F1 Japanese GP live commentary and updates: Race day

IT'S A WRAP

So on that note, we're shutting down operations in the Lord Hesletine Theatre for this weekend. Join us again for more fun and frolics in Miami!

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

So we've got a five-week break coming up owning to the disappearance of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia from the calendar (BTW, we should point out that stories claiming Bahrain will be squeezed in later in the year are bunk).

Carlos Sainz reckons F1 and the FIA should use that time to consider some changes on safety grounds, based on today's accident.

"I think this five-week break is very good for Formula 1 because of the accident we saw today with Bearman," he told DAZN TV. 

"We drivers had already been warning the FIA and FOM that it was only a matter of time before an accident like that happened. We’re doing 30, 40 or 50 km/h [more] using the boost, and this crash was only a matter of time. I think it was 50Gs [impact] at Suzuka with the run-off area.

"Now imagine we go to Las Vegas, we go to Baku, and the same problem Ollie had – where Franco caught him off guard – we’ll have it on another circuit at higher speeds, as we’ll have in Vegas or Baku, and without a run-off area.

"So I really hope that Formula 1 reconsiders and that the teams don’t get too defensive, because it’s clear that this regulation has loopholes and problems that need to be sorted out before we go to Miami and before we go to other types of circuits."

GASLY BUSINESS

Pierre Gasly has summed up his race thus:

"I think it's the perfect weekend, because seventh in quali was definitely the best position we could get, and in the race it was the same. The top 6 was out of reach, but at the same time we finished only 7 seconds behind Lewis, which for me is a very positive sign.

"And then 19 seconds in front of Liam, who was P9, so we were clearly more on the better train, in the better group. And then yeah, as we said, it was a pretty intense race. 

"We all know Max is never giving up, and for 28 laps he was just putting a lot of pressure. We were strong in different parts of the lap, so yeah, it just made my life not too easy.

"Every single lap coming into 16, making sure in Turn 1, taking the gaps after the first sector, Turn 11 he was pretty strong, so I had to play a bit smart with my battery whenever I could see it was getting close. I think overall we managed it very well, but it was definitely pretty intense."

Verstappen on the Bearman accident:

"That's what you get with these things. I mean one guy is completely stuck with no power basically and then the other one uses the mushroom mode and it can be 50, 60 kilometres difference. It's really, really big."

'Mushroom mode', for readers of a certain age, is a reference to the Mario Kart series of Nintendo games and one of the power boosts therein. Of the drivers, only Lewis Hamilton is old enough to remember F-Zero on the SNES. But I digress.

Anyhow, while you'll probably see this quote pop up on a lot of outlets, Max did say he hadn't actually seen the crash.

Fernando Alonso has this to say on his first finish of the season:

"We get to Australia, you know, 100% sure that we could not finish the race. The following week in China, 95% convinced we could not finish the race.

"And now in race three, we finish the race. It's not the pace that we want. But, yeah, there is some progress and some work in the team to keep improving.

"So, yeah, hopefully the first step for everyone to motivate both factors is to keep improving."

Max Verstappen has been asked to be less critical of the new regulations but he's still managed to squeeze in a dig. In the pen he's just said his mood is like the new F1 power units: "It starts okay in the morning and then it goes mehhhhhhh…"

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER JAPAN

If, like Mr Gradgrind in Hard Times, you hunger for facts, feast your eyes on our championship round-up. Hard viewing for Red Bull...

Oscar Piastri, McLaren Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

VOTE FOR YOUR DRIVER OF THE DAY

It's not too late to vote for the best driver in the Japanese GP on Motorsport.com.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Franco Colapinto has been speaking about that incident with Oliver Bearman.

"It was really strange to be honest, I was a little sitting duck," he said.

"I think the speed difference is so big and so large. It's almost like you're in an outlap and another guy is in a push.

"It's really odd. It's a corner that we are doing flat and he was like more than 50k quicker than me. So it's very strange.

"I think it gets really sketchy when the straights are not straight and he's turning because we are not on a straight lane, we are kind of turning. And once I look in the mirror he was spinning in the grass. Even spinning he overtook me, so imagine the speed difference.

"I think at some points it becomes really dangerous. I'm glad he's okay."

Colapinto confirmed "I never moved [on the racing line] or anything like that."

