Fuji's F1 return has fizzled out after two years

Toyota has admitted the Fuji Speedway will not be on the 2010 F1 calendar, confirming rumours that circulated at the end of May.

As I said at the time, I’m not sorry to see Fuji go – it’s not a great circuit in its own right and it pales in comparison to Suzuka, which will hold this year’s race. What’s your reaction?

Question will inevitably be asked if Toyota is not prepared to spend an eight-figure sum on having a Grand Prix, whether it will be content to spend a nine-figure sum on having a Grand Prix team.

Last month new Toyota chief Akio Toyoda said it will take two years for the company to return to profit. In the last financial year it posted its first loss in over 70 years, of ¥461bn (£2.91bn/$4.8bn).

Toyota’s F1 team has been believed to be the highest-spending outfit since it arrived in the sport in 2002. Its 2008 budget was estimated at $445.6m. Reuters suggests it was costing Toyota £12-£18m ($19.4-29.1m) per year to hold the Grand Prix at Fuji.

Fuji held four F1 races: in 1976 and 1977, and on the Hermann Tilke-redesigned track in 2007 and 2008.

Read more

• Fuji Speedway to disappear from 2010 F1 calendar, things are looking up
• Why Fuji Speedway is F1’s worst track
• 1976 Japanese Grand Prix flashback
• 1977 Japanese Grand Prix flashback
• Japanese GP 2007 review: Mighty Hamilton takes crucial win (updated)
• Alonso wins as Hamilton and Massa stumble (2008 Japanese Grand Prix)
• Japanese Grand Prix 2009

Felipe Massa rounds another of Fuji's slow corners

Fuji Speedway, which is owned by Toyota, may not return to the F1 calendar in 2010 as planned.

The track is supposed to be rotating the Japanese Grand Prix with Honda-owned Suzuka, which holds this year’s race. But the circuit operators have suggested the 2010 running is in doubt, potentially returning the Japanese round to Suzuka full-time.

I’ve never warmed to Fuji and won’t be sorry to see the back of it.

Suzuka has some of the best corners in the F1 calendar: 130R, Degner, Spoon and the Esses after the first bend.

Sat beneath picturesque Mount Fuji, Toyota’s track has fabulous scenery. But the circuit configuration pales in comparison to the vista – and the exceptional Suzuka.

The cars look lost in its vast stretches of tarmac which kill any impression of speed. And the near endless sequence of slow corners – particularly the dreadful final sequence of bends – means it has few rivals for title of F1′s least inspiring track.

History repeating

If last year’s race does prove to be Fuji’s last for F1, it will complete an unusual symmetry with the last time the track was used for the world championship.

Its first race in 1976 was blighted by severe rain – then F1 returned the following year for a final race held in fine conditions. However two spectators were killed after Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson crashed during the race.

F1′s return 30 years later saw another rain-hit race and the event descended into farce as the first 18 laps (over half an hour) were spent behind the safety car. Last year’s race saw much better conditions, though the stewards let loose a few thunderbolts of their own with some truly baffling decisions.

Would you rather the Japanese Grand Prix was held at Fuji or Suzuka? Or do you think the rotation system shoiuld stay?

More on Fuji Speedway

• Why Fuji Speedway is F1’s worst track
• 1976 Japanese Grand Prix flashback
• Grand Prix flashback: Japan 1977
• Japanese GP 2007 review: Mighty Hamilton takes crucial win (updated)
• Alonso wins as Hamilton and Massa stumble (2008 Japanese Grand Prix)
• Fuji gets better toilets but still needs a roof
• 2010 F1 calendar

Hermann Tilke's A1 Ring was first used in 1997

Yesterday’s discussion about a potential Rome Grand Prix circuit turned into a debate about Hermann Tilke’s abilities as an F1 track designer. Daniel put forward the case for the prosecution:

Why do they still get this guy to build tracks? Every track he has designed is boring. With all the new tracks that have appeared in the last five or six years, the old ones are still the most entertaining: look at Spa and Monza.

Paul responded:

Tilke is rather limited to what he can produce by (presumably) FOM/Bernie and FIA regulations [...] I really don’t see any bad track he’s produced aside from Valencia, and we only have fifty or so laps to base that upon.

Has Hermann Tilke ruined the F1 calendar? Let’s take a look at what he’s done for F1 track design in the last 14 years.

In 1997 the Austrian Grand Prix returned to the calendar on a circuit based on the popular old Osterreichring. But the new A1-Ring was a radically different affair to its predecessor: the fast, long-radio turns of the original were replaced by tight, slow corners.

