Red Bull showed eye-catching pace in the second practice session at Suzuka.
But McLaren’s performance over longer stints suggests they aren’t far behind and they were quickest through the twisty first sector.
Here’s all the data from the second practice session.
Longest stint comparison
- Lewis Hamilton said he wasn’t concerned about Red Bull appearing to be quicker over long runs as he believed they run with less fuel in practice.
- As we don’t know what fuel loads the cars run, we can compare how their lap times change over a stint to get an idea of their performance over a stint. By this measure, Jenson Button seemed to do better than Hamilton. The Red Bull pair were evenly matched, but Button’s pace indicates the McLarens may be able to race with them. However, set-up changes and track evolution will alter the picture between now and Sunday.
- Ross Brawn acknowledged this could be another race where tyre degradation is significant: “It’s clear that tyres will be a major factor in the race on Sunday.”
This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:
https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 97.991 | 97.813 | 97.556 | 97.695 | 98.19 | 97.823 | 108.781 | 98.615 | 98.184 | 139.533 | |||
Mark Webber | 98.194 | 97.88 | 100.724 | 97.972 | 102.805 | 97.857 | 97.769 | 101.056 | 98.308 | 98.798 | 103.156 | ||
Lewis Hamilton | 100.258 | 99.893 | 102.591 | 99.954 | 101.232 | 104.448 | 116.567 | ||||||
Jenson Button | 99.759 | 100.995 | 99.427 | 100.27 | 99.664 | 99.394 | 98.976 | 99.882 | |||||
Fernando Alonso | 99.649 | 99.226 | 99.224 | 99.05 | 100.387 | 99.595 | 103.354 | 100.562 | 101.34 | 126.089 | |||
Felipe Massa | 101.031 | 100.77 | 100.436 | 100.858 | 100.459 | 101.415 | 100.841 | 101.925 | 107.264 | 102.398 | |||
Michael Schumacher | 99.571 | 99.387 | 107.051 | 99.682 | 99.817 | 99.914 | 120.898 | ||||||
Nico Rosberg | 100.498 | 101.331 | 101.041 | 100.56 | 100.599 | 101.01 | 130.191 | ||||||
Bruno Senna | 105.133 | 102.655 | 100.978 | 100.535 | 101.155 | 101.404 | 102.075 | 103.521 | 103.818 | 103.835 | |||
Vitaly Petrov | 102.046 | 101.272 | 104.492 | 101.981 | 101.883 | 101.134 | 101.361 | 100.959 | 138.178 | ||||
Rubens Barrichello | 110.147 | 98.255 | 106.298 | 106.499 | 97.123 | ||||||||
Pastor Maldonado | 129.796 | 100.595 | 99.933 | 100.403 | 99.317 | 98.622 | 98.387 | ||||||
Adrian Sutil | 100.974 | 100.557 | 100.506 | 105.524 | 100.139 | 100.715 | 102.843 | 101.422 | 102.416 | 127.757 | |||
Paul di Resta | 101.564 | 101.141 | 102.467 | 101.289 | 101.168 | 101.588 | 102.187 | ||||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 97.384 | 108.598 | 97.012 | 109.261 | 96.445 | 106.766 | 96.787 | ||||||
Sergio Perez | 100.381 | 100.483 | 101.314 | 101.029 | 104.234 | ||||||||
Sebastien Buemi | 102.152 | 101.958 | 101.97 | 101.785 | 101.4 | 103.314 | 102.137 | 103.145 | 104.151 | 104.461 | 136.568 | ||
Jaime Alguersuari | 100.399 | 100.337 | 100.788 | 101.102 | |||||||||
Heikki Kovalainen | 102.64 | 101.461 | 101.513 | 101.58 | 101.522 | 101.928 | 101.733 | 102.535 | 103.716 | 104.99 | |||
Jarno Trulli | 101.969 | 101.008 | 100.994 | 100.475 | 107.365 | 104.02 | 105.096 | 100.365 | 100.812 | 99.94 | 100.026 | 104.113 | 100.91 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 104.454 | 103.808 | 108.512 | 108.098 | 105.585 | 108.725 | 103.409 | 106.152 | 103.713 | 103.221 | 104.129 | 116.292 | |
Vitantonio Liuzzi | 102.888 | 102.48 | |||||||||||
Timo Glock | 102.404 | 102.405 | 101.915 | 101.963 | 101.957 | 102.278 | 102.391 | 102.788 | 120.273 | ||||
Jerome dAmbrosio | 103.177 | 103.09 | 102.939 | 103.078 | 103.744 | 105.718 | 103.82 | 103.358 | 103.789 | 105.554 | 103.468 | 119.778 |
Ultimate lap times
An ultimate lap is a driver’s fastest three sector times combined.
- Hamilton was among the drivers who did not get a clear lap in on soft tyres. He was the fastest driver through the first sector, a mere two-thousandths of a second up on his team mate.
- Button was fastest in sector two and Fernando Alonso was quickest through the short final sector.
