BOLD predictions & BIG stories from Suzuka - 2025 Japanese GP Preview

[00:00:00] We've waited three and a half years for this race and it's finally happening. We're finally at a Formula 1 Grand Prix where Yuki Tsunoda is a Red Bull racing driver. We've got to celebrate this guys, we've got to celebrate this. What have you got to celebrate it with? What have you got? I've got a flashlight and a torch, any interesting snacks you've got? We've got to make it a fun episode. Because this is what we've been waiting for for years. I have a pirali tire. No, you have a pirali tire. Interesting. What do you have?

[00:00:29] It must be a really hard compound because you've had that tire for a really long Sundaram. This is wet. This is full wet. We might need it this weekend. I don't know. Maybe. I have got a drink which a lot of drivers actually have in their bottles, even if the bottle is branded outside with Red Bull. It's water. Plain water. Because they drink, you know, branded bottles, but that doesn't mean they actually have that drink in that bottle. Sorry to break it to you guys. But yes, you can. So no doubt.

[00:00:59] Okay. Is it the best water technology that you could have used? Is it pink water? Nice. Well, they don't pay me for it anymore. And I will come to that later in the episode. For those of you who don't know, the best water technology is BWT, the sponsor of Alpine. It has such a simple name. I never realized it until I actually read it. But yes. You were close to BWT, Kunal. Yeah.

[00:01:24] Formerly the, what do you say, the partners of Force India before it became Racing Point. So actually, with all the pink liveries we are going to see this race weekend, Alpine's got one, Haas has got one, and Red Bull has got some, well, you know, some with the whole cherry blossom that's happening. We actually did it first at Force India. Wait. Okay, now they're here. Let's just talk about it. Let's just clear the air. I don't like that Red Bull livery.

[00:01:54] I don't like it. It's lazy. It's still, the car is still too black. And that's not a bad thing. You can have good looking black cars, but there's so much body work that's not properly covered. It's all carbon. And I get why. Performance saving, you need to make sure, sorry, weight saving to make sure that you can enhance performance. That's doable. But I don't get that feeling anymore, Sundaram. It doesn't feel like it's a Japanese Red Bull racing car. I mean, I feel that the racing bull is giving more of a tribute to Honda and what they did in the 1960s than the Red Bull car is. And I don't know.

[00:02:23] That's my biggest problem with the entire weekend. Not the driving, not the free practice sessions, not the wet tires. That's not a good looking Red Bull racing car. I don't know. Come on, Somal. That's not probably your biggest problem with this weekend. I actually think that livery bangs like how they would say in this generation. And I know people often say that Red Bull doesn't really make the best liveries. I think they've got it spot on with this one. I absolutely love it. You know, I realize I don't speak about livery unless I am the one who's designed some. Okay.

[00:02:52] But I will. I'll tell you what. I'm just, I'll tell you this. I'm going to say two things. First is I think they have got the white liveries so that they could just push the VCarb car as theirs. Because the VCarb car just seems like the more faster car or the more balanced or the easier to drive car as Max Verstappen is saying. But in all seriousness, I'm just glad that for years of not trying liveries because it adds weight and all of that. That Red Bull is actually trying a livery.

[00:03:21] Is this their way of giving up saying, forget it. We are anyway slow. Might as well play this tribute to Honda. It's our last season together as, you know, engine partners and chassis partners, whatever. But I love the Haas livery. I must say, although people do not agree with me on our Instagram page, we ran a poll yesterday and 63% of the people have voted that the Red Bull racing livery is better than the Haas livery.

[00:03:49] And the reason why I love the Haas livery is it's, you know, it's like just go and sprinkle some cherry blossoms and then it just looks how it would fall on a car. The only difference is, you know, when the car would run, the blossoms would fly away. But clearly, you know, these are just drawn on the car. But it's lovely. It's like you can wear a bucket hat on a denim jacket, which is what the Haas livery is. And I love it. It's phenomenal, Sundaram. Sorry, I'm just going back to Red Bull. Something just triggered me right now.

[00:04:15] How many times have we seen the white livery on a Red Bull car? We've seen that in 2021. Turkey. 2008. David Coulthard, last ever race. The Wings for Life run. I'm just wondering if Yuki does well in a white livery car. He's not done well in the last two races. And yeah, so I don't know how this is going to turn out. But it might work well for Max Verstappen. He's been on the podium and Sergio Perez has been on the podium as well.

[00:04:44] The last time they had a white livery. I don't know if they're trying that. But it's going to be interesting if Sunoda managed to put in a good performance. But I have a different view. The last two races, it actually wasn't Yuki Sunoda who didn't perform in the car. It was the pit wall that really messed it up for them. In fact, if anything, Yuki Sunoda was in the top 10 in all the three qualifying sessions, you know, two qualifiers, one sprint qualifying, whatever. So I am excited to see. I think Yuki is that man to look out for this weekend.

[00:05:13] Wait, yeah, we will talk about Yuki in a second. We need to talk about that because we're hearing so much hype. We need to see if our money is where our mouth is, because we will have our bold predictions coming in right now. And let's see how many of us actually go beyond and back to Yuki hype. Because my bold prediction is, it's not going to be Yuki on the podium. It's going to be George Russell who's going to surprise the rest of the pack.

[00:05:40] Because cold conditions, hard compound tyres, you need to preserve them very well. Mercedes has greater time management and it's going to be below 18 degrees Celsius, the weather. And it could also rain, which is where Mercedes are good. So I'm going, I'm going sideways. I'm going George Russell for the win here, potentially, if McLaren don't do well. But yeah, let's see. Let's see how many of you are backing Yuki here. Let's, let's just put it to the test. All the, all the stories we put on social media, all the messages of support. Is he in your bold prediction guys?

