The 2009 Japanese Grand Prix Thread

[Ed]

Race coverage notes and comments:

1:36 Japanese Grand Prix in 25 minutes. Follow our coverage here on NewsOnF1.com

1:39 The grid has changed due to the penalties. It is difficult to explain how they came up with this grid but these are the rules!

1:42 Weather conditions at Suzuka are dry and sunny

1:45 Japanese GP: Vettel starts from Pole from Trulli, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Rosberg and Sutil

1:46 Heaviest in the top 10 revised grid: Kubica in 9th (686 kg) and Rosebrg in 7th (684.5 kg)

1:49 Lightest in the top 10 revised grid: Sutil in 8th (650 kg), Trulli in 2nd (655.5 kg) & Hamilton in 3rd (656 kg)

1:53 Timo Glock will not be racing today after sustaining an injury from his crash during qualifying yesterday

1:56 8 drivers are racing here for the first time! Vettel, Hamilton, Sutil, Kovalainen, Buemi, Alguersuari, Nakajima, Grosjean

1:57 Air temperature at 28 degrees while track temperature is at 40 degrees.
Race in 5 minutes!

1:59 Mark Webber will be starting from the pitlane

1:59 The grid is being cleared for the start

2:00 Formation lap underway

2:02 There is a mix of one stoppers and two. Most of those in the top 10 are two stopping

2:02 Vettel arrives at the starting grid

2:03 Lights!

2:04 Vettel leads from Hamilton and Trulli

2:04 Buemi gets a slow start!

2:06 Order after the 1st lap: Vettel, Hamilton, Trulli, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Sutil, Rosberg, Kovalainen and Kubica

2:06 Vettel aleady a second up on Hamilton!

2:08 Webber is in the pits! He started from the pitlane. Looks like he has a problem!

2:08 Fastest lap by Vettel so far - A 1:33.949 on lap 3

2:09 Button takes 10th from Kubica

2:11 Lap 4: Vettel leads Hamilton by 2 seconds. Trulli in 3rd is a further 1.4 seconds behind

2:14 Vettel leads Hamilton by 2.6 seconds on lap 6. Trulli is a further 1.8 seconds behind

2:14 Sutil right behind Kovalainen for 8th place!

2:16 Sutil is lighter than Kovalainen however he doesn't have KERS!

2:18 Order on lap 9: Vettel, Hamilton, Trulli, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Sutil & Button

2:19 Vettel leads Hamilton by 4.1 seconds. Trulli a further 1.9 seconds behind on lap 10

2:22 Buemi is in the pits

2:22 He retires

2:24 Sutil and Kovalainen touch!

2:25 Both lose a few places. Button gets through!

2:27 Hamilton is the first of the leaders to pit!

2:28 Hamilton rejoins behind Rosberg. Sutil pits

2:29 Trulli now pits

2:29 Trulli rejoins behind Hamilton

2:31 Button pits

2:31 So does Fisichella

2:31 Vettel pits from the lead

2:32 And so does Heidfeld

2:32 Vettel rejoins ahead of Rosberg and Hamilton

2:34 Order on lap 19: Vettel, Rosberg, Hamilton, Trulli, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Kubica, Raikkonen, Barrichello and Alguersuari

2:35 Rosberg, Kovalainen, Kubica and Alguersuari yet to stop

2:38 Rosberg makes his first stop from second

2:39 Alguersuari pits as well

2:42 Vettel leads Hamilton on lap 24 by 4.5 seconds. Trulli in 3rd is a further 2.3 seconds behind

2:42 Kovalainen pits for his 1st stop

2:44 Liuzzi pits for his 1st and only stop

2:45 Kubica pits. The last of the top 10

2:47 Nakajima pits

2:50 Vettel leads Hamilton by 5.5 seconds on lap 29. Trulli in 3rd is a further 2.6 seconds behind

2:51 Grosjean pits for his only stop as Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race with a 1:33.052

2:52 Alonso is the last driver to make their 1st stop

2:52 Alonso managed to get ahead of Nakajima

2:54 Order after 32 laps: Vettel, Hamilton (+6.5), Trulli (+9.9), Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Rosberg, Button, Kubica & Kovalainen