Complete practice times
- Paul di Resta gave some insight into Force India;s set-up approach: “Both cars ran with different programmes and looking at the feedback it seems like the route taken with Adrian’s car is probably the better way forward for the rest of the weekend. Also, I spent a lot of the day fighting the rear and that was partly due to the tyres going away quite quickly – which was the case for both the medium and soft tyres.”
- Sebastien Buemi is encouraged by Toro Rosso’s pace which was noted here earlier: “It’s a bit early to talk about car performance, but if you compare today to Singapore, where we were at the back of our group, today we seem to be ahead of all of them with the exception of Petrov. The car is better suited to this type of track, but we still need to wait and see how qualifying goes tomorrow, as it will be a tight fight.”
Speed trap
- Red Bull appear to be running less downforce than their rivals and this is reflected in the speed trap.
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed | Gap | |
1 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 309.8 | |
2 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 309.7 | 0.1 |
3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 309.7 | 0.1 |
4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 309.1 | 0.7 |
5 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 307.3 | 2.5 |
6 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 306.7 | 3.1 |
7 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | Renault | 306.1 | 3.7 |
8 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | Renault | 305.6 | 4.2 |
9 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Mercedes | 305.1 | 4.7 |
10 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 304.7 | 5.1 |
11 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 303.6 | 6.2 |
12 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Cosworth | 302.6 | 7.2 |
13 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Mercedes | 301.8 | 8 |
14 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | Ferrari | 301.7 | 8.1 |
15 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin | Cosworth | 301.4 | 8.4 |
16 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India | Mercedes | 300.4 | 9.4 |
17 | 25 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Virgin | Cosworth | 300.2 | 9.6 |
18 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | Mercedes | 300 | 9.8 |
19 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | Ferrari | 299.8 | 10 |
20 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | Cosworth | 298.4 | 11.4 |
21 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | Renault | 294.7 | 15.1 |
22 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT | Cosworth | 287.6 | 22.2 |
23 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | Renault | 285.1 | 24.7 |
24 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT | Cosworth | 271.8 | 38 |
2011 Japanese Grand Prix
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
BasCB (@bascb)
7th October 2011, 12:27
I get the impression Renault were right with their estimates they are not completely lost at the higher speed Suzuka. Mercedes will suffer from tyre wear again.
Good to hear Di Resta talk about the different approaches, it shows how the individual results of drivers in FP sessions are often more to do with setup routes then their speeds compared to their team mates.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th October 2011, 12:28
Also, does anyone believe Vettel has got a real fight on his hands here for pole?
electrolite (@electrolite)
7th October 2011, 12:42
I sure hope so. That is if McLaren are right about the fuel loads being less than theirs.
Also, a lot of the other teams seem to be saying tracks like this suit their cars – track where the RB6 was typically dominant last year. Seems people have tried to follow their lead and Red Bull have simply evened our their advantage over all track types.
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th October 2011, 20:15
Sigh, once upon a time I might have but now, even though Button and Alonso look able to challenge, I cannot really believe it will happen.
matt90 (@matt90)
7th October 2011, 12:33
Hi Keith. Is there still an easy link to the TV times that I’m missing?
Fixy (@)
7th October 2011, 15:09
@matt90 https://www.racefans.net/2011/10/06/2011-japanese-grand-prix-tv-times/
matt90 (@matt90)
7th October 2011, 16:40
@Fixy Thanks
Tango (@tango)
7th October 2011, 12:43
Is it me or are the Lotus (green and yellow) doing quite well?
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th October 2011, 13:08
They, and Maldonado’s Williams seem to have good pace there to me too. If Williams can keep the car working for the race, that is.
bananarama (@bananarama)
7th October 2011, 13:11
To me it looks like they are still probably 1,5s behind the midfield, just that the Williams appears to be very poor. I wouldn’t mind if they were closer though.
Eggry (@eggry)
7th October 2011, 12:51
I hope Hamilton is right.
Klaas (@klaas)
7th October 2011, 13:20
We’ve been fooled with this picture many times this season, when the RedBulls are shy in FP and then Vettel pulls a half-second margin pole position. Vettel goes quick only when it matters.
verstappen (@verstappen)
7th October 2011, 13:29
Good to see Mercedes aren’t topping the speedtrap list.
Still a slightly higher speed for Schumacher than Rosberg, but not a really big gap.
I’ve wondered this year if Schumacher compromised downforce to get a lighter rear, so the car feels more like he wants to. While at t he same time compromising his speed against Rosberg.
I’m curious how this inter team battle will end. I think Schumacher is finally giving Rosberg a real fight for his money.
PJTierney (@)
7th October 2011, 14:01
Anybody know what the ultimate lap for the session was? (ie: add up all the purple sectors)
ChuckC (@ccassel)
7th October 2011, 18:44
1’31.786. JB was just over a tenth off in sector 3 and 2 hundreths in sector 1.
Marina (@marish)
7th October 2011, 14:04
I guess I misunderstood something but why Renault are going to stick with the version of the car Bruno Senna is running? The times seems to indicate that the Petrov’s car is faster. I don’t think that they have diffirent fuel loads, otherwise what is the point in comparing them?
