Japanese Grand Prix

At the end of the race, Kimi Raikkonen was mathematically eliminated by finishing in third, but with team mate Massa doing no better than seventh, the Scuderia was able to score enough points to retake the lead in the constructor’s championship when neither McLaren scored in the points.

If you read the British press regarding F1, they’d lead you to believe that Lewis Hamilton has already become a saint. But then again, what would one expect? Davidson has left the grid with the departure of Super Aguri, Jenson Button remains a never was, and God forbid the Brits start cheering for a Scot, so Coulthard is out. It’s not that Lewis is the greatest driver on the grid; he’s just the only one worth cheering for. Pity that he still sucks under pressure. It’s almost a shame that Villenueve was born in Quebec.

Both Massa and Hamilton made minor rumblings to the press that too much was at stake with only a handful of races remaining in the season. That plan more or less went out the window when Hamiton pissed away his pole position and attempted to defy the laws of physics on turn one after the start when Raikkonen got the jump on him. When Massa provided a love tap that sent Hamilton to the back of the grid, I was amazed that I remembered most of the Italian I’ve picked up over the years. Unfortunately, most of it has only been used while trying to navigate around Rome in a car that is usually three feet longer than any available parking spot. But I felt better. The stewards were shocked, again Bernie forbid that F1 would denigrate to using NASCAR tactics and both drivers were rewarded with drive through penalties.

After those shenanigans, the race settled down to the normal parade laps until Bourdais and Massa got together. The French with glasses (and that only makes sense if you can read the Japanese F1 press) was given a 25 second penalty, which would eventually lead to Massa getting two points instead of one for technically finishing in eighth. Other than that, it was a snoozer.

Kubica drove a clean race and was able to hold of Raikkonen, but never was able to challenge Alonso for the race lead, and the Pole finished in second. The team has to be slightly disappointed with the German driving the BMW not finishing in the points, but Nick Heidfeld never challenged anyone during the weekend.

Nelson Piquet didn’t want to feel left out in the other Renault and finished in fourth. One has to wonder if the other front line teams have stopped the development on the 2008 cars and started throwing more resources at the 2009 cars while Renault saw this as an opportunity to get more TV time. Mind you with Fuji TV’s coverage of the Ferraris this weekend, you almost didn’t know that Alonso was doing well. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Jarno Trulli was driving for his career and Toyota could finish no better than fifth on effectively their home track. They did get bragging rights for the Japanese makes, but Honda really has begun the slow slide to the back, similar to what has happened to Williams over the years.

Sixth and eighth went to two different versions of the Red Bull squads with the junior team showing up the main team once again. Vettel is definitely the real deal. Expect him to be picked up by one of the front runners shortly.

The season is still way to close to call and anything can happen during the last two races. One protagonist has dropped out in the driver’s title and Massa has to do well during both to come from behind. Both teams need to have both cars finish well to clinch the constructor’s championship.

One thing that I am confident in is that all of this will not be decided until the mid afternoon in Sao Paulo.
Racing continues this weekend in Shanghai.

Race Results

1	ALONSO	Renault	1h30m21.892s
2	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 5.2s
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	+ 6.4s
4	PIQUET	Renault	+ 20.5s
5	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 23.7s
6	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	+ 39.2s
7	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 46.1s
8	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	+ 50.8s
9	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 54.1s
10	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	+ 59.0s
11	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 62.0s
12	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 78.9s
13	BARRICHELLO	Honda	+ 1 lap
14	BUTTON	Honda	+ 1 lap
15	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	+ 1 lap
16	FISICHELLA	Force India-Ferrari	+ 45 laps, gearbox
17	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 50 laps, engine
18	SUTIL	Force India-Ferrari	+ 58 laps, puncture
19	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 60 laps, accident damage
20	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	+ 66 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	MASSA	Ferrari	1m18.426s

NOTE: Bourdais was initially classified sixth, but had 25 seconds added to his race time for a collision with Massa.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	84 Points
2	MASSA	Ferrari	79 Points
3	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	72 Points
4	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	63 Points
5	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	56 Points
6	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	51 Points
7	ALONSO	Renault	48 Points
8	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	30 Points
9	TRULLI	Toyota	30 Points
10	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	21 Points
11	GLOCK	Toyota	20 Points
12	PIQUET	Renault	18 Points
13	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	17 Points
14	BARRICHELLO	Honda	11 Points
15	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	9 Points
16	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	8 Points
17	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferraro	4 Points
18	BUTTON	Honda	3 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	FERRARI	142 Points
2	MCLAREN-MERCEDES	135 Points
3	BMW SAUBER	128 Points
4	RENAULT	66 Points
5	TOYOTA	50 Points
6	STR-FERRARI	34 Points
7	RED BULL-RENAULT	29 Points
8	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	26 Points
9	HONDA	14 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.