JDJT’s patient last-lap strike draws him level with Higosh! after nine rounds

JDJT3593 waited until the final lap to deliver the most important move of the D4 season so far.

Higosh! had started from pole, carried a five-point championship lead into Japan and remained ahead with the race almost over. JDJT had other ideas. He took the lead when there was virtually no time left for a response and won by 0.125 seconds, turning a five-point deficit into a dead heat at the top of the standings.

It was not merely another Williams one-two. It was the moment the partnership became a title fight.

JDJT said afterwards that he had deliberately waited until the last lap because attacking sooner would have given Higosh! the opportunity to respond in the same way. The timing was ruthless: Higosh! had been beaten at precisely the point when there was no race left in which to recover.

In the less diplomatic language of the D4 chat, he got cooked.

Japan's provisional top 10

Pole offers Higosh! no protection from JDJT

Japan exposed the defining contrast between the two championship rivals.

JDJT now has nine IMS victories without taking a single career pole. Every one of those wins has come from somewhere else on the grid. He does not need to control qualifying to take control of a race.

Higosh! has eight career poles but has converted only two of them into victories. Japan became the sixth occasion on which he started first and did not win.

That does not mean Higosh! lacks the pace to win this championship. Eight poles are proof of how regularly he can place himself at the front. The problem is what happens when JDJT remains close enough to attack after qualifying has finished.

Higosh! will spend the final three rounds checking his mirrors. Every time the other Williams appears in them late in a race, Japan will be the reminder: pole position, the championship lead and track position were not enough to keep JDJT behind.

The constructors' formality has removed the final restraint

Williams arrived in Japan needing to outscore Red Bull by 41 points to clinch the constructors' championship. The one-two delivered 55 points while Red Bull scored 18, producing a 37-point swing—four short of the required target.

The title is therefore not mathematically settled. Common sense, however, says the job is nearly finished.

Williams now lead Red Bull by 371 points to 209. Reversing a 162-point deficit across the final three rounds would require an extraordinary Williams collapse alongside near-perfect Red Bull results.

Before Japan, Higosh! told IMS News what confirmation of that championship would mean.

“Taking the constructors would mean gloves off for on track fighting, which has been close to none this season.”

The trophy has not formally arrived, but the gloves are already off. Williams no longer have a realistic reason to restrain two drivers who are level on 183 points. Teamwork created this advantage; the remaining races will decide which team-mate benefits from it most.

JDJT has landed the first blow of that new phase.

McBeth's lost podium is now before the FIA

Alezoo completed the podium after moving from sixth on the grid to third, but McBeth crossed the line only 0.431 seconds behind him after starting second.

McBeth has submitted an incident concerning a Lap 9 sequence around 130R. He says he caught the Ferrari ahead because of their different speeds before Tem hit him from behind, sending both cars off and costing him between five and seven seconds. Tem's response in the incident thread was blunt: “Just give me the pen.”

The FIA has not yet ruled. A penalty for Tem would not automatically move McBeth ahead of Alezoo, so the provisional podium remains JDJT, Higosh! and Alezoo unless the classification is formally changed.

Fourth place ends McBeth's run of four consecutive podiums. It also leaves him 33 points behind both Williams drivers on 150. He remains within reach, but the championship has become considerably harder to influence from behind a pair who have just finished first and second.

Ferrari are dragging Red Bull into a fight for second

Alezoo's podium extends an increasingly convincing run: victory in Qatar, fourth in Baku and now third in Japan.

Geo supported him with sixth place, finishing only 0.113 seconds behind Wilier. Ferrari collected 30 points between them while Red Bull managed 18, reducing the gap between the teams to 32 points.

Williams may have removed most of the tension from the fight for first, but Ferrari are restoring it immediately behind them. McBeth's damaged result and Ceetee's tenth place have given Alezoo and geo a realistic target across the final three rounds.

Wilier is building again after his Silverstone win

Wilier's Silverstone victory was followed by 12th in Las Vegas and 11th at Spa, results that made the win look like an isolated high point. His form since has told a different story.

He finished eighth in Australia, eighth in Qatar, eighth in Baku and fifth in Japan. This was his best result since Silverstone and moved him to 80 points, fifth in the championship.

Wilier remains the only D4 winner this season outside the Williams pair and Alezoo. Japan did not produce another victory, but it strengthened the argument that Silverstone was more than one strange afternoon. His results are moving in the right direction again.

Shrizz turns a late decision into a result worth celebrating

TheShrizzzler decided to race only around an hour before the start, qualified 13th and finished eighth.

Shrizz has never pretended to be one of D4's great natural speed merchants. He entered the race joking that he was not guaranteed points even with a smaller field and later described the outcome as a “humble P8”. That self-awareness is precisely why the result lands.

For one of the slower regulars on the grid, five places gained and seven points represent a very good return. Shrizz did not suddenly become a front-runner; he simply arrived at short notice, stayed in the race and extracted far more from Japan than anybody—including Shrizz—had expected.

Ceetee's fastest-lap attempt achieves absolutely nothing

Ceetee spent much of the race in ninth before stopping late to chase the fastest lap. He returned behind Ash, failed to recover the position and missed the benchmark set by Higosh! by 0.167 seconds.

The result was tenth place, three points and the loss of the position he had already held. Ceetee supplied his own review: “yet again another race where i have been terrorised”, before adding, “by myself aswell this time”.

His race may yet have a further FIA consequence. Ceetee has submitted a separate Lap 1 incident involving LeeMI and Ash at the hairpin. He says the second contact turned him towards the exit after the initial hit; LeeMI disputes making contact and says the cars passed through one another. The stewards will rule on both D4 submissions in the coming days.

Tem's fifth place on the grid becomes another retirement

Tem began fifth but did not finish. During the race he apologised for contact and reported that wheel stuttering caused by frame-rate drops had contributed to his problems.

The FIA submission from McBeth means the consequences may continue beyond the zero already recorded in Japan. What had been one of Tem's strongest starting positions of the season ended with another DNF and an accepted likelihood of a penalty.

Elite Heat Show makes the late call count

Elite Heat Show was not originally expecting to race. He offered to fill the empty Mercedes seat only minutes before the session, qualified eighth and finished seventh for nine points.

EdvonSchleck arrived after qualifying had begun, set no time and started 17th. He reached 12th to take the final available point, gaining five positions from the back of the grid.

Bigwoottz finished 11th and apologised in the chat for contact with an Alpine, while enzo supplied the strangest post-race explanation of the afternoon after finishing 16th: “i wasn't even racing my bot was”.

Those stories will sit below the headline, but they complete a race that stretched far beyond the two cars at the front.

The championship, however, belongs entirely to those two Williams drivers now. Williams need very little more to complete the constructors' job. JDJT and Higosh! need everything available to beat one another.

Three rounds remain. They are level on 183 points, and Higosh! has learned that starting ahead of JDJT does not mean finishing there.