All things said a done, a thoroughly enjoyable race, but I’m sure like me
you’re feeling just that little bit cheated we didn’t get to see the Red
Bulls battle for the lead on track. Ce’st la vie. Thanks for your emails and
tweets – do get in touch with your thoughts on the coverage and if there’s
anything you would like to see included! See you next time in two weeks for
the Indian Grand Prix.
08:53 Here’s a full report on Sebastian Vettel’s victory at
the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. I’ll be posting my own wrap shortly!
08:50 Some tweets from our F1 correspondent Tom Cary now…
08:49 Typically blunt question from Jordan, who tells Grosjean “we
didn’t think you would be here this time last year”. That question is
as fizzy as the tango smeared across his face. A very gracious Grosjean, who
seems very happy with his recent performances, and why not? He’s really
established himself at Lotus now and the team should fear less Kimi
Raikkonen’s departure.
08:47 Fair to say a much bigger cheer for Webber than Vettel, but I
think the Aussie would prefer to have won than to get the cheers. Webber
says he’s “pretty happy with second, but you always want a bit more”.
08:46 Oh no, it’s Eddie Jordan doing the podium interviews. Cue attempt
at being at rockstar. Can someone be more orange?!
08:45 Peter Hanley emails with some strong views on Webber v Vettel:
“There is no way the Red Bull team would allow Mark to compete with
their “wonder Boy”. Three stops indeed!!
If I was Mark I would have flattened Vettel for what he did in Malasyia and
in the last race I would run him straight off the track. It has become an
insult to sport.”
08:42 Just before the podium interviews, here’s a run down of the top
10 once more:
1 Vettel 2 Webber 3 Grosjean 4 Alonso 5 Raikkonen 6 Hulkenberg 7 Gutierrez 8
Rosberg 9 Button 10 Massa
08:40 I’m not going to lie, it feels like 2004 all over again, and my
memory of the German national anthem from the Schumacher days is serving me
well. The Austrian national anthem (for Red Bull) is one I’m less keen on
(sorry if any Austrians are following this). It’s five straight wins for
Vettel, which is a phenomenal record. He just needs fifth in India to take
his fourth consecutive title now.
08:37 A cursory handshake between the two Red Bull drivers there. Fair
to say everyone is a little bit gutted we didn’t get to see Webber and
Vettel battle it out at the front, but that’s credit to Grosjean for
defending well. He drove an excellent race today, finishing 37 seconds ahead
of his team-mate Raikkonen.
They are having their usual awkward chatter in the pre-podium room now:
08:35 Special mention for Sauber’s Esetban Gutierrez, who gets his
first points in Formula One finishing seventh. Hulkenberg was 6th, Rosberg
8th, Button 9th, Massa 10th, and Paul di Resta just missing out in 11th.
08:33 Although he hasn’t won the title, Vettel sounds his usualy happy
self on team radio. “I love you guys!” And damn right he should
love them – the Red Bull was phenomenal as per usual today, as they took a
one-two.
Lap 53: And the championship is still alive, with Alonso 4th, but Kimi
is out of it now as he finishes 5th. Webber came home second, with Grosjean
third. Vettel just needs to get fifth in India to win his fourth title now.
And SEBASTIAN VETTEL WINS THE JAPANESE GRAND PRIX!
Lap 52: Onto the final lap now, and Seb has this one in the bag. A
strong drive from the German; clearly a three-stop just wasn’t destined to
work out today. Alonso is fourth, Raikkonen fifth, and Hulkenberg sixth.
Lap 51: For whatever reason Webber is massively faster is Spoon curve,
and with traffic in front he holds it all the way through 130R, the final
chicane and onto the pit straight. And now on the pit straight, Webber uses
DRS and with a mightily brave move down the inside for second! It’s taken
five laps, and killed off Webber’s chances of a win, but a very fine move
there.
Lap 50: There’s a good four or five cars in front of second place man
Grosjean and third place man Webber, which could come to the Australian’s
advantage. Raikonnen is sniffing blood behind Hulkenberg for fifth place.