And a painful race outcome for Red Bull as it drops behind Alpine in the constructors' championship. That was a quietly brilliant race by Pierre Gasly – he was running strongly in the top 10 anyway, so pitting under the Safety Car merely helped him consolidate that.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

As you might expect, Oliver Bearman has been excused post-race media 'pen' duties but team boss Ayao Komatsu will be speaking later. ICYMI, Bearman escaped a 50G impact with the barrier at the Spoon with a bruised knee.

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Antonelli arrives on the podium and, crucially, is announced under the correct name this week.

Social media had some fun with Bob Constanduros having a little shunt in China and calling him Kimi Raikkonen.

"We were deploying more into 13, you were deploying more into 16," Antonelli tells Leclerc in the 'green room'. Saves the Ferrari engineers a job there.

What have we learned from this race? Here's five quick takeaways from the Japanese GP.

Race start

Photo by: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images

Just turning up and needing a beautifully concise precis of what went down? Here's our Japanese GP report, fresh out of the oven.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Pierre Gasly, Alpine, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Lars Baron / LAT Images via Getty Images

"It's too early to talk about the championship," Antonelli says in parc ferme. 1996 world champion Damon Hill is on post-race interview duty here. He's now an ambassador for the Williams team.

Arvid Lindblad in P14. That will be disappointing for him, one of several drivers to be screwed by pitting under green-flag conditions before that Safety Car.

P20, meanwhile, was Alex Albon, who made six pitstops through the race – the latter five coming in a flurry during the final laps.

Stick with us here for post-race reax – like Gabrielle, we're Going Nowhere...

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Lars Baron / LAT Images via Getty Images

Meanwhile Antonelli is 14s ahead of Piastri and unassailable, barring disaster. 

Final lap so this is last chance saloon for Russell if he wants to relieve Leclerc of P3.

Next time around, Norris goes by Hamilton at the chicane for P5. This time there's no riposte from the Ferrari on the pit straight. Two laps to go...

Russell swoops around the outside of Leclerc at 130R at the end of lap 50 to be first into chicane, but Leclerc isn't taking this – he tucks into the Merc's slipstream and dives into Turn 1 first.

Norris nips by Hamilton on the inside under braking for the chicane at the end of lap 47, but the Ferrari has more boost available out of the corner and retakes P5 on the main straight.

Hamilton now 2.2s off the Lecerc-Russell battle for P3 and dropping away by three tenths a lap.

Hamilton being 'noted' for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Aston Martin explain Stroll's retirement was the result of "a suspected water pressure issue". Perhaps he should have gone for that pee behind a bush during the SC deployment?

11.3 seconds now separate Antonelli in P1 from Piastri in P2. Leclerc is a further 2.1s behind and took nearly three tenths out of Piastri on lap 43.

Russell also goes around the outside of Hamilton into Turn 1 – the Ferrari's pace dropped off drastically on the straight as its harvesting lights flickered.

Oof! More harum-scarum stuff between the two Ferraris as Leclerc tries again around the outside at the chicane at the end of lap 41. Hamilton occupies the middle of the road.

Then Leclerc swoops around the outside at Turn 1 and the red cars are separated by millimetres as they enter the Esses. P3 for Charles.

Further back, Hulkenberg has also passed Bortoleto. The Audis running in P2 and P13.

Leclerc says "We're losing time here, for info" on the radio. Then at the end of lap 40 he goes for a gap at the chicane – it looks for a moment like Hamilton has been ordered to move over for his teammate, but he neatly closes the door...

So Hamilton and Leclerc separated by 0.6s in P3 and P4, with Russell a similar distance behind. Will George kick a door off its hinges after this race or express his displeasure in the form of a PowerPoint presentation?

More electrical deployment strangeness, it seems, on lap 37 as Russell's rear wing lights flash – indicating harvesting under way – on the run to the Spoon, and Leclerc nips by to steal P4.

3.6s down the road from Norris, Gasly still has Verstappen on his tail.

Hamilton is now a second behind Piastri and has his mirrors full of an angry Russell, with Leclerc just 0.8s behind the Merc. Norris is 2.7s behind this battle.

Further back, at the start of lap 36 Hadjar goes by Bortoleto around the outside into Turn 1 for P11.

Antonelli takes another half a second out of Piastri on lap 34 to move 4.9s ahead.

In other news, while the F1 TV graphics say Stroll is "in pit", Our data screen shows he retired on lap 29.

Haas say Bearman is "alert and communicating" and has had an x-ray in the medical centre. No fractures, but a "contusion" from impact between knee and monocoque.

The impact force was 50G, apparently.