Ferrari: Alonso edges Vettel for second
2011 Japanese GP team review
Alonso was on top form as he held off Vettel for second while Massa had another run-in with Hamilton.
| Fernando Alonso | Felipe Massa | |
| Qualifying position | 5 | 4 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q3) | 1’30.886 (+0.082) | 1’30.804 |
| Race position | 2 | 7 |
| Laps | 53/53 | 53/53 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 3 |
Ferrari drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | |
| Fernando Alonso | 104.201 | 101.568 | 100.96 | 100.661 | 100.326 | 100.436 | 100.732 | 101.4 | 100.339 | 102.254 | 117.115 | 99.735 | 99.927 | 99.892 | 99.649 | 99.791 | 99.596 | 99.608 | 99.939 | 99.634 | 101.518 | 116.64 | 98.807 | 109.051 | 137.918 | 147.789 | 153.389 | 98.863 | 98.59 | 98.575 | 98.136 | 98.056 | 98.058 | 98.242 | 97.773 | 98.039 | 99.683 | 114.239 | 97.575 | 98.088 | 98.62 | 98.117 | 97.4 | 98.035 | 98.312 | 97.027 | 97.442 | 97.2 | 96.911 | 96.682 | 96.85 | 97.062 | 98.137 |
| Felipe Massa | 103.669 | 101.29 | 101.021 | 100.637 | 100.643 | 101.917 | 100.901 | 101.348 | 101.402 | 101.334 | 103.299 | 116.802 | 99.191 | 99.55 | 99.795 | 99.61 | 99.776 | 100.351 | 100.575 | 100.881 | 102.003 | 101.916 | 116.455 | 110.853 | 130.206 | 146.47 | 152.791 | 99.425 | 98.166 | 98.311 | 98.661 | 98.36 | 98.554 | 98.999 | 98.357 | 100.61 | 117.709 | 99.477 | 99.481 | 99.601 | 100.076 | 98.444 | 98 | 98.536 | 98.733 | 98.411 | 98.577 | 98.463 | 99.459 | 97.8 | 98.313 | 98.332 | 98.126 |
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Suzuka, 2011
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 21.147s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 21.319s |
| Pit stop 3 | Medium 20.731s |
“I seem to have a season ticket for fifth place this year,” said Alonso after qualifying there for the seventh time this year. Unusually, one of the four cars in front of him was that of his team mate, for only the third time in 2011.
Alonso ran behind Massa at the start but passed him at turn one using DRS at the start of lap six.
As usual the 150° Italia made best use of its tyres towards the end of a stint, which brought Alonso within range of the leaders.
He used that trait to stay out four laps longer than Sebastian Vettel at the end of his third stint, postponing his switch to medium tyres. That allowed him to come out of the pits in front of the Red Bull driver.
He came under considerable pressure from Vettel but aside from moving off-line on the approach to turn one, had to do little to defend his position.
Towards the end of the race Alonso also closed on leader Jenson Button, but crossed the finishing line a second behind the McLaren.
Alonso said: “With Sebastian it was difficult to keep him behind as at that part of the race he was quicker than us. I tried to defend the position in braking for the last corners and into the first corner as well, where the DRS was active.
“After we had done this job we saw we were catching a little bit Jenson, so we tried in the last couple of laps but, as we saw later on, Jenson was taking care about tyres, about his car, so it was impossible to fight for victory this time.”
Fernando Alonso 2011 form guide
Felipe Massa
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 21.313s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 21.214s |
| Pit stop 3 | Medium 21.1s |
Massa made no attempt to defend him place from Alonso at the start of the race, prompting claims he’d been told to let Alonso pass, which Ferrari were quick to refute.
Massa caught the struggling Lewis Hamilton during his second stint and attempted to pass him on the outside at the chicane on lap 21. Hamilton, who later claimed not to have seen Massa, squeezed him hard and knocked part of the front wing off the Ferrari.
Hamilton pitted at the end of the lap and Massa responded the next time by, picking up a place from the McLaren while simultaneously losing one to Mark Webber.
After both had switched to medium tyres Hamilton came back at Massa, passing him in the DRS zone on lap 38. Unlike with his team mate Massa made an attempt to defend his position but the result was the same.
The pair were then held up behind Nico Rosberg, which allowed Michael Schumacher to get out of the pits ahead of the Ferrari driver, pushing Massa down to seventh.
Massa fumed over Hamilton’s driving after the race – the pair have collided several times this year and twice in the last two races: “My car was definitely damaged by [the contact].
“When I looked at it after the race, I saw there was a bit of the front wing end plate missing and the floor was not on properly on the left hand side and I could feel it in the way my car was behaving.
“I think the footage speaks for itself: he was struggling with his tyres and I had almost come alongside him and for no reason, he moved over and hit me. I let you be the judge… It’s pointless for me to say any more about it.”
2011 Japanese Grand Prix
- Rate the race result: 2011 Japanese GP
- Kobayashi greets the fans, Vettel does doughnuts: Suzuka videos
- Hamilton did not have a puncture at Suzuka
- 2011 Japanese Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
- Vote for your Japanese Grand Prix driver of the weekend
- Red Bull: Conservative approach delivers Vettel’s title
- McLaren: Button pleased to win on ‘Red Bull track’
- Ferrari: Alonso edges Vettel for second
- Mercedes: Schumacher closes on Rosberg’s tally
- Renault: Petrov makes progress, Senna slips back
Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 11th October 2011, 13:32
Good result for Alonso, great to see him on the podium again. The pass between Alonso and Massa did confuse me, not sure what’s going on there to be honest.
I almost wanted a penalty for Hamilton, just for the drama :D
Rod (@rodgr) said on 11th October 2011, 19:19
For those Massa haters, maybe you want back one of those great replacements Ferrari brought in during Massa’s recovery from his accident.
Atticus (@atticus-2) said on 11th October 2011, 22:09
One short note about Massa.
I agree with those who said he lost his edge after Hungary 2009. It’s pointless bringing up examples of drivers not losing theirs (Schumacher, Silverstone 1999; Hakkinen, Adelaide 1995), because each driver reacts in a different way. One loses it (Panis, Montreal 1997; and I don’t agree with you in the case of Moss), one doesn’t. Massa did.
As for firing him, I have an argument for him staying which could be strange at first.
What if Fernando Alonso’s out-of-this-world performances are at least partly down to him having a ‘second driver’!?
I mean, look at it, he was excellent in the Minardi, where he had virtually no opposition from his teammate (some Yoong), he excelled at Renault only after Trulli ‘somehow’ lost his way halfway through 2004 – remember how Alonso crashed out in Monaco spectacularly, when he had a chance of winning; only Trulli was ahead of the two Renaults. Pressure. And how he turned the tides in his favor – Trulli went asleep at the last-but-one corner in Magny-Cours, handing his podium finish to Barrichello.
He kept Fisichella under total control in 2005-06.
…And again cracked under pressure from a teammate of his calibre, a certain newcomer, rookie Lewis Hamilton while crushing out of the Japanese GP at Fuji, while in command. Pressure again.
I think Ferrari can guarantee Alonso’s unearthly performances exactly with having Massa alongside him. Alonso just needs this preference and responsibility which is a must in this commanding role. It makes him able to extract this level of performance from him.
Which is truly fantastic. I would be disappointed to see him lose out Jenson to 2nd place in Keith’s end-of-the-year 2011 driver rankings.