 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
It is both a fan and driver favourite. It is tricky, fast, challenging and dangerous which provides a great spectacle for the fans. Japanese fans are also some of the more enthusiastic in the world, bringing a new characteristic to the race.
The circuit is also a classic, with changes since its opening being limited. We have seen legends like Senna and Prost battle so closely on the narrow circuit.
Here is my whole weekend review of the Japanese Grand Prix.
A number of driver line ups were confirmed ahead of the Japanese GP, as well as Schumacher's retirement announcement. This left the gossip to focus on the vacant Sauber seat and those Ferrari rumours.
Free Practice is vital to get to grips with the challenging circuit, here's how the 4 hours of practice went.
FP1
Jenson Button cemented his strong pace at the Suzuka circuit, after taking a stunning win 12 months earlier on the track. He led a McLaren 1-2 as the chequered flag fell to end the first session.
Button's best time of 1m34.507 around the 5.8km circuit was 2 tenths faster than his team mate. Hamilton set the early pace before Button dropped him down the order. It was a quiet start to the session but people soon followed Hamilton out on to the circuit.
Mark Webber also showed Red Bull are looking fast, finishing a tenth further back in comparison to Hamilton. Nico Rosberg set the 4th fastest time by end of the 1 hour 30 minute session, half a second behind leader Button. The German did pull over towards the end of the session, but lost little in running time. Retiring man Michael Schumacher ended the session rounding out the top 5.
Force India showed strong pace in 8th and 9th, while Japanese star Kamui Kobayashi set a best time worthy of 6th place. Sebastian Vettel was 1.8 tenths off in 17th, behind championship leader Fernando Alonso who dropped to 11th.
FP2
Mark Webber topped the time sheet for FP2 after a disrupted session.
The session was disrupted by numerous yellow flag's and even a red flag, but Webber managed to eventually set a time of 1m32.493 to top the session, 2 tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton finished the session 6 tenths faster than his team mate, with Button ending up down in 7th place. Sebastian Vettel showed improved pace in 3rd, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.
Felipe Massa was 1.1 seconds off the pace in 9th, suffering a big moment at the Degner Curve. He finished the 1 hour 30 minute session 1 spot ahead of Michael Schumacher, who also suffered a scary moment. However his incident was at much higher speeds and caused a yellow flag after his Mercedes car hit the barrier at the Spoon Curve.
A red flag was brought out earlier in the session after a near carbon copy incident to Schumacher's by Force India driver Paul Di Resta. Both drivers entered the corner with 2 wheels on the grass and spun, before hitting the barrier. Vitaly Petrov also had a scary end to his session after his rear wing fell off on the run to turn 1, fortunately he did not hit anything.
FP3
Red Bull really did show off their strong pace in final practice, by topping the session with both cars.
The final 60 minute session was a busy one and saw Sebastian Vettel top the time sheets, leading Mark Webber by 2 tenths. His best lap of 1m32.136 was a country mile ahead of the first non-driver, who was Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was 6 tenths down on the Red Bull, ahead of Schumacher, Perez and Kobayashi.
Force India had a difficult session, with Paul Di Resta in the top 10 but Hulkenberg ended up collecting the barrier at the final Degner curve. The impact was not too heavy but took the left front wheel off, leaving them with plenty of work to do before Qualifying. Kovalainen also went of at that corner, but managed to steer it clear of the barriers.
Qualifying
Sunny Skies and warm weather greeted the drivers for Qualifying, with the session being very important on a track where overtaking is not the easiest.
Q1
It was a slow start to the first 20 minute qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix, but Paul Di Resta and co were soon out flying around the Suzuka circuit.
Drivers battled with the challenging circuit, with Perez having a big off at turn 7. Drivers under pressure moved over to the soft tyres later on in the session, with Red Bull and McLaren topping the time sheets with 5 minutes left. As the midfield pack moved across to the faster tyres, they began to move ahead of the front runners.
As the chequered flag came out, the drop zone compromised of the usual suspects, with Kovalainen qualifying ahead of Glock and De La Rosa. Petrov dropped to 23rd after Charles Pic qualified faster, with Karthikeyan qualifying in the final slot. Bruno Senna was the big name out in Q1 after a last gasp lap by Michael Schumacher.
