Vettel romps to second Suzuka win (Japanese Grand Prix review)
Sebastian Vettel continued his love affair with the Suzuka circuit with an emphatic win from pole position.
He led home team mate Mark Webber as Red Bull dominated the Grand Prix, strengthening their position in the constructors’ championship.
The race got off to a dramatic start as four cars crashed within a few hundred metres of the start.
Vitaly Petrov made contact with Nico Hülkenberg, then Felipe Massa cut across the first corner and slammed into Vitantonio Liuzzi.
That brought out the safety car which picked up Vettel, who had held the lead at the start, followed by the fast-starting Robert Kubica.
But the Renault driver’s race wasn’t to last much longer. His right-rear wheel detached from the car, forcing him to retire.
That promoted Webber to second ahead of Fernando Alonso, followed by the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.
More gearbox gremlins for Hamilton
The top five finished in that order but not before McLaren had mixed up the order a little. Button stayed out a long time, having started the race on the hard tyres, and briefly took over the lead after the others had pitted.
The Red Bulls caught him but, knowing he still had to pit, held back. Alonso could do little to reduce their lead even as he came under pressure from Hamilton, who picked up speed after switching to the hard tyres, getting out of Button’s slipstream and quickly passing Kamui Kobayashi.
But Hamilton’s hopes of taking on Alonso ended when he lost third gear. He was left to finish the race using just fourth gear and higher, leaving him struggling around the slower corners, particularly the hairpin. That was where Button eventually passed his team mate after his late change to soft tyres.
Michael Schumacher arrived home in sixth place after spending most of the race stuck behind his team mate. At one point he was told “there are no team orders, but Nico knows to be sensible”.
Rosberg had already made his pit stop during the early safety car period and lost time after failing to pass Sebastien Buemi following the restart.
He stayed ahead of Schumacher until he suffered a similar failure to Kubica six laps from home. Unfortunately for Rosberg it happened at the Dunlop corner, sending him crashing into the barriers.
Kobayashi on fire at home
It promoted Kobayashi to a very hard-fourth seventh place achieved with a string of gutsy overtaking moves. Among the drivers he scalped, most with very late-braking overtaking moves at the hairpin, were Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil and then Alguersuari again.
The second time Alguersuari made Kobayashi go the long way around the outside, and gave him a shove at the exit of the corner, failing to keep him behind and succeeding only in damaging his own car.
Kobayashi was one of few drivers to start on hard tyres and picked off Alguersuari for the second time after changing to softs. He then sized up and passed Rubens Barrichello and team mate Nick Heidfeld – the latter getting well out of Kobayashi’s way at his favourite overtaking spot.
Kobayashi’s victims followed him home – Heidfeld, Barrichello, Buemi and Alguersuari. In 12th place was Heikki Kovalainen, the highest finishing position for a new team so far, which all-but guarantees Lotus the coveted tenth place in the constructors’ championship.
Jarno Trulli was 13th ahead of Timo Glock, the only Virgin driver to take the start after Lucas di Grassi had a bizarre and as-yet unexplained crash at 130R on his way to the grid.
Webber could do nothing about Vettel – but he could stop him from claiming the fastest lap, setting the best time on the last lap of the race. But Vettel won the war, beating Webber home for the third race in a row to move within 14 points of him in the drivers’ championship.
2010 Japanese Grand Prix
- Force India pair expect busy Friday
- Technical review: Japanese Grand Prix
- Tom Hitchings watches the Japanese GP at Suzuka
- Massa pleased by di Montezemolo’s support
- Hamilton takes heart from McLaren pace
- Mercedes admit missed opportunity to keep Schumacher in front of Rosberg
- Alonso says five drivers can still win title
- 2010 Japanese Grand Prix: the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)
- Dominant win for Vettel piles pressure on Webber (Red Bull race review)
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk) said on 10th October 2010, 12:24
Ewwwwww… I just noticed the Vettel Finger”" in the pic . Is the Vettel finger becoming the new middle finger? :)
David BR said on 10th October 2010, 12:45
So…
What are Ferrari going to do with Felipe Massa, now they’ve completely wrecked his confidence as a driver?