This is one of the hallmarks of Tilke’s designs and by comparing the calendar of 13 years ago with today’s schedule we can see the influence it has had.

1996 F1 calendar

Melbourne, Australia
Interlagos, Brazil
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nürburgring, Germany
Imola, San Marino
Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada
Magny-Cours, France
Silverstone, Great Britain
Hockenheimring, Germany
Hungaroring, Budapest
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Monza, Italy
Estoril, Portugal
Suzuka, Japan

Since 1996 every new track that has been introduced on the calendar has been developed by Tilke GmbH. And on almost every other occasion where an existing track has been changed, the modifications were handled by Tilke’s team – with the possible exception of Indianapolis in 2000 (I’m not sure who handled that one):

1997 – A1-Ring
1999 – Sepang International Circuit
2000 – Monza (first chicane)
2002 – Hockenheimring (major re-design)
2002 – Nürburgring (new corners at start of lap)
2003 – Monte-Carlo (Rascasse reprofiling and moving of barriers)
2003 – Magny-Cours (new corners at end of lap)
2003 – Hungaroring (new corners at end of lap)
2004 – Bahrain International Circuit
2004 – Shanghai International Circuit
2005 – Istanbul Park
2007 – Catalunya (new chicane at end of lap)
2007 – Fuji (major re-design)
2007 – Spa-Francorchamps (new chicane at end of lap)
2008 – Valencia
2008 – Singapore
2009 – Abu Dhabi
2010 – Donington (major re-design)

Regardless of what you think of Tilke’s tracks, you have to ask whether only having one circuit designer is good for Formula 1. Where are the new ideas going to come from in a monopoly? How can good value for money be ensured in an industry where there is no competition?

2009 F1 calendar

The first race at Tilke's Valencia street circuit was processional

Here’s this year’s calendar with the tracks entirely designed by Tilke marked in bold and the tracks where he’s changed at least one corner in italics:

Melbourne, Australia
Sepang, Malaysia
Shanghai International Circuit, China
Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Istanbul, Turkey
Silverstone, Great Britain
Nürburgring, Germany
Hungaroring, Budapest
Valencia, Spain
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Monza, Italy
Marina Bay, Singapore
Suzuka, Japan
Interlagos, Brazil
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

On top of that, the German and Japanese rounds are being rotated between two other circuits which aren’t hosting Grands Prix year, but will be on the 2010 F1 calendar.

These are the Hockenheimring, which was substantially re-designed by Tilke in 2002, and Fuji Speedway, which has also had a complete Tilke overhaul.

Culprit or scapegoat?

Tilke gets a hard time from a lot of F1 fans. His designs are derided for being unimaginative, with too many slow corners.

I think Tilke gets a bad press. As this Youtube video posted by Gabal on the forum shows, he is more of a petrol head than people give him credit for:

It’s hard to match the idea of Hermann Tilke grinning through hot laps of the Nordschleife in a Lamborghini with the man who gave us horrible Mickey Mouse bends like the final sector at Fuji Speedway. So what’s the problem?

As I’ve said before I think the regulations are partly to blame. Why should the world’s most technologically sophisticated racing cars be prevented from tackling no more than ten degrees of gradient?

I also think the safety demands placed on modern circuits saps them of their power to impress us. This is not an argument for making tracks less safe, but I think it shows why the first turn at Shanghai doesn’t impress us the same way Eau Rouge or Blanchimont does. (Also, it helps that corners on old tracks usually have proper names).

Motorland Aragon – his finest work?

Motorland Aragon

Ironically, one of Tilke’s most promising tracks may never be used for an F1 race. Motorland Aragon in Spain includes the closest thing you can get to Laguna Seca’s fabled Corkscrew on an F1-ready track.

But with Spain already holding two Grands Prix at Catalunya and Valencia, its chances of getting on the calendar look slim. This is a great pity, as it looks like one of Tilke’s best efforts, and includes a dramatic pit building designed by Sir Norman Foster, the man behind the McLaren Technology Centre and many other exceptional pieces of architecture.

Although I’m not sure Tilke deserves all the criticism he gets, equally I’d like to see more variety in F1 track design. For example, given enough run-off space, why couldn’t F1 have high-speed circuits like the Monzas, Silverstones and Osterreichrings of old?

Do you think the Tilke track monopoly is good or bad for F1? Would Tilke produce better tracks if the rules were freer? Have your say in the comments.