[00:06:08] Now is the moment we find out who goes next. You go first. He is, he is in my bold predictions. For me, Yuki and Max both are going to be in the top five. Sorry, Yuki is going to be in the top five for sure. And Lawson's going to also score points this time. And there's also a statistical angle to that because whenever Red Bull has changed a driver mid-season, the very first race they've ended up scoring points. So Max P1 in Spain 2016, Albon, when he first drove for Red Bull in 2019.

[00:06:37] And on the flip side, the driver who's always been demoted has also scored points. Daniel Kvyat and Pierre Gasly. So if we stick to that trend, I think Red Bull will be happy to see Yuki scoring points and Lawson scoring points. So win-win for them. Yeah, I get a feeling. I'm going bold with this. Okay. Parikshit, our editor is saying he's backing Yuki-san. Okay, that's great. Because so am I. And I get a feeling Yuki is backing himself.

[00:07:04] He's actually come out and said that I'm going to be on the podium at the Japanese Grand Prix. And I love the momentum. I love that hype. And yes, we've seen hype with Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari. We've not seen that momentum. Yuki's got that momentum from racing bulls where he's really been outperforming his, I mean, outperforming by certain margins, not very thin, not very thick margins. But I'm going for Yuki Tsunoda on the podium.

[00:07:32] Doesn't matter who else is on the podium. Trust me, if he's on the podium, all of Suzuka, all of Japan will celebrate that podium. And we will probably know that that will be a pub quiz question 20 years down the line in 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. Who else shared the podium with Yuki Tsunoda? And at least I'm going to fail that if we actually happens. And this is why this is such an important weekend, not just for Red Bull, not just for Yuki, but also Japanese motorsport.

[00:08:01] Because think of the legacy that Yuki Tsunoda is now carrying by being in that second Red Bull seat. There's so much, there's so many contributions that the likes of Satoru Nakajima, Takuma Sato, Komoi Kobayashi, Kazuki Nakajima as well in the middle, have put forward to put Japan at the top of the motorsport ladder. And they've all been able to reach a certain level. Japanese drivers at one point we thought were just capped off in the midfield. They would never get that big break with the top team. But then in the last five years, we've seen Takuma Sato go out and win the Indy 500 multiple times.

[00:08:31] He's now raising the Japanese flag very, very high in America. But then in Formula One, we were still waiting because we never got that chance with Komoi Kobayashi. And we thought he was going to be the one. And we thought that Yuki was going to be the one. And then he had to wait. And then he had to wait even further. And at last that moment is here where a Japanese driver is in a legitimate race winning seat for the first time in decades. Now you could count Satoru Nakajima at Lotus because Senna made that car work, but that still doesn't count. It's a different story.

[00:09:01] He was not a part of a championship winning team that had won in the last few years. But with Yuki, it's different. And look at this time for Japanese motorsport. They're winning in the world in Jonas Championship with Toyota. They're winning in the world rally championship there as well. They've increased their investment in Formula One to have a presence with the Haas Formula One team. Honda wants to get back. They're backing Yuki to the hill. We have a Japanese Grand Prix and another Japanese driver in FP1. And this is phenomenal. We were all saying that Japan is a dying country in the world of motorsport because they haven't won a lot.

[00:09:30] And they're not thriving in MotoGP and they're not doing very well otherwise. I guess they are back. I guess they are back. And we have a flag bearer at the very top, which is why this is such a crucial weekend. Firstly, for Japan. But then secondly also, I'd say, Kunal, for Red Bull Racing too. Because if it doesn't work with Yuki, I think it sheds more light on Red Bull's lack of... Red Bull's inability to get a second driver and that car to work for two people than it does to Yuki's talent.

[00:10:00] Because now they're going to have, I mean, a list of so many drivers that haven't worked if it doesn't work with Yuki. So I think it's pressure on Red Bull more than it's pressure on Yuki because he's been waiting for this for years now. He's been waiting for this for years. He becomes the 14th driver in Red Bull Racing history to actually get a promotion or to race for Red Bull Racing. But he's also the driver who's had to wait the longest, you know, four plus seasons, 89 Grands Trees.

[00:10:30] And I am yet to meet a fan who believes that Yuki shouldn't be in that seat. But, okay, that's the kind of momentum. That's the kind of positivity he's coming in. And what I love about Yuki, you know, Checo Perez, who actually should have been in the car contractually, has actually come out in support of Yuki Tsunoda and said, you know what, he's got the right attitude. And I'll tell you what I love about that attitude. Everyone knows, I mean, Pariksit again saying if there's one person who needs to bounce back,

[00:10:58] it's actually not a driver, but it's the second seat at Red Bull Racing that needs to bounce back, right? Everyone knows how tough that car is, right? And Yuki Tsunoda has come out and said, I actually drove the RB21 in the simulator and I didn't find as many problems with it. And that's point number one. You know, it matters how you psych yourself up in this pressure situation. There was a, you know, Tokyo run that they did. They did a show run in Tokyo.

[00:11:24] And Yuki said, everyone's trying to not, you know, talk to me about performing because they think I'll get under pressure. But please talk to me, put me under pressure. I'm going to give my best. We'll see what happens. And I love that whole positivity that Yuki Tsunoda is bringing to this much awaited, much deserved promotion. And I love what you said, Samuel, that the pressure is not so much so on Yuki. Yes, it is. But the pressure is more on Red Bull Racing to make sure Yuki shines.