Lap 49: Another lap in which Webber is stuck behind, but there’s
traffic in front. This could be what the Australian needs, but it looks like
he’s just fighting just for second now.
Lap 48: This is Webber’s view of Romain Grosjean, and with five laps
remaining the Australian is still stuck behind. The Lotus has got phenomenal
traction out of the last corner.
Lap 47: Webber’s had to sit behind Grosjean for another lap and he’s
now seven seconds behind Vettel, with only five laps to go, and he’s too far
back again! Oh deary me, it looks like this one is going to be Vettel’s. Are
Webber’s tyres going off already? He looks destined to get past Grosjean but
Vettel is too far ahead now.
Lap 46: Behind, Alonso has moved into fourth place, with a great move
in the first corner on Hulkenberg. Raikkonen positions himself for a move
now too. Webber needs to get past Grosjean this lap, and he doesn’t manage
it! It’s cost him time to Vettel here.
Lap 45: Webber is 6.8 seconds behind Vettel, and they’re all on the pit
straight. We’re ready for a grandstand finish. Can Webber win the Japanese
Grand Prix for the first time at his final attempt? Vettel sounds a little
anxious on team radio, and keen to keep Webber behind. There’s no chance of
Webber listening to team orders after Malaysia though.
Lap 44: Rosberg tries to get past Perez, and the Mexican frankly chops
across him at the final chicane, and suffers a puncture. Webber is eating
time into Grosjean and Vettel, but he hasn’t got many laps to do it.
Lap 43: Meanwhile Jenson Button gets past Adrian Sutil for a pretty
miserable 13th place. Nothing can go right for McLaren this year.
Lap 42: The main debate now is which tyres Webber will go for, and he’s
in! It’s going to be 10 banzai qualifying laps for the Australian. He’s
going for the medium compound tyre, which has not exactly been durable so
far. I know you’re not supposed to pick sides, but for the benefit of this
race, I do hope Webber has a stormer here and at least gets to the back of
his team-mate.
Lap 41: And Vettel gets past Grosjean on the pit straight! He even
forgot to open his DRS down the straight, but managed the pass anyway. Now
with 12 laps remaining, all that’s to be seen is if Webber can overtake both
the Lotus and his team-mate after his third stop. It’s going to be tight,
but I worry that Vettel has got this one.
Lap 40: Hamilton retired very early on, and as things stands Mercedes
are a point down on Ferrari. “The floor was destroyed”, Hamilton
said. Vettel is hustling Grosjean now, but “Rocky” warns him to
keep some tyres when Webber is charging at the end. The Australian is going
to need to get past both to win this race.
Lap 39: Kimi Raikkonen is absolutely storming in sixth, not sure where
he’s finding this pace from, and he’s gaining on Alonso at a rapid rate.
Lap 38: The problem for Grosjean is his tyres are eight laps older than
Vettel’s with 15 laps to go. “Rocky” tells him “to go and get
him!” I predict fireworks. Will Grosjean revert to his 2012 self and do
something a little bit reckless? People often say Vettel can’t overtake (for
the record, it’s obvious he can), but hopefully we’ll get to see another
example of that soon.
Lap 37: Vettel is still out there in the lead, he’s done an impressive
number of laps on these tyres. (Sorry to bring up Pirelli, but they are the
talk of F1 these days). And Vettel is in! Is he going to come out in front
of Grosjean? It’s another set of hard tyres, and it’s a blistering stop but
he’s behind the Lotus driver.
Lap 36: Webber has started to gain on Vettel at nearly the rate of a
second a lap. His team give him some encouragement, telling him the win is
still possible.
Lap 34: World championship update. Although it’s as good as over, it
doesn’t look like Vettel is going to win his fourth world title this
weekend. Alonso’s in fifth, and remember he needs to finish below eighth and
Vettel needs to win for the championship to be wrapped up today.
Lap 33: Ricciardo is given a drive through penalty for his pass round
outside on Sutil for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Lap 32: Mark Webber’s pace is not blistering enough at the minute to
make up the gap to his team-mate an Grosjean in front, but there’s still
time.