Images (C) BMW ag, Red Bull / GEPA

Silverstone was packed for the British Grand Prix

Did you visit a Grand Prix in 2008?

If so, please take a moment to share your opinions about the experience with other fans who’ve been to the same venues:

You can read other people’s experiencess of visiting the races on the Grand Prix calendar, share your own and pass on tips to other F1 fans via these links:

• Albert Park, Mebourne – spectators’ experiences
• Bahrain International Circuit – spectators’ experiences
• Spa-Francorchamps – spectators’ experiences
• Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos, Sao Paulo – spectators’ experiences
• Shanghai International Circuit – spectators’ experiences
• Hockenheimring – spectators’ experiences
• Nürburgring – spectators’ experiences
• Silverstone – spectators’ experiences
• Hungaroring – spectators’ experiences
• Autodromo Nazionale Monza – spectators’ experiences
• Fuji Speedway – spectators’ experiences
• Sepang International Circuit – spectators’ experiences
• Monte-Carlo – spectators’ experiences
• Singapore street track – spectators’ experiences
• Circuit de Catalunya – spectators’ experiences
• Circuito Urbano Valencia – spectators’ experiences
• Istanbul Park – spectators’ experiences

Toro Rosso ran similar nose wings to those seen on BMWs and Red Bulls

John Beamer from F1-Pitlane looks at the technical tweaks from Fuji.

In contrast to the tight corners and slow speeds of the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore, Fuji Speedway, with its 1.5km start-finish straight, puts a premium on a low drag car. Although over 80% of the corners are low speed and would typically demand a high downforce set-up, the associated drag leaves drivers extremely vulnerable to overtaking into turn 1.

To manage these trade-offs teams optimised lower efficiency, higher drag parts without switching into full low drag mode as demanded by somewhere like Monza.

Also as F1 circus enters the twilight of the 2008 season innovation is starting to tail off as teams focus their developments efforts on 2009 and the raft of new regulations that must be mastered.

So what technical innovations were on show?

Front and nose

Toro Rosso came to Fuji with nose fins. This is no surprise given the shared development resource with its sister team, Red Bull. Red Bull ran the nose fins in Singapore and the Toro Rosso implementation was remarkably similar.

To recap, these fins condition air flowing over the nose of the car and redirect it to the rear wing increasing overall mass flow, which helps downforce. Despite the need for less drag no team deleted their nose fins suggesting that they are reasonably efficient at generating downforce and also are useful in tuning the overall balance of the car.

Many wonder why Ferrari has not elected to adopt nose fins. The F2008 nose cone is more raised than others in the paddock, which makes the fitting either a bridge wing or nose fins tricky and less effective. Interestingly the trend over the last few years has been to lower the nose cone because when raised (although structurally more sound) air flowing below the nose and over the front wing is block which harms front wing efficiency.

Sidepods

Yes, yes, he's very happy. But just look at the undercutting on those sidepods!

Renault is the one team that visibly keeps on innovating and it brought a revised sidepod package to Fuji. The radiator inlet was more tapered than previously partly as the cooling requirements are lower than at other tracks.

Moreover, the narrower sidepod structure channels a higher volume air around the side of the car to the coke bottle zone, which helps pressure recovery of the diffuser. Air flows faster over the diffuser, hence is lower pressure and the adverse pressure gradient that the diffuser must work against is reduced. Downforce is increased with little increase in drag.

That Renault is aggressively developing its car while other midfield teams such as BMW are focusing efforts solely on 2009 explains the shifting fortunes of the two teams.

Rear wing

Toyota slightly revised its rear wing by deleting the central pillars which were mostly for structural purposes. Given the lower drag nature of the circuit the wing was run at a slightly shallower angle resulting in less loading. One big benefit of removing the pillars is that air flowing beneath the wing is less disturbed.

Similar to Renault’s solution this helps air flow faster at the rear of the car, which not only helps rear wing efficiency (blocked air reduces downforce and causes drag) but also helps pressure recovery above the diffuser.

Did Hamilton or Kovalainen force Raikkonen off the track at Fuji?

Following criticism of some of the penalties served to drivers during the Japanese Grand Prix Formula One Management has published a montage of footage showing new angles of the incidents.

Most of the angles were not shown to fans who saw the standard F1 television footage as provided to ITV and many other stations during the race.

I’ve had a look at the videos and it’s given me some new thoughts on the incidents. Have a look for yourself and post your comments below.