[00:11:54] Helmut Marko said he's got till the end of the season, which I think is good because that gives him a large longer run. And what better place to make your debut in a car which is so iconic with delivery at least, right? You said Red Bull's a race winning car. I sort of disagree with that. But we'll see what happens this race weekend. And Yuki Tsunoda has gone really well at Suzuka.

[00:12:15] He's never been out qualified here at a teammate, at least in the last three years, which means that, you know, the Japanese fans do give him that extra tenth, a couple of tenths, which is what he'll probably need. And then I would also say this is one of those circuits where, you know, it's a driver circuit, right? So I know that Perez ran Max Verstappen very close last year. Alex Albin has run very close with Max Verstappen as well. I would love to see how well Yuki goes.

[00:12:44] And maybe at some point we should discuss what is, what does success look like for Yuki Tsunoda? You know, it's also an, it's a very important race weekend for Japanese motorsport, like you said, Samuel, because 2025 marks the 50th year since the Japanese driver first entered a Formula One championship round. 1975, we had, who was it? It was Hiroshi Fushida who entered the 1975 Dutch and British Grand Prix.

[00:13:12] And it wasn't until 1987, like you said, Nakajima scoring points for the very first time. So a very historic race weekend or historic season for Japanese motorsport in that regard. And it doesn't get better than having someone like Yuki in a Honda powered car at a Honda track in Japan. And you could say that it's going to be a difficult race weekend. He's had barely any time to get used to the car. He didn't have pre-season testing and all of that. But like Kunal says, he's driving in front of his home crowd.

[00:13:39] And it always is a case when you're driving in your home, in front of your home crowd, you get an extra 10th or two. And I'm sure he's driven around the circuit several, several times before. And I really think everyone around him is going to be really supporting him so that he delivers. Like we've already discussed, it's going to be a very bad look on Red Bull if he also starts to struggle. So everyone at Honda, everyone at Red Bull are really going to be rallying around Yuki to ensure that he has a good race weekend and he has a good rest of the season.

[00:14:09] And also for him from a personal point of view, if he had continued the season at Racing Bulls, no one knew where Yuki was going to be in 2026. So I know a producer is going to hear this word, but I have to bring in redemption once again. We've seen that with Norris in Australia. We've seen that with Piastri in China. This is probably the time for Yuki to redeem himself and say, you know what? I might not have had a seat for 2026. Now you might have to take a closer look at me.

[00:14:36] And you know why I feel Yuki Sinoda will do very well? It's that attitude that Kunal spoke about. That kick in his spring, that spring in his step, let's put it that way. That he's happy about this, that he wants to take on the challenge and that he's ready for all of this. Think about it. He is the driver. I mean, he is the only driver who's had to wait five years for a Red Bull seat. Five years.

[00:15:01] Imagine how ready he feels because there's so many others who've been preferred over him at different points in time. And at all points, he would have been saying, I know I can do a better job. I know I can do a better job. I know I can do a better job. And every time he said that to the media and has gone on and done a better job. So imagine what that does to his confidence. And all the other drivers who have walked into Red Bull racing in the last few years have walked in very acrimonious circumstances. Like Alex Albon.

[00:15:26] He was brought into Formula One hastily and then put into that Red Bull racing seat within half a season. So that welcome into the team was never truly a settled one. He didn't really have a pre-season. With Checo Perez, it was all about survival. This was his last hope in Formula One. So he had to make it work. So imagine the relief that way. With Liam Lawson, he was stepping back from not having competed properly in Formula One for over a season. And then you get put into the toughest car. But Yuki's been there driving for the last five years.

[00:15:55] He's been consistently performing every single week, including the last couple of weeks. And this is just building up to the Red Bull seat rather than having the Red Bull seat somewhere as a part of his journey that shapes him up as a driver. So I think now the time is right. And yes, it might be inadvertent. This is not what they wanted to do. But I feel now is the perfect time to have someone like Yuki in the seat. He's feeling primed up. He's feeling ready. Let's just go for it.

[00:16:20] But as Formula One fans, I'd still like to remind you, don't expect too much too soon. It's a very, very hard car. It's very tricky to get it properly to drive around in circles and to get lap time out from it. And also, to be in that very, very close midfield. Because according to Helmut Marko, they're expecting Yuki Sonoda to do better so that he can help out with Max Verstappen's strategies. So that Red Bull can have two cars in the top 10. Which means they need more people in the midfield area.

[00:16:48] Where we have seen Kunal, the struggles get even bigger for everyone. Because it's a tenth and a half. It's literally a tenth and a half or two tenths between P5 and, I don't know, P12, P20 sometimes in qualifying too. So for Yuki to slot in somewhere, it's possible. But then even half a tenth here or there could leave him in a very disappointing position. Which we might look at the results and say, oh my God, that's terrible. Yuki in 14th or 17th. But if he's only one tenth away from P12 or P11, sure, we're going to take that. And that's what I think we should be wary of this weekend.

[00:17:18] Yeah, that's what success would look like. Can he be within a couple of tenths of Max Verstappen? Can he firstly actually get that second Red Bull car out of Q1, right? Because that car has been stuck in Q1, thanks to Liam Lawson not being able to, you know, perform in the two qualifiers and the sprint qualifying as well. So just to get closer to Max Verstappen itself would be success. And can he remain calm?

[00:17:43] Because one of the biggest questions that, you know, Helmut Marko has said is, you know, can, you know, is Yuki comfortable enough mentally, emotionally in that car when that pressure comes? Can he sort of deliver when it comes to that? And guys, also remember, this is not just because the three of us think that his attitude is in the right place. He should get a promotion that there is nobody else. He should get a promotion. The stats also speak in his favor. So he has outqualified and actually set to do these numbers.

