One particular F1 fanbase may be ‘aghast’ at what they’ve seen from their team at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Ted Kravitz says.
It was normal service resumed at the front of the field in qualifying as the ‘amazing’ Max Verstappen took pole position for Red Bull.
But Kravitz, who was speaking live on Sky Sports F1, reckons there may be disquiet among the supporters of one of their rivals.
Sergio Perez qualified just behind Verstappen to give Red Bull their first qualifying one-two of the season.
McLaren were their nearest challengers, at least in the hands of the ‘brilliant’ Lando Norris, who took third.
Australian Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz was fourth, while Fernando Alonso grabbed an impressive fifth for Aston Martin.
Oscar Piastri completes the third row in the other McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton the lead Mercedes in seventh.
Charles Leclerc, who has qualified on the front row twice this season, was one of the biggest disappointments of the session in eighth, but he did beat George Russell.
Ted Kravitz defends Mercedes despite lack of upgrades
While Red Bull have brought a significantly upgraded RB20 to Japan and Ferrari have introduced some updates too, Mercedes have arrived with the same version of their W15.
It’s a car that’s only been able to deliver 26 points so far and fell nearly 70 points adrift of the top two after a double DNF in Australia.
While Kravitz accepts that Mercedes fans may be ‘horrified’ to see their rivals stealing a march in the development race, he says the Silver Arrows face a different challenge.
There’s plenty of performance in their challenger that still needs to be unlocked through tweaks to the set-up.
He said: “When you have a look at the upgrade list, Mercedes fans might have been slightly disappointed, even horrified, to see Red Bull have got four upgrades, Ferrari have got a couple of upgrades.
“When it comes to Mercedes, how many upgrades have they got this weekend? None.
“But that wasn’t the point. The point for the engineers is to change the set-up to stop them overheating the rear tyres.
“There was more time in not getting your rear tyres overheating and having the rear of the car not slide all over the place and not have any grip than there ever would have been rushing through some upgrades.”
Lewis Hamilton delivers improved showing for Mercedes
While Mercedes will inevitably want more than seventh and ninth, there were at least small signs of encouragement for Hamilton on Saturday.
Heading to Suzuka, the seven-time world champion trailed teammate Russell by 10 points in the early standings.
Hamilton, who retired with an engine failure in Australia, had failed to finish any of the first three races in the top six for the first time in his career.
Perhaps more notably, Russell was leading the qualifying head-to-head 3-0.
The former Williams driver explained that he was feeling more confident in the car than his more experienced partner.
He rejected suggestions from pundit David Coulthard that Hamilton’s mind was already with Ferrari, where he’ll be racing next year.
Karun Chandhok said the 39-year-old cut a ‘despondent’ figure last time out in Australia but he seems to have taken a tentative step in the right direction this weekend.
Hamilton will hope to gain further ground in Sunday’s race, with Piastri and Alonso his first targets.
The post 'Even horrified': Ted Kravitz says one F1 fanbase may be aghast at what they've seen at Suzuka appeared first on F1 Oversteer.