“Big test” warning issued to Red Bull’s rivals ahead of Japanese Grand Prix

1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill believes this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix will be a “big test” for Red Bull’s rivals.

Red Bull dominated last season’s race at Suzuka as Max Verstappen stormed to pole position by six-tenths ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen would go on to win the race by over 19 seconds, bouncing back from a disappointing Singapore Grand Prix for Red Bull.

Red Bull appeared to struggle for pace in Australia, or at least, weren’t as strong as they were in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.

Looking ahead to this weekend, Hill feels that Red Bull will be back to their best around the famous Suzuka circuit.

“I think this is going to be a big test for the competition against Red Bull at Suzuka,” Hill said on the F1 Nation Podcast. “I think this is really going to test the aero efficiency, tyre wear efficiency in the car as well.

“But Ferrari are quick in a straight line, and it is a lot of straight line, a lot of high-speed stuff in Suzuka, and what I really hope is that Ferrari are able to take the race to Red Bull during the actual race itself.

“I think qualifying will still see Max on pole by probably a similar amount, two tenths, maybe three tenths or something like that.

“The question is whether Ferrari have got good tyre deg, and we’ll be watching the FP1/2/3 on that one, to get some clues. But you have to say, the question is always going to be asked, did they win in Melbourne because Max broke down? We’ll never know the answer – so we need to get them to beat Max in a straight race.

“Once that happens, and I think they’re getting close – I think we’re getting close to that. “And that may be wishful thinking on my part, not because I don’t want Max to win anything, I just want to see some racing, and I want to see a championship open up.

“But if they do, wow, that would be really shocking for the whole of Formula 1, because it means that something can be done about this Red Bull runaway.”

Hill expects McLaren’s challenge to only strengthen in Japan, given their prowess in high-speed corners and general progress since Bahrain.

“They are making progress and looking more and more solid with every race that goes by,” Hill added.

“They weren’t happy with their first race at Bahrain and they were saying that they’ve got some changes, but they learned a lot in that first race.

“I think they’re gradually making some progress. They were strong, although they were unhappy with Saudi Arabia with their speed. They got their setup, I think, wrong for the aero setup for Saudi, but they seem to have got things in the sweet spot for Melbourne.”