[00:18:12] He's outqualified all his teammates at Racing Bowls 18 to 6 last year, which is Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson, right? He's outscored his teammates 30 to 16 if you go back and see all his teammates. And in 2023, he also outqualified his teammates 16 to 6 and then outscored them 17 to 8.

[00:18:37] So if there was any driver who actually was ready enough for this promotion, even statistically, even from a performance point of view, like, you know, you pointed out Samuel, because if Liam Lawson was actually ready to go racing full time this year, never in his dreams would he have thought he's getting Red Bull immediately. He would have first thought they'll give me racing bulls, I'll do well and then I'll get there. Like you pointed out with Lawson as well, sorry, Albon as well.

[00:19:00] So full marks, Yuki-san, go for it. Excited to see what you're able to bring. And I really, like I said, my bold prediction is him on the podium. Yeah, he's cooked. He's nice and looks like the meat is nice and soft now. It's perfect, juicy, right time. You can't bring him in any earlier than this. You can't bring him any later than this. Now is the perfect time. He is ready to cook like all of us. Yeah, Samuel's gone. We've had the first DNF of the podcast.

[00:19:28] Samuel is still off. We hear you, but we, whatever. Yeah. But what? Yeah. So for our audio listeners, Samuel, of course, you know, out of all his excitement of Yuki-san getting onto the podium, he's whacked his mic off. Just when I was actually going to ask, in case Yuki doesn't perform in the car, is it Jos Verstappen they'll put there? Is it Christian Horner who had a run at Goodwood last year?

[00:19:56] Because, I mean, then they're going to have to wait for Isaac Hadja, right? And what does this mean for Liam Lawson? Lots of questions. Just as we end this Yuki-sanota segment, lots of pressure on Red Bull to get, of course, their car to go quicker. Because if they get the car to go quicker, they will retain Max Verstappen. But if they don't get their second car to perform, bigger headaches for them. And I read this somewhere on Twitter, you know, 2010s was about Red Bull's inability to manage two number one drivers.

[00:20:23] The 2020s is Red Bull's inability to just manage the second driver. Wow. That's a very good way to put it, actually. Yeah. And we've come to the right circuit to test that out. Because it's Suzuka. It's brilliant. This is one of the last few real racetracks that we have. It's not an asphalt room. It's not full of terrible runoff. It's not full of lazy 90-degree corners.

[00:20:50] It's full of real corners with real character. I can't think of one bad corner or one mildly boring corner too. It's all great corners here. And the story of this circuit is absolutely unbelievable. This was made back in the 1960s when Honda, they hadn't even come up with their first proper production road car. They were just going racing and doing bikes back then. They wanted to become the biggest manufacturers in the world. And Soichiro Honda just said, okay, Mr. Van Hoogenholz, legendary designer.

[00:21:19] You know, you are, I see. Okay, can you come to Japan and make the best testing facility for us so that we can test our automobiles and our race cars in the best possible way and test them in all possible conditions. So Mr. Hoogenholz actually made a figure of eight circuit, one that had never been made before. It's phenomenal. The circuit goes over and under itself, which as a kid, I was struggling to wrap my head around because I can't get how that's possible. Like when I was drawing racetracks on my notebook during my lectures, because that's all I did,

[00:21:46] I was constantly dreaming of figure of eight racetracks thinking, why can't we have more of them? But here we are. Suzuka is one of the rare ones. And after that, the corners have just been designed in such an incredible way that they really test every single millimeter, every single square inch of rubber on your tires because they're really fast. And that means that the drivers are constantly going through lots of technical corners where they've got to A, manage pace and B, during a race,

[00:22:12] also manage tire wear because it's a grippy circuit, Kunal. They bring in the hardest set of tires here. And tire wear is something you have to manage very closely. So you might be tempted to push very hard in every corner and to enjoy Suzuka as it's meant to be enjoyed, but your tires won't like that. And that's something they have to keep in mind here. That's a beautiful introduction to a figure of eight because I think Suzuka embodies that Japanese spirit, right? It's a figure of eight. So we will use the left side and the right side

[00:22:41] of the tires fairly equally. We will not stress one side of the tire out equally. One side of the tire, you know, will not have more, you know, degradation than the other. And I, you know, to think of it, it's, it was only designed to be a test racetrack for Honda to go testing. Imagine if Honda and Hogan Halls, the same designer who made Sunfood, were told we need to design a real racetrack where we'll go racing. Imagine this is what they

[00:23:10] could come up with when it came to just testing facilities. But truth be told, you know, almost every type of corner in Suzuka is what you'll encounter pretty much all through the season. And this is what they call a driver's track. So, you know, throughout one lap, you'll have high speed directional changes. You'll have 130R, which is one of the fastest corners. You'll have the Casio triangle, which is the slowest corner on pretty much the whole calendar. You have corners

[00:23:37] where you have to take heavy curbs. And, you know, I love the, I love this segment, by the way, because there's so much to talk about the circuit. But okay, for 2025, the most important thing is that there is resurfacing. We saw what happened in China when there was resurfacing. The resurfacing, I believe, is, and the, I think the race director's notes are yet to come out, but it's from the exit of the last chicane till the end of sector one. So about, you know, half or a little less than half of

[00:24:05] the circuit is, is resurfaced. But it is the best part of the circuit for me that's actually resurfaced. Because sector one is drivers driving two kilometers of the circuit with the steering just moving left, right, left, right, because there's so much of flow in this circuit. And I'm just waiting to see onboards from the 2025 cars, because the circuit actually, Samuel, has not