Lap 31: Raikkonen pits from fourth position and is back out in seventh.
Hulkenberg is fourth and Alonso fifth.
Lap 30: Vettel leads, having not stopped for a second time, and he
carries on. Webber is 12.5 seconds behind. In the final few laps of the race
it looks like we’re going to see Webber charging up behind Grosjean and
Vettel on fresher tyres.
Lap 29: And another great move from Ricciardo, as he cruises past
Pastor Maldonado around the outside into turn one. Grosjean is struggling
for pace now, which is allowing Webber in third to take big chunks into his
lead.
Vettel is told to “apply pressure” to Grosjean, and it’s forced him
to come into the pits for his second stop. And he’s lost track position to
Webber! But the Australian now has to build a pit stop worth lead over the
Frenchman.
Lap 28: Yet more shenanigans at 130R, this time Ricciardo going round
the outside of Adrian Sutil. It’s a brave move from the Australian, and he
has to take to the run off to get it done.
Lap 27: Not that this race has been boring, but the team radio chatter
is the most intriguing thing happening right now. Rocky tells Vettel “we’re
not racing Mark”. Does that mean they think he’s going to be racing for
second, or that Webber is a dead cert to finish third? Three stop good be
difficult to pull off.
Lap 26: There’s surely some Red Bull hunting Grosjean pun to be made,
and Crofty on Sky F1 stoops to it. There’s a good point to be made though.
By spitting their drivers’ strategies, Red Bull have put Grosjean in a
pretty impossible position here. My prediction is he will lose the lead to
one of Webber or Vettel by the time the race is done.
And from Kevin Eason too:
Lap 25: Rocky is surely the best race engineer out there. Tells Vettel “not
to go bannanas”, as he holds a two second gap behind Webber. Seems very
much like they are angling towards a two-stop strategy. And Webber is in
again! On course for a three-stop race for sure now. It’s the hard compound
tyre for the Australian.
Lap 24: Webber is just 0.7 seconds behind Grosjean now, this is what we
want to see. Seems like the Red Bulls are on split strategy so this could
take a while to flesh out properly. Meanwhile a very slow stop for Button.
Lap 23: So Martin Brundle seems to know where Nico Hulkenberg is going
next season. Lotus, HINT HINT? Webber is now charging, with the fastest lap
of the race.
Fair to say Lotus are pleased with their man Raikkonen after his move on
Sauber’s Guttierez:
Lap 22: So after all that, Ricciardo is in, and Hulkenberg is fourth,
Alonso is fifth. No change out front.
Lap 21: Not often you see a move inside at 130R, but that’s what Nico
Hulkenberg has managed over Ricciardo! Brave brave stuff from the German
there. Massa tries to get past Alonso in the chicane but doesn’t manage it.
Guttierez challenges Massa, they go wheel to wheel for about four corners,
but the Mexican falls back and then Kimi Raikkonen goes round the outside of
130R as well.
Lap 20: And Alonso is past Massa! It’s taken him 20 laps after a
relatively poor qualifying, but can’t say that’s surprising. Massa is still
in touch though. Ricciardo in fourth still hasn’t pitted and he now has
about six cars behind him, all of whom have made their stops.
Lap 19: Adrian Sutil tries to get past one of the Torro Rosso’s at
Spoon curve – that would be a bold move, and unsurprisingly he doesn’t
manage it. Nowhere really to go there. Alonso is very close behind Massa
now.
Lap 18: Sky’s Martin Brundle with a little bit of information
from his driver contacts – say they all “hate” this period of the
race, as they go into tyre management mode. I wonder which drivers he spoke
to? HINT HINT MARK WEBBER. I have to say I’m not a big fan of this part of
the race either. But there’s a good train behind Ricciardo in fourth,
Hulkenberg fifth, Massa sixth, and Alonso seventh.
