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The 2015 Japanese Grand Prix / Suzuka

Expectations

Suzuka is the perfect opposite of Singapore. Its long high speed corners and abrasive surface put a massive amount of energy into the tires throughout a lap and, with both the hard and medium tires being the chosen compounds here, drivers needed to guard against using up their tires too early in the lap. Everyone believed that Suzuka’s high speeds and long straights would quickly reveal whether Mercedes’ inability to find speed and grip in Singapore was a one-off aberration, a result of tire pressure induced performance “dip” or the new norm.

Mercedes was quick to suggest they would return to form in Japan with Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull challenging each other for the second and third rows; in other words, back to the 2015 status quo. Weather was the only wild card, with Friday’s P1 /P2 free practices nearly rainouts, leaving just one hour on Saturday morning’s P3 for the teams to sort out settings for Saturday qualifying. Then, just to stir things up even more, Saturday’s overnight rain left Sunday’s race settings a huge question mark. With Pirelli ordering high mandatory tyre pressures for the race, teams had little data of tyre performance on long runs. Would it be two or three stops? With the high tyre pressures introducing more sliding and heat, how much degradation could be expected on the now green track, washed clean by the rain?

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