[00:24:31] changed much since 1962. So it also gives us a very direct reference of how fast cars have gone since, since the 60s. And I think the cars are going 13, 14 seconds faster, which means on an 18 corner circuit, that's almost a second corner faster with this generation of cars. Okay, so a little bit of trivia right now. We all know Japan as a figure of eight circuit,

[00:24:57] and it has one crossover point. The initial draft of the initial proposal of the circuit had three crossover points. And then they kind of trimmed it down to one eventually. But like you said, Samuel, Suzuka is an iconic track and every single corner is iconic. It always has a story to tell. But for this race weekend, like Kunal said, there's resurfacing. And whenever there's resurfacing, cars do have more grip to play with. And in China, when the track entire track was resurfaced,

[00:25:27] the lap times were going down by three to four seconds. And when your car is able to go that much quicker, it also affects tire degradation or tire wear. So if we have one third of the track or half of the track being resurfaced, cars are expected to go anywhere between one to one and a half seconds quicker this time. That also means there's a lot more energy that's put through these tires. And if Pirelli is bringing their C1 tire for this weekend, which is the hardest of their compounds, that means

[00:25:55] there's going to be a lot of focus on tire wear, tire deg. The temperatures are not going to affect as much because it's cooler, but then you also have a lot more graining. So tires is going to be the focal point once again, this weekend, and we have to keep a very close eye on the strategy that different teams come into. But I also have to talk about my favorite corner from the stack right now, 130R. And I want to tell you that the reasoning behind the naming of 130R. I don't want to give you the story of

[00:26:22] Fernando Alonso passing Michael Schumacher. We've all seen and heard of that. But the naming of 130R is a classic, what do you say, not tribute, but a classic touch of Japan and their way of working or how they do things very differently from the rest of the world. So back in the 1960s, when Japan's infrastructure was booming, and they were building a lot of highways, they figured how we want to denote

[00:26:47] what the speed signs have to look like 8090, like you see at the rest of the world. But Japan was thinking one step further. We have a lot of sweeping highways, you know, that corners that curve a little. How do we indicate that how much people can actually go how quickly people can go around these circuits around these roads. So they denoted the metric radius of that road, and they ended it

[00:27:11] with an hour. So if you see 130R, it's 130 meters, the metric radius, and that's how it's denoted. And the smaller it is, the faster you can actually go or the other way around. There's another corner 200R at Suzuka, which is a bit longer. And then even if you go to Fuji, there is 300R, there is 100R.

[00:27:36] So they actually put an effort to indicate to their people on the road that this is how fast you can actually go. And that little touch has also come to the circuits as well. I love Japan. I love it for things like this. They're different. They think about their stuff. They think about their cars. They think about their racing. They think about behavior and how to manage humans very well in everything as well. Everything to do with the tourism, transport, billboards, signs. It's phenomenal.

[00:28:05] If you're going to the Japanese GP, please tag us in all of your experiences and please show us what that experience is like. Because I sitting here and dreaming of wanting to be in the paddock, firstly. I mean, that's the number one thing. But secondly, of just attending that race as a fan. Because you see so many fans with their helmets, with front wings and rear wings made on them. You see them with their goggles, with wipers, and they're wiping off the rain. That could also be potentially coming. You see

[00:28:35] them with their full-size scale model cars as well that they bring in. And I love it. I love the way they support their people. But I also love turn number one. I was going to say Degner is my favorite corner, but then Kunal and I had a disagreement and I hate him for that. Yeah, I hate the fact that you're just like me and you think about it just from an enthusiast point of view because you took the corner I love the most. But then I have to go for the next one,

[00:28:57] which is turn number one. It's a long sweeping right-hander where the pole sitter starts on the left and they will have a normal racing line, which to the normal viewer might look like the outside line. But mind you, Philippe Massa, as he found out a few years ago, figured out that there is no inside line here. Because if you do go on the inside at turn number one at the start of the race, you could well crash as Senna and Prost did back in the day. It doesn't have to be that deliberate,

[00:29:25] but you could still learn it the hard way. And that's something to watch for. Turn number one, long sweeping bend, it will really stress your front left-hand tyres as well. And cycling out from that is a very big impact zone, Kunal. Because that area on the exit of turn one is where the road becomes narrow and you've got lots and lots of grass, which is great if you're a Minecraft player like me, you can just farm some cows there or have a bee hotel like Sebastian Vettel put up exactly at that corner.

[00:29:53] But that's not very good if you want to have three Formula One cars go side by side, which is normally what tends to happen after turn number one. So that's a big impact zone we need to keep an eye out, apart from my favourite corner that you've stolen from me. You know, I'm going to quote Parikshid again, because when we were all discussing the five of us and I forgot to ask Uttara this question, but when we asked, okay, what's everyone's favourite corner? Parikshid just said, the circuit. Okay, and that's what happened. So even if you pick turn number one,

[00:30:21] turn two is very good because like you said, three cars don't go into one corner. And turn two is where it all starts to tighten up. The best actually happens with the S's, you know, over 200 kilometres per hour, high speed section, single line flowing through up the hill. If it's raining, there's a river flowing down the S's, so the S's are really good. And the Degners actually are, especially Degners, the second Degner, which is under the bridge, is beautiful. It looks like one of the most simple corners around,

[00:30:51] but you will see drivers putting the left front on the gravel. You will see a few drivers going off, especially if some of the rookies have never driven here. Kimi Antonelli's never driven here. Oliver Behrman's never driven here. I believe Isaac Hartjar has never driven here. Jack Doohan has, by the way, driven here as well. And I also would say that, my goodness, I have to say Sarang, our producer, he said the pit entry is his favourite because that pit

