Japanese GP

[mx_tifoso]

It's Friday morning (for me) and no thread about this yet.....

Seems to be a good start to the weekend, Kimi led PS1, and Lewis PS2. Good battle brewing once again between the top teams. All I can hope for is an exciting GP weekend, not going to make any predictions at the moment, too close to call. But SA have had a tough time, being almost 3 seconds behind the front runners, hope their pace improves, as this is their home race.

And some drivers have complained about the entry into the pits, as it is shortly after a fast section of the circuit.
http://www.f1technical.net/news/7217

Williams have are running a dual-entry brake duct, could someone please specify what the smaller one on top is possibly for? Are both for the brake system, or do they have seperate purposes? Thnx in advance.

And Toyota have all four of their rim-shields on up until PS2, most surely they will run them all weekend long.

[bar555]

According to Friday practice lap times i assume that the pole position lap time would be less than 1m19sec .Tricky track and some accidents may take place (Yamamoto is a major candidate for an accident ) . 2 pit stop strategy is the logic choice .

[Saribro]

Sutil's performance in FP2 was impressive. After a hard-fighting mid-field, it appears the back-field could get interesting aswell.

[DaveKillens]

From the track layout and initial driver comments, it appears this will be a very difficult track to pass on. So qualifying and pit strategy will be very important, and probably determine the outcome. Both McLaren and Ferrari appear very equal, and setup probably will determine who is the quicker in Q and race day.
In the battle for Japan, right now it's Toyota's to lose. Both SA and Honda don't seem to be able to challenge Toyota this week. I wonder how huge a bonus is offered to the Toyota drivers for doing well at this race? Expect a balls-out, low fuel qualifying effort by Trulli to get some headlines.
Right now, my favorite is Sutil and the new Spyker car. They started the season approximately 3 1/2 seconds behind the leaders, now they are just 2 seconds. It may appear trivial, but clawing the extra 1.5 seconds takes a major improvement, hats off to the people at Spyker.
I wonder what surprises and entertainment we will witness this weekend.

[bar555]

Saturday practice was misty and wet and the session was abandoned !!!!! New track , limited testing , wet conditions ........It's getting more and more interesting.........

[modbaraban]

Ralf...

WHAT AN IDIOT!!! WHAT A ***ING IDIOT!!! © JPM

[FLC]

Did you see how Ralf's rear wing fell off? I admit I wasn't very much awake at that time, but I thought it was a little bit too easy. There was something strange about it...

[checkered]

It is interesting

how the teams, and even drivers within the team chose to play the tactical side. I inspected Japan's meteorological office's website and for the duration of the race, the risk of rain is 30% BUT it will most likely have rained in the morning, so it's going to be very damp anyway. Drivers betting on the wet side are Raikkonen and Alonso, Hamilton and Massa could gain the upper hand if it the track dries up very much. Renault are convinced it's going to be a dry race ... lots of overtaking if that scenario holds true; they're taking a big risk though. Fuji pit lane is very long, the top teams can't help but run very similar strategies. The BMWs are heavy by comparison, especially Kubica, also a risky but potentially lucrative.

Interestingly with a long straight and most teams having had to revert to a higher df than simulations indicated (top speeds ~10 kph lower than anticipated as a result) teamplay comes into the picture. Drafting can save a lot of fuel if team mates are very evenly matched. This would seem to play into Ferrari's hands, potentially able to extend the first stint by a couple of laps if need be, if they can't gain positions in the first corner. Also they had some sort of gearbox sensor problems that they can correct for the race, the shift worked slower in the quali as a result, costing ~0.2 sec per lap. That's roughly the margin for pole, so race speed should be very evenly matched.

Nice work from Rosberg, Button, Webber and Vettel. Rosberg and Webber have now regularly mixed up the top ten, which is always nice - too bad about the engine penalty though. This could be the season's "Hungaroring" for Button, though a victory is very unlikely. And a very unprejudiced qualifying from Vettel. It also seems that unfamiliar tracks bode very well for Hamilton, something that might actually work in his favor in the championship fight. Whichever way it is, this looks like it could be a fighting, keeping the faith 'til' the flag drops kinda race.

[jddh1]

seems like tomorrow it's gonna rain again (or at least be wet)

[bar555]

Massa-Kubica battle , this is how F1 should be , fight to the last meter . If the track is not enough then get out of it and reenter in later ahead of your opponent . Seems that new wider tracks gives more overtaking than aero changes (new Spa Alonso-Hamilton, Fuji Massa-Kubica) .We should pray for a wet race in china , otherwise the championship battle would be over soon .

Maybe Vettel is moving to Williams and Rosberg to Mc Laren next year . That is why he smashed on Webber so as let the Williams finish ahead of RBR in 2007 . JUST JOKING

[jddh1]

Massa-Kubica battle , this is how F1 should be , fight to the last meter . If the track is not enough then get out of it and reenter in later ahead of your opponent . Seems that new wider tracks gives more overtaking than aero changes (new Spa Alonso-Hamilton, Fuji Massa-Kubica) .We should pray for a wet race in china , otherwise the championship battle would be over soon .

Widening the tracks is much more expensive I think, so they don't wanna do that.

As far as that Massa-Kubica fight at the end, I think that's the highlight of the race. First of all, I can't believe they hit each other so many times and still did not break any suspensions or things like that. Quite amazing stuff.
But yeah, let's hope the monsoon season keeps it up till next weekend, otherwise the Drivers title race is indeed over.

[jddh1]

Oh, and how about Sutil coming up just short of Spyker's first point. In a way, I was hoping that both Massa and Kubica would just crash out so that Sutil would get the FIRST ever point for Spyker. I mean, both Massa and Kubica don't have much to fight for these days.

Also, I loved the new "team orders" employed by Ferrari. I'm sure Massa was out of fuel.

[bar555]

Sutil and Spyker took the point because Liuzzi recieved a 25 sec penalty . Liuzzi had overtaken Adrian Sutil under a yellow flag on lap 55 .
So Spyker now has 1 point and 9th place and Toro Rosso 0 points and 10th place in the constructor's championship .

[jddh1]

Sutil and Spyker took the point because Liuzzi recieved a 25 sec penalty . Liuzzi had overtaken Adrian Sutil under a yellow flag on lap 55 .
So Spyker now has 1 point and 9th place and Toro Rosso 0 points and 10th place in the constructor's championship .

I'm glad for those guys. They've been under so much pressure and not knowing their future. I guess I state the obvious when I say that that team really deserved that point.

[bar555]

I am not a Spyker fan , but i am glad that they managed to grab a point (the last of the team???) .
Spyker reminds me of Arrows because Arrows also had (from 2000 to 2002) the same orange colour . I am gonna miss this colour once more at the end of the season........