2:56 Raikkonen sets the fastest lap of the race so far with a 1:32.999

2:57 2nd round of stops for the 2 stoppers coming up

2:58 Button in 8th is right behind Rosberg

2:59 [Comment From Nilus ]
any live video link? [Ed] No

2:59 Raikkonen is the first to stop for the second time

3:00 Raikkonen rejoins behind Button

3:00 [Comment From Nilus ]
where is adrian sutil [Ed] 12th

3:00 Heidfeld pits from 4th

3:01 [Comment From Arki ]
how many laps to go? [Ed] 17 laps remaining

3:01 Heidfeld rejoins behind Raikkonen and just in front of Kubica

3:02 Hamilton pits

3:03 [Comment From wayne ]
where r the force india drivers???? [Ed] Sutil in 12th, Liuzzi in 15th

3:04 [Comment From Pete ]
where did hamilton feed back in [Ed] 3rd

3:05 Toyota getting ready for Trulli

3:05 Trulli pits. He is a fight with Hamilton for second

3:06 Trulli gets ahead of Hamilton via the pits!

3:07 Kovalainen and Fisichella out of the pits side by side. They touch but they both keep going!

3:09 Replay shows that Fisichella wasn't aware Kovalainen was right behind him!

3:10 [Comment From Pete ]
does barrichello or button have to pit again? [Ed] Button made his second stop. Barrichello yet to do so

3:10 Barrichello pits from 4th

3:11 Barrichello rejoins ahead of Button

3:12 [Comment From Joe ]
Why was Button demoted on Grid? Thanks [Ed] Not slowing under yellow in Q2

3:14 Crash! Alguersuari - Safety car!!

3:15 [Comment From Guest ]
wher is vitantonio? [Ed] 15th

3:16 Big crash for Alguersuari

3:16 Rosberg who had yet to pit just pits

3:17 [Comment From Pete ]
does it look like the race will finish under the safety car? [Ed] No. Probably 3 laps

3:17 Alguersuari is fine. He climbs out of the car

3:19 Team tells Hamilton they have a problem with KERS

3:19 [Comment From fsdfsd ]
wher is liuzzi? [Ed] 15th

3:19 [Comment From Pete ]
time to test the kers for Hamilton and Rai

3:20 Safety car: Vettel leads from Trulli and Hamilton. 6 laps to go

3:23 Alguersuari is taken to the medical centre for checks. The marshals are fixing the tyre barriers - 5 laps to go

3:24 Safety car in this lap. We will have 4 races remaining!

3:25 Vettel has Grosjean behind him!

3:25 Lights off the safety car

3:26 Race restarts

3:26 Vettel leads from Trulli and Hamilton. Raikkonen is right behind

3:28 Barrichello, Button, Kubica and Alonso are all together (7th to 10th)

3:29 2 laps to go and Vettel leads from Trulli by 2.6 seconds. Hamilton is a further 1.9 seconds behind

3:30 Final lap!

3:31 Webber sets the fastest lap of the race with a 1:32.589

3:32 Kubica right behind Button!

3:32 Vettel wins!

3:32 Trulli takes second ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen

3:33 [Comment From Kent ]
Thanks for a nice race! [Ed] You are welcome

3:34 Japanese GP - Top 10: Vettel, Trulli, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Button, Kubica and Alonso

3:35 Japanese GP - 11th - 17th: Kovalainen, Fisichella, Sutil, Liuzzi, Nakajima, Grosjean, Webber

3:36 Japanese GP - Retirements: Buemi & Alguersuari

3:36 Japanese GP - Fastest lap: Mark Webber - 1:32.569 on lap 50
3:37 [Comment From Pete ]
first time on this site, thank you for the coverage [Ed] You are welcome. Hope you visit again

3:37 [Comment From Guest ]
Gents thanks very much for your commentary. Damien from Trinidad [Ed] You are welcome

3:38 [Comment From Joe ]
Thanks for the great commentary. Joe in Chennai (India) [Ed] You are welcome

3:39 [Comment From Pete ]
how points is vettel behind now? [Ed] Button has 85 pts, Barrichello has 71 pts and Vettel has 69 pts

3:39 [Comment From suraj ]
thanks a lot

3:40 [Comment From Guest ]
Thanks for the great race and nice comentry

3:43 Button needs 6 points in Brazil to guarantee the title or finish ahead of Barrichello and Vettel

3:43 [Comment From sarath ]
thanks for nice race

3:44 [Comment From Joe ]
Hi - how many races left, and when do they take place? Thanks [Ed] 2 - Brazil in 2 weeks then Abu Dhabi on the 1st of November

Japanese Grand Prix - Top 10
1. Vettel
2. Trulli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . +4.8
3. Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +6.4
4. Raikkonen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +7.9
5. Rosberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +8.7
6. Heidfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . +9.5
7. Barrichello . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . +10.6
8. Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +11.4
9. Kubica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +11.7
10. Alonso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +13.0