[00:31:19] entry is also so beautiful. You know, you could actually take along one of your rivals into the pit entry if you really wanted to while battling for position. Maybe the McLaren drivers could do that as well. We've seen Michael Schumacher do that, you know, make a really late entry. So that white line, you know, the FIA will, of course, draw that white line to make sure that drivers don't get cheeky. So you're on the right side of the right line rather than the left side. But my God, what a

[00:31:45] circuit. It's absolutely encouraging. We will hear a lot of drivers praise the circuit. Different drivers will say different things. One of my favourite things some of the drivers have said is it's like a roller coaster. You know, the lap just starts as a roller coaster. The first half of the lap is a roller coaster. Then it sort of slows down again before you get ready for the roller coaster again. So 53 laps of roller coasters for the drivers. And I'm pretty sure qualifying is going to be epic

[00:32:11] because the first two qualifying sessions that we've seen in 2025, the gap to pole has been eight hundredths of a second. Okay, so pulling that eight hundredths off last year was six hundredths between Perez and Max Verstappen. And I would love to see how how every team goes around this circuit.

[00:32:33] You know, which is why the one session to watch for this weekend, for me, is not the race. It's qualifying. If you're a racing fan, just shut off the commentary, including our commentary on the Hindi broadcast on FanCode, which doesn't come on Saturday. We're kind to you. But shut off the commentary. Don't listen to anyone. Ask everyone to leave the room and just watch qualifying with the

[00:32:58] FX noise. If you have that option with your local broadcaster, because you will see driving in a way that you haven't seen before. This is a driver's circuit. You have to push at every corner like you do have to like you also have to add other circuits. But more so here, it's all about flow. It's all about rhythm, momentum. How comfortable are you with your car? Are you able to make a turnaround in the perfect spaces? Are you able to get the right rhythm from it? Are you able to fire up your tires and then keep them till the end of the lap? Because it's a long circuit. So if you have too much grip

[00:33:26] and if you fire up your tires too early, by the end, by the time you get to the slow chicane, you could have no rubber left on you at all, which is also something you do have to keep in mind. So it's all going to be so tricky in qualifying. And at the end, it's down to who is the best driver, especially in equal machinery. If it's Oscar versus Lando for pole, watch out for that lap because then you will find out who is at their best, the most comfortable with their car. And they're able to drive it around

[00:33:53] at a proper driver's circuit without any 90 degrees or any other of those stupid boring corners where you can just say, oh, that driver just knows how to rotate the car better under 90 degree angles, which is what they all say about Leclerc at Ferrari, that he's a monster at that. But none of that. It's all about fast flowing corners and extremely tight and slow ones in the final sector. Can you be the best driver here in qualifying? That to me is such a compelling story. I want to see where Max is Sundaram because him in a Red Bull Racing is a true outlier.

[00:34:20] I mean, and he, we know, is one of the best drivers on the grid. What can he do at a proper driver's circuit where I think the car disadvantage might not be as much as it might have been at a China or in Australia. So that's also an interesting thing to factor in. Qualifying is going to be important just as it was even in the last two races. See, whenever you're at a flowing circuit and when it's a little narrow, you don't have much opportunities to pass. And also the fact that we have only one DRS zone over here.

[00:34:48] So qualifying is going to be super important and statistically as well, that's kind of shown. So if you want to, if you want to harbor aspirations of winning here, you need to be on the front row because 85% of the races at Suzuka have been won from the front row. In the last 16 years, no driver has won from outside the top three starting positions. So qualifying is going to be super important. Max Verstappen has done very well here. So he's won three races in a row,

[00:35:14] all from pole position. And the fact that he's never qualified outside the top five at Suzuka since joining Red Bull. So it's going to be a statement that he can make in the final race that Red Bull has in Japan at the home race of Honda. And I think he's going to be one of the drivers you definitely should keep an eye on. And, you know, just to expand on pole position, even for example, the front row, there is a very heavy

[00:35:42] bias to qualifying on the front row and getting a strong result. Only three times since 1991 has a driver starting out of the front row actually won the race. We all remember... Trivia, trivia, trivia. Trivia for Samuel. Samuel. Very easy. Kimi Riker in 2005. So you've got to take that off. But there's a couple of others you say too. You need to mention where he started from. Come on. There's a beauty of that.

[00:36:09] P17. He started from P17 and he won. Yeah, of course. Of course. Legendary. Legendary. You need to watch that one. But who else? Who else won here? I think Button also won from a very low position, didn't he? Bottas, P3 in 2019. 2019. And I think it was Alonso. Wasn't it the one where Bottas actually did the overcut on Sebastian Vettel in... I think they had some differences in tyre strategy in that race and Bottas got a good jump. Got

[00:36:38] past a couple of years ago. But he did get... He started from P3 and like Kunal said, Fernando Alonso started P5 in 2006. But that just goes to show how important it is to start at the very front or as further up on the grid that you can be. And, you know, one more thing. I mean, this circuit is so beautiful. It's known as a driver's circuit and 14... I think 14 driver's titles have been settled in Japan because Japan used to, you know, usually be in the later

[00:37:05] half of the season. And I remember this. Very interesting. I loved it. That the first five races at Suzuka were all title deciders. Okay. Which... Can you imagine? Having... You know, a circuit like Suzuka actually deciding a title rather than a circuit like Abu Dhabi. Sorry, nothing against Abu Dhabi. But we will hear, of course, Cherry Blossoms being the most spoken

[00:37:32] about thing after Yuki Tsunoda. We will, in the build-up to the race here, bullet trains because everyone's going to be talking of how awesome they are to reach the circuit. And, you know, some of the other points also for, you know, I know we spoke about Yuki Tsunoda, but it's known as a land of the rising sun, Japan. Can the Japanese sun rise up? Mr. Yuki Tsunoda. All on you. But... Yeah, it's the start of a triple header. Okay. And I think... I think...

