Well, what can I say, yet another Vettel victory, but not quite the driver's championship yet for him. Unfortunately for Vettel, Alonso had a strong race and because of his forth place finish, Vettel's points lead was just not enough to clinch the driver's title at Suzuka. With only four races remaining, both drivers will definitely fight to the last race for the driver's championship.
As per my new trend, below follows a full weekend report of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
Friday 11th October Free Practice
Friday Free Practice 1:
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg led the Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in an incident-filled first practice session in Japan on Friday morning.
Hamilton quickly took control of proceedings at the challenging Suzuka circuit, setting a series of fastest times, culminating in 1m 34.157s to beat team mate Rosberg's 1m 34.487s by 0.330s. The German briefly overshot the chicane towards the end of the 90 minutes while seeking to go faster.
Maldonado completed only part of the session, as his Williams shed its left-rear wheel at Turn 14, the Spoon Curve, shortly after leaving the pits, for which the team were later fined €60,000.
Marussia's Jules Bianchi and Caterham's Giedo van der Garde also had their sessions curtailed early as both drivers were caught out at the tricky Degner 2 corner. Bianchi went off with nearly an hour remaining, hitting the tyre wall and removing his front wing and left-front wheel, while soon after Maldonado's drama Van der Garde went straight into the gravel, although he managed to avoid hitting anything.
Friday Free Practice 2:
Saturday 12th October Final Practice & Qualifying
As per my new trend, below follows a full weekend report of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
Friday 11th October Free Practice
Friday Free Practice 1:
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg led the Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in an incident-filled first practice session in Japan on Friday morning.
Hamilton quickly took control of proceedings at the challenging Suzuka circuit, setting a series of fastest times, culminating in 1m 34.157s to beat team mate Rosberg's 1m 34.487s by 0.330s. The German briefly overshot the chicane towards the end of the 90 minutes while seeking to go faster.
Maldonado completed only part of the session, as his Williams shed its left-rear wheel at Turn 14, the Spoon Curve, shortly after leaving the pits, for which the team were later fined €60,000.
Marussia's Jules Bianchi and Caterham's Giedo van der Garde also had their sessions curtailed early as both drivers were caught out at the tricky Degner 2 corner. Bianchi went off with nearly an hour remaining, hitting the tyre wall and removing his front wing and left-front wheel, while soon after Maldonado's drama Van der Garde went straight into the gravel, although he managed to avoid hitting anything.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:34.157 | 19 |
| 2. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:34.487 | 19 |
| 3. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 01:34.768 | 24 |
| 4. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 01:34.787 | 20 |
| 5. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:35.126 | 14 |
| 6. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:35.154 | 16 |
| 7. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 01:35.179 | 15 |
| 8. | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | 01:35.364 | 17 |
| 9. | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 01:35.450 | 27 |
| 10. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 01:35.635 | 19 |
| 11. | Jenson Button | McLaren | 01:35.868 | 22 |
| 12. | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 01:35.900 | 18 |
| 13. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 01:36.066 | 20 |
| 14. | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 01:36.165 | 19 |
| 15. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 01:36.178 | 12 |
| 16. | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 01:36.340 | 23 |
| 17. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 01:36.399 | 18 |
| 18. | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | 01:36.760 | 22 |
| 19. | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 01:37.595 | 22 |
| 20. | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 01:37.629 | 8 |
| 21. | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 01:38.025 | 15 |
| 22. | Max Chilton | Marussia | 01:38.763 | 18 |
 |
| Lewis Hamilton: Fastest in Practice 1 |
Friday Free Practice 2:
Sebastian Vettel led team mate Mark Webber in a Red Bull one-two in second practice in Japan on Friday afternoon.
The world champion lapped Suzuka in 1m 33.852s, making him the only driver to crack the 1m 34s barrier on Pirelli’s medium tyre, but the Australian was super-close with 1m 34.020s.
