F1 heads to Suzuka from Friday, March 27 to Sunday, March 29 for the third round of a, so far, thrilling season in 2026.
As the season begins to unfold and the pecking order is revealed, some interesting storylines are being created.
Mercedes vs Ferrari and intra-team battles
The Australian and Chinese Grands Prix were dominated by the battles between Mercedes and Ferrari and within the teams.
Mercedes has dominated the start of the season with two one-two finishes.
However, the fast-starting Ferraris have been able to challenge Mercedes at the start of races.
This weekend will be another test as to whether Ferrari can improve their race pace and truly challenge Mercedes all the way to the flag.
Nevertheless, with a win each so far, the Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli still head into the weekend as favourites, with little separating the pair.
Ferrari has been able to somewhat challenge the Mercedes duo thus far and have rounded off the final podium place in both races.
Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have had one each, and so the battle to see who will come out on top continues.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Adrian Newey set to step aside as Aston Martin boss; Jonathan Wheatley the likely replacement
2025 shock winner – could we see a repeat?
Despite the expectations around Mercedes, a similar story unfolded last year with McLaren but ended with an unexpected twist.
McLaren was the dominant car at the start of the 2025 season, and they went into the Japanese Grand Prix as the clear favourites.
However, in a shock turn, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took both pole position and the win.
Could we see a repeat shock winner this year?
Fight for the final points
The last race in China brought great battles in the midfield for the final points-paying positions.
By the end of the race, seven different teams ended up scoring points.
Sure, this unexpected result was aided by reliability issues from Red Bull and McLaren, but it made for an exciting race and battles in the midfield.
In that race, the focus was between Haas and Alpine.
As Suzuka is a highly technical track with tight, high-speed corners, the fight for the final points will be equally interesting this weekend.
Backmarker battles
There were battles across the field in the last race, including at the very back.
Cadillac’s Sergio Pérez made an audacious and unsuccessful move on his team-mate on the opening lap.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso made it up to 10th from 19th at the start of the race.
Action between the backmarkers wasn’t just during the race start, and there were plenty of overtakes throughout the race.
As with the fight for the final points, expect more action at the back of the pack.
READ MORE: Chinese GP news: Kimi Antonelli claims maiden F1 win in Shanghai as Mercedes seal one-two finish
Will we finally get 22 drivers starting the race?
In the season opener in Melbourne, there were 20 starters, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg out of the race before it even started.
Things were even worse in the Japanese Grand Prix, where four drivers were unable to start the race, all due to car issues.
With a new regulation set, poor reliability is always going to be an issue, but to have four drivers not start a race in modern F1 is something no one wants to see.
Will the teams have figured out their reliability gremlins enough to get all the cars started this time out?
READ NEXT: England news: Thomas Tuchel names 35-man squad in battle for World Cup places
SportJustSport writers