The FIA shares details of circuit changes, DRS zone, stewards names and more for F1 Japanese GP, as Logan Sargeant spills on chassis situation.
F1 is back at Suzuka in less than a year for the Japanese GP this weekend. It ran at the fag end of the year in 2023 but was re-scheduled to early part in 2024 to better place it with Australia and China in a quest for geographical alignement.
The calendar is still not perfect in that regard but it is a step towards it. Despite the less gap between the two races, there are still changes made to the circuit as per the FIA Race Directors’ note. They are related to debris fence mostly:
- New debris fence at Turn 7 on RHS.
- New debris fence at Turn 9 on RHS.
- New debris fence at Turn 11 on RHS.
- New debris fence at Turn 15 on RHS.
- Renewal of tire barrier at the exit of Turn 12 on LHS.
- Removal of artificial gras between Turn 16 and Turn 17 on LHS.
The track limits remains the white lines with no additional message, as the lone DRS zone’s detection point is at 50m before Turn 16 and activation is 100m before the control line. As for the FIA stewards panel, it will be led by Garry Connelly.
He will have the support of Loic Bacquelaine, Enrique Bernoldi and Kazuhiro Tsuge. Outside the general information, the weekend will see a discussion on Fernando Alonso’s penalty from Australian GP, which was widely talked upon during the media day.
Another topic that raised eyebrows was Williams giving the repaired chassis to Sargeant, with Alexander Albon continuing on using Sargeant’s chassis. The American conceded that his repaired one would be heavier by 100gm but it wouldn’t matter.
The reason for him getting the repaired one and not his original was down to time constraints. He also relayed all what happened in Australia and how he coped with the situation, while adding on the future scene.
Coping the situation –
Sargeant: “I think it is always good to have a week off after such a busy start to the year whether or not Australia happened. But no, it was good. It was just a good chance to detach from the F1 world for a week, get a good week of training and relaxing at the same time. Just filled up with a little bit more energy coming into this weekend. I think it was what it was, Friday was a good day from our side, I was excited to carry that hopefully through the weekend and keep building on what we had done. But of course, it is a situation that I don’t want to be in or the team doesn’t want to be in. So we have to make sure that it doesn’t happen going forward, of course it was disappointing.
Came to mind anytime about this scenario –
Sargeant: “It was definitely after the crash, I don’t think we really….at least I hadn’t thought about it before that. If I’m honest, when I see Alex crash, the first thing that goes through my head is, ‘I know that we’re down on spares’. It is going to back us up. Of course, I was a little bit concerned for where we stood as a team. But it’s one of the hard parts that we’ve had to deal with through the start of this season – not having those big safety nets. I think, it’s somewhere that as a team, we’re really trying to develop to be better and get more on top of that early in the season.”
Getting repaired chassis, why –
Sargeant: “Yeah, it’s the repaired one, just because the workload to switch the cars back over would just be far too much for the mechanics. But yeah, the chassis repair went better than expected. It should be perfectly normal as far as I am aware. I believe it’s only 100 grams heavier. So pretty much nothing. [A spare one] should be ready for Miami.”
Adjusting to driving, understood reasons –
Sargeant: “I don’t think so [I’ll change anything in driving], it’s, again, a situation that we had to deal with through the first three races. We went to Saudi with the same situation. And of course, it’s one of those things that you have to be careful. But at the same time, you can’t be. It’s Formula 1. If you’re careful, you’re nowhere. So, it’s really not even a question – you have to be committed, confident and hope nothing goes wrong. I understand the statistics behind the decision, but at the same time of course I wanted to drive. I was just feeling like I had a good Friday.
“I just really wanted to build on that and felt like I was in a good place. I feel like I’ve been in a good place since the start of the year to be honest, so I’m quite comfortable with where I’m at. Once I left Melbourne I didn’t really think about it, I just got out for a week, tried to stay in my own little world away from racing and I feel as good as ever coming back here.”
Mood overall –
Sargeant: “I think you always have to look at what’s best for the team. Of course, as the driver you want to drive, but at the same time I know everyone’s working as hard as they can. I don’t blame anyone, I know everyone’s trying their best and I make mistakes, the team makes mistakes, but we move on.”
Here’s FIA Race Directors’ note in full: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Japanese%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Race%20Director%C2%B4s%20Event%20Notes.pdf
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