In another session full of incident, Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen all came back to the pits without their cars after falling foul of this tricky track.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 01:33.852 | 35 |
| 2. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 01:34.020 | 35 |
| 3. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:34.114 | 36 |
| 4. | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | 01:34.202 | 17 |
| 5. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 01:34.411 | 30 |
| 6. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:34.442 | 36 |
| 7. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 01:34.473 | 30 |
| 8. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:34.698 | 35 |
| 9. | Jenson Button | McLaren | 01:34.912 | 34 |
| 10. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:35.087 | 32 |
| 11. | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | 01:35.089 | 36 |
| 12. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 01:35.109 | 34 |
| 13. | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 01:35.182 | 34 |
| 14. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 01:35.275 | 35 |
| 15. | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 01:35.341 | 25 |
| 16. | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 01:35.709 | 8 |
| 17. | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 01:36.136 | 41 |
| 18. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 01:36.722 | 6 |
| 19. | Charles Pic | Caterham | 01:37.630 | 31 |
| 20. | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 01:37.905 | 36 |
| 21. | Max Chilton | Marussia | 01:38.121 | 33 |
 |
| Sebastian Vettel: Fastest in Practice 2 |
Saturday 12th October Final Practice & Qualifying
Final Practice:
Qualifying:
Mark Webber claimed his first pole position of the season - and his first since Korea last year - with a superb performance in qualifying in Japan on Saturday afternoon. The Australian got the better of Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, who suffered from intermittent KERS issues in Q3.
Webber had set the pace in Q1 at Suzuka with 1m 32.271s as he took the honors away from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who in turn had displaced Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. But with only a few minutes remaining the session was temporarily red-flagged when Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso rolled to a smoky halt at the Degner Curve with its rear brakes on fire.
After the STR8 had been liberally doused with multiple fire extinguishers, the session resumed briefly, giving those who wanted another run just enough time to complete one more timed lap. There was another fire, this time when Esteban Gutierrez got back to his pit and the rear end of his Sauber was briefly set ablaze.
Sunday 13th October Starting Grid Race Report & Results
Starting Grid:
Race Report:
At times it seemed that Lotus’s Romain Grosjean or Red Bull’s Mark Webber might emerge victorious from a tactical race in Japan on Sunday, but in the end it was Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel who took his ninth success of the season - and fifth in a row - after a finely judged two-stop race.
Webber’s chances were hampered at the start when both he and Vettel were slow away and Grosjean’s Lotus burst through from fourth on the grid to snatch the lead going into the first corner, but for a while the Australian’s three-stop strategy looked good as he swapped to Pirelli’s medium tyres for his final stint with 11 laps to go. Unfortunately it took him until the 52nd lap to dislodge Grosjean from second place, by which time Vettel was far too far ahead.
The result was not enough to clinch the drivers’ championship for Vettel as Fernando Alonso’s plucky fourth place for Ferrari leaves him 90 points adrift with 100 still up for grabs in the final four races.
Alonso played second fiddle for a long time to Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa, but then moved ahead of the Brazilian and in the closing stages fought and won a tight battle with Sauber’s again-impressive Nico Hulkenberg. The latter was also displaced near the finish by Kimi Raikkonen, who brought his Lotus home fifth. But as Esteban Gutierrez drove the best race of his short F1 career to score his first points with seventh place, it was a good race for team owner Peter Sauber who was back home in Switzerland celebrating his 70th birthday.
Gutierrez earned his spurs by holding off the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg to the flag, as Jenson Button passed Massa on the penultimate lap to score two points for McLaren. The Brazilian had lost time with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
It was a tough day for Mercedes, who lost Lewis Hamilton as a contender in the first corner. As Grosjean came down the inside Hamilton was pinched between the two Red Bulls as they struggled for momentum. As Vettel had to move left to avoid the Lotus he clipped the Mercedes’ right-rear tyre with his left front-wing endplate. Hamilton limped to the pits with a puncture, resumed, but soon retired as the resulting aerodynamic damage was costing him more than a second a lap.
