Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix will not be billed as one of Formula 1's all-time classics as low tyre degradation largely left the field in its qualifying order by the chequered flag. The lack of passing opportunities during the race was also of significant note.
It has never been particularly easy to pass at Suzuka; in modern times, the nature of Turn 1 makes DRS generally ineffective, and the few straightline sections transitioning into hard stops means it is very difficult to slipstream a driver in front.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
But Suzuka exposed how this has regressed, as it was apparent that closing to within a second of the car in front was incredibly difficult. Again, the low tyre wear contributed to this factor as drivers were generally able to push for the whole race, but that cars with clearly different performance characteristics remained separated by over a second showed that it was difficult to catch up.
As the current ruleset has matured, F1 teams have found loopholes to expand on the performance of their cars at the penalty of following F1's intentions. Note the front wings, for example; although strictly governed to ensure the wing elements transition directly into the endplate, teams have found methods of exposing edges and tips to push more airflow away from the front tyres to glean further performance.
The edges of the floors have become much more complex, and the rear wings also now come with exposed wing tips on the upper element; the regulations intended to merge the top flap into the rear wing endplates but, again, teams have sidestepped this to increase the power of the wings.
Each of these innovations over the past couple of seasons have generally contributed to greater levels of turbulent wake, making it incrementally more difficult to follow other cars.
"Ultimately we keep adding aerodynamic downforce, which means that the losses are even bigger," McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained.
"So I think the dirty air is a problem – we have seen this even in China; if you see [Lewis] Hamilton when he was in the lead of the sprint, he could do pretty much whatever he wanted, even if the tyre was damaged.
Andrea Stella, McLaren
Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
"Possibly this is one of the reasons why the 2026 regulations may introduce some reset from this point of view, because I think even if this generation of cars was conceived to actually improve following – that was what we were talking about in 2022 – there's been so much aerodynamic development now.
"Again, [the cars] have become so much of an aerodynamic machine that as soon as you follow, you lose the performance."
That's not the fault of the teams, as their target is to build the fastest car – not satisfy an overtaking metric intended by the ...