SirCoolbeans (@sircoolbeans)
7th October 2011, 14:48
That would be odd. It looked like the upgraded car was a bit of a handful in comparison. Maybe they’ll sort out a good set up that will fix those issues though.
Gill (@gill)
7th October 2011, 14:14
Whats the news on Ferrari’s pace ?
Steph (@)
7th October 2011, 14:33
@Gill they look the 3rd fastest again I think but Massa seems fairly upbeat so maybe they’ll be closer than I think.
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th October 2011, 15:10
Fernando spent a lot of time at the top of the placings, could be a very close race between the top 5.
Veggen (@veggen)
7th October 2011, 14:40
Nice analysis as always.
However, may I suggest to change the scale of the lap time chart to 110 to exclude the outliers? This would make it much easier to separate the individual drivers. The inlap times are not really interesting, and only clouds the important information.
Richard
7th October 2011, 14:57
Anyone have a list of who kept DRS active through 130R?
That would probably separate the top-6 from the rest; though I guess its SFM/RB/VMM anyway.
RB’s pace looks well clear – perhaps JB can keep in touch with good tyre use.
I suspect a RB will just keep to the minimum required gap strategy we have seen most of this year.
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th October 2011, 15:18
@Richard, how do you see RB clear, with Button and Alonso both being faster than Vettel & Webber? Are you relying on RB keeping a half second in hand for qualifying,ie sandbagging, or do you think McL and SF are able to reach their ultimate set-up earlier than RB? To me it seems like the cars are more equal than they have been for years.
Richard
7th October 2011, 16:55
Hi, I am using the graph data; just FA & SV for an example.
Both are long runs & the Red Bull is quicker.
This could be fuel load differences of course.
I think Red Bull know there car’s very well as there has been no radical re-design since 2009 unlike McL so they just test new parts & do long run race setups in FP1/FP2 before thrashing the other teams in FP3/Qually.
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th October 2011, 19:10
Thanks for the explanation, I tend to put to much reliance on fastest lap times.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th October 2011, 15:31
Wonder why RBR decided to run low on downforce, as noted there… it seems to be a completely different approach to what we’re used to see from them. Or maybe they’ll raise the wings and storm to pole as always tomorrow, miles ahead of the rest.
Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii)
7th October 2011, 17:12
Hmm Split Strategies if im right,McLaren are going for a slightly Higher Downforce Setup while RB go vice versa.Interested to see how that pans out in Quali & the Race if they decide to go along with their respective setups.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th October 2011, 22:17
@Fer-no.65 They also did well in the ultimate lap time so this has kinda carried on from their performances in Spa and Monza.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th October 2011, 1:50
But they never got anywhere near the top of the speed traps in Monza (I don’t remember at Spa…)
DaveW (@dmw)
7th October 2011, 15:31
McLaren’s pace through the esses suggest that the have higher baseline downforce, they are back to their high-chord flap, or both. Slow trap figures confirm this. RBR is at the top. Either way, that will redound in the race, when DRS will be restricted. But somehow I have a feeling that RBR will crank up the downforce and just do their normal disappearing act.
vho (@)
7th October 2011, 15:50
With RB running lower downforce they seemed to be quicker in heavy fuel mode – about 1sec+ faster than Jenson on a similar fuel load. This could be encouraging for RB as they will aim to sprint ahead at the beginning of the race and build a lead (sounds familiar doesn’t it?), meanwhile the others are fighting in the back of the pack and may run out of tyres to be able to hunt them down. But the catch is how they will fare during qualifying given that Jenson and Alonso are ahead of them and whether they can keep the lead during the first few laps of the race. If they stay the same (if not similiar positions) we will have a good show on our hands – and see whether Vettel can pull off another Monza-like overtaking move.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
7th October 2011, 17:36
LOOKS AS IF THERE’S A MISTAKE WITH THE PRACTICE TIMES. Both Ultimate lap times and Practice times are the same. Also the title mentions RB as the fastest but I see Button on top in both charts
OmarR-Pepper (@)
7th October 2011, 17:38
Oops, I got it. But was Button the fastest? The title confuses me
vho (@)
7th October 2011, 17:45
Jenson was the fastest on light fuel loads, but what we aren’t too sure about McLaren is the speeds at heavy fuel loads. I heard the RBs were 1sec+ faster than the fastest McLaren on heavy fuel load – which will mean that the RBs will build a big gap in the beginning of the race.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
7th October 2011, 18:23
thanks so much @vho , let’s wait for the quali to see if that is clarified by big time gaps.
Mark-L (@mark-l)
7th October 2011, 19:02
Ferrari look average as they have all season. However i think Alonso will take 2nd here and Schumacher will be in the top 5.
Alfa Ferrarista 96 (@alfa-ferrarista-96)
7th October 2011, 20:22
Alonso have a Chan’s for challenge the RedBull
Go Ferrari
130R (@130r)
7th October 2011, 22:24
Bad day for the Williams team. :-(
manatcna (@manatcna)
8th October 2011, 0:39
I expect to see Vettel on pole, win the race with Webber second, The two McLaren cars third and fourth, and Alonso in fifth place with Massa fighting Schumacher for sixth.