Grand Prix Redux: Vettel wins an attrition-strewn Japanese Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel won the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix hours after winning pole during the delayed qualifying, holding off teammate Mark Webber and the rest of the championship contenders, with Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top five. Hamilton lost position to Button after losing third gear two thirds of the way through the race, which practically began under SC conditions caused by separate incidents for Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa and Tonio Liuzzi. Both incidents are to be investigated after the race. Suzuka was harder on tires than ever, with Robert Kubica out of second under the safety car when his entire right wheel came off, as did Nico Rosberg’s in the closing stages of the race. Kamui Kobayashi wowed the home crowds by forcing his way up to seventh after qualifying fourteenth.
Vettel won pole in a dominating way Sunday morning, posting the fastest time halfway through the final session and shaving more time off at the end. It was a qualifying session of will-they, won’t-they? as rain pelted the Suzuka circuit Saturday, delaying qualifying until a sunny and dry race day morning. Webber completed the Red Bull speed duo to start second, with Hamilton starting five grid positions behind his qualifying position of third, due to a gearbox change before qualifying. Kubica showed some Renault development to post the fourth fastest time with Alonso rounding out the fastest five. They will start third and fourth with Button starting fifth after his teammate’s penalty. Both Mercedes cars and Williams teammates qualified in Q3, with Rosberg, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, and Schumacher the top ten qualifiers. Massa was unable to progress beyond Q2 and qualified twelfth eleventh. Both Ferraris had issues with the softer tires unable to improve their times dramatically, as is usual, from the harder compound. Button will start on the harder tire with a qualifying strategy gamble. Lucas di Grassi had a huge shunt at 130R on his installation lap, destroying the car, though the Brazilian appeared to be unhurt.
The sun shone as it had earlier in the day for qualifying for the start, with a crash in the middle of the pack for Petrov on the straight as Vettel led Kubica, Webber, Alonso, and Button as the top five, with Hamilton jumping up to sixth. The safety car was deployed before the first lap was completed with Massa also stopped in the gravel, Liuzzi’s car being craned away and Hulkenberg also out. Rosberg, Trulli, Glock and Senna all pitted. On replays, Petrov looked to go right across the track with some smoke from the rear, hitting Hulkenberg’s front. Massa and Liuzzi were a separate incident, with the two coming together into Turn 1 as Massa attempted to squeeze down the inside. Glock pitted for a second time, with Vettel, Kubica, Webber, Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Barrichello, Schumacher, Heidfeld, and Sutil the top ten behind the SC. Drama continued for Renault as Kubica slowed and pulled off the circuit, parking the car on the third lap with no right real wheel (rim or tire). On the radio, Button was reporting vibration while on the brakes, though McLaren told him it should clear up when under racing conditions. That moved Webber up to second and Alonso to the podium, Button and Hamilton the top five. Hamilton was also reporting a similar vibration as Button, apparently a condition of not getting the brakes cool enough behind the SC.
On the L7 restart, Vettel was away cleanly and into Turn 1 with the five championship leaders safely away from the rest of the field a bit. By the end of the lap, Vettel had nearly a second on Webber, who had a similar margin on Alonso, with .7s to Button, and not quite a half second to Hamilton. Farther back, Barrichello and Schumacher were fighting for sixth, with Schumacher winning while Rosberg and Buemi left each other no room fighting for twelfth, with Rosberg getting the position but running too wide and losing it again. The gap between each driver in the top five but Button and Hamilton kept growing, with the Red Bulls nearly a second quicker than Alonso. Ten laps into the fifty-three lap race, Vettel had lost a tenth or two in his 1.5s gap to Webber, though Alonso was nearly three seconds behind the Australian championship leader. Button was another second and a half back with Hamilton still around a half second behind. Alonso kept dropping back from the Red Bulls, though not into Button’s clutches as the laps ticked away.
Kobayashi moved into the points with a pass on Alguersuari for tenth on L14. The other overtaking on the circuit had Trulli around Yamamoto, who went wide at Turn 2, for fifteenth, the Lotus driver having already pitted and the Japanese driver not having done so. Glock was also looking to get around Yamamoto, those two drivers the closest (separated by .2s) on the track seventeen laps in. Kobayashi was only seven tenths off of Sutil, but he slid his way around the German driver, who fought back at the next turn, but was rebuffed. Both Heidfeld and Sutil pitted on L19, leaving the Japanese driver in eighth for his home race. Word came from the stewards that the Petrov/Hulkenberg incident would be investigated after the race, as would the Massa/Liuzzi shunt. Liuzzi had suggested that perhaps something broke for Massa as the move he made was very strange. By L20, Vettel’s lead was 2.3s over Webber, with Alonso nearly five and a half further back, Button four behind Alonso, and Hamtilon 1.5s off his teammate. Barrichello pitted from seventh for the prime tires on L21, rejoining in twelfth, and putting the first stops at almost halfway.
