[Official] Japanese GP Race weekend thread

[ScotsBrutesFan]

It's Japan it's Suzuka



53 Laps of the classic 5.807km figure 8 circuit

Vettel has won here, 4 of the last 5 years, with only Button breaking that chain of success. Who will it be this year?

Suzuka should witness Max Verstappen's first outing in a current F1 car with Toro Rosso in FP1, whilst Roberto Mehri is listed as available for Caterham in FP1 too.

A bigger question is just what can Caterham actually do this weekend, other than offer prayers for no damage to the cars.

Will anyone need more Power Unit parts... here's the list of where every one is at coming into the event

N° Car Driver ICE TC MGU-K MGU-H ES CE
01 Red Bull Racing Renault Sebastian Vettel 5 5 4 5 3 4
03 Red Bull Racing Renault Daniel Ricciardo 4 4 4 4 4 4
44 Mercedes Lewis Hamilton 4 4 4 4 3 4
06 Mercedes Nico Rosberg 4 4 4 4 3 4
14 Ferrari Fernando Alonso 5 5 4 5 4 5
07 Ferrari Kimi Räikkönen 5 4 4 5 4 5
08 Lotus Renault Romain Grosjean 4 5 4 4 4 4
13 Lotus Renault Pastor Maldonado 5 5 5 5 4 4
22 McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button 4 4 4 4 3 3
20 McLaren Mercedes Kevin Magnussen 4 4 4 4 4 4
27 Force India Mercedes Nico Hülkenberg 4 4 4 4 3 3
11 Force India Mercedes Sergio Perez Mendoza 4 4 4 4 3 3
99 Sauber Ferrari Adrian Sutil 5 5 5 5 4 5
21 Sauber Ferrari Esteban Gutierrez 4 5 5 5 3 5
25 Toro Rosso Renault Jean-Eric Vergne 4 4 5 4 4 4
26 Toro Rosso Renault Daniil Kvyat 6 4 5 5 4 4
19 Williams Mercedes Felipe Massa 4 4 4 4 3 4
77 Williams Mercedes Valtteri Bottas 4 4 4 4 4 4
17 Marussia Ferrari Jules Bianchi 5 5 5 5 4 5
04 Marussia Ferrari Max Chilton 5 5 5 5 3 4
10 Caterham Renault Kamui Kobayashi 4 4 5 4 3 4
09 Caterham Renault Marcus Ericsson 4 4 4 4 3 4

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Damn that Will Stevens missed out on making his F1 debut.

[skells22]

the answer is Yes to Paster Maldonado as he need to take an engine therefore 10 place grid pen, also there a worry about a Typhoon hitting the track Sunday and with a race next weekend FIA need to make a call ASAP,

[bella]

they don't need to make a call asap, you have to wait till closer to the time to see exactly what the weather's going to do! if they bring it forward to saturday, and sunday is dry and fine until late evening they'd have a lot of people to answer to...

glad to see max verstappen had a clean debut (for as long as the car allowed). the cynical half of the press room probably had the verstappen blots copybook on debut headline written already

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by bella

glad to see max verstappen had a clean debut (for as long as the car allowed). the cynical half of the press room probably had the verstappen blots copybook on debut headline written already

Max did very well especially since it was his first time with the 2014 car and engine.

[canamman]

Typhoon coming to Japan this weekend.
I have heard of a monsoon tire but not
a typhoon tire. 17 yr old in F1 - wow.
That would be a long career.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Thanks for the intro. One of my favourite GPs on the calendar and usually produces a good race.

[skells22]

the Saturday race is ruled out therefore the only option now open to them is to move the race to a earlier slot on sunday then get to Russia before the heavy rain comes, we find out want time the race starts by 12.00pm local time Saturday

[FAS33]

not a bad debut from Max, only 0.4 secs off his team mate

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by skells22

the Saturday race is ruled out therefore the only option now open to them is to move the race to a earlier slot on sunday then get to Russia before the heavy rain comes, we find out want time the race starts by 12.00pm local time Saturday

Bernie wouldn't let them I'm sure. Think of all the TV companies he would have to try and placate. Screw the drivers and fans. It's all about the networks and Bernie.

[skells22]

I think F1 is taking a bit too much risk with this now upgraged to a super typhoon, it still starts at 3.00pm local time tommorow if the typhoon misses but there not much room for a delay due to darkest at 5.30pm local time

[bjohnsonsmith]

It's another Mercedes shut out, with Nico on pole this time followed by the Bottas and Massa. Alonso's 5th and both RBs and McLarens in the top 10.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by skells22

I think F1 is taking a bit too much risk with this now upgraged to a super typhoon, it still starts at 3.00pm local time tommorow if the typhoon misses but there not much room for a delay due to darkest at 5.30pm local time

The worst of the typhoon is predicted to hit Japan on Monday. So there is no issue related to delaying the race: it's whether it should be brought forward to get it finished before the serious weather arrives.

I don't see there is a big problem for television if the race is pulled forward. The television companies can produce the same programme as they would have, but record record it, and broadcast it is the pre-planned time slot.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It's another Mercedes shut out, with Nico on pole this time followed by the Bottas and Massa. Alonso's 5th and both RBs and McLarens in the top 10.

I loved to watch Nico's body language during the after Q interview.. He is going to get his arse handed to him tomorrow...

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

I don't see there is a big problem for television if the race is pulled forward. The television companies can produce the same programme as they would have, but record record it, and broadcast it is the pre-planned time slot.

Can you imagine the outrage if fans tuned in for their live coverage to see a replay of a race that was run earlier because of possible weather?

[rpolinski]

Originally Posted by Nicholosophy

Can you imagine the outrage if fans tuned in for their live coverage to see a replay of a race that was run earlier because of possible weather?

If we get to see a race less than the outrage as when fans tune in to wait 3 1/2 hours for them to send them out for two laps behind the safety car so they can at least award half points

[kurski]

Mika Salo (Steward on this race), rain will stopped soon. Safety Car start

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by kurski

Mika Salo (Steward on this race), rain will stopped soon. Safety Car start

The rain has definitely got harder and heavier.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Red flag.

[Armco Bender]

Looks like that may be it.

[Peter Mallett]

They get a ten minute warning before a restart which is now 15:25.

[bjohnsonsmith]

apparently they will re-start in 10 minutes.

[wolfhound]

They now say the rain has eased, we might see some more laps but serious action?

[Armco Bender]

Worlds best drivers...turn your windscreen wipers on and get on with it...I drive to work in the rain.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Alonso's ground to a halt and is out.