Paul di Resta drove a feisty race for Force India but just lost out on points to Button and Massa in the closing stages and thus finished 11th, while Jean-Eric Vergne fought to 12th for Toro Rosso, just ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian started on the hard tyres and did the longest first stint, but his chances of points were ruined when he got a drive-through penalty for completing a pass on Force India’s Adrian Sutil by going off track exiting 130R on the 28th lap and being deemed by the stewards to have gained an unfair advantage.
Sutil made a brilliant start from last on the grid and was always in the lower midfield fight, but had to settle for 14th, a long way behind Ricciardo and a mere tenth of a second ahead of Sergio Perez, who like McLaren team mate Button did a three-stop run.
Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas were 16th and 17th for Williams, the Finn dropping from 13th in the final laps after a mistake in the heat of the battle.
Caterham and Marussia lost Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi at the very first corner when the Dutchman and the Frenchman collided at the start, but after serving a drive-though penalty in the first five laps for driving through a red light during qualifying, Charles Pic fought through to lead Marussia’s Max Chilton home.
Vettel's fourth win in Japan brings him to 297 points in the standings to Alonso’s 207, which means he can clinch the title at the next round in India by finishing fifth or higher, regardless of what the Spaniard does. Raikkonen pulled further away from Hamilton in third place with 177 to 161, while Webber is moving back into contention with them on 148.
The result gave Red Bull another 43 points, bringing their total to 445. Ferrari’s run pulled them further ahead of Mercedes, the gap going out to 10 points with 297 to 287, while Lotus are back in the fight for second place with 264. Much further back McLaren have 83 to Force India’s 62
Race Results:
Championship Standings after Japan:
So, now we move onto the last four races of the season, the next one being the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit. Below follows the timings as per local time in India. Keep up to date with developing news, right here on F1supportersclub.blogspot.com
Red Bull's Mark Webber set the pace in the final practice session in Japan on Saturday morning as technical issues limited his team mate Sebastian Vettel to just eight laps of Suzuka.
The Australian's final response to Romain Grosjean's medium-tyre run of 1m 32.707s, which temporarily put the Frenchman at the top of the times, was 1m 32.053s. Nico Rosberg slipped his Mercedes ahead of the Lotus with 1m 32.355s towards the finish, but right at the end Lewis Hamilton usurped his team mate with 1m 32.187s to go second, 0.134s behind Webber.
Vettel ended the session with the ninth-fastest time of 1m 33.036s, though he had long since changed out of his race suit when the chequered flag dropped; his mechanics busily tending to his RB9.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 01:32.053 | 17 |
| 2. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:32.187 | 18 |
| 3. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:32.355 | 18 |
| 4. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 01:32.707 | 26 |
| 5. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:32.800 | 14 |
| 6. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:32.815 | 14 |
| 7. | Jenson Button | McLaren | 01:32.869 | 17 |
| 8. | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | 01:32.946 | 25 |
| 9. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 01:33.036 | 8 |
| 10. | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 01:33.076 | 12 |
| 11. | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 01:33.158 | 15 |
| 12. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 01:33.260 | 15 |
| 13. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 01:33.490 | 16 |
| 14. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 01:33.638 | 17 |
| 15. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 01:33.660 | 19 |
| 16. | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | 01:33.732 | 15 |
| 17. | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 01:33.955 | 18 |
| 18. | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 01:34.773 | 8 |
| 19. | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 01:35.473 | 20 |
| 20. | Charles Pic | Caterham | 01:35.518 | 18 |
| 21. | Max Chilton | Marussia | 01:35.844 | 16 |
| 22. | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 01:39.378 | 20 |
 |
| Mark Webber: Fastest in Final Practice |
Qualifying:
Mark Webber claimed his first pole position of the season - and his first since Korea last year - with a superb performance in qualifying in Japan on Saturday afternoon. The Australian got the better of Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, who suffered from intermittent KERS issues in Q3.