[Ed]

Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel on winning the Japanese Grand Prix. That was an impressive drive and no one came close to him and there were no mistakes this time. Well done!
Jarno Trulli was also impressive as he not only qualified well but raced well too. Having dropped a place to Hamilton at the start he stayed with him and managed to get the place back at the second round of stops. Something we don't see often from Trulli.
Lewis Hamilton managed to finish 3rd which is were he started. A good race for him but he would be dissapointed not have stayed ahead of Trulli
Kimi Raikkonen continues to get the most out of the Ferrari, this time on a track he enjoys.
Nico Rosberg benifited from the penalties handed out and managed to finish in 5th. Another strong performance
Nick Heidfeld continues to show how consistent he is in finishing.
Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button made up the top 8. The Brawn team continues to drop back relative to the other teams. They have a huge lead so they will clinch both titles but one doesn't get the feeling that it is a real fight!

Sutil & Kovalainen ? It does seem that Sutil has a bit too many of those incidents!

Webber ? Setting the fastest lap of the race, one wonders what he could have done had he not crashed during Saturday practice.

The starting grid. The way penalties are applied is flawed when many drivers are penalised. Sutil qualified ahead of Barrichello, both were handed 5 place grid penalties. Barrichello ended up ahead of Sutil on the grid. Regarldless of the method, it is flawed. That shouldn't happen.
In addition, Neither Barrichello nor Button were fairly penalised. By not slowing down under yellows at the end of Q2, they made it into Q3. Even with a 5 place penalty, it took them back where they would have been had they lifted. The penalty should have been harsher.
Hopefully they can think the application of these penalties better in the future.

Your thoughts and the driver of the day ?

[Guest]

Well, driver of the day is easy, SEBASTIAN, as expected.

Surprising performance by JARNO though, who even beat LEWIS.

KIMI was invisible but scored nevertheless with NICO once again pressing out everything there is from his WILLIAMS. In fact, being MCLAREN, I would not hesitate to sign the latter rather than the former....

NICK did well also with the limited BMW summer-sale package.

RUBENS beat JENSON but only just after having been 10s in front of him halfway through the race. JENSON also clocked one of the quickest laps, 0.3s faster than the Brazilian but has to get a decent result in qualifying and in the last 2 races to go out of the season on a high. Dont doubt he secures the WDC but still there are already the begrudgers who dont understand that in relative terms the BRAWN of late summer is by no means the package of the early season. In expecting JENSON to totally dominate him there is also some disrespect for RUBENS who would be a match for any team mate, speed wise.

A good GP but little overtaking, JENSONs move on ROBERT was great while ADRIAN was less lucky.

Hope Brazil will be more exciting.

[JayVee]

Well done to Vettel. A very good race from him. I was also impressed by Trulli. He actually fought back for a change!!

Button and Barrichello continue their task of throwing away points and begging the other to win the championship! This time though Button should thank Sutil and Kovalainen for handing him a point! Still Barrichello started 6th and finished 7th!!!!!

I am sorry but neither Button nor Barrichello show that they are championship material. Button will win it because Barrichello will not win the next 2 races and neither will Vettel who keeps blowing engines!

Next year should be a really close and exciting championship because I don't think any team will have a significant advantage at the start

The penalties and they way they were handed are really strange and I would expect them to explain how a 5 grid penalty sometimes actually means 1 place or 2 places or 3 places .....

[Snowy]

Williams may have quite a distinct advantage next season if they are the only car running KERs!

It should be bourn in mind that Jenson and Ruben's penalties during qualifying whilst justified severly compromised what could have been a far stronger showing in the race. The fact is that the season has been up and down for everyone on the grid and singling out Brawn GP as under performing is a soft option. The way different cars are handling different circuits is the key to unravelling the season and driver's performance.

Jenson was afforded a superior car at the start of the season and made outstanding use of it. Lately he has been put on the back foot by many factors within and without his control. It is a fact of racing that if something can go wrong then eventually it will. Take for instance Vettel's engines; Renault engines have historically been bulletproof, it is an unfortunate twist of fate that some thing or element of the Red Bull has manifested Vettel's Renault engine weakness. It is just a manifestation of Chaos Theory. There has been a lot of chaos in F1 lately and the world, seemingly unrelated and related events have been at work creating a new natural order of things.

In the natural order of things, Jenson will become a very worthy and honorable World Champion. But the natural order of things may change, so be alert!