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The Japanese GP came after a very difficult time for Lewis Hamilton; there was all the spy stuff - would he be disqualified as well as the team? A state of open warfare clearly exists between him and his fellow McLaren driver, you can hardly say team-mate can you? This a double World Champion no less, and someone most thought (including he himself no doubt) would assume Michael Schumacher's mantle. Lewis had seen Alonso beat him in the previous three races and inexorably reduce his World Championship lead to two points. At Fuji it rained. In fact, it didn't just rain, conditions got bad and became worse until they were diabolical and Lewis had only driven an F1 car in the wet once before, at the Nürburgring. That was hardly a positive experience. He crashed heavily in practice when a wheel fell off, aquaplaned off in the race, was rescued, made a bad tyre choice and finished ninth - his only time out of the points so far this year. In Japan, he was almost eliminated in Q1 when trying the "extreme wet" tyres when "wets" were the thing to have, only squeaking through after a last minute change. Alonso controlled most of Q3 and it looked like he would start the race from pole, an immense advantage given that the race was likely to be wet and the poleman alone would be able to see where he was going. Hamilton pitted with just enough time for one final lap. New wets were bolted on and away he went. For once the TV cameras were in the right place at the right time, onboard with Hamilton as he started his flying lap, then they cut away to a Honda! The Japanese director must have heard the screams of anguish as he soon cut back. Qualifying could be a good TV spectacle if directed by someone who knows what's going on. Hamilton's lap was a great televisual experience; it lasted 1.25.368 minutes and when it was over he had secured pole by seven-hundredths of a second. He used unusual lines, avoiding laid-down rubber (à la MIchael Schumacher), saying that he'd got it all worked out before he did it and who can doubt him. The wet is a great leveller, placing much more emphasis on the driver than normal and this was reflected in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel was ninth for Toro Rosso, the first time that particular Ferrari-powered Scuderia had got through to Q3. Ahead of him in seventh was Jenson Button, his and Honda's best result all year. I am not and never have been a Button fan, but have to say that I admire the way he's borne his travails this year with quiet dignity, tried hard and shown great loyalty to his team. As far as I'm aware "Wham" didn't write "Young Guns Go For It" about F1 racing in the wet, but they may as well have done as it describes the situation exactly. Vettel (9th) made the best of it apart from Hamilton and Rosberg (6th - but dropped 10 places for an engine change). Of the others, Sutil could get no tyre temperature in his Spyker and Kovalainen (Renault) and Liuzzi (STR) were on drier settings in the (vain) hope of a dry race and Davidson's Super Aguri was just plain no good. However, some of them would do better in the lottery of the wet race. However you can imagine the thoughts of some of the Old Guard when faced with the prospect of a bunch of testosterone-crazed youngsters intent on making their reputations. Toyota's performance at their own track at which they were reported to have set up a special project team to prepare for their home race was nothing short of catastrophic. Jarno Trulli was 14th and Ralf Schumacher 16th. Ralf has displayed at least one of the characteristics needed by the greats - luck, but only off-track, like getting into F1 at all and latterly in wage negotiations, but it seems to have run out at last. Toyota have re-signed Trulli for next year, albeit inexplicably, but declined to offer Ralf a new contract and later in the week he announced that he would be leaving the team at the end of the year. He should take his mediocre talent and his millions away and thank his lucky stars. Wonder if he'll join fellow F1 (and Williams) rejects Juan Pablo Montoya and now Jacques Villeneuve in NASCAR? Incidentally, did anyone else notice that Jacques wore the sacred No.27 for his stock car debut in the Craftsmen Series? I don't know if this was accident or design, but if it was the latter, to me it's a profanity to use it on a PICK-UP TRUCK!! Ferrari qualified third and fourth, so there was an all red second row as the field formed up to start the race. This was to be behind the Safety Car as conditions had gone from bad to worse with low fog, torrential rain and standing water on the track. Uniquely of the field, the Ferraris were on the "wet" rather than "extreme wet" tyres, clearly hoping to gain an advantage if the Safety Car period was extended, which it was, when nicely bedded in wets would be the thing to have, rather than cormoranted-out extreme wets. This was odd because the FIA had instructed the teams by e-mail that the cars must start on the extreme wets. Both cars soon pitted to have the obligatory tyres fitted under the threat of being black flagged, whereupon it emerged that Ferrari had not received the e-mail. In this they were unique, even the TV commentators knew about it. Unreliable e-mail is nearly always a nuisance and certainly was in this case as it would have saved Ferrari from their disastrous strategy as the conditions were simply impossible on the wets. Massa spun and incurred a drive-through penalty for regaining position, Kimi had a spin on the extreme wets. The Safety Car came in after 19 laps and racing and general chaos broke out. Poor 'ol Swampy scraped his front wing off against Heidfeld's Bimmer, letting Vettel up into third. Räikkönen was soon scything his way through the field but major drama occurred on lap 34 when Kubica went to pass Hamilton, lost it and spun both of them off. Hamilton benefited from champions luck, his car suffering no serious damage; Kubica was penalised with a drive-through penalty. Alonso was not so lucky when on the next lap Vettel tipped him into a spin, his McLaren clearly showing the scars of the encounter. The McLaren team later said that this cost him 10% loss in downforce, but it is not known if this precipitated his heavy crash on lap 42. There were bits everywhere and the Safety Car was deployed again with Hamilton in the lead, Webber second and Vettel third. Then Vettel hit Webber up the backside and there were Red Bullbits everywhere. You had to feel sorry for young Vettel who was clearly very upset and shouldered the blame straight away. Later the Stewards announced that he would be penalised 10 grid places in China. In my view this was totally unfair. Some of Hamilton's antics in both Safety Car periods were a bit extreme as he sought to get temperature into the parts that need it and put his competitors on the back foot for the re-start. As I write, his driving is under review by the Stewards thanks to a spectator video taken from the stands and posted on YouTube! The FIA were alerted to its existence by Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost. It looks like Hamilton (on the right) slowed suddenly, Webber (on the left) had to brake hard too to avoid overtaking him, whereupon poor Vettel (following) ploughed into him. [At the Chinese GP the Stewards decided not to penalise Hamilton and let Vettel off, however, he subsequently got done five grid places for impedeing another in qualifying. - Ed.] Hamilton had been fueled to the end of the race in his single pitstop and ran out the winner, but I'm sure it was no cake-walk. He will have been under immense pressure throughout, both from the conditions and the mayhem happening all around him. The Red Bullfight had promoted another rookie, Heikki Kovalainen to second and Felipe Massa was third with Coolthud seemingly secure in fourth, but with Räikkönen closing fast. On lap 57 Kimi caught the Scot napping and nipped past, it's nice to know some things, like DC nodding off, don't change. His fourth place would still have been some consolation to Red Bull. We now had the situation where Massa was third (Championship hopes over)
and Räikkönen fourth (Championship hopes alive, but feeble)
and clearly positions needed to be reversed. This must have caused some
anxiety in the Ferrari pit as passing would be fraught for both cars in
the conditions and of course team orders are not allowed. Fortunately,
trouble was averted as Massa needed new tyres and a splash of fuel to
see him through the remaining nine laps, this being his fourth stop.
Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
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