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk) said on 10th October 2010, 13:12
I’d argue that Massa never really had the confidence. He’s cute, cuddly and sometimes very fast. He’s just not Ferrari No 1 material.
Top Ferrari drivers in recent memory with a WDC
Nigel Mansell
Alain Prost
Michael Schumacher
Kimi Raikonen
Fernando Alonso
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk) said on 10th October 2010, 13:13
yes Niki Lauda too, since he is still out there running his mouth.
Gill said on 10th October 2010, 13:18
I understand that u r referring to Germany but Massa shud be MAN enough to come back from behind and show ferrari wat he can do in a car that is nt the best.
He isnt a rookie to have taken this to heart and his confidence wrecked.
Barring Germany,he hasnt done anything to be worthy of being a ferrari driver.
David BR said on 10th October 2010, 14:45
Anyone can have their confidence wrecked if they believe they’re in a no-win situation – i.e. that the team aren’t going to give him an equal chance to compete. We *know* that’s how Alonso likes the team set up – for him as number one – and he seems to have got it. (Massa competed just fine with Raikonnen in 2008 btw Alex.)
But the question remains: keep Massa, and maybe get the same poor level of performance while he stays at Ferrari, or replace him? And with an equal number one or a pre-fabricated number two?
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk) said on 10th October 2010, 15:19
My point in listing the Championship drivers was to show that Massa hasn’t really got the stones to do it.
Lauda won at Macca and he has always hated Ron Dennis’s guts. Actually he offered to drive for 1 pound or dollar and the rest was performance based. He had stones.
He went to Enzo 2 months after his crash at the Nurburgring and asked,”How much is a slightly singed driver worth?” or something like that.
Stones stones stones… Massa hasn’t got them.
Wobblebottom said on 10th October 2010, 23:47
LOL….epic all there Alex!
Didn’t know that Lauda hated Dennis. Though, he wouldn’t be the first and he certainly wasn’t that last as we all know…
Salty said on 10th October 2010, 20:48
The quick answer is drop him. Felipe is a lovely guy, but as Alex points out below, he doesn’t seem to have the cojones to deal with a rampante Alonso. I’m guessing I’m not alone in wondering why Felipe is still tutored like a rookie having been around since 2002 and with over 130 races under his belt.
If Ferrari want two top drivers, Felipe is the fall guy. Seat should be Robert Kubica’s. Tough enough to handle the pressure of having his buddy Fernando across the garage and, I suspect, at least as fast as him. A win/win situation for Ferrari as long as the management within the team is strong enough.
We know this won’t happen for 2011, but must wait for 2012 – a mistake imho. Forza Kubica I say!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 10th October 2010, 20:52
How do you mean?
Salty said on 10th October 2010, 21:45
Initially Michael took him under his wing at Ferrari – which made sense, wanting a strong wingman et al. But some of the nurturing radio feeds coming from Rob Smedley in the Ferrari pit have been, over the last couple of years, frankly surprising.
I understand that telemetry allows the engineers to see where both their own driver and their team mate are braking and accelerating, but the symbiosis between Smedley and Massa (and I place their names in that order deliberately) feels different.
With Hamilton, Alonso or Webber on the radio to the engineer, there’s no question who drives the car and I couldn’t imagine their engineer telling them ‘you can go faster through turn x use gear y.
Smedley does that. Felipe reacts to that instruction. Does that make Felipe a born racer? Does that make Felipe WDC material? It certainly makes Smedley a great engineer, but it speaks volumes about Massa not leading his side of the garage. With Alonso pushing his side and the team, Massa can never win. He’s just not a strong enough leader, and you can read aggressive enough, and that is why he is always going to be slower than Alonso.
Evening Keith – long time no wibble – glad all still intelligent and feisty round here.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 11th October 2010, 8:21
I see what you mean about Massa now. I must say I do find it distinctly unimpressive hearing Massa being spoon-fed over the radio.