Romain Grosjean topped the time sheets on the soft tyre, ahead of home favourite Kobayashi and his Sauber team-mate Perez. Raikkonen and Alonso both went on to the soft tyres, while medium tyre runner Vettel ended the session 6th. Title contender Webber was 11th, while Hamilton and Button dropped to 14th and 15th, perilously close to the drop zone.
Q2
The second qualifying session, lasting 15 minutes long, was a busy one. The Japanese fans waved their flags and showed their support, due to the fact that Kamui Kobayashi was the first driver to join the track.
Drivers moved over to the soft compound Pirelli tyre for this session, levelling the field out. Kobayashi was the early pace setter, before Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel moved to the front on a 1m31.501. Button was 2 tenths off with half the session left to run, with Webber and Hamilton trailing further.
The drop zone order was not cemented until the frantic run to the chequered flag. The order was constantly changing as cars improved their times, but Vettel and Button were cemented at the front.
In to the final qualifying session, joining Vettel and Button, were Raikkonen, Alonso, home favourite Kobayashi and Mark Webber. Romain Grosjean's late lap time put him up in 7th, ahead of Hamilton who did not go out for another lap. Perez also improved to go through, as did Hulkenberg (who has a gearbox penalty).
Out in the second qualifying session were Massa and Di Resta, who dropped down the order. Michael Schumacher was not having a good weekend, after crashing in FP2 he qualified 13th and has a 10 place grid penalty to contend with too. Maldonado and Rosberg were next up, not fast enough to go through to Q3. The last drivers out were Ricciardo and Vergne.
Q3
The final 10 minute qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix was one of great importance, with Red Bull and McLaren battling out for the top spot.
Numerous strategies were used in the final session, some setting sector times, some doing 2 runs and some just putting their chances on 1. Raikkonen set the first lap time, a 1m32.208. That was soon toppled by Vettel after Hamilton could not match the Iceman. Vettel set a stunning lap time to go 1.3 seconds faster than Raikkonen, with a 1m30.839.
Button was the sole McLaren to keep the Red Bull's honest, 4 tenths behind Vettel. Webber went between them, 2 tenths shy of his team mate. Grosjean also bettered Hamilton's time, dropping him to 6th after the first runs.
With 2 minutes remaining, all 10 cars were out on track. Some started their second runs, while others hoped that the 1 shot they had would be enough. Perez provisionally went 5th as the chequered flag waved, with a yellow flag at spoon curve meant some drivers could not improve. The flag was thanks to Kimi Raikkonen spinning as he returned to the circuit.
Alonso went 7th, while Kobayashi jumped to 4th. Meanwhile Button went 3rd behind Vettel and Webber, while Grosjean went 5th and Hamilton could not improve thanks to Raikkonen's yellow flag, qualifying 9th. However Button and Hulkenberg do have 5 place grid penalties.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.839s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.090s
3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.294s (PEN)
4. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.700s
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m31.989s
6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.022s
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.114s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m32.208s
9. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.327s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes (PEN)
Q2 cut-off time: 1m32.272s 11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.293s + 0.792
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m32.327s + 0.826
13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.469s + 0.968 (PEN)
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m32.512s + 1.011
15. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.625s + 1.124
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m32.954s + 1.453
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.368s + 1.867(PEN)
Q1 cut-off time: 1m33.370s Gap *
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m33.405s + 1.376
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m34.657s + 2.628
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.213s + 3.184
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m35.385s + 3.356
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.429s + 3.400
23. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.432s + 3.403
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m36.734s + 4.705
107% time: 1m38.471s
*Post Race*
- Penalty for Vergne, moves back 3 places for blocking Bruno Senna.
- Vettel given reprimand for blocking Alonso
The Race
Suzuka was bathed in blue sky and sun light, as race day arrived. A mixed up grid was the perfect ingredient for a dramatic race, and the tight, twisty and challenging track made it tough.
Red Bull dominated qualifying, but others were still up for the fight and needing to impress. The driver market was as busy as ever, so a number of racers needed to make an impact.
