But teams and drivers are already bracing themselves for what could be a game of patiently follow-the-leader thanks to the growing dirty air problem that F1 is experiencing right now.
While F1’s new ground effect rules era from 2022 was supposed to better allow cars to follow each other closely, and indeed it worked for a while, the efforts by teams over more than two years now has done away with much of the gains.
Downforce improvements made to the cars, and an increased mastery of outwash designs that are perfect for diverting airflow away from a car but lead to a disturbed wake for pursuing rivals, has made close racing much harder.
While things look super tight between Red Bull’s chasing pack which points to an potentially unpredictable contest, the high aero demands of Suzuka are going to make things super difficult for anyone to race as hard as they like if they are trapped behind another car.
It could mean that the key to making progress up the order at Suzuka is not in brilliant overtakes but in getting clean air – potentially with an out of sync pitstop – to be able to maximise pace.
Source: Autosport