[SPOILER] 2008 Japanese GP

[blue8]

Round 16: Fuji TV Japanese GP
Fuji, Japan

Surprise of the day: it was actually dry during both sessions!
As for the actual race, it could also be dry. That would be a first I think as all the races in Fuji have been wet so far.

Green tires:
http://www.formula1.com/photos/597x478/sutton/2008/d08jpn600.jpg
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/10/8487.html
I support their cause but it seriously doesn't look very good

Practice 1:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.910 + 23
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:19.063 + 0.153 24
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:19.279 + 0.369 20
4. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:19.399 + 0.489 31
5. Alonso Renault (B) 1:19.473 + 0.563 30
6. Piquet Renault (B) 1:19.743 + 0.833 35
7. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.121 + 1.211 30
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:20.160 + 1.250 26
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.182 + 1.272 34
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.217 + 1.307 25
11. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:20.288 + 1.378 26
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.350 + 1.440 28
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:20.620 + 1.710 24
14. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:20.628 + 1.718 23
15. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:20.657 + 1.747 33
16. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:20.753 + 1.843 32
17. Button Honda (B) 1:20.769 + 1.859 27
18. Glock Toyota (B) 1:20.823 + 1.913 37
19. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:20.905 + 1.995 24
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:21.014 + 2.104 28

Practice 2:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Glock Toyota (B) 1:18.383 44
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:18.426 + 0.043 41
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.463 + 0.080 40
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:18.491 + 0.108 40
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:18.725 + 0.342 39
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:18.734 + 0.351 39
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.734 + 0.351 36
8. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:18.761 + 0.378 23
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.803 + 0.420 32
10. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:18.863 + 0.480 45
11. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:18.865 + 0.482 39
12. Piquet Renault (B) 1:18.888 + 0.505 43
13. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.981 + 0.598 41
14. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:19.040 + 0.657 41
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:19.258 + 0.875 42
16. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.287 + 0.904 41
17. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:19.327 + 0.944 36
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.482 + 1.099 44
19. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:19.894 + 1.511 37
20. Button Honda (B) 1:19.999 + 1.616 42

[frnk]

I think the green tires look kind of cool, practice looks great with Hamilton and Massa no more than a tenth and a half apart in both sessions. After the upsets of Monza and Singapore it would nice to see the championship battle occur on track again although it looks like Toyota and Renault may have something to say about that. Of course Ferrari and McLaren always do their best to conceal their true pace in the practice sessions so there's little way of knowing how competitive the Toyotas and Renaults truely are untill we get to Q1.

Hoping for a clean dry race with no safety car or weather drama, just pure racing, although I may regret saying this on Sunday if the race turns out like Valencia did.

[SHIZL]

raining for 2nd practice looks like it will be wet for quailfy.could be a great weather man (but a terrible meterologist).

[styla21]

Kubica fastest in final Friday practice.

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 4 Robert Kubica (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/815.html) BMW Sauber (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2921.html) 1:25.087 19
2 12 Timo Glock (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/791.html) Toyota (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2925.html) 1:25.171 0.084 25
3 6 Nelsinho Piquet (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/823.html) Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2922.html) 1:25.415 0.328 19
4 3 Nick Heidfeld (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/16.html) BMW Sauber (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2921.html) 1:25.474 0.387 24
5 8 Kazuki Nakajima (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/827.html) Williams-Toyota (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2923.html) 1:25.563 0.476 23
6 9 David Coulthard (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/11.html) Red Bull-Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2924.html) 1:25.614 0.527 20
7 2 Felipe Massa (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/18.html) Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2920.html) 1:25.709 0.622 15
8 10 Mark Webber (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/21.html) Red Bull-Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2924.html) 1:25.785 0.698 20
9 5 Fernando Alonso (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/30.html) Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2922.html) 1:25.799 0.712 19
10 15 Sebastian Vettel (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/822.html) STR-Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2926.html) 1:25.880 0.793 24
11 22 Lewis Hamilton (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/828.html) McLaren-Mercedes (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2930.html) 1:25.901 0.814 8
12 14 Sebastien Bourdais (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/834.html) STR-Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2926.html) 1:25.984 0.897 22
13 11 Jarno Trulli (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/14.html) Toyota (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2925.html) 1:26.013 0.926 21
14 7 Nico Rosberg (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/809.html) Williams-Toyota (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2923.html) 1:26.213 1.126 19
15 23 Heikki Kovalainen (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/813.html) McLaren-Mercedes (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2930.html) 1:26.239 1.152 10
16 1 Kimi Räikkönen (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/12.html) Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2920.html) 1:26.277 1.190 18
17 17 Rubens Barrichello (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/8.html) Honda (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2927.html) 1:26.662 1.575 22
18 16 Jenson Button (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/6.html) Honda (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2927.html) 1:26.922 1.835 26
19 20 Adrian Sutil (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/818.html) Force India-Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2929.html) 1:27.357 2.270 12
20 21 Giancarlo Fisichella (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2008/17.html) Force India-Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2008/2929.html) 1:27.918 2.831 17