 |
| From L-R: Vettel 2nd, Webber 1st, Hamilton 3rd |
After the STR8 had been liberally doused with multiple fire extinguishers, the session resumed briefly, giving those who wanted another run just enough time to complete one more timed lap. There was another fire, this time when Esteban Gutierrez got back to his pit and the rear end of his Sauber was briefly set ablaze.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 01:30.915 | 13 |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 01:31.089 | 13 |
| 3. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:31.253 | 17 |
| 4. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 01:31.365 | 21 |
| 5. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:31.378 | 17 |
| 6. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:31.397 | 17 |
| 7. | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 01:31.644 | 19 |
| 8. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:31.665 | 16 |
| 9. | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | 01:31.684 | 19 |
| 10. | Jenson Button | McLaren | 01:31.827 | 15 |
| 11. | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 01:31.989 | 16 |
| 12. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 01:31.992 | 15 |
| 13. | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 01:32.013 | 14 |
| 14. | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | 01:32.063 | 15 |
| 15. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 01:32.093 | 15 |
| 16. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 01:32.485 | 11 |
| 17. | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 01:32.890 | 10 |
| 18. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 01:33.357 | 6 |
| 19. | Max Chilton | Marussia | 01:34.320 | 8 |
| 20. | Charles Pic | Caterham | 01:34.556 | 8 |
| 21. | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 01:34.879 | 9 |
| 22. | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 01:34.958 | 5 |
Sunday 13th October Starting Grid Race Report & Results
Starting Grid:
Race Report:
At times it seemed that Lotus’s Romain Grosjean or Red Bull’s Mark Webber might emerge victorious from a tactical race in Japan on Sunday, but in the end it was Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel who took his ninth success of the season - and fifth in a row - after a finely judged two-stop race.
Webber’s chances were hampered at the start when both he and Vettel were slow away and Grosjean’s Lotus burst through from fourth on the grid to snatch the lead going into the first corner, but for a while the Australian’s three-stop strategy looked good as he swapped to Pirelli’s medium tyres for his final stint with 11 laps to go. Unfortunately it took him until the 52nd lap to dislodge Grosjean from second place, by which time Vettel was far too far ahead.
The result was not enough to clinch the drivers’ championship for Vettel as Fernando Alonso’s plucky fourth place for Ferrari leaves him 90 points adrift with 100 still up for grabs in the final four races.
Alonso played second fiddle for a long time to Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa, but then moved ahead of the Brazilian and in the closing stages fought and won a tight battle with Sauber’s again-impressive Nico Hulkenberg. The latter was also displaced near the finish by Kimi Raikkonen, who brought his Lotus home fifth. But as Esteban Gutierrez drove the best race of his short F1 career to score his first points with seventh place, it was a good race for team owner Peter Sauber who was back home in Switzerland celebrating his 70th birthday.
Gutierrez earned his spurs by holding off the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg to the flag, as Jenson Button passed Massa on the penultimate lap to score two points for McLaren. The Brazilian had lost time with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
It was a tough day for Mercedes, who lost Lewis Hamilton as a contender in the first corner. As Grosjean came down the inside Hamilton was pinched between the two Red Bulls as they struggled for momentum. As Vettel had to move left to avoid the Lotus he clipped the Mercedes’ right-rear tyre with his left front-wing endplate. Hamilton limped to the pits with a puncture, resumed, but soon retired as the resulting aerodynamic damage was costing him more than a second a lap.
Paul di Resta drove a feisty race for Force India but just lost out on points to Button and Massa in the closing stages and thus finished 11th, while Jean-Eric Vergne fought to 12th for Toro Rosso, just ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian started on the hard tyres and did the longest first stint, but his chances of points were ruined when he got a drive-through penalty for completing a pass on Force India’s Adrian Sutil by going off track exiting 130R on the 28th lap and being deemed by the stewards to have gained an unfair advantage.
