Nine things we learned from F1’s Japanese GP

We’ve just had the last 2026 Formula 1 grand prix weekend for five weeks, and it told us plenty – from F1’s best driver close to quitting to a big safety issue being exposed.Red Bull’s lost…Red Bull was defeated by Alpine in Japan and even though Max Verstappen suspected he was “a tiny bit faster”, this was another race he and Red Bull spent firmly in F1’s midfield group.Worse still, Red Bull’s drivers don’t think the team has a clear direction out of the current problem.It reflects poorly on Red Bull’s car that the introduction of a brand new, in-house engine for the first time, built to very challenging new rules, is not its main problem at the start of 2026. There’s ” …