[5vz-fe]

Seems like Massa's chance of winning the WDC is following the rain water going down the drain.

[blue8]

Qualifying:
Raikkonen was fastest after the first run. He then improved in his second run until Hamilton finally pipped the Finn for another pole. Massa is just in P5. Kovalainen in P3 will certainly help McLaren in the constructors' standings. Is this track good for overtaking in dry conditions? The second sector is really very tight.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.071 1:17.462 1:18.404
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:18.160 1:17.733 1:18.644
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.220 1:17.360 1:18.821
4. Alonso Renault (B) 1:18.290 1:17.871 1:18.852
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:18.110 1:17.287 1:18.874
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:18.684 1:17.931 1:18.979
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:18.501 1:17.541 1:19.026
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:17.945 1:17.670 1:19.118
9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:18.559 1:17.714 1:19.638
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:18.593 1:18.102 1:20.167
11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:18.303 1:18.187
12. Piquet Renault (B) 1:18.300 1:18.274
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:18.372 1:18.354
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.640 1:18.594
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.740 1:18.672
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:18.835
17. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:18.882
18. Button Honda (B) 1:19.100
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.163
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.910

[nthfinity]

The Green option tires seem like crap... where did they come from?

[Glavarn]

Can someone give me the new link from where I can find all the F1 races that Motorworld uesd to have?

I remember that there were a link on this webpage before but now it's gone... and I didn't save it in my bookmarks!

P l e a s e . . . . . :crying:

[frnk]

The Green option tires seem like crap... where did they come from?

They're the same tires as Bridgestone have been supplying all year, just with a bit of extra paint.

Qualifying was fairly interesting, looked like Webber/Red Bull made a blunder with Webber only getting one run in Q2 and missing his chance at a second run by not crossing the line before the checkered flag. Raikkonen was definitely a surprise in Q3 but Hamilton managed to one-up him. Felipe didn't look very good with race fuel but I think he will probably make a few places off the line and possibly be in contention for the lead early on like Raikkonen was in Spa.

Shaping up to be an interesting race, the Raikkonen/Hamilton battle should be very interesting as Kimi has very little to lose at this stage so he will be going all out to take some points and vent a little of his frustration on Hamilton.

[styla21]

Possibly race of the year.
Kubica vs. Kimi was simply awesome to watch. Congratulations to Alonso and back-to-back wins, and Dunce award goes to Hamilton for driving like a rookie.
Honorable mention to Piquet for a great 4th place. :)

[Spiffu]

Massa was driving like an ass. Shame on the FIA for penalizing them both on that incident, Massa should have been black flagged.

Ferrari International Assistance comes to help again.

[yellky]

Massa was driving like an ass. Shame on the FIA for penalizing them both on that incident, Massa should have been black flagged.

Ferrari International Assistance comes to help again.
u're wrong..
for THAT incident only MAS got the penalty.
i think HAM was penalized for his driving in the very first corner.

well, they both are good drivers, they both drive very good cars but, DAMN IT, they made too many stupid mistakes - they both dont deserve to win the championships.
i keep my fingers crossed for KUB (there's a good polish saying: `gdzie dwoch sie bije, tam trzeci korzysta` which could be translated to something like `two are fighting, third gets the prize` - again? ;))


:: edit ::
that's a nice picture..
http://m.onet.pl/_m/048fa2ad0119d4deb821cfa6202b5706,9,1.jpg

[blue8]

News! Massa is classified as 7th place after stewards penalized Bourdais with 25-seconds. The Frenchman finished 7th but has now dropped to 10th which means Massa earns 2 points (now 5 points adrift Hamilton) and Webber gains 1 point.

Exactly the kind of race I wanted! Two of the leading championship contenders going down the field! Would have been great if Raikkonen made it to second so that we would have a four-car shoot-out in the last two races. Unfortunately, Kimi has officially relinquished his championship title as he is 21 points behind Hamilton with only 20 points left. I'm guessing he decided to back-off to avoid any risks and to finally score some points. He's a team player.