Hamilton and Raikkonen

I’d seen the first two shots before. The third, slightly higher angle makes it very clear that it was Heikki Kovalainen, not Lewis Hamilton, that put Kimi Raikkonen off the circuit.

Watching the onboard from Hamilton made me realise he hadn’t actually out-braked himself by as much as I originally thought he had – he did go off the circuit, but not as far as I first thought.

This made me realise Raikkonen must have braked a bit late for the corner as well – though not as late as Hamilton – or surely Hamilton would have shot past him and Raikkonen would have been able to turn into the corner, as we’ve seen happen many times before (think Massa and Hamilton at Sepang last year).

Read more about this incident: Hamilton and Raikkonen’s Fuji clash – the penalty they got wrong (Video)

Massa and Hamilton

Not much new here – Mass clearly hit Hamilton and deserved a penalty. But the onboard camera from Massa gives me the impression it was not an intentional take-out, as some people have suggested, just a bad misjudgement by Massa.

Read more about this incident: Massa and Hamilton’s Fuji crash – the penalty they got right (Video)

Bourdais and Massa

I wrote before that I didn’t think the external camera angle made it possible to say will total certainty that Bourdais was innocent. Unfortunately none of the new angles help answer that either. For me the key question is: was Bourdais right up against the inside of the corner when the two touched?

However it seems clear to me there was more Massa could have done to avoid the incident. He has space to his left to use to avoid Bourdais, Bourdais had very little space to his right, if any at all.

I think the stewards should have stayed out of this one – it was a racing incident. By getting involved, they will find themselves expected to uphold this dubious precedent in the future. And the same goes for the Hamilton/Raikkonen incident.

Read more about this incident: Bourdais gets 25s penalty

Still, it’s good to see F1.com making worthwhile use of their enormous media resources. Here’s a few more suggestions for them.

A similar thing happened after last year’s Fuji race when the incident between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel was re-investigated after new footage emerged on the Internet that had been shot by a fan.

Have these new videos changed your interpretation of the three penalties handed out at Fuji this year?

Comments have been split across multiple pages. If you are having difficulty viewing the pages, click here to see all comments.

BMW's strategy was beaten by Renault's, and Kubica lost the lead to Alonso

Here’s the Japanese Grand Prix progress chart showing how far apart each of the drivers were on each lap.

It shows how Renault strategically out-manoeuvred BMW to get Fernando Alonso ahead of Robert Kubica, and how Kubica fought a rearguard action to keep Raikkonen behind.

Japanese Grand Prix progress chart

2008 Japanese Grand Prix race progress chart (click to enlarge)

One of the quotes that caught my eye after yesterday’s Grand Prix came from Ron Dennis, who clearly couldn’t resist taking a pop at Felipe Massa:

How long did it take Felipe to get past the Honda? Five laps? Six laps? And Lewis just blasted past him.

You can see that phase of the race quite clearly from laps 24-29 (Massa behind Jenson Button) and lap 33 (Lewis Hamilton passing Button).

Button was really only ever racing his team mate Rubens Barrichello – a battle he lost. Button was generally slower than Barrichello in their first stint, but was quicker in the second (they both used one-stop strategies).

Japanese Grand Prix progress chart – the leaders

2008 Japanese Grand Prix race progress chart - leaders (click to enlarge)

This chart shows the same data – but restricted to just drivers within 30s of the leader, which allows us to see the detail more clearly.

Fernando Alonso only stayed out one lap longer than Robert Kubica – but Renault fuelled him shorter, so that he made his second stop three laps before the BMW did. Alonso built a gap of over 12 seconds during the middle stint, which put the race beyond Kubica’s grasp.

At any rate, the BMW driver had to devote his energies to keeping Raikkonen behind in the final stint. This he did admirably well given how poorly the BMW was doing in the hands of Nick Heidfeld.

During the race Kubica registered the second slowest maximum speed of any driver at the start/finish line: 304.6kph. That was 2kph slower than Heidfeld, 7kph slower than Massa (who blasted past Heidfeld with cruel ease on the main straight) and 8kph slower than Raikkonen. Translation: Kubica did a stunning job to keep Raikkonen at bay.

Nelson Piquet Jnr was also on Raikkonen’s tail in the later stages of the race – until he spun on lap 60. From one second behind Raikkonen he ended the race 14 seconds adrift. After the race Flavio Briatore denied that Piquet finishing second would guarantee him a seat in the team for 2009. These graph show why, although they hardly flatter the two championship leaders either…

Fernando Alonso is the first person to win both at Fuji and Suzuka

Fernando Alonso became the first driver to win the Japanese Grand Prix at two different venues.

