Thoughts on the Japanese Grand Prix

Post by **Tim** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 5:24 pm

What a thrilling race!

Kimi Raikkonen wins in stunning form starting from the back he takes the lead from Fisichella with 1 lap to go! That was impressive.
Fisichella should have won it given the huge lead he had.
Alonso was also in stunning form also starting from the back and finishing third. Given his strategy he probably did the most overtaking today!. His two overtaking moves on Michael were impressive.
Mark Webber did a great job finishing 4th. He nearly scored his second podium of the season.
Jenson Button started to struggle midway through the race finishing 5th.
David Coulthard impressive in the Red Bull managing 6th ahead of Michael Schumacher who did a reasonable job getting into the points from 14th.
Ralf Schumacher starting from Pole only manages 8th.

Hard luck to Montoya who was charging on the first lap but appeared to have tangled with Villeneuve and went off. The incident is under investigation.

This was one of the best races this season. So much overtaking and change of positions. The lead changed 9 times with 6 different drivers in the lead at various stages of the race!

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:29 pm

Driver of the Day, Kimi. He overtook more cars than Alonso
overtaking move of the day, Alonso on Schuey.
Quit achiever Award, Mark Webber.
Most disappointing driver.
Button had so much grunt in that Honda engine, does he have problems with bendy stuff?

Thoughts on the race?
Highly entertaining.

rah · Post by **rah** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:51 pm

Wish I could have voted for Alonso and Kimi.

Was a great race to watch and I am glad I did. Nice to see Alonso's got a nice set of balls hidden away. He looked very hungry out there today. Those overtaking moves were great to watch. In the end I voted for Kimi because he won. But that was the only thing to put him ahead of Alonso. Maybe with a better strategy Alonso could have won it instead.

Nice to see Webber in 4th. I think he got about 3-4 mins of coverage. It was very obvious today that there is a large gap between Renault, Mclaren and the rest of the field. At least it was good to see Williams heading up the rest today.

Shame for Fisi, he almost got there but was not fast enough. Maybe he needs to get some blocking lessons off MS.

Nice to see DC up there too. RBR were not looking too shaby at the pointy end of the field.

Sato, what can I say. Not much really.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:55 pm

rah wrote:
Sato, what can I say. Not much really.

how about........." Sayonara"

rah · Post by **rah** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:03 pm

Unfortunately it looks as though he will be in a car next year.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:16 pm

rah wrote:Unfortunately it looks as though he will be in a car next year.

pedal ?

RE30B#16 · Post by **RE30B#16** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:44 am

What a wacky start to the Japanese Grand Prix!!! This was the most fun I've had watching an F1 race since the late Seventies or the early Eighties when guys won the championship with 2 wins on the season!

Both Kimi and Alonso were phenomenal! I gave Alonso the edge over Kimi because he passed a very racy Christian Klien 3 times on the track and Michael Schumacher twice!! All of the passes were brilliant. I love that kid!

I was pulling for Ralf Schumacher to give Toyota their first win on home soil, but it was not to be. I think unlike the McLaren and the Renault which seems to be better late in the race, the Toyota chassis is good on fresh tires, but it goes off if the driver is pushing late in the race. We've seen both Toyota driver lead comfortably only to end up not even on the podium at the end.

I have no faith in Jenson Button to win at this point. He is fast, but way too inconsistent. I expect Barichello to clean his clock next year. If Sato were Italian, he would've had to be air lifted from the track for driving a Honda and taking out a Toyota at his home track! He hasn't been as good in my estimation as either of the 2 Midland/Jordan drivers this year.

My favorite underdog to root for is the scrappy Red Bull team. I was never a DC fan, but he has always been a brilliant race starter. What a start he put in!! I think Christian Klien is another Gerhard Berger in the making. He is young, mature, fast, and a team guy who doesn't make silly mistakes. He should be joining MS at Ferrari. I guess Ross Brawn found the perfect patsy in Felipe Massa who can be fast sometimes, but is just as inconsistent as his teammate Jacques Villeneuve who should leave F1 before he hurts himself.

Gooday for Mark Webber who didn't make many mistakes in Japan and held up MS, Alonso, Kimi, and others to stay in the points for Williams. I don't even recall if there was another Williams in the race!

My heart burns for Fisichella who was just this side of apoplectic in the post race interview. He knows he will be unfairly compared to Alonso who successfully held off MS for nearly 14 laps in Imola. Still he drove a great race albeit one lap too long.

Chrisjian Albers also deserves to keep his seat with Minardi/Red Bull LE next year.

One last comment: the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka is a beautiful event that needs to stay on the F1 calender forever along with Spa, Monaco, Monza, and Imola! There is no more beautiful and perfect race track in the world. Boy, I wish we could get the FIA to take Formula 1 to Road America or better yet back to Watkins Glen!! Note I did not add Laguna Seca to this list. I love that track, but if Formula 1 went there today they would have to hack up the course for safety reasons. Bump that!!

