2026 Japanese Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
22 hours ago
4 min read

A Slight Alteration to Qualifying

There have been a lot of loud opinions in the first two weekends of these new regulations, but one that I very much agree on is Qualifying! See, Qualifying used to be the most exciting part of any Formula 1 Weekend (perhaps minus the start), with every driver pushing to the absolute maximum in order to gain those crucial thousandths of a second! However, in this new era of cars, that isn’t happening, with an awful lot of “super clipping” limiting the actual skill involved to nail a special Quali lap! However, after talking with all of the teams/power unit manufacturers, the FIA have implemented a rule where the maximum permitted energy recharge has been reduced from 9MJ to 8MJ! I honestly can’t tell you what that means, or whether Qualifying will be any better this weekend! Fingers crossed though, as at least the FIA are trying to sort some things out!

Honda VS Toyota – Sort Of!

One of the biggest rivalries in car manufacturing, particularly in Japan, is the battle between Honda and Toyota! With this weekend taking place in Japan, I thought this would be the perfect time to highlight these two brands as both of them are involved in Formula 1 this year! Honda are currently supplying (bad) engines to Aston Martin, whilst Toyota are current title sponsors for Haas! However, put the emphasis on “sort of”, as these two teams are anywhere but close on track right now! Haas have started the season amazingly, finding themselves 4th in the Constructors’ Championship, just 1 point behind McLaren, after two best of the rest finishes for Oliver Bearman! On the other end of the spectrum, Aston Martin have done anything but race, having DNF’d from both Grand Prix’s with a number of different issues! In fact, Aston are actually currently last in the Constructors’, even behind Cadillac! So, whilst these two teams shouldn’t be anywhere near each other this weekend, at least the Japanese crowd will have some teams to cheer for!

Will Oscar Piastri Finally Start a Race?

This is such a depressing thing to write on a Thursday morning! Oscar Piastri, the star of the large majority of the 2025 Formula 1 Season, came into 2026 looking to take another step up after falling short of winning his first World Championship at the final hurdle! However, to win a World Championship, first you must finish, or in Oscar’s case, first you must start! In the season opener in Australia, Piastri crashed on his way to the grid, taking him out of his Home Race completely, whilst a mechanical issue prevented the Aussie from taking the start in China! So yes, after 2 Grand Prix weekends, Oscar Piastri is yet to start a Race, with his only 3 points coming in the China Sprint Race (where he finished 6th)! Yikes!

A Number of Special Liveries

With us being back in Japan this weekend, we were always going to see a few special liveries, and this year is no different! Firstly, Racing Bulls have revealed a “spring edition” livery, and I have to say that I really like this! It’s giving me “Shadows of a Setting Sun” vibes, mixed with samurai red! Big fan! Secondly, Haas are running a special “Godzilla” themed livery (as seen above), and whilst I do perhaps prefer their standard livery (which was my number 1 favourite this year), this is still cool! I appreciate the uniqueness of this design, but I will say that Haas and Toyota missed a trick not rebranding to “Toyota Godzilla Racing” (TGR) Haas for one weekend! Mercedes are also running a special “wolf” front wing this weekend as part of their collaboration with Y-3, and I will say that that looks pretty awesome! However, I wouldn’t class this as a special livery as only one part of the car has changed!

Where are Red Bull?

Despite a positive pre-season, the start to Red Bull Racing’s 2026 Formula 1 Season has been anything but smooth sailing! In Australia, Max Verstappen went crashing into the barriers at Turn 1 after a car issue in Qualifying, whilst Isack Hadjar, who did superbly well to qualify third, retired from the Grand Prix after just 10 laps as smoke poured out of the back of his car! In China, Red Bull were slow, with them spending the weekend battling Oliver Bearman’s Haas and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine! Neither driver managed to score a point in the Sprint, with Max getting a horrendous start, whilst that start correlated over into the Grand Prix too, with Verstappen again dropping right to the back! There were then more issues for Red Bull on Lap 1 as Hadjar went spinning off after overtaking Ollie Bearman, whilst Verstappen would eventually retire from the Race due to a problem! After 2 weekends, Red Bull find themselves 5th in the Constructors’ Championship, but the bigger concern is the fact that they’re currently level on points with their sister team, Racing Bulls! Max Verstappen is also currently level on points with Liam Lawson, whilst Isack Hadjar is level on points with Arvid Lindblad, the man who replaced him at VCARB for this season! The saddest thing to think about with Red Bull is that this time 12 months ago, Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix in sensational fashion, pulling off one of the all-time great Pole Position laps (to pip the two McLarens)! This might be a hot take, but I don’t see Max getting anywhere near the win this time around!