Good to hear from you again!
daniel said on 10th October 2010, 12:45
am i so naive to hope that red bull will let webber take the win and thus increasing their odds of winning the drivers championship? webber win means he is 21 points ahead of alonso. huge huge difference vs 14 points with 3 races left
Jay Menon said on 10th October 2010, 12:47
Kobayashi is one of the drivers of the season, He reminds me a lot of Juan Pablo Montoya, my all time Fav.
Too soon to judge how Koba will do at a big team, he need another year to really assert his claim I feel. we need more all or nothing drivers like koba in F1
Jason said on 10th October 2010, 12:52
Yes the RBR is fast but, Vettel really HASN’T done anything worthy of a WDC.
It’d be a shame if he wins it; he doesn’t deserve it. .
Mads said on 10th October 2010, 16:32
Do you remember his impressive recovery drive in Silverstone? from stone dead last to 7th on tires 20+ laps older then everyone else. Not to mention his endless number pole positions. I don’t think he is the best driver though, and he have done a lot of mistakes which shouldn’t have happened, but i don’t see why the others of the top 5 should be so much more worthy of the WDC. He also have had a lot of bad luck in the first races of the season, which have cost him a lot of points.
US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 10th October 2010, 19:57
Or Monza where he drove the same tires for the entire race and recovered to 4th after a sticky brake issue.
codesurge (@codesurge) said on 11th October 2010, 3:45
Or in Spain where he salvaged points when he had failing brakes on his car. Even his team asked him to retire the car, but he gutted it out.
REREER said on 10th October 2010, 13:44
Although Vettel won the race and webber was second, i still think the driver of today was Fernando Alonso.
I think he managed to go much closer to vettel and webber during the race, from around 9 seconds to even 1.7 seconds!
BBT said on 10th October 2010, 14:14
How about Hamilton? Up from 8th and was catching Alonso before the gearbox problem
David BR said on 10th October 2010, 14:47
Whoopee. How about Alonso actually overtaking one of them then?
dyslexicbunny said on 10th October 2010, 23:04
Yea. I give Kamui driver of the race. Simply gaining a position just because Bobby retired isn’t worth anything.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 10th October 2010, 14:31
Mark was a lot more closer today than I expected! (both qualy and race).
All in all, he extended his lead in the championship and scored another podium. So very good!.
It was a nice race. Not extremely exciting, but nice. The midfield battle (Schum-Rosberg, Kamui’s progress) was very good!
Mr JoeBlack said on 10th October 2010, 14:34
one thing came to attention, Mercedes pit stop strategy!!!
i can’t understand why they ask micheal to pit at when he was faster then nico by 1 sec each lap!
for me there is one explanation:
they didn’t want to have shumi in front of nico!
but why? i can’t understand what is the purpose for this?
what it will return to the team and to Mercedes?
Dean Yamasaki said on 10th October 2010, 17:48
It’s very odd that Mercedes [Brawn] pit strategy seems to have hurt Michael in 2 or 3 previous races as well.
sumedh said on 10th October 2010, 14:39
I think the season has reached a critical point for Mclaren. 75 points are at stake, Lewis is 28 behind, Jenson is 31 behind. Both are mathematically in the title battle, but realistically only one of them can actually win it.
And it is not the new point system that is bloating up the differences, even in old money, Lewis would be 11 behind and Jenson 12 behind with 3 races to go. 4 points per race is not easy.
I say, Mclaren must go behind Hamilton now. He is ahead in points, and the only reason Jenson is close to him is because of Lewis’s 3 DNFs. Jenson has himself given up challenging Lewis in a straight head-to-head, look at his strategies, F-duct in Italy, harder tyres today, the pit-stop in Australia.
dyslexicbunny said on 10th October 2010, 23:10
Well unless they plan on taking out the Red Bulls or Alonso, they don’t have much to gain here. Neither are lining up ahead of the Red Bulls and since I imagine Lewis takes another 5 grid, there’s just no way. They are better off locking up the #2 constructors.
