Gary Anderson: F1’s sudden Japanese GP rule change doesn’t go far enough

The FIA’s decision to drop the harvesting level per lap from nine to eight megajoules in qualifying for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix is a step in the right direction, but more could have been done to ensure qualifying is the spectacle and driving challenge it should be.Pre-2026, the laptime I used for these Suzuka calculations was 1m27.3s and the braking time 10.03 seconds, with 62% of the lap on full throttle (defined as the driver requesting full torque). That means 54.12 seconds of full torque request.Add on 5% for these lower grip cars and we get a laptime of 1m31.5s, braking of 10.5s, which means 56.83s full torque request. That means that 24.3s seconds of the lap was part throttle when full torque is not requested. During this per …