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Events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia being called off because of the war in Iran, leaving the race slated to be held in Miami on May 3 the next active engagement.
A snapshot from the 2026 Australian Grand Prix (AFP)
The Japanese Grand Prix, just the third race of the new F1 season, will be the last for five weeks, due to events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia being called off because of the war in Iran, leaving the race slated to be held in Miami on May 3 the next active engagement.
Mercedes and Ferrari have adapted best to Formula 1’s most radical changes in power units and chassis regulations in more than a decade.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have each won one of the first two races, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have alternated between third and fourth place. Mercedes and Ferrari are the favourites at Suzuka’s figure-eight circuit, located in central Japan and regarded as one of F1’s most storied venues.
Suzuka is vastly different from Australia’s street circuit in Melbourne and from Shanghai, which resembles many of the newer Formula 1 tracks. Suzuka is old-school: narrow, twisting, with only one major straight for overtaking.
Hamilton has won the Japanese Grand Prix five times, four of those victories coming at Suzuka, as he surges back towards the top of the standings after two races.
McLaren has struggled after winning last season’s drivers’ championship with Lando Norris and adding the constructors’ title as well. The team did not even start the race two weeks ago in China because of engine and electrical failures.
Asked on Thursday if the problem had been resolved, Norris replied: “I think it took a little bit of time to figure things out, but yes. Of course it hurt us as a team, certainly didn’t make us look good to have two cars not starting a race.”
Norris praised the team, which includes Oscar Piastri. It has had the best car on the grid over the last two seasons, winning the constructors’ title both times.
“Now is just as good a time as ever to prove exactly what we can do as a team — against Ferrari, against Mercedes, who are performing very well at the minute,” Norris said.
Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, said on Friday: “We understand the source of the problem. In both cases it was related to the electrical side of the power unit.”
Then there is Red Bull and four-time champion Max Verstappen, who was forced to retire in China. Verstappen has probably been the most vocal critic of this season’s radical overhaul of F1, calling it “yo-yo racing” as top drivers surge to the front and then quickly drop back from the lead.
He is already looking ahead to the five-week break.
“We just need to keep working, keep trying to put more performance on the car,” he said. “Maybe the little break we have now is a good time to look back and analyse even more things. Basically, try to be better in Miami.”
Verstappen ordered a journalist to leave an interview session on Thursday, unhappy with what had been written about him last season when he failed to win his fifth consecutive drivers’ title.
Honda enjoyed great success as Red Bull’s engine supplier. This season, however, it has had a terrible start as the engine supplier for Aston Martin, with Red Bull switching to Ford power.
The Japanese manufacturer’s power unit has caused severe vibrations, and neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll has finished either of the first two races.
Honda operates the Suzuka circuit, and this is not the kind of publicity the company wants at its home race. Simply getting both cars to the finish would be considered a success.
Koji Watanabe, the head of Honda Racing, said there is a plan to fix the problem.
“Well, we have some recovery plan together with Aston Martin but we cannot tell that today,” Watanabe said on Friday. “The most difficult point (is) that we started the development a bit later compared to the others.”
March 27, 2026, 6:09 PM IST
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