Chris
Go Renault!!

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:00 am

This was, without a doubt, the BEST race on the calender this year in F1. Let's see...Raikkonen got my vote for driver of the racer for the simple fact that he came from dead last(shotgun on the field) and bulled his way to the win, passing everyone in front of him to take the checkers. What a race from the Iceman...

As for Fisichella.....you have to feel sorry for him. Imagine losing the lead on the last lap

.When they handed him the trophy for 2nd, that was the most catatonic expression on a driver I've ever seen; he was spent, emotionally.

All in all, a great race. Enough said.
Hopefully, Shanghai will be just as good a race to conclude what has been a very interesting Formula 1 season.

JayVee · Post by **JayVee** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:17 am

Alonso The Cute and Raikkonen. They were both amazing.

I give it to Alonso The Cute

, call me biased that is a given but Alonso did the most overtaking on the track and was forced to give his position back to Klien unfairly losing at least 10 seconds in the process. He passed so many cars including Button and Webber and he passed Michael twice, one of them will probably go down as the best and bravest overtaking move this year. 130R is feared by the drivers, Alonso took Michael there!!

I think Japan showed what Alonso The Cute can do. He made the Renault nearly as fast as the McLaren while Fisichella gave away the race after such a huge lead.

Remember that this was Alonso's second race on the same engine. Raikkonen had a fresh engine and again was very very lucky. This is the 4th or maybe 5th time that Raikkonen's engine fails in a practice session and not in a race. This time he changed his engine and his penalty cost him nothing. He qualified 17th and started 17th

.

Webber did well so I'll give him credit for that even though he pushed Alonso onto the grass but that was fun!
Pizzonia dissapointed me with his spin. I must admit

On to China and Alonso will have a new engine that only needs to last for 1 race while Raikkonen is stuck with the same engine he ran yesterday.

I think we are all lucky that Raikkonen is in Formula 1, otherwise Alonso The Cute would win everything without any competition.
But he will anyway

Bundy · Post by **Bundy** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:14 pm

I had to give drive of the day to Kimi. 17th to 1st & the pass on Fisi on the last lap was spectacular. Alonso may have passed the most cars on the track but Kimi won the race & that HAS to count for bonus points.

Interesting the see the difference in straight line speed between the Williams & Renault.......Webber never stood a chance, he tried to defend but Alonso was always going to get him. It was like my prado against a monaro. In a completely different class.

Webber completely out-drove his team-mate (again) & the "rest" of the field(meaning everyone except Mclaren & Renault.....Those cars are in a class of their own). Coulthard had a good race, i would like to see his start to see if he "broke" as has been suggested.

God only knows what the pizza boy was doing, add to that sato & jv!!!

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 7:47 am

Pizza was just doing what he does best

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:55 am

Cheers Mates; I'm late but still enthused about Japan. It was not merely the best race this year; I think it was the best for the last three or four years. I've been trying to remember when I was last in a race so completely (and when I've been literally UNABLE to leave the room when the commercials played, even to get a beer!).

No point in repeating what you've all noticed above about Suzuka; just happy that F1 has become about racing again.

Actually, the last time I was this excited was when Michael bumped D.C. out of the way and took the race at Buenos Aires in 1999. The Mac's were faster than the Ferrari's then, but David never recovered from Michael's Montoya bump-and-go pass and Mikka just couldn't get round him. And one of my old favorites, Eddie Irvine was in the other Ferrari to finish out the podium.

With Kimi and Juan Pablo and Fernando all in the hunt; with Michael coming back and starting from a clean slate, next year should be fantastic. And, as others have noted, with Klien and Hiedfeld coming on, Fisi and Jarno and Jenson had better look to their mirrors!

Jim Watt

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:55 am

Cheers Mates; I'm late but still enthused about Japan. It was not merely the best race this year; I think it was the best for the last three or four years. I've been trying to remember when I was last in a race so completely (and when I've been literally UNABLE to leave the room when the commercials played, even to get a beer!).

No point in repeating what you've all noticed above about Suzuka; just happy that F1 has become about racing again.

Actually, the last time I was this excited was when Michael bumped D.C. out of the way and took the race at Buenos Aires in 1999. The Mac's were faster than the Ferrari's then, but David never recovered from Michael's Montoya bump-and-go pass and Mikka just couldn't get round him. And one of my old favorites, Eddie Irvine was in the other Ferrari to finish out the podium.

With Kimi and Juan Pablo and Fernando all in the hunt; with Michael coming back and starting from a clean slate, next year should be fantastic. And, as others have noted, with Klien and Hiedfeld coming on, Fisi and Jarno and Jenson had better look to their mirrors!

Jim Watt

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