Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Adrian Newey, and Fernando Alonso
The Critics Are Quiet, For Now
by Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
Sebastian Vettel was able to keep his critics at bay for another week when the German was able to convert his pole position to repeat as winner of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
Qualifying was held on Sunday morning as the Saturday session was a complete wash out. There were requests up and down the pit lane for a “monsoon” tire to be developed, but if everyone stayed in the pits, there really wasn’t much of a point. The pit crews kept busy by making boats to race in the pit lane out of various knickknacks while senior management around the world shuddered at the cost estimates. With the exception of the first lap, this race really was a snoozer.
The first lap was interesting if you mistakenly thought there was a NASCAR race scheduled during the replay on Sunday afternoon. But rather than the typical half dozen on track incidents, the first lap only lasted a minute before all that were going to be out were.
Felipe Massa
By the time Vettel had made it past the finish line of the first lap, the field was down five, well, four, as Di Grassi really didn’t start. As always in F1, the best way to get through the first lap is not to start from the end amongst the drivers that are slightly lacking in talent. But with four cars out, Mercedes was happy that the AMR SLS pace car got more face time.
Mark Webber started chewing his finger nails as his lead in the championship took a dent when he only finished in second. It was a good 1-2 result for Red Bull, but the Australian is looking at a much shorter length to his remaining career than his much younger team mate.
Fernando Alonso tried to make sure that the sugar drink boys weren’t going to make it a cake walk and captured the last spot on the podium this weekend. While he may not be the tifosi’s favorite, he is delivering the results for which the powers that be in Maranello are paying him. Filipe Massa crashed out on the first lap. Rumblings were made last week about not wanting to be the second driver. Well, if performances like this continue, he may get his wish, and not by his own choice.
Fernando Alonso
Both McLarens ended up as best of the rest with Button finishing ahead of Hamilton. Their title hopes seem to be slipping away the closer we get to the end of the season.
Michael Schumacher actually had a good race and finished in sixth place, but by the time he crossed the finish line, most of the crowd was asleep and few noticed. Then, local favorite Kobayashi-san came in seventh with the Sauber and the crowd woke up. But the result will, at best, be a foot note in the record books this year. His team mate finished in eighth, giving the Swiss team some needed TV money, but reconfirming to BMW’s management that it was the correct time to exit stage right.
Burinho finished in ninth followed by the Toro Rosso of Buemi, but those positions were only tracked by the accountants.
Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso
F1 racing will make its debut in South Korea in two weeks as word came late that the Yeongam circuit has passed its final inspection and is ready to go. For some reason, I expect this one to go off better than the Commonwealth games have gone in India. But we’ll know for sure soon enough.
Race Results
| 1 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 1h30m27.323s |
| 2 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 0.9s |
| 3 | ALONSO | Ferrari | + 2.7s |
| 4 | BUTTON |
McLaren-Mercedes | + 13.5s |
| 5 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 39.5s |
| 6 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | + 59.9s |
| 7 | KOBAYASHI | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 64.0s |
| 8 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 69.6s |
| 9 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 70.8s |
| 10 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 72.8s |
| 11 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 12 | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 13 | TRULLI | Lotus-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 14 | GLOCK | Virgin-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 15 | SENNA | HRT-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 16 | YAMAMOTO | HRT-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
| 17 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | + 6 laps, accident |
| 18 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 9 laps, oil leak |
| 19 | KUBICA | Renault | + 51 laps, mechanical |
| 20 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | + 53 laps, accident |
| 21 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 53 laps, accident |
| 22 | PETROV | Renault | + 53 laps, accident |
| 23 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | + 53 laps, accident |
| DNS | DI GRASSI | Virgin-Cosworth | + 53 laps, accident |
| Fastest Lap | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 1m33.474s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 220 Points |
| 2 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 206 Points |
| 3 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 206 Points |
| 4 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 192 Points |
| 5 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 189 Points |
| 6 | MASSA | Ferrari | 128 Points |
| 7 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | 122 Points |
| 8 | KUBICA | Renault | 114 Points |
| 9 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | 54 Points |
| 10 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 47 Points |
| 11 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 41 Points |
| 12 | KOBAYASHI | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 27 Points |
| 13 | PETROV | Renault | 19 Points |
| 14 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | 17 Points |
| 15 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | 13 Points |
| 16 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | 8 Points |
| 17 | DE LA ROSA | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 6 Points |
| 18 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 4 Points |
| 19 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | 3 Points |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | RBR-RENAULT | 426 Points |
| 2 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 381 Points |
| 3 | FERRARI | 334 Points |
| 4 | MERCEDES GP | 176 Points |
| 5 | RENAULT | 133 Points |
| 6 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 60 Points |
| 7 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 58 Points |
| 8 | BMW SAUBER-FERRARI | 37 Points |
| 9 | STR-FERRARI | 11 Points |