Lap 17: As things stand, Vettel is ahead of Alonso in the championship
by 86 points, and that’s not enough to win the title today. Webber is two
seconds behind Grosjean, and Vettel is three seconds further back. It’s all
very tactical. No-one seems up for trying to overtake just yet.
Lap 16: Grosjean is doing a sterling job in the lead so far. What a
turnaround it’s been of late compared to his crash-prone season in 2012 (he
took out Webber at this race last year). Vettel’s new tyres are paying
dividends – he’s 0.4 seconds faster in the first sector alone compared to
the front two.
Lap 15: Unsurprisingly for Rosberg, he gets a drive through for unsafe
release. Grosjean leads Webber by 1.8, and Vettel by 6 seconds. And
unusually scrappy afternoon thus far for the German, but his engineer “Rocky”
seems pretty happy. “Good job Sebastian, all going to plan.” I’m
interested to see this plan develop.
Lap 14: Vettel is losing quite a lot of time on his older set of tyres,
and now he comes into the pits. And he’s back out in third place. Meanwhile,
Perez emerged from the pits very close to team-mate Button, and just stays
in front along the pit straight.
Lap 13: It turning into a shocker of a race for Mercedes. Rosberg is
released from his pit box right into the path of Sergio Perez. Almost
impossible not to see him getting a penalty for that one. Vettel out front
is going is quickly as you might have anticipated: is he trying to do a
two-stop where everyone else goes for three?
Lap 12: And Grosjean is in! Before Vettel. In Schumacher-esque fashion
will Vettel now nail a few blinding laps to get past the Lotus man? Grosjean
is out ahead of Mark Webber.
Lap 11: Seems almost bizarre to talk about Vettel being third. Before
the start of this race he had led 209 of the last 213 laps. He’s closer to
Webber than the Australian is to Grosjean. And Webber is in! That’s very
early, and releases Vettel.
Massa is also in. Button has set a new fastest lap on the harder compound
tyre. His pace seems to be encouraging all the others to come in.
Lap 10: “Engine 21” is the message for Webber. Grosjean has a
2.5 second gap over Webber now. When will those Red Bulls start showing
their pace? Hulkenberg pits from 7th I believe.
Lap 9: The developing battle between Massa and Alonso is going to be
fascinating. Everyone always states that the Spaniard is immeasurably the
better driver (which I’m not doubting), but now he’s going to have to prove
it without the help of his team.
Lap 8: And that’s it for Hamilton! After moving across Sebastian Vettel
at the start, sustaining a puncture and then floor damage, he’s retired.
Button is in the pits, looks like he’s going for three stops.
Lap 7: Both Red Bulls have been told to maintain two second gaps to
preserve their tyes, and then presumably they will close in towards the pit
stops to try and get past the Lotus driver. Alonso is still right behind
Massa. Massa is told, “multi function strategy A”. Sounds very
much like a team order if you ask me.
Lap 6: Very uncharacteristic mistake from the championship leader
there! He runs wide at turn two. He’s not in his usual position at the front
dominating. Further down, Raikonnen is past Button, and Alonso is hustling
the back of Massa. I assume they’ll be telling the Brazilian to get out of
the way but I’m not too sure he’s bothered now he’s been turfed out of the
team.
Lap 5: Kimi Raikkonen has cruised up to the back of Jenson Button, no
heroics at 130R this time though. Meanwhile Hamilton seems to have suffered
some damage to his floor at the start, and is losing about one second a lap
in pure pace.
Lap 4: Surprisingly Vettel is not exactly hustling the back of his
team-mate Mark Webber. It will be interesting to see how Red Bull try and
plot the pair of them ahead of Romain Grosjean. Massa is fifth, Alonso is
sixth, Hulkenberg is seventh, and Kimi Raikkonen had a poor one, down to
11th.
Lap 3: Out in front Grosjean sets a new fastest lap, and is 0.8 seconds
ahead. From the replays of the start, looks like Hamilton just moved across
on Vettel. Seems like a self-inflicted one there from initial viewing.
