F1 Japanese Grand Prix Notebook: Red Bull Records Season's Fastest Pit Stop

Formula 2 racer Kimi Antonelli is due to start his Formula 1 test program, Guenther Steiner is back, and Red Bull records the fastest F1 pit stop of 2024.

Autoweek presents its paddock notebook from Suzuka:

Fastest Pit Stop of Season

Red Bull took home a 1-2 finish from a 1-2 in qualifying and also set the fastest lap of the race at Suzuka.

Red Bull's dominance also extended on pit lane. Red Bull made four stops during the race—two apiece for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez—and they were the four quickest pit stops of the grand prix.

Verstappen’s second stop was completed in just 2.08 seconds, the fastest of the campaign so far, though still shy of McLaren’s 1.80 second record set in Qatar last year. McLaren’s service of Norris, at 2.31 seconds, was the closest any team got to Red Bull at Suzuka.

Antonelli to Start Private Testing

Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli is to start private testing in old-spec machinery next week.

Antonelli, 17, is highly rated by Mercedes personnel and has made the jump to Formula 2 this season, bypassing Formula 3, having last year won the Formula Regional championship. Antonelli is a player in the very fluid driver market, with a seat open at Mercedes for 2025 in the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s impending switch to Ferrari.

Even though teams are allowed to run two-year-old cars—meaning that 2024 is the first time 2022 cars similar to the current machines can be used—Antonelli’s first test will be in Mercedes’ title-winning 2021 car.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff quipped that “we want to give him a feeling of what a really good car feels like before we put him in the ’22 [car]”, in reference to Mercedes’ underperformance in the current regulatory cycle.

Wolff added that Mercedes has now whittled its 2025 driver choice down to a handful of drivers but refused to elaborate or place a precise figure.

Honda Ramps Up 2026 Preparations

Honda has ramped up its 2026 F1 preparations by establishing a new subsidiary in the U.K.

The Japanese marque has had an in-out relationship in Formula 1, and was set to leave after 2021 before recommitting with Red Bull through the team’s new Red Bull Powertrains division. Honda eventually pledged to build a 2026 power unit—by which time Red Bull had committed to its Ford tie-in with RBPT—and will partner Aston Martin.

The new subsidiary Honda Racing Corporation UK (HRC UK) will be overseen by HRC President Koji Watanabe, and will perform post-race maintenance and preparation of the power units used by Aston Martin, which has its Formula 1 facility at Silverstone. HRC UK is set to begin recruiting engineers and technicians in the next few weeks.

Steiner Joins Miami Grand Prix Team

Guenther Steiner has been keeping himself busy since leaving Haas at the end of 2023.

The affable American-Italian was on the ground in Bahrain as a pundit for Germany media outlet RTL and, having been absent from Jeddah, was back in the paddock in Melbourne, performing similar duties for Australia’s Channel 10 broadcaster—which included a grid interview with long-time Haas racer Kevin Magnussen.

Steiner has now joined the Miami Grand Prix team as an ambassador for this year’s event, which will be the sixth round, across May 3-5.

“I’ve seen first-hand the incredible growth Formula 1 has had in the United States and it has so much potential to continue growing, especially with races like Miami as part of the circuit” said Steiner. “The event, which reflects the bold vision of the organizers, pairs American spectacle and F1 racing with a vibrant atmosphere at the track and throughout the city itself. I can’t wait to work with the team this May for what is guaranteed to be another fantastic event.”

As part of the ambassador role Steiner has even signed up to Instagram.

Leclerc Remembers Bianchi in Japan

Charles Leclerc paid tribute to his godfather, Jules Bianchi, almost a decade on from the accident which led to Bianchi’s death.

Bianchi, then racing for Marussia, struck a recovery vehicle during the rain-lashed Japanese Grand Prix in 2014, which took place in October, and sustained a severe head injury. Bianchi died nine months later in hospital in his native France. The Bianchis operate a kart facility in Brignoles, southern France, and Leclerc spent swathes of his formative years at the venue.

Leclerc ran a helmet tribute to Bianchi at Suzuka while, as with every year, flowers were placed behind the barriers at the scene of his accident.

“It's a very special place and whenever I get here I have somewhere in my mind Jules,” said Leclerc. “I think about Jules very often because he's been the person who helped me to get there back in 2010. He had spoken to Nicolas [Todt], my manager, in order for me to be supported to get to F1. And he's been the game changer in my career, before that we have been extremely close and both of our families are still very close.”