PWP: The Strategist shares their Suzuka picks

We are currently in the middle of a run of single-header races, but that doesn’t mean there is any let up for our secretive Grove guru, ‘The Strategist’.

Having found themselves tied for P3 after the first three rounds, our PWP mastermind is looking to put pressure on the leader who sits 10 points up the road.

There’s still so much to play for on Pit Wall Predictions, presented by Gulf, and another 40 points are up for grabs this weekend.

Read on for The Strategist’s tips and insights to help you make your picks for the 2024 Japanese GP.

Lap 11-20. It is in this window that the majority of drivers made their first stops last year, and if it wasn’t for damage picked up before the first turn, I suspect the same would have been true for Albono.

Lap 11-20. I predict Logan will come into the box during the same window as Alex this year. Logan took advantage of the early Safety Car in 2023 to come in on Lap 2 and clear a time penalty that he had carried into the race.

Alex. I fancy that Albono will be the first of our charges to call into the box for a quick-fire service.

P11-P15. The midfield is incredibly tight this year, so to play it safe, I’ve gone for this option which should allow for us to either blink first or come into the pits after others.

0.1-2.5 secs. Alex was tucked up 0.4s behind Kevin Magnussen when he made his first stop in Melbourne, and I fancy him to be right in amongst again when we get racing in Suzuka.

0.1-2.5 secs. Like his teammate, I feel that Sarge will be hot on the heels of whoever is ahead of him when the time comes to make his first stop on Sunday.

Zero. I don’t think that the VSC will be called upon this weekend. Any incident at Suzuka is likely to require a full SC intervention. We did see a very brief VSC period here last year to allow for some debris to be cleared at the hairpin.

One. There has been at least one full Safety Car period at four of our last five visits to Suzuka, so I suspect we’ll see Bernd Mayländer called upon once more.