Sebastien Bourdais led a race for the first time, and his penalty allowed Mark Webber to reach his points century. Here’s the statistics round-up from the Japanese Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso scored the 21st win of his career. That puts him on his own in 11th on the all-time most wins list, with one fewer than Damon Hill. Alonso has also participated in 121 Grands Prix to date, which is also one fewer than Hil.

It was his second win in the Japanese Grand Prix. The only driver to win the Japanese Grand Prix more than twice is Michael Schumacher, with six wins. But Alonso is the first driver to win it at different circuits: Suzuka and Fuji. Schumacher was leading the race at Suzuka that Alonso won in 2006, until his Ferrari engine failed, which all-but handed the title to Alonso.

Felipe Massa set the tenth fastest lap of his career, his second this year.

Massa has only finished on the podium this year at tracks where he also finished on the podium last year: Bahrain, Circuit de Catalunya, Istanbul, Monte-Carlo, Magny-Cours and Spa. The other circuits where he finished on the podium this year (Hockenheimring and Valencia) weren’t on the calendar last year. He also finished on the podium at Indianapolis and Nürburgring last year (not on the calendar this year) and Shanghai and Interlagos (still to come).

Lewis Hamilton scored his 12th career pole position, giving him as many as David Coulthard and Gerhard Berger. For the second year in a row, he will go into the Chinese Grand Prix able to win the title.

This year Hamilton has set pole position at each of the venues where he won last year – Montreal, Hungaroring and Fuji – but failed to win the races. He also set pole position at Indianapolis, which is off the calendar this year.

Mark Webber’s promotion to eighth meant he scored the 100th point of his F1 career.

Sebastien Bourdais led a Grand Prix for the first time.

Kimi Raikkonen scored the 30th front row start of his career. He failed to set his 11th fastest lap this season and make a new record, but he still has two races left to do it. More importantly, he ended his four-race point-less streak.

But whatever happens now, Raikkonen cannot retain his championship crown, and a first-time champion will be crowned this year.

Finally, someone on the live blog asked when was the last time neither McLaren scored during a Grand Prix. It actually wasn’t that long ago – this year’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Most consistent finishers in 2008

2008 F1 driver participations and finishes (click to enalrge)

Nick Heidfeld maintained his 100% finishing rate in 2008, while Lewis Hamilton posted his only DNF so far in Canada. Out of the drivers who’ve started every race Adrian Sutil has the worst finishing record – he had his fifth mechanical DNF of the year at Fuji.

Lewis Hamilton does the mother of all lock-ups

Re-live the Japanese Grand Prix with this selection of 30 high-resolution photographs from the race covering all of the teams.

Click once to preview, click again for high-resolution version.

Copyright as described on previews.

Fernando Alonso won for the second race in a row

Lewis Hamilton has been accused of being too hot-headed and risking too much in championship deciding situations. Felipe Massa has been criticised for making mistakes in wheel-to-wheel battles.

Watching the Japanese Grand Prix, it wasn’t difficult to understand why. As the two championship contenders provoked controversy in the opening laps, Fernando Alonso motored through to claim a second, richly deserved victory.

A chaotic start

Lewis Hamilton threw away his hard-earned pole position the instant the lights went out as Kimi Raikkonen zapped past him. Not for the first time, Hamilton seemed to lose sight of the fact that his championship rival was Felipe Massa, not Raikkonen, and risked everything in a do-or-die move to recapture the lead.

He dived for the inside, smoke pouring from locked wheels, and ran wide, forcing Raikkonen to take evasive action. Massa, who was also at the outside of turn one, was similarly delayed, and the mess allowed Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso into the lead from sixth and fourth on the grid respectively.

Hamilton made a slow recovery and was passed by Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli and the Ferraris. But on the second lap he got a clear run up the inside of Massa at turn ten and was through. Massa tried to come back at him at the following left-hander, but with two wheels on the kerb and two wheels on the grass he tipped Hamilton into a spin and down to last

McLaren responded by pitting Hamilton straight away to discard his badly flat-spotted tyres and inspect the damage from the collision with Massa – which included the barge boards and part of the floor. When he returned to the track he was 52 seconds behind leader Kubica.

Hamilton was not the only driver in trouble on the opening lap. David Coulthard was swiped sideways into the barrier at the exit of turn one. Kazuki Nakajima lost his front wing and had to pit for a replacement – an ironic development for the Japanese driver at his home race, since he had eliminated Alonso during his home event at Valencia on the first lap.