The legendary 130R, Senna Esses and Degner Curves are iconic of the Suzuka circuit, with both fans and drivers a like enjoying the track. Japanese fans are some of the most enthusiastic in the world, and they made their feelings obvious.
The narrow grid makes for an interesting start, and this one was no different. The red lights came on, the revs rose and we were racing in Japan. Off the line, Sebastian Vettel had a brilliant start but Webber fell back and was passed by Kobayashi. There was carnage at turn 2 as Webber collided with Grosjean and spun on to the grass. Alonso also spun at the exit of turn 1, while Rosberg was also collected by Senna. Button had a brilliant first lap and moved up to 3rd as the safety car was deployed, with cars scattered across the first corner complex. Rosberg and Alonso were out, with Webber getting his car back on track. Romain Grosjean and Bruno Senna stopped for repairs on the first lap, as did Webber.
The safety car pulled in at the end of lap 2, with Vettel leading Kobayashi, Button and Massa. Vettel had a brilliant jump on the pack, with Kobayashi being slow away on the restart. Perez attempted to pass Raikkonen around the outside at turn 1, but failed and ran onto the run off.
On the replay of the first corner chaos, Raikkonen was squeezed on to the grass by Alonso and hit the Spaniard. The two time world champion spun onto the gravel and rejoined the track facing the wrong way, luckily he was not collected by anyone else. At turn 2 Grosjean hit Webber, spinning him, while the concertina caused Rosberg to get collected.
As the cars flew on to the start finish straight to start lap 6, Vettel had a decent lead over Kobayashi. Button was stuck in a slight train behind the Japanese driver. Hamilton had fallen off the back of Raikkonen, the Brit running 6th. He was then demoted to 7th after a banzai move by Perez at the hairpin.
The stewards gifted Romain Grosjean with a 10 second stop go penalty for causing the turn 2 collision with Webber. Hamilton was obviously struggling with the pace, by lap 8 he had dropped right off the back of Perez and had Hulkenberg to worry about.
Sebastian was having an easy time out front, consistently lapping faster than the rest. Further back, by lap 13 cars started struggling with tyre degradation. Kimi Raikkonen was dropping back from the pack in front, falling into the clutches of Perez. The race began to settle down as the first stops closed in. Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen were the first to stop on lap 14, with the former coming out in clear air. The "Iceman" was not so lucky, emerging behind Vergne and Kovalainen. Sauber reacted to the stop, bringing in Kamui Kobayashi. The home favourite came out just ahead of Jenson Button.
Sauber star Sergio Perez pitted on lap 16, falling further behind Kimi Raikkonen. Kobayashi and Button were being held up badly by Ricciardo, playing into the hands of Vettel out front. The leader pitted after 17 laps and obviously came out with a comfortable gap. Massa followed him in and came out ahead of both Kobayashi and Button, in a net second place.
After the first round of stops, Vettel led from Massa, Kobayashi and Button. Raikkonen and Hamilton were 5th and 6th, with Perez, Hulkenberg, Maldonado and Kovalainen trailing behind. Sergio Perez attempted a brave move around the outside of Hamilton at the hairpin and spun off track, getting beached in the gravel.
More penalties were given out by the stewards, with Bruno Senna getting a drive through for hitting Rosberg. Button radioed to his team, explaining a possible gearbox problem. Webber's quiet charge through the field meant he was running 9th by lap 23, who would of thought after lap 1?
The half way mark came and went, with Mark Webber finding the "cliff" on his tyres. He pitted immediately. Raikkonen made his second stop on lap 31, emerging in clear air. Massa was setting some consistent lap times and despite dropping back from Vettel, he was lapping faster than Kobayashi during the mid race stint. Kamui had started to slow down on his tyres, and pitted on lap 32 for some fresh hard tyres. Hamilton and Hulkenberg both pitted together. It was a close call for Hamilton, but he emerged side by side with Raikkonen and the Brit cemented the move at turn 2.
McLaren reacted to the stop and bought in Button, but the Brit overshot his blocks and the right rear was slow on. He emerged still behind Kobayashi, and had Hamilton closing in on him. Sebastian Vettel had the race under control, with a gap of close to 20 seconds over the sole Ferrari of Massa.