Congrats to Alonso for being brilliant again!

Apparently, Hamilton hasn't learned his lesson. I thought after Singapore in the last few laps, he learned to be cautious and play it safe for the title. He blew it right away trying to regain the lead from Raikkonen who isn't even his main challenge. As for Massa, I'm glad that at least he fought hard to get back at the points. In Singapore, he just gave up after the pit-stop incident and the penalty.

Kubica also drove great today. The BMW didn't seem to have the pace all weekend but he made it work somehow. I want the title to go to him or Massa. Anyone notice that lately, he has been openly criticizing the team for not doing enough development with the car. There were wild rumors of tension between him and the team... Regardless, I actually like that attitude. He seems to be pushing the team really hard

Most exciting first corner incident we've had in a while! The drivers have done well for the most part of the season to avoid any accidents but that was seriously boring.

Hoping for more excitement next week!

[SHIZL]

crazy bourdais gets penalized were was he supposed to go massa had room he was trying to pinch him down anyway makes for a good last two races just sucks for bourdais i like him he has not had the best of luck this year. ferrari took a big lead in the constructors dont know what massa was going banzai at hamilton for but made for interesting championship

[styla21]

I can't understand Bourdais being penalized, he was covering his line??

[tanelvali]

Bourdais pushed massa further even when massa was right beside him. imagin the consequences if somebody would have been exiting the pits at this moment. good decision from stewards, imho.

[bettlejuice]

bourdais did nothing wrong ... went out of the pits kept his line and massa just moved over him ... this penalty just shows the fia understands ferraris are supposed to win and anyone else who doesnt go that way is instantly wrong

[Thanh-BKK]

bourdais did nothing wrong ... went out of the pits kept his line and massa just moved over him ... this penalty just shows the fia understands ferraris are supposed to win and anyone else who doesnt go that way is instantly wrong

Hi :)

Unfortunately this is very much correct. I do not think i will still be watching F1 next year, it becomes a farce. Hamilton penalized for trying to get the place back that Raikkonen took at the start, what on earth is wrong with that???

My recommendation for an amendment to the rules from next season onwards:

At the start, each driver/team must allow any Ferrari to pass and proceed to first and second place respectively before starting to move themselves. So the "race" is in fact between the two Ferraris who are not to be disturbed by any other car (safe distance = half lap) and a second race may be held among the rest of the field, but if a Ferrari shows up from behind it has right of way!

Should a Ferrari fail to finish, a random driver from the field is to be penalized with a drive-through and a 10-place grid penalty for next race.

Should both Ferraris fail often enough to enable another team to get close to winning the championship, said team is to be disqualified on a technicality.

And the name of the series is to be changed to "Formula Ferrari".

Thanh

[andreas]

From where i can
download the race?

[bettlejuice]

From where i can
download the race?

you can watch highlights on itv website
...........

BKK ..... sad but true...

[silentm]

this is getting ridiculous with ferrari, the favor they have with the stewards is just too embarrassing for the sport :angry:

still was a nice race to watch

[styla21]

You guys should form a Mclaren fan club! The penalties awarded - to Massa, and to Hamilton were justified! Hamilton drove like an aggressive twat, and he paid a deserving penalty for it. His comments post race reflected that even he agreed that he had the mistake.

Bourdais's incident requires a bit more time to get my head around, but in the end it was Massa who was spun and gained no advantage, so there is no need to cry fowl.

[SHIZL]

You guys should form a Mclaren fan club! The penalties awarded - to Massa, and to Hamilton were justified! Hamilton drove like an aggressive twat, and he paid a deserving penalty for it. His comments post race reflected that even he agreed that he had the mistake.

Bourdais's incident requires a bit more time to get my head around, but in the end it was Massa who was spun and gained no advantage, so there is no need to cry fowl.

massa gained a advantage through the stewards that is what i am talking about there was no reaason to penalise bourdais for massas agrressive move if u look were massa ended up he wasnt off track he ran into the side of bourdais and somehow massa gained a advantage so u should start a massa defense club cause he continued to drive like a idiot after receiving a drive thru. then passed weber in the pit lane that was a crazy pass that no one mentioned

[bettlejuice]

You guys should form a Mclaren fan club! The penalties awarded - to Massa, and to Hamilton were justified! Hamilton drove like an aggressive twat, and he paid a deserving penalty for it. His comments post race reflected that even he agreed that he had the mistake.

