The Scuderia AlphaTauri was looking forward to the Japanese Grand Prix because for the first time the updates that debuted in Singapore were able to prove themselves on a permanent race track. Things didn’t look bad at all in the first free practice session with fifth and ninth places. But the second training session was a rude awakening.
With 15th and 18th place, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda found themselves at the back of the field. Even in the long runs, the young bulls were mediocre at best. Suzuka is a home race for both drivers – a real home game for Tsunoda, but at least half a home game for Lawson as a driver in the Japanese Super Formula.
Both would prefer to be more optimistic after Friday. “We are feeling the impact of the update, but so far we have not been as competitive as we would have liked,” admits Tsunoda. In the morning he experimented with changing the angle of attack of the vehicle (“rake”), but had problems with it in fast corners.
Tsunoda believes there is room for improvement
It’s not the end of the day yet: “I feel like there’s room for improvement, so we’ll do some analysis this evening.” What Tsunoda means by this is primarily the downforce level. He hopes to make it to Q3 in qualifying.
Lawson, where the team experimented with leaving out air deflectors on the mirrors, remains skeptical about this: “I hope that there is an ‘easy fix’ and we still have the third free practice session. But it is very rare that you do “Something changes on the car and suddenly you find a lot of performance. But the midfield is tight and little things can make a big difference.”
The New Zealander, who is only competing in his fourth Formula 1 weekend, believes the team still needs time to really understand the update: “The second training session wasn’t a super strong session for us, I would say. But like I said “It just takes time to learn where we can find time with the update. We’ll see where we can improve.”
Lawson knows Suzuka from Super Formula
With Suzuka he will be back on a track that he already knows from the Super Formula. “That certainly helps, especially at this point in the weekend in the first two training sessions. This means we can invest more time in the performance of the car,” he says. “But normally in Formula 1 there is enough training to get to know a track. Maybe it’s not that different.”
Unlike a Super Formula car, it definitely is. The Dallara SF23 achieves similar cornering speeds as a Formula 1 car, but they are achieved completely differently, as the 21-year-old explains: “The Super Formula is very light. In Formula 1 there is more downforce and more power, but also more weight.”
“It’s a completely different feeling. You feel the hybrid system, which you don’t have in Super Formula. It feels completely different. But I would say that Super Formula is a good step to prepare for Formula 1 .”