During that quiet stint, Karthikeyan pulled into his pit garage with a mechanical problem and Charles Pic retired with an engine failure. Bruno Senna took 14th place off Romain Grosjean in a good move around the outside at 130R, all be it with Grosjean struggling with grip.
The laps were being counted down, and Button was set to spoil the home favourites debut podium. The McLaren driver was closing in on the Sauber driver, with 8 laps to go the gap was 1.8 seconds. His earlier gearbox problem had vanished, and Button was on a charge. Kobayashi was fighting for his drive, after seeing his team mate get 3 podiums he wanted a taste of the champagne. Out front Vettel was unchallenged and completely on his own.
Button was closing in on Kobayashi but was it too late? With 2 laps left Button just missed out on the all important DRS boost. The McLaren driver was really on a charge but he could not close in on the Japanese driver.
Vettel crossed the line with a 20 second gap, dominating the race yet again
Sebastian Vettel dominates to win at Suzuka
Sebastian Vettel took a controlled and dominant win at Suzuka, a circuit which he has was twice on previous occassions and qualified on pole 4 times. The double world champion capitalised from Alonso crashing out on the first lap and closed in on his rival in the championship. The closest anyone got to him was at the restart, when even then Kobayashi was slow to react. He consistently put in fast laps and was lonely out front, with no one able to take on the Red Bull.
Felipe Massa took his first podium since Korean 2010. The Brazilian started down the field and ran 4th early on, before taking advantage of traffic for his closest rivals to leap frog them in the pit stops. He then set some good lap times and pulled away from the scrap for third to cement a stunning podium finish, and a welcome one with some questioning his future in the sport.
The battle for 3rd was heated as the laps closed in, but Kamui Kobayashi took a fantastic debut podium finish. The crowd erupted with delight as Kobayashi clinched his first podium finish in his career. He had a great qualifying session and was the runner up early on, before losing out to Massa. The Japanese driver dropped off the back of the Ferrari and fell into the clutches of Button, but drove a great defensive race with a brilliant car to take a popular third place. Jenson Button just missed out on a podium, and lost out thanks to traffic after the pit stops. A brilliant start set up his race but he narrowly missed out on the champagne.
Lewis Hamilton had looked slow early on but took Raikkonen at the final pit stops to move into 5th place. It was a quiet race for the Brit. The Iceman took more decent points in 6th, while Hulkenberg showed strong form in the Force India to finish 7th. Maldonado returned to the points for the first time since Spain in 8th, vital points in the battle with Force India in the constructors.
Mark Webber recovered brilliantly after the first corner collisions to take 9th place, welcome points for the Red Bull driver after a terrible start. Daniel Ricciardo took the final point in 10th, keeping behind 7 time world champion Schumacher.
Di Resta had a quiet and disappointing race to 12th, ahead of Vergne and Senna. Kovalainen finished 15th after running as high as 11th, with Glock, Petrov and De La Rosa rounding out the classified runners.
Romain Grosjean was pushed into the garage late in the race, while Pic's race ended with an engine failure. Karthikeyan was also pushed into the garage during the race, with Perez spinning out mid way through the race. Alonso and Rosberg were both taken out at the first corner.
However all eyes were on the top 3, who all produced great drivers when it counted. Vettel needed it for the championship, while Massa and Kobayashi had to prove they deserved a seat for 2013. Chants of "Kamui" on the podium showed it was a very popular line up.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h28:56.242
2. Massa Ferrari + 20.639
3. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 24.538
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 25.098
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 46.490
6. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 50.424
7. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 51.159
8. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 52.364
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 54.675
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:06.919
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:07.769
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:23.400
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:28.600
14. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:28.700
15. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:35.774
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 39
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 34
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 19
Alonso Ferrari 1
Rosberg Mercedes 1
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h28:56.242
2. Massa Ferrari + 20.639
3. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 24.538
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 25.098
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 46.490
6. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 50.424
7. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 51.159
8. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 52.364
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 54.675
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:06.919
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:07.769
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:23.400
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:28.600
14. Senna Williams-Renault + 1:28.700
15. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:35.774
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 39
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 34
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 19
Alonso Ferrari 1
Rosberg Mercedes 1
No comments:
Post a Comment