I wish it wasn’t the case since I’d like to see all five drivers still in it going into Abu Dhabi. I fear that Mark is going to lose to Vettel though if he can’t out qualify him in at least one race.
drezone said on 10th October 2010, 14:56
it’s nice when vettel wins and webber comes second. red bull and the whole family are happy. when it’s the other way around someone seems to have a dummy spit. webber will win this year. he has alonso, hamilton, button and even vettel covered to a certain degree. the only one who can make webber lose the championship is red bull team themselves. i think they will justified with this year’s actions if vettel does win…… but if alonso wins (whether it’s by 7 points or not) because they focused on allowing vettel to try and have half a crack at winning the championship and webber loses, then red bull may have some questions that need answering. then again i think they have already have been answered. turkey and silverstone.
Hitman said on 10th October 2010, 15:12
martin whitmarsh seems to think hamilton wont incur a penalty for a gear box change in korea, can someone clarify the rules for me on this issue?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 10th October 2010, 15:14
He finished the race so if they can’t repair his gearbox and they have to change it then, yes, it will be another five-place penalty for Hamilton.
sumedh said on 10th October 2010, 15:17
yes, according the rules, a gearbox which is changed in the middle of a weekend is supposed to be run only for the remainder of the weekend. And Hamilton was on the fourth race anyways, Spa, Monza, Singapore, Japan. So he was due a new box for Korea.
But I agree, the rules of *4 consecutive* with so many clauses is confusing, it should be like engines, give each driver 5 gear boxes for the season, and let him decide how and when he wants to use it.
sumedh said on 10th October 2010, 15:21
The FIA rule to be used here is as given below:
28.6
a) Each driver may use no more than one gearbox for four consecutive Events in which his team
competes. Should a driver use a replacement gearbox he will drop five places on the starting grid at
that Event and an additional five places each time a further gearbox is used.
Any replacement gearbox must be fitted with the same gear ratios that were declared under d) below
and *will only be required to complete the remainder of the Event in question.*
TommyB (@tommyb89) said on 10th October 2010, 17:17
Find it funny the only way Button can finish ahead of Hamilton is if Lewis crashes in Practice, has a grid drop and then loses 3rd gear.
michael said on 10th October 2010, 17:35
Button won a championship in a year where Formula 1 best be forgotten. As much as I hate him, Hamilton is and always will be 1 of the classiest and aggressive driver to have driven.
Sammy said on 10th October 2010, 17:57
Button shouldve done wats best for the team and held back
michael said on 10th October 2010, 18:35
Exactly right. By being selfish hes pretty much guaranteed the champions ship to Red Bull or Alonso.
Sammy said on 10th October 2010, 18:54
And it makes no sense, Had he held back, Lewis scores 194, points, 26 out….not bad at all…..right in it…while Jense was out ANYWAY had he been 4th or 5th…In any case, if he wanted to pass Lewis, make it worthwhile by challenging Alonso like Hammy was doing.
Typical Button though, driving ‘smoothly’ till the end, not pushing the chassis.
michael said on 10th October 2010, 19:19
Button hasn’t got that killer instinct like Hamilton. He won a championship last year by purely having a better performing car then the rest of the field in the first half of the year. Mclaren should drop Button, they need a young driver who is willing to except No 2 driver for the next couple years until they gain experience.
AK said on 11th October 2010, 2:31
The difference between a 26 and 28 pts gap is not that much. In neither situation could Hamilton take the lead of the championship if Webber gets a DNF in the next race.
McLaren are practically out of it. If the RB car is strong enough to fight for podiums in the last three races, as they seem to be, then Hamilton and Button would need to finish 1-2 in all of them to guarantee the championship.
They should start concentrating on next year.
michael said on 10th October 2010, 17:24
Formula 1 may seem well supported by Australians to off shores but I am 1 of only a very small minority. A lot of question have been asked of whether Webber had the speed and pace to overtake Vettel. The answer is clear he obviously had the pace which was seen when he made the statement on the last lap. It sort of sits clear to me as an Australian that the Red Bull Team has done nothing to help Webber all year. An Australian winning the championship is the last thing Formula 1 and all its sponsors want. There is no money to be made from a country with only 22 millions people and only a handful of real supporters. Vettel will win the championship even if that means Webber is told to DNF in 1 of the last races. Me personally, I’d like to see Alonso win if Webber isn’t given the chance.