[00:38:01] For any... The Japanese sun. One second. You can't get away with that that easily. That is a... That is a star sports level line. That is unbelievable. That's it. Kunal Shahsendu. Yeah. But, I mean, you know, it's the start of a triple header. For all the rookies out there, it couldn't get more difficult. I mean, this sequence of circuits and weather that we've had

[00:38:27] in Australia with the inclement weather, China with such high track evolution, and now a triple header. That too with Japan. Again, with, you know, unpredictable weather coming in. It's a tough time to be a rookie in Formula One, especially in 2025, I would say. I mean, you know, if you usually start in Bahrain, predictable stuff. If you start in second race in Saudi Arabia, again, predictable stuff. And we've... In the Australia, China, Japan,

[00:38:53] China was already a, you know, sprint weekend as well. So, yeah, there we go. Now, you might be wondering why we haven't spoken about Ferrari right now. Because I've been doing a little bit of digging. And unfortunately, it doesn't really good for... Look good for them statistically and otherwise. Because even in terms of track characteristics, this might go to favor McLaren and Mercedes. And the sort of issues that Ferrari have had in the last couple of rounds might... They might end up having the same issues unless they have an

[00:39:21] upgrade or they have some sort of solution to their problems. But the last time Ferrari won in Japan. Fernando Alonso wasn't a world champion then. Lewis Hamilton was yet to make his Formula One debut. Kimi Antonelli wasn't even born. And Michael Schumacher was still racing for Ferrari. It's been 20 years since Ferrari won in Japan. Can they end that drought? It's a big question. Not really sure.

[00:39:48] But Sean Leclerc is also making his 150th race start. And a little... A couple of bad signs there as well. Whenever he's had a milestone race, his 50th or his 100th, I don't think so. He's qualified in the top five or he's even finished in the top five. And to talk about the disqualifications that Ferrari have had, I did a lot of digging around this. Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to be disqualified

[00:40:12] twice for plank wear in Formula One history. And he's the only driver to be reported and disqualified for the same reason multiple times. He's the only driver to do that. So, not some very good stats. I'm sure all the Ferrari fans are dropping off right now. But not very good stats going into the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. So, it's clear they need to bounce back, Kunal.

[00:40:34] Needless to say. The one team that really needs to bounce back, I would say, is Ferrari for all that hype. Wow. I've triggered something off. Tires screeching already. Yeah. The one team that needs to bounce back is Ferrari. Double disqualification. You know, that whole... I like how Frederik Vassuwar said that at the end of the day, we performed only on the Friday in China and then in the sprint. We've not performed at all. And imagine if Ferrari was

[00:41:04] Liam Lawson. Would they go back into racing in Formula Two or I don't know what. But it's been one of the most, you know, ridiculous... What do you say? It's been one of the most ridiculous ways to start a season. And hopefully they arrive. And the other person who needs to bounce back, I'm really looking forward to Liam Lawson. You know, how well he does, you know, in that racing bulls car, in less pressured environment. And what this demotion actually means for his

[00:41:34] mental well-being and his on-track performance as well. Because no driver after being demoted has made it back to Red Bull racing again. Can Liam Lawson be that driver? And I think he's really been mistreated. He's been given races when they were like, okay, we don't know what's the answer. Put Liam in the car. You know, whether it was racing bulls or Red Bull racing. So unfortunate that it's the way it is. But I think I'm also, you know, Liam Lawson is

[00:41:59] the person. I'm going to pick him for bouncing back this race weekend. He will put in a solid performance. I don't believe he's had a start from the start grid. So he's going to have the first start from the start grid this race weekend. Because both the times he was in the Q1, he got eliminated in Q1. They made changes in the car and he started from the pit lane. So hopefully he will make his first start on the grid from China. Yeah. He's not had a grid start. And he's always driven for racing bulls, but never from

[00:42:29] the start of the season. Yeah. That's crazy, isn't it? That is crazy. But then here's to also hoping that Carlos Sainz bounces back. I've not spoken about him for a very long time. I want to speak about him in depth this weekend. Finally, three practice sessions and at a circuit where he has done lots of running. I'm just trying to create a story to find a way to say that Carlos will be back. I'll give you a story. I'll give you a story that will make you hate me now.

[00:43:00] Because Williams has scored three points in the last eight years in Japan, the last six races there. And they've had a good start to the year, of course. They've had a good start in terms of collecting points. But Alex Albon has had three DNFs in Japan in the last three races. He's never finished a race here since joining Williams and he's completed 26 laps. So then I might want to look towards Carlos Sainz. So I'm just finishing that. Maybe he's going to be the

[00:43:28] flag bearer for Williams this race weekend. See, that's Williams. Now it's a new era. It's Atlassian Williams Racing. It's a different start. It's a new chapter in their life and journey. We don't count the past. And we definitely are not talking about where Carlos is going to finish and why it's going to be. No, we're only following the good vibes this time. Carlos is going to be about right. For sure. You've definitely carried forward the Ferrari optimism into Williams. I like seeing that.

[00:43:53] What choice do I have now? I mean, the last two weekends have been so disappointing. And also for my favorite team, Alpine as well. Because no points. Pointless. Like, it's so sad to see. They had points with Pierre Gasly. And then they couldn't hold a plank for long enough, which is the same thing I do in a gym. I just can't. They don't disqualify me for that. With Alpine, they did. No, the plank got worn off. And that's why Gasly, I think he was underweight.

