F101: Beginners guide to F1 ~ Japanese GP review
After qualifying was washed out and postponed to the morning of the race, the Japanese Grand Prix finally got off to an eventful start, and before the race even begun Lucas di Grassi was in the wall, and even when the lights when out, four cars failed to make it round turn one. Of the five championship contenders, it was Vettel who emerged successful, clawing his way back into contention in the standings to just 14 points adrift from Webber. But for Hamilton, he had a miserable weekend that saw him with a grid penalty for changing his gearbox, and in the end he was lucky to even finish after he lost third gear in his new gearbox…
The weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts, Friday was the best day, but by Saturday torrential rain meant qualifying had to be postponed until race day as there was too much standing water on the track for the drivers to even attempt to go out and set a time. Qualifying was rescheduled for Sunday at 10am local time, and for those of us in the UK that meant the session started at 2am(not so bad for those of you in the US though!). The Red Bulls once again wiped-out the front row, with Vettel on pole and Webber alongside. Hamilton set the third fastest time, but took a five-place grid-drop penalty for changing his gearbox, meaning he started from eighth. McLaren last changed Hamilton’s gearbox in Spa three races ago, meaning they were changing it again within less than the allowed four races, and were ultimately penalised. Because Lewis failed to finish in Singapore however, before taking to the track on Friday for free practice in Japan, McLaren would have been better off replacing the gearbox then if they knew it needed changing, as they would have been spared the penalty. However, they chose to change it ahead of qualifying, and even so, during the race, Lewis lost third gear, meaning he had to nurse the car home to fifth.
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The race got off to a chaotic start, when Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg collided before they had even made it halfway down the start/finish straight, and Felipe Massa and Vitantonio Liuzzi came together going into the first corner. Petrov was later given a five-place grid-drop penalty for the next race in Korea for causing the incident with Hulkenberg, while Massa and Liuzzi received no further punishment for theirs. The safety car was deployed, and remained on track until the end of lap six, and in the meantime, Robert Kubica became the sixth retiree when his right rear wheel came loose and bounced off the track at the hairpin.
At the pitstops, Hamilton was the first of the front-runners to pit, stopping on lap 23, and rejoining in seventh behind Kamui Kobayashi. Hamilton was able to pass the BMW Sauber a few laps later and he was able to put in some fast laps in order to try and get as close to Alonso as possible, in order for him to try and challenge for a podium position. Jenson Button had opted to set his qualifying lap and start on the harder compound tyre, thinking that the softer tyre would lose grip and pace early on. When the rest of the front runners pitted, Button took the lead, but with Hamilton flying on fresh rubber, and within less than 20 seconds off Button when his teammate eventually stopped, Hamilton was able to pass Button easily. But then came Hamilton’s loss of third gear, and Button was able to quickly catch and pass his teammate to re-take fourth.
As well as the six drivers who retired from the race early on, Adrian Sutil and Nico Rosberg also retired from the race, the former from engine failure, the latter from failure of his left-rear tyre, which sent him into the wall at turn five on lap 49.
Vettel finished the race less than a second ahead of Webber, with Alonso a couple of seconds behind, Button fourth, 13 seconds behind Vettel, and Hamilton nearly 40 seconds off the leaders.
In the championship standings, Webber edges even further ahead on 220 points, with Vettel and Alonso on 206 apiece. Hamilton is fourth on 192, with Button on 189, the two McLarens beginning to trail, and looking less likely to win this year, unless reliability becomes an issue for the Red Bulls and for Alonso.
In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull are 45 points ahead of McLaren.
The next race is set to take place in Korea in two weeks time, and with just three races remaining, there is a lot at stake.
