17.610 (11) | 1’30.506 (+0.121) |
| 16 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 32.844 (17) | 40.434 (17) | 17.576 (8) | 1’30.854 (+0.073) |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 32.858 (18) | 40.489 (18) | 17.741 (17) | 1’31.088 |
| 18 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 32.824 (16) | 40.421 (15) | 17.845 (18) | 1’31.090 |
| 19 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 33.512 (20) | 40.667 (19) | 18.027 (22) | 1’32.206 |
| 20 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 33.362 (19) | 40.961 (20) | 17.947 (20) | 1’32.270 (+0.060) |
| 21 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 33.536 (21) | 41.206 (21) | 17.904 (19) | 1’32.646 |
| 22 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 33.595 (22) | 41.341 (22) | 17.948 (21) | 1’32.884 (+0.036) |
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Field performance
The new cars are almost two seconds per lap slower than they were last year around Suzuka. That puts them roughly on the same performance level as the cars three years ago.
However Suzuka has been resurfaced over the last two seasons: a significant portion was re-laid last year and the rest was done before this year’s race. Therefore the overall grip levels should have improved.
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2026 Japanese Grand Prix
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