Sutil made a brilliant start from last on the grid and was always in the lower midfield fight, but had to settle for 14th, a long way behind Ricciardo and a mere tenth of a second ahead of Sergio Perez, who like McLaren team mate Button did a three-stop run.
Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas were 16th and 17th for Williams, the Finn dropping from 13th in the final laps after a mistake in the heat of the battle.
Caterham and Marussia lost Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi at the very first corner when the Dutchman and the Frenchman collided at the start, but after serving a drive-though penalty in the first five laps for driving through a red light during qualifying, Charles Pic fought through to lead Marussia’s Max Chilton home.
Vettel's fourth win in Japan brings him to 297 points in the standings to Alonso’s 207, which means he can clinch the title at the next round in India by finishing fifth or higher, regardless of what the Spaniard does. Raikkonen pulled further away from Hamilton in third place with 177 to 161, while Webber is moving back into contention with them on 148.
The result gave Red Bull another 43 points, bringing their total to 445. Ferrari’s run pulled them further ahead of Mercedes, the gap going out to 10 points with 297 to 287, while Lotus are back in the fight for second place with 264. Much further back McLaren have 83 to Force India’s 62
Race Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:26:49.301 |
| 2. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | +7.129 |
| 3. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | +9.910 |
| 4. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | +45.605 |
| 5. | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | +47.325 |
| 6. | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | +51.615 |
| 7. | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | +1:11.630 |
| 8. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | +1:12.023 |
| 9. | Jenson Button | McLaren | +1:20.821 |
| 10. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | +1:29.263 |
| 11. | Paul di Resta | Force India | +1:38.572 |
| 12. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | +1 Lap |
| 13. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | +1 Lap |
| 14. | Adrian Sutil | Force India | +1 Lap |
| 15. | Sergio Perez | McLaren | +1 Lap |
| 16. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | +1 Lap |
| 17. | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | +1 Lap |
| 18. | Charles Pic | Caterham | +1 Lap |
| 19. | Max Chilton | Marussia | +1 Lap |
| Did not finish | |||
| 20. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +46 Laps |
| 21. | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | +53 Laps |
| 22. | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | +53 Laps |
Championship Standings after Japan:
Drivers' Championship
| Pos. | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sebastian VettelRed Bull | 297 |
| 2. | Fernando AlonsoFerrari | 207 |
| 3. | Kimi RäikkönenLotus | 177 |
| 4. | Lewis HamiltonMercedes | 161 |
| 5. | Mark WebberRed Bull | 148 |
| 6. | Nico RosbergMercedes | 126 |
| 7. | Felipe MassaFerrari | 90 |
| 8. | Romain GrosjeanLotus | 87 |
| 9. | Jenson ButtonMcLaren | 60 |
| 10. | Nico HülkenbergSauber | 39 |
| 11. | Paul di RestaForce India | 36 |
| 12. | Adrian SutilForce India | 26 |
| 13. | Sergio PerezMcLaren | 23 |
| 14. | Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso | 18 |
| 15. | Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso | 13 |
| 16. | Esteban GutiérrezSauber | 6 |
| 17. | Pastor MaldonadoWilliams | 1 |
| 18. | Valtteri BottasWilliams | 0 |
| 19. | Jules BianchiMarussia | 0 |
| 20. | Charles PicCaterham | 0 |
| 21. | Giedo van der GardeCaterham | 0 |
| 22. | Max ChiltonMarussia | 0 |
Constructors' Championship
| Pos. | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Red Bull | 445 |
| 2. | Ferrari | 297 |
| 3. | Mercedes Grand Prix | 287 |
| 4. | Lotus Renault | 264 |
| 5. | McLaren | 83 |
| 6. | Force India F1 | 62 |
| 7. | Sauber | 45 |
| 8. | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 31 |
| 9. | Williams | 1 |
| 10. | Marussia | 0 |
| 11. | Caterham | 0 |
So, now we move onto the last four races of the season, the next one being the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit. Below follows the timings as per local time in India. Keep up to date with developing news, right here on F1supportersclub.blogspot.com
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