Lap 2: Disaster for the Brit, as he suffers a rear puncture. Grosjean
has only six tenths of a second on Webber. Rosberg is fourth, and meanwhile
there was a big off with Van der Garde and Bianchi at the back of the grid
at the start.
Lap 1: Lewis Hamilton looked to be the threat off the line, but Romain
Grosjean storms through into the lead! And the Briton has some serious
damage and is touring around at the back. Vettel is on the radio saying he
might have front wing damage; it looks like the two came together. Webber is
second, Vettel is third behind the Frenchman.
07:03 Fair to say I’m pretty excited about this one: a proper track,
with two team-mates ready to slog it out. And we have one light, two
lights, three lights, four lights, five lights, and we’re racing in Suzuka!
07:00 And as far as a certain German’s bid for a fourth world title
goes, I don’t think he’ll manage it today, just, as Fernando Alonso has to
finish lower than eighth even if Vettel wins, which I just don’t see
happening. On the parade lap now.
06:59 Predictions time! I’m a big Webber fan, but I have a feeling
Vettel will find a way past him today, even if it’s in the pits and not
actually on the track. So my top three is Vettel, Webber, Grosjean.
The Frenchman has been on fine form since Kimi Raikkonen announced he was
leaving for Ferrari. Maybe all he needed was a little bit of faith?
06:57 We’re just a few minutes away from the start – how will Webber
and Vettel get away off the line? Hopefully for Red Bull and team principal
Christian Horner (who has become a father this week), it won’t be like Prost
and Senna in 1990…
06:55 Strategy! According to Gary Anderson, BBC F1’s technical guru,
most teams are going to be looking at a two-stop race, with an eye on
a three-stop. Considering that he manages to predict exactly the time
drivers will need to get through each part of qualifying with frightening
regularity, who would disagree with him?
06:53 Sebastian Vettel said this weekend that his current dominance of
the sport is nowhere
near as boring as when Michael Schumacher romped to five consecutive
world titles.
Do you agree? Email me at daniel.johnson@telegraph.co.uk
or tweet me @danielt_johnson
to let me know your thoughts.
For nostalgia’s sake, here’s Schumacher winning his first title with Ferrari
at Suzuka 13 years ago:
06:50 Just 10 minutes away from the parade lap now, here’s Suzuka by
numbers:
First Grand Prix: 1987
Number of Laps: 53
Circuit Length: 5.807 km
Race Distance: 307.471 km
Lap Record: 1:31.540 – K. Raikkonen (2005)
Mark Webber’s pole lap yesterday was a 1:30.9, so there is a slim possibility
of a new lap record today…
06:48 Many drivers in the midfield will be sweating on their future
(I’m thinking the recently crash-prone Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa, and
Sergio Perez). David
Coulthard writes for The Telegraph on what to look out for today.
06:45 Predictably considering Vettel’s mammoth lead at the summit of
the championship, attention has already turned to next season.
And it has turned particularly to what should be an extremely juicy rivalry
between Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
The Spaniard has already indulged in some mind games, saying he does not think
“Felipe is any slower” than Kimi, as
our Formula One correspondent Tom Cary reports.
06:43 And then if that was not enough for phenomenal overtakes in one
race, here is Kimi Raikkonen passing the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella for
the lead. On the final lap. Equally bonkers.
06:42 As I wrote earlier, Suzuka does not boast many clear (and
cumbersome) overtaking spots like some of the more modern circuits (it has
just the one solitary DRS zone on the pit straight), but that does not mean
it has not seen its fair share of phenomenal passing moves.
Fernando Alonso’s on Michael Schumacher at 130R in 2005 was simply stunning.
You can say it signalled the end of one era and the coming of a new in one
nearly 200mph move. Or you can just say that the Spaniard is bonkers for
trying it. Listen out in the video above for James Allen, with all the grace
of a 10-year-old boy, exclaiming: “Oh my word!”
06:40 On McLaren, they have managed to poach one of Red Bull’s
technical stars (not Adrian Newey), as The Times Kevin Eason tweets:
06:35 Briton’s Jenson Button, winner in 2011, says that Suzuka feels
like “coming home” for him, and for “most of the drivers”.
