
F1's Japanese GP has storylines that may be as fleeting as the country's cherry blossoms
Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday is only the third Formula 1 race of the season, and several plots are developing that promise a few twists. But the fresh storylines could be as fleeting as the cherry blossoms seen all over Japan at this time of the year.
There's McLaren, which has been the early force after winning the first two races. Are Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri about to run away with the season just as Red Bull and Max Verstappen have in winning the last four drivers' titles?
How about seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who moved this season from Mercedes and is looking for his first victory for Ferrari. He won the sprint two weekends ago in Shanghai. In Sunday's main race in China, he and teammate Charles Leclerc were disqualified for technical infringements.
And back to the cherry blossoms in Japan — the season typically lasts for only about two weeks, from the initial blooms to its splendorous peak. A sellout crowd of about 115,000 on Sunday at Suzuka — the Honda-operated track in central Japan — will be following every lap of Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda was promoted to Red Bull last week from Racing Bulls, its feeder team.
A Japanese driver has never won an F1 race.
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«For him, for a Japanese driver to drive for one of the top teams — it's never happened before,» said Japanese Ayao Komatsu, the team principal of Haas. «That a huge story.»
For the purists, it's McLaren
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McLaren has been much better than everyone else in the first two races. Norris won in Australia and Piastri in China. Norris has 44 points to lead the driver standings followed Verstappen with 36, George Russell of Mercedes with 35, and Piastri on 34.
«We know realistically the McLarens are