[00:44:19] He was underweight. Correct. Yeah. But coming to Alpine, did any one of you think that the first driver to be demorted in the season would actually not be... I was about to say that. Would not be Jack Doohan. We got it wrong. We got it wrong. Can you imagine? I mean, firstly, Jack Doohan was not the first one to be demoted. It was Liam Lawson. We never saw this. What the hell? Sorry about that. That's like our producer says, there's a live happening at Samuel's place.

[00:44:49] And he's saying, let's wrap up. It's been 45 minutes. Okay, last two minutes or less. But Samuel, actually, literally, there are lights blinking on you, on your face. I have no idea what you're up to with your friends. Thank you for having the remote production set up. We don't want to know what else is happening behind the camera. But my goodness. Okay, there is something. But where was I? I was on... Who would have thought that it would be Liam Lawson getting demoted

[00:45:15] or whatever before Jack Doohan? And then what doesn't make sense for me is Jack Doohan is being replaced by Ryo Hirakawa for FP1 and not Pierre Gasly. And maybe this is their way of saying that, Jack, you know, we know you've driven at Suzuka in 2019 in the F3 car. Okay. Gasly is our best choice of scoring any points. So we will just go with Pierre Gasly then. I mean, who would have imagined

[00:45:45] that Jack Doohan would be the first... would not be the first driver to be replaced mid-season? It's been Liam Lawson. And the puzzling fact for me is that Ryo Hirakawa, who's going to step in and do an FP1, will actually take Doohan's place and not Pierre Gasly's. Maybe this is Alpine's way of thinking that our best chance of scoring points anyway is Pierre Gasly. So just give him all the track time we need and not to Doohan. Because Alpine still remains the only

[00:46:12] team to have not scored points in 2025. Yeah, underweight car last time and that put Gasly in a tough spot. And lastly, Sundaram, if there's one driver who you're keeping an eye out to bounce back, who's it going to be? Apart from Carlos, because we've covered that. Maybe we need double luck. If you say Carlos, maybe then he'll be able to bounce back. No, I have to be a little biased, of course. I have to look at Fernando and see that he's had

[00:46:37] two DNFs the start of the year, which brings back horrific memories from 2017. So yeah, he's had two DNFs. I really hope to see him bouncing back and it's needed for the team. But Lance Stoll's holding up well, actually scoring 10 points and then covering up a Fernando in that regard. But also Lando Norris because he did not win in China, yes, but it's an important

[00:47:01] season for him with the margins so small. Even one small mistake will drop you a bunch of places further down the grid. So it's important that he's as clean as he can be throughout the season. And he shouldn't be making mistakes. This is probably the biggest opportunity he has. Probably the last year of these regulations, you don't know how the car is going to be next year, how, where they're going to be next year. So this is now or never for Lando Norris.

[00:47:26] And he has to bring in the sort of performance that we've seen from him in Abu Dhabi and Australia. Yeah. Consistency. The likes of Verstappen and Hamilton built their legacies on consistency. If Lando Norris wants to be a champion to be remembered for the ages, he has to bring in that consistency. And you never know when it is your last world championship. You never know. Like for all you know, next year. Yeah, exactly. Tell me about it. Because with Fernando Alonso,

[00:47:53] we all thought that 2010 would be the year. We then thought 2012 would be the year. We then thought 2016 would be the year. In 2014, not 2015. Once you arrive, we knew it's not going to happen anytime soon. But now we know. But now we know 2026 is going to be the year. So then I'm okay. Of winning the World Rally Championship or winning WRC2 or something? Because that's the only thing that... I'm sure Sudhiram doesn't want to say this, but I went in to look. Fernando Alonso has completed,

[00:48:21] what, 35 or 36 racing laps out of the 113. And he is, of course, not even classified in the World Drivers' Championship because he hasn't finished a race at all. But I know we are trying to hype up Lance Stroll. He's scored 100% of all Aston Martin's points this year. He's eighth in the Drivers' Championship. I think that's the highest he's ever been in his career. That's what you expect from a team leader. A team leader who pushes their limits and boundaries

[00:48:50] to do well for the team. But remember... That's what you need. You need a Lance Stroll. But remember, it's a driver's circuit. If you remember what a famous driver called Nicholas Latifi did, he just forgot how the circuit goes and went off. You know, Lance Stroll has had, I think, three Q1 eliminations here in the last three years. Okay. And he's actually never reached Q3 out here, if I remember. So all to play for...

[00:49:17] All of you guys. All of you guys. Come on. You shouldn't be bashing Nicholas Latifi because he is Williams' last point scorer around Japan. So we have to take his name with a little bit of respect. Yeah, exactly. And also Lance Stroll. He's the one leading the team right now. Not Fernando Alonso. He's carrying the family legacy and the team to their highest points finish. Not the other driver who's won two World Championships. Yeah, like Parikshir says, Lance Stroll is so excited about being team leader. He's going to reach Q4 this weekend.

[00:49:46] Oh, he'll have a punching performance. But bold predictions. I think, Sundaram, are you? We've already... Oh, yeah, we did it in the beginning. I'm going for Russell on the podium ahead of the Red Bulls. Kunal, you're going for Yuki on the podium. Sundaram, your bold prediction was... Both Lawson and Sundar are scoring points. And that we shall find out on Sunday. We're

[00:50:15] qualifying to analyze everything. So join us for that. But then on Sunday after the race, we're back with a regular post-race review show anyway. So send us your questions, insights, thoughts, and we'd be more than happy to bring it all in on the show with all of you. Please like, share and subscribe to our YouTube channel. And we'll be back shortly. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.