Being the gent that he is, on Sky he’s talking us through the lap at Suzuka:
06:32 Fascinating graphic from BBC how drivers compare with their
relative qualifying pace. The biggest winners are JUles Bianchi, Daniel
Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastian Vettel probably. Interestingly,
Romain Grosjean has the slight edge on Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus.
06:29 Webchat alert! If you missed it on Wednesday, our Formula One
correspondent Tom Cary did a webchat on for The Telegraph, on topics ranging
from the Pirelli tyres, to Nico Hulkenberg, to which F1 team has the
prettiest PR girls.
For
his answers to all three and more, take a look back through.
06:25 Amid the endless discussion of how likeable Sebastian Vettel is,
and whether he should “open up” more to the public, it’s worth
remembering Red Bull and him in particular are totally dominating both
championships at the moment, as they have done pretty much for the last four
years. Here are the standings.
Both the drivers and the constructors championship standings make pretty
miserable reading if you’re not in a Red Bull.
First the constructors:
Red Bull 402
Ferrari 284
Mercedes 283
Lotus-Renault 239
McLaren (a frankly woeful) 81
Force India 62
Sauber 31
Torro Rosso 31
Williams (another frankly woeful) 1
Marussia (predictably) 0
Caterham (again, predictably) 0
And the drivers (just the top 10):
Sebastian Vettel 272
Fernando Alonso 195
Kimi Raikkonen 167
Lewis Hamilton 161
Mark Webber 130
Nico Rosberg 122
Felipe Massa 89
Romain Grosjean 72
Jenson Button 58
Paul di Resta 36
06:21 The Formula One paddock was rocked on Friday by the tragic news
that Maria De Villota, who had tested with Marussia, died in her Seville
hotel room aged 33.
Here
is The Telegraph’s obituary. And The Telegraph’s Formula One
correspondent Tom
Cary’s report on the tragic events of this weekend.
06:18 The Beeb’s Andrew Benson has some info on the race between Webber
and Vettel today:
06:17 On Sky they’ve been debating among the German F1 journalists
Sebastian Vettel – is he jolly enough, do we know him well enough, and other
pretty meaningless questions. More importantly, is
he one of the greatest drivers ever?
Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari team principal) says: “Sebastian Vettel
often reminds me of the good old times with Michael Schumacher here with us
at Ferrari.
“A lot of people say that the team and the car made the difference and
that was why he was so strong. This is absolutely true, but it is not
everything. Michael was always able to deliver the results, that was
crucial.
“Deservedly or not, Vettel is definitely doing exactly the same, so
congratulations Sebastian.”
Views from Fernando Alonso, Murray Walker and others here.
06:12 Despite a slight advantage over Vettel in that his KERS was
working, it was still a stunning lap from Webber to take pole position;
definitely worth casting your eye over.
06:09 Ever since the second race of the season in Malaysia, we’ve been
desperate for Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel to do
battle once more.
Sadly, due to a combination of the German’s significantly superior
performance, particularly in qualifying, and some bad luck for the
Australian, this hasn’t materialised.
But with Webber on pole today, insisting he will not let Vettel past, we could
be about to see yet another brilliant chapter in their soon to be extinct
rivalry. There’s nothing quite like watching two teammates battle for the
lead, as these videos show…
06:05 For a long time Suzuka was given pride of place as either the
final or the penultimate race on the F1 calendar. Sadly now it has made way
for the likes of Abu Dhabi and India, but back in the day it produced some
of the most memorable conclusions to the drivers’ world championship.
1989 between Senna and Prost (“Out! Oh my goodness!”, if Murray Walker’s
commentary means anything to you) is my personal favourite.
Here’s
the full list of 10 I compiled earlier this week to wet your
appetite for this morning’s race (apologies to those of you for whom it
isn’t morning. Wherever you’re watching, get in touch!)
