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The 2023 F1 Japanese GP is becoming more and more of a weekend where Max Verstappen proves the doubters wrong. There were many who thought the technical directive played a role in the Red Bull car being suddenly off the pace in Singapore. Even a few pundits were not jumping in with a verdict on whether the technical directive played a role.
While the Red Bull boss denied any correlation with that, Verstappen seems to have come to the 2023 F1 Japanese GP with a point to prove and he proving it very impressively.
A comfortable pole position with a gap to the closest opposition of more than half a second certainly shows how limited Red Bull was in Singapore. It was a slightly anti-climactic session as it became evident very early that there wasn't going to be a battle for pole position.
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The McLaren duo did give Verstappen whatever challenge they could muster with the car but it wasn't enough. The pair will start the race in P2 and P3 with Oscar Piastri beating Lando Norris this time around. Charles Leclerc was P4 in his Ferrari as the Italian team just did have the same pace or potency that was visible in the last two races.
The top five was rounded off by Sergio Perez who was around seven-tenths down on teammate Max Verstappen. After the session is done, who would be feeling quite happy with how the 2023 F1 Japanese GP qualifying went and who would be a bit worried about the race? Let's take a look.
2023 F1 Japanese GP
Winner
Max Verstappen and Red Bull
Earlier in the 2023 F1 Japanese GP weekend, Lewis Hamilton remarked that even though he thought the technical directive had not played a role in slowing down Red Bull in Singapore, he would have questions if Max Verstappen did not dominate in Japan in the same way as he used to earlier.
Well, Verstappen is back to dominating the way he used to and this might just be one of the more impressive sessions for him. The kind of gap he had over the field is a result of the loss in Singapore and the motivation to get back to the top after that race.
It's safe to say now that the technical directive did not do anything to hurt Red Bull's dominance in any which way.
Loser
Lance Stroll
If your teammate is in Q3 and you're not even making it past Q1 consistently then there is a serious discussion that needs to be done. Why is Lance Stroll in F1 if he can't even be anywhere close to his teammate?
The detractors for Stroll have grown recently and these kinds of performances are just going to add a few more to the list
Winner
Oscar Piastri
We have a special driver learning his craft in F1 and he's already showing an impressive growth curve.
In his very first season, Oscar Piastri will start a race on the front row and he does so by beating his teammate in a straight fight.
He just signed an extension with McLaren until 2026 and looking at his form and the team's, this might be a good decision by the young driver.
Loser
Logan Sargeant
There's a point after which it becomes harder to build a case for a driver to be kept in a team. Logan Sargeant is a rookie, he has the potential to do a good job as well. But he's not doing it in any which way.
The driver does not have anything going for him right now and what's worse is that he continues to completely destroy his Williams in crashes.
If we have to go by what Logan Sargeant has done at the 2023 F1 Japanese GP then we might be looking at a driver who is running out of favour with his team.
Winner
Yuki Tsunoda
As soon as it was announced that Yuki Tsunoda would continue to be teamed with Liam Lawson, the outrage was immense and in all fairness, it didn't make much sense.
The argument in favour of Liam Lawson is only valid when you talk about the potential that the driver might have. Unfortunately, there's no way to judge the potential of a driver hence we look at the more logical thing.
And the logical thing remains that Yuki has continued to be a strong performer that has improved every year. Even direct comparisons against Lawson will go in Yuki's favour if he isn't struck by misfortune.
All in all, the Japanese driver deserves that seat at AlphaTauri and his Q3 performance in the 2023 F1 Japanese GP is proof of that.
Loser
Aston Martin
There is an eerie sense of disappointment that's starting to creep up after every race at Aston Martin.
What makes the present result even for the team is that if we compare the car's laptime with Sebastian Vettel's last season at the F1 Japanese GP to this year's Q3 time then it's almost the same.
Aston Martin is now the fifth fastest car on F1 and it has plummeted from being the closest challenger to Max Verstappen at the start of the season.
The future does not look bright for the team after the 2023 F1 Japanese GP.