Bourdais's incident requires a bit more time to get my head around, but in the end it was Massa who was spun and gained no advantage, so there is no need to cry fowl.

on Hamilton / Kimi incident Lewis was very wide and deserved the drive thru penalty but he never touched any other driver
on Massa / Hamilton incident Felipe actually crashed into the McLaren reversing its direction and making Lewis lose a lotta time waiting for the other drivers to go before resuming the race ... so Felipe deserved more than drive-thru... a stop&go at least
the decision on the Massa / Bourdais incident was just the most shameful of all and the fact that Massa actually was the one who spun it doesn't mean he was right ... he could just take the outer line and he would still in front but choose to crash into Sebastian who got penalized God knows why

[blue8]

Here's a video showing how Hamilton dropped from third to seventh in turn 3. The televised coverage didn't show this.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xq5Q07SOxs

[Mattk]

Cars exiting the pit lane do have to give precedence to cars on track. The stewards obviously felt that Bourdais was negligent in not allowing the faster Massa by.

[nthfinity]

IMO, Hamilton wasn't making Rookie mistakes by diving into turn 1; when he had that terrible launch, he made sure that the Ferrari's wouldn't finish 1-2 by making sure that neither of them could turn into Turn one. I wouldn't be surprised if he was hoping to take them out of the race altogether.

what a cunt; and doesn't deserve to be in championchip contention with actions like this. It's one thing to defend one's position...

[styla21]

Hamilton: Massa deliberately hit me

Lewis Hamilton has accused Felipe Massa of deliberately driving into him at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The title contenders collided on lap two at Fuji, when Massa ran wide going into the chicane, allowing Hamilton to slip past.

But the Ferrari driver then attempted to regain the place at the second part of the corner, hitting Hamilton's left-rear wheel and pushing the McLaren into a spin.

Lewis suggested that his championship rival had made a calculated decision to run into him.

"Felipe hit me off," Hamilton was quoted as saying by The Independent.
"I went on the inside of him and he broke left and hit me pretty hard.
"It was as deliberate as it could be."

But Massa vigorously refuted Hamilton's accusation.
"I did not hit him deliberately," the Brazilian was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.
"I can't believe he sees it that way.
"For me it was just a racing incident but we took the penalty.
"He braked too late and just pushed me off the track.
"I had two wheels in the gravel and couldn't stop the car.
"I have a good relationship with Lewis and I will not do something to destroy something by purpose."

Massa was given a drive-through penalty for the incident, with Hamilton receiving the same punishment for his own antics at the start, where he had pushed both Ferraris wide in a late-braking bid to pass leader Kimi Raikkonen.

While Massa charged back into the points and finished seventh, Hamilton could only recover to 12th, reducing the championship gap between them to just five points.

[Mattk]

A bit ungracious of Hamilton. He was wronged, but Massa copped an appropriate penalty for it. That's fair.

[arguapacha]

Both drivers deserved that penalty. Hamilton... well, no comments... Massa could have avoided contact, I think... but I do not know how much grip is there when half of your car is in the grass.

[mts6800]

Bourdais's incident requires a bit more time to get my head around, but in the end it was Massa who was spun and gained no advantage, so there is no need to cry fowl.

I think the perspective is Bourdais was not to racing speed and was not yet in a position to take the racing line nor was he ahead of Massa.

Another way to look it it is consider a car spins, recovers and is accelerating toward the next corner when a car at racing speed takes the line into the corner and they collide. If he was slower but his rear wheels were ahead of the overtking car at the apex, then, the overrtaking car would have to yield. Otherwise it's about the same as driving wildly up the inside and not making it

With Bourdais he was clearly slower at the point of contact. I think it was a tough call by the Stewards but it seems, now, no infraction will go unpunished.

Massa's penality was deserved, I think Massa had no way to avoid it when he went off the track but he caused it and that was that.

Hamilton's penalty was well deserved, despite no contact with anyone by him he clearly caused contact by others.

Looking at the race, it was exciting and Alonso proved why he is a double WC. Well done!

[fordgt84]

i cannot believe they penalized Bourdais, wtf is wrong with these f1 stewards...

all the other penalties that were given to other drivers from the other incidents were well deserved...But bringing Bourdais down was just rediculous :angry: BOOOOO!!

[Mattk]

Some sports competitions are officiated for the benefit of television viewers, like NBA basketball. Most others are officiated for the benefit of the sport. I think a hardline approach is best.