06:00 For the first time all season, Mark Webber qualified ahead of
Sebastian Vettel to take pole (the German did have a KERS failure to be
fair), to give Formula One’s form book a bit of a slap in the face. Read Tom
Cary’s report from qualifying, and here is how they line up:
Final positions after qualifying:
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1min 30.915secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:31.089
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:31.253
4 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:31.365
5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:31.378
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:31.397
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.644
8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:31.665
9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:31.684
10 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:31.827
11 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:31.989
12 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:31.992
13 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:32.013
14 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:32.063
15 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:32.093
16 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:32.485
17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:32.890
18 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:33.357
19 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:34.320
20 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:34.556
21 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:34.879
22 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:34.958
Note: Charles Pic and Jules Bianchi have 10-place grid penalties
following reprimands from the Korean Grand Prix and Adrian Sutil has a
five-place grid penalty following an unscheduled gearbox change. Pic will
start 20th, Bianchi 21st and Sutil 22nd.
05:55 Good morning/afternoon/evening, and welcome to The Telegraph’s
live coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix, bright and early for all of you in
the UK.
It would not be an exaggeration to say Suzuka is the greatest circuit on the
Formula One calendar. Despite its relative youth compared to Silverstone,
Spa and Monza (the first race was 25 years ago in 1987), it has been the
site of some of the best races ever, including 10 title deciders.
It was the setting for some of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s most fierce
clashes in 1989 and 1990. It was the circuit on which Michael Schumacher won
his first of five drivers’ championships with Ferrari. It was the place
where Sebastian Vettel became the sport’s youngest double world champion in
2011. And it was the circuit in 1996 which almost made Murray Walker (who
turned 90 this week) cry, when Damon Hill won the world title.
After the collective groan of F1 fans as the circus travelled to Korea,
there’s almost a huge sigh of relief at being back in true Formula One
territory. The Japanese are absolutely bonkers about F1 remember.
Adding to the venue, the history, and the fans, the track itself is unique.
The only figure-of-eight circuit on the calendar, there are few greater
tests of a driver than the left-right-left-right-left Esses in the first
sector, or the double left-handed spoon curve. Sadly, 130R is not the
challenge it once represented for the cars and drivers in the late 1980s and
early 1990s, as today’s car simply have too much downforce to require
lifting on a qualifying lap.
But this does not detract from what is one of the best races on the calendar
(certainly the best of the early starters), even if overtaking opportunities
are rare. If anything, I think we should celebrate the relative lack of
obvious Herman Tilke-shaped harpins at the end of ludicrously long
straights. It makes people go for all the more stunning moves (I’m thinking
Alonso on Schumacher at 130R and Raikkonen on Fisichella into turn one on
the last lap in 2005).
This weekend could be yet another historic Japanese grand prix, as Vettel will
again look to make history today by winning his fourth world title (he needs
to win and Fernando Alonso to finish lower than eighth to do just that).
While it seems a tall order given the Ferrari driver’s consistency this
season, you certainly wouldn’t bet against the German keeping up his side of
the bargain.
Ever since Malaysia we have been desperately waiting for Vettel and Webber to
duel once again, and today we should get that chance once more.
Plenty of other F1 futures could be decided based on today’s performances.
Felippe Massa, without a drive for next season, will want to impress team
bosses. Nico Hulkenberg already has done just that, but another strong
showing and he could become impossible to ignore.
And Scotland’s Paul di Resta, on a miserable run of form, desperately needs to
turn things around, not just to possibly have the chance of gaining a move
to a bigger team, but even just to keep his place in Force India for next
season.
Please email me (daniel.johnson@telegraph.co.uk)
or tweet me (@danielt_johnson)
with your musings on the race, or with your thoughts on the following
questions: is Suzuka the greatest track of them all as I boldly claim? Where
will Vettel rank among the all-time greats (Fangio, Senna, Schumacher, Prost
etc.) if he wins a fourth world title today? Does Paul di Resta deserve his
seat in Formula One? And finally, as this is the first race I’ve live
blogged where I have a choice of broadcasters, should I be watching BBC or
Sky?