Alguersuari was the next driver to pit from ninth and seven tenths behind his teammate, going from the soft to hard tire and returning in thirteenth. Hamilton pitted on L23, with the bad luck of getting out behind Kobayashi, who had moved up to sixth. Alonso did not stop, though the Ferrari mechanics were ready for him. Schumacher pitted from fifth, coming out just behind teammate Rosberg, who had stopped under the SC. Vettel was in on L25, as was Alonso. There was no hope for the Ferrari driver to beat him in the stop, with too much of a gap on the track, though if Red Bull had an issue, it could have been a stroke of luck meeting strategy for Alonso. Hamilton got around Kobayashi with a bit of flair on the straight and into Turn 1. Kobayashi attempted to keep him behind, but there just wasn’t room to keep his position and car. Webber was the next in, rejoining in third and still ahead of Alonso. Hamilton was setting multpole race fast laps at the halfway mark on his fresh tires, looking to gain position on teammate and championship rival Button, who led because he had not yet stopped. Schumacher was having quite a number of looks on teammate Rosberg,with a Mercedes radio broadcast telling the older German, “Michael, there’s no team orders, but Nico knows to be sensible if you make a move.” Alonso took the race fast lap from Hamilton on L28 by six tenths, with a 6.2s gap between them as Buemi pitted, leaving only Button, Kobayashi, Kovalainen, and Yamamoto the only drivers to have not stopped for a tire change. The first two were still on the hard tires they had used for the start of the race.
Vettel was losing time to Webber and Alonso with twenty-three laps to go. Webber was under a second and a half behind his teammate, with Alonso another six-plus seconds back. Twenty laps left and Button still led, having not stopped, then Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Hamilton, Kobayashi (also without pitting), Rosberg, Schumacher, Heidfeld, and Barrichello in the points-paying positions. Yamamoto finally stopped on that lap. No one was closer on the circuit than Mercedes teammates Rosberg and Schumacher, in that order, fighting for seventh. Button was falling back dramatically, his lead over Vettel down to 1.7s, with Webber and Alonso continuing to hunt down the German on L33. As the laps ticked down, the top five were all within five or fewer seconds of each other as Alonso had a radio conversation with Ferrari, the team asking for more speed as the Red Bulls were slowing, then telling Alonso that everything was fine. Kovalainen stopped again on L37, having a bit of a moving chicane in the form of person strolling across the pit lane in front of him as he exited.
With fifteen laps to go, Button finally stopped, leaving Vettel in the lead, with a 1.7s gap back to Webber, Alonso another two and a half back, and Hamilton just over four seconds behind Alonso. Kobayashi also stopped when Button did. Button rejoined in fifth, nine seconds behind Hamilton, who had lost quite a bit of time to Alonso, having radioed that he lost third gear in his new gearbox. Vettel, once in the lead again, regained seven tenths of a gap on Webber. Button responded to his teammate’s woes with a race fast lap, then six and a half seconds behind Hamilton on L40. It looked as though there could be a good fight between the championship contenders as they all bunched up a bit, though Hamilton was losing much ground to Alonso. Much closer together, Rosberg and Schumacher were still fighting without changing position.
Ten laps left and the top five had not changed position, with Rosberg, Schumacher, Heidfeld, Barrichello, and Sutil completing the top ten. Hamilton continued to drop back, nearly twelve seconds behind Alonso on L43, with Button about a half second behind. Hamilton allowed Button to pass, without histrionics. Further back, Kobayashi was around Alguersuari on the outside through the hairpin, with the two fighting and resultingly damaging Alguersuari’s front wing, requiring a pitstop. Ahead, Sutil lost his engine, spun at 130R, and managed to take his Force India to the garage. On further inspection, it appeared that Kobayashi was not undamaged from his contact with Alguersuari, with damage to his left sidepod. Button was the next with a race fast lap on L47, though six laps seemed too short to make up the nearly twelve seconds to Alonso. Webber and Alonso were holding steady, in the range of two seconds apart and to Vettel ahead of Webber.
With just five laps left, Rosberg was into the tire barrier, out from sixth with the wheel coming off as happened to Kubica. Kobayashi had passed Barrichello and gone off after teammate Heidfeld, who gave a fight to the charging young Japanese driver. There was a moment for the Sauber drivers as a Virgin Racign driver got out of the way, and a few turns later Kobayashi was through on the inside at the Hairpin for seventh. Two laps left and the biggest action on the circuit was Barrichello all over the back of Heidfeld for eighth. Vettel increased his lead with a race fast lap, cementing his lead and likely win. Alonso was gaining on Webber, but did not appear to be doing so quickly enough to take the position, particularly as Webber took fast lap at the very end, though that could not take the win from Vettel. Hamilton salvaged fifth while Kobayashi finished seventh, after qualifying fourteenth. It was “A very good third place for Fernando. The podium was the target and he got it,” according to Ferrari on Twitter.
"Final Positions for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix:
"
1. Vettel
2. Webber +.9
3. Alonso +2.7
4. Button +13.5
5. Hamilton +39.5
6. Schumacher +59.9
7. Kobayashi +64.0
8. Heidfeld +69.6
9. Barrichello +70.8
10. Buemi +72.8
11. Alguersuari +1 Lap
12. Kovalainen +1 Lap
13. Trulli +2 Laps
14. Glock +2 Laps
15. Senna +2 Laps
16. Yamamoto +3 Laps
Rosberg
Sutil
Kubica
Hulkenberg
Massa
Petrov
Liuzzi
di Grassi
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