Japanese Grand Prix 07 - Lewis Retains Lead with 12 Points

In an extremely wet race of the Japanese Grand Prix, where the cars spent almost 20 laps behind the safety car, Lewis Hamilton managed to maintain his lead from pole position to clinch the victory. His teammate and closest rival Fernando Alonso however, crashed into the safety barrier after a suspected suspension failure, now trails the Brit by 12 points in the Drivers' Championship after failing to finish the race.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who started from third, finished in third place behind fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen from Renault. Heikki, who just scored his first podium finish, did a wonderful race to defend his 2nd position from the relentless attack of Kimi.

David Coulthard brought the Red Bull team to the fourth position behind the Finns and Giancarlo Fisichella, in the other Renault, although he qualified better than Heikki Kovalainen, managed a 5th position. Felipe Massa took a disappointing 6th position after being penalised for overtaking under safety car in the early stages of the race. However, his last-gasp duel with BMW's Robert Kubica left many of us breathless as the two took swipes at each other viciously before coming up to the start-finish line. Vitantonio Liuzzi then scored the first point for the Toro Rosso Team in the 8th position.

The most disappointed people, other than Fernando Alonso, were perhaps Mark Webber and rookie Sebastian Vettel. During the safety-car stint brought about by Alonso's crash, the two Red Bull affiliates, in 2nd and 3rd position respectively, lined up behind Lewis Hamilton while waiting for the race restart. However, an overzealous Sebastian unfortunately ploughed his Toro Rosso car into Mark Webber's Red Bull. Mark did not bother to hid his disgust as he threw his steering wheel out of the car before getting out, while a remorseful Vettel was seen in tears at the pitwall.

Results
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:34.579
02 H. Kovalainen Renault + 8.377
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 9.478
04 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 20.297
05 G. Fisichella Renault + 38.864
06 F. Massa Ferrari + 49.042
07 R. Kubica BMW + 49.200
08 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 55.600
09 A. Sutil Spyker F1 + 1:01.100
10 R. Barrichello Honda + 1:28.300
11 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
12 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 + 1 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW + 2 laps
15 T. Sato Super Aguri + 2 laps
Did not finish
16 R. Schumacher Toyota + 122 laps
17 A. Davidson Super Aguri + 46 laps
18 N. Rosberg Williams + 18 laps
19 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 21 laps
20 M. Webber Red Bull + 22 laps
21 F. Alonso McLaren + 26 laps
22 A. Wurz Williams + 48 laps


Source: PlanetF1

Japanese GP Qualifying: Mclaren Duo Up In Front

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:25.489
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:25.438
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:25.516
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:25.765
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:26.505
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:26.728 *
07 J. Button Honda 1:26.913
08 M. Webber Red Bull 1:26.914
09 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.973
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:27.225
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:26.033
12 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:26.247
13 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:26.247
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:26.253
15 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.948
16 R. Schumacher Toyota no time
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:27.323
18 A. Wurz Williams 1:27.454
19 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:27.564
20 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:28.628
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:28.792
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:29.668

* Nico Rosberg will suffer a ten-place penalty due to an engine change on Friday.

Source: PlanetF1

In the wet-weathered qualifying, nothing unexpected happened and the drivers on top are the usual suspects - Mclaren duo vs the Ferrari duo. Lewis Hamilton did a fantastic flying last lap to snatch the pole position from right under teammate/rival Fernando Alonso's nose. Kimi Raikkonen took the third position, while Felipe Massa will be lined alongside his teammate in the 2nd row of the grid at the 4th position.

Nick Heidfeld, affirming BMW's position as the third fastest car, came into the 5th position on the grid, while Williams' Nico Rosberg registered a 6th fastest timing, but due to an engine change, he will be relegated to the 16th position. Jenson Button, in a surprising strong show for the Honda team, came in 7th fastest and Mark Webber's Red Bull also did a stunning performance in the 8th position. Rookie Sebastian Vettel managed an impressive 9th fastest while Robert Kubica of BMW falls short of his expectations to come in 10th.

Japanese GP Practice 3: Abandoned

The 3rd and final practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix was abandoned due to extreme bad weather. The practice session was initially delayed for half an hour, beginning at local time 11.30am instead of the planned 11am, but was eventually abandoned after 4 mins into practice time. Only Alex Wurz, Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli were able to set lap times in the respective sequence. All drivers other than Kimi Raikkonen managed an installation lap before the session was finally abandoned.

If the weather continues, it could set the background for a very interesting Fuji race. With the lack of familiarity of the track and the wet weather, the race could easily go in anyone's favour.

Japanese GP Practice 2 - Mclaren Still Contenders

Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:18.734 38 laps
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:18.948 34 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.483 36 laps
04 J. Trulli Toyota 1:19.711 35 laps
05 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:19.714 29 laps
06 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:19.789 40 laps
07 G. Fisichella Renault 1:19.926 39 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:19.949 33 laps
09 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:19.969 40 laps
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:20.069 45 laps
11 M. Webber Red Bull 1:20.006 35 laps
12 A. Wurz Williams 1:20.233 37 laps
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.270 43 laps
14 J. Button Honda 1:20.336 44 laps
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.462 36 laps
16 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:20.736 37 laps
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.889 33 laps
18 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.985 44 laps
19 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.997 38 laps
20 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:21.007 34 laps
21 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:21.305 38 laps
22 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:21.352 34 laps

Source: PlanetF1

In what seemed almost like a reversed scenario of Practice 1, Mclaren found themselves on the top of the timesheet during Practice 2, with almost half a second off Kimi Raikkonen's fastest timing during Practice 1. Mclaren was the only team in the 1:18s timings while their closest rival, Felipe Massa of Ferrari, just managed a 1:19s.

Right now the odds look pretty even, and the race could very well go either way.

Japanese GP Practice 1 - Ferrari Leads the Way

Times
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:19.119 26 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.498 27 laps
03 F. Alonso McLaren 1:19.667 27 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:19.807 24 laps
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.058 26 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:20.297 26 laps
07 A. Wurz Williams 1:20.411 24 laps
08 J. Trulli Toyota 1:20.483 32 laps
09 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:20.516 29 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:20.601 22 laps
11 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.068 24 laps
12 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.718 27 laps
13 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.728 26 laps
14 V. Liuzzi Toro Rosso 1:20.808 29 laps
15 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:20.828 28 laps
16 G. Fisichella Renault 1:20.851 23 laps
17 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:21.186 15 laps
18 M. Webber Red Bull 1:21.437 18 laps
19 J. Button Honda 1:21.541 22 laps
20 S. Vettel Toro Rosso 1:21.854 18 laps
21 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.436 18 laps
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:22.902 17 laps

Source: PlanetF1

Kimi Raikkonen proved himself a formidable force by stamping his authority for the Japanese Grand Prix with an impressive first practice session. The Fuji Speedway, which was last used for an F1 Grand Prix back in 1977, is a relatively new circuit to all the current drivers. The teams spend much time getting to know the track and putitng in practice laps to ensure that the drivers get to know the circuit's every turn and bump.

The predictions before the first practice session were generally that Ferrari would not do well here because of the track's similarity to other tracks like Montreal, Monaco, where Ferrari had failed to perform due to the cars. Mclaren were the hot favourites, but it looks like they have quite some work to do to match the pace of Ferrari.