Penalties

Within a few laps Massa and Hamilton were hit with penalties: Hamilton for the turn one incident, Massa for hitting Hamilton.

That sent Massa plunging down the order from sixth to 14th and cost Hamilton even more time.

Massa and Hamilton’s Fuji crash – the penalty they got right (Video)
Hamilton and Raikkonen’s Fuji clash – the penalty they got wrong (Video)

Alonso gets ahead

Meanwhile Raikkonen had passed Jarno Trulli for fourth on lap seven with a neat move at turn ten. That became third when Kovalainen came to a halt on lap 16 with what turned out to be engine failure.

Up front Kubica was leading Alonso but unable to pull away quickly despite having slightly less fuel. The BMW driver made his first pit stop on lap 15 and although the Renault only stayed out one lap longer, it was enough for Alonso to leapfrog ahead of Kubica. This pit stop switch-around decided the winner of the race.

Jarno Trulli took over the lead (Raikkonen having pitted), and Sebastien Bourdais and Nelson Piquet Jnr also took turns to head the field. But once the first round of pit stops was over, Alonso was firmly in control.

More trouble for Massa

Massa’s penalty and pit stop left him 13th with Hamilton just 10 seconds behind. After being briefly stuck behind Jenson Button he found a way through and Hamilton followed a few laps later.

Hamilton made his final pit stop on lap 41, leaving him with a 26-lap run to the flag. Massa, however, didn’t have to make his last stop until lap 52 and he was setting fastest laps in the run-up to it as the chance of a point or two beckoned.

But on lap 50 Sebastien Bourdais came out of the pits in front of him and the pair collided at the first corner, Massa spinning around. After the race the stewards added 25 seconds to Bourdais’ time.

Bourdais gets 25s penalty

Kubica holds off Raikkonen

Raikkonen emerged from his final pit stop directly behind Kubica in a battle for second place. The Ferrari was clearly quicker than the BMW, and the long, wide straights of Fuji gave him little chance to run an hide.

Still, Kubica gave a master class in defensive driving: he covered the inside of the hairpin when he had to, and took care to slow Raikkonen’s pace at the apex of the corner to deny him a run at the next bend.

After several laps of careful and utterly clean defending by Kubica, Raikkonen’s attacks began to fade and he settled back into the third place he would keep until the flag.

Further back Massa was finding his rivals’ defensive tactics either irrelevant or inadequate. He made light work of the other BMW of Nick Heidfeld, passing him on the main straight as if his Ferrari had an extra gear.

That brought Massa onto the tail of Mark Webber on lap 64. Webber covered the inside line on the right but Massa dived to Webber’s extreme right, over the pit lane exit, to get alongside the Red Bull.

Had Webber continued straight ahead Massa would have been obliged either to lift the throttle or run out of road. But Webber backed down, pulled left and gave Massa the space to take the position.

Alonso wins

Alonso took the chequered flag after 67 laps to score his second consecutive win of the season. At Singapore he rode his luck, but here he beat Kubica in a straight fight and capitalised magnificently on Ferrari and McLaren’s problems.

Kubica’s defence of second place was gritty stuff, and the eight points leaves him 12 behind Hamilton with two races to go. But for that penalty at Singapore, he would be an extremely convincing championship contender.

Raikkonen salvaged third for Ferrari and that, along with Massa’s seventh place (promoted from eighth after Bourdais’ penalty) put the Italian team back in the lead of the constructors’ championship. After Ferrari’s failure to score in Singapore, the same fate befell McLaren at Fuji.

Nelson Piquet Jnr took fourth on merit despite a hiccup on lap 62 when he spun at turn five, losing four seconds. He still kept Jarno Trulli behind which was a major blow for Toyota on home ground. With Timo Glock retiring early on, Toyota are now 16 points behind Renault in the battle for fourth in the constructors’ championship.

Sebastian Vettel was promoted to sixth ahead of Massa and Webber. Heidfeld was tenth, Nico Rosberg 11th and Hamilton was the final runner on the lead lap – he un-lapped himself from Alonso on the final tour in the forlorn hope four or more driver might stop on the last circuit.

Both the Honda drivers oddly set their fastest laps of the race on the final lap, Rubens Barrichello 0.7s ahead of Jenson Button after a miserable home outing for the team. Nakajima limped in 15th and last in his first home race, though he at least fared better than the Force Indias, neither of which finished.