Mads said on 10th October 2010, 18:10
If they have not wanted Webber to win so badly, why is he still in the best car on the grid? Why does he have a contract with Red Bull for next year as well? They could have sacked him last year and claim that he was not up to the job and then hired someone else. It makes no sense. If there is no money in having an Australian driver and that they don’t want him to win, then why not give the seat to someone who can play 2. driver and bring a lot of sponsors?
michael said on 10th October 2010, 18:59
Its not as easy as just getting another driver. A winning driver is always going to be more beneficial then taking chances with rookies or a has been. Obviously it wasn’t their initial plan and I’m sure Red Bull are still making plenty of money when Webber wins. I’m just saying from Red Bulls Point of view now having them both challenging for the championship they are obviously going to push for Vettel. He will definitely draw a larger support base and clearly bring more money to the team. And as for the better car didn’t Red Bull take Webber’s nose cone at Silverstone before final qualifying and give it to Vettel. Every driver sets their cars to run how they feel most comfortable maybe Webber has got more experience in fine tuning his car after driving so much **** in the past.
Mads said on 10th October 2010, 19:17
Yes they took “Webber’s” front wing to put on Vettel’s car but at that point Vettel were in front of Webber in the point table. So it was not favoring etc. it was just to take a sensible choice and support the driver most likely to take the WDC. And getting a new driver would be no problem at all. When you have the best car in the grid you can basically choose whoever you want, even if the driver has a contract they can in most situations buy them out of the contract. That shouldn’t be a problem. Yes a German driver brings more money, but i don’t think that is Red Bulls priority. The austrian RB company has all the money in the world, so financing a F1 shouldn’t be a problem. Anyway they can just have a lot of international sponsors, like their 7-11 sticker. I don’t think they care much about the nationality of whoever wins to WDC. As long as he is in a Red Bull.
michael said on 10th October 2010, 19:42
You have some valid points but replacing a driver even if its the best car on the grid doesn’t always work look at Kovalainen in 09 and 08. When they swapped noses cones was mid season and I think there was only 18 points difference. Like Webber said he never would have resigned if he wasn’t going to be given a equal chance especially so far from the end of the season. With his own self control he put his head down and Won the race closing any gap Vettel had on him. And while leading in Turkey Vettel smashed into him and Red Bull blames Webber saying he was slower and should have let him go, even thought Webber was leading the points. Where is the fairness there.
Mads said on 10th October 2010, 20:22
Yeah but because Kovalainen wasn’t good enough dosn’t mean that it is a bad idea. Get Rosberg or Kubica. I am 100% sure that they both would be able to do very good in a Red Bull. Yes it was mid season and only 18 points, which is nothing, but it would have been unfair to let the new front wing on Webber’s car, because then they would support him over Vettel even though he was behind in points. They have to choose some way, and to support the driver in front is the fair and sensible thing to do.
There is a difference in beeing faster on the track and in front in points. Because in Turkey Hamilton was close to Vettel and letting Vettel past would be optimizing the chances of a win. Especially with Vettel’s luck with the breaks, it would have been good for him to have a slight lead over Hamilton so if the breaks fail on the closing laps they could probably still make a 1-2 finish.
I don’t think that Webber just should have let him though though. They are there to race, and Webber did that. Vettel just cocked it up, and because of Webber’s defending it ended in tears. Webber could have been less aggressive in his defending, but if Vettel had just used the track that actually was available there had been no problem.
Not that i think that Webber’s defending was in any way over the top or dangerous.
Dizzy-A (@david-a) said on 10th October 2010, 18:26
Nah, Vettel was just too fast for him this weekend.
michael said on 10th October 2010, 17:31
Why is it Kubica hasn’t been given a chance in a decent team yet. The guy clearly has the ability to win races I am really starting to thing Formula 1 is more about selling points and money making views then about the sport.
michael said on 10th October 2010, 17:53
Another thing, is Michael Schumacher going to step up and finish on the podium next year? The guy is clearly a legend and I have expected him and Ross Brawn to perform a miracle all year. So far I have only seen a lack of speed, driving to try save position instead of attacking and making up position and finishing races always lower then what he starts on the grid.