15.10.09

Yet another interesting rather than exciting race, but not this time waiting for the strategic stagger to unwind and instead watching the drivers come to grips with a difficult, demanding and (more) dangerous circuit.

Before all that though the big news for us Ferraristi was the announcement by the Factory of the divorce from Kimi Raikkonen and the bringing forward of the marriage to Fernando Alonso by a year. It looks like the announcement of the engagement had to be delayed to see if any "Crashgate" mud would stick to the Spaniard but he was judged to be ignorant of the crime and blameless.

Back in 2006 it might have seemed like a good idea to sign the Finn. Michael could not go on for ever and there had to be a succession plan, but even then we Tifosi thought they had signed the wrong bloke. On the surface the decision appeared to be vindicated in 2007 when Raikkonen won the Drivers' title, but in reality McLaren lost it by a series of strategic blunders and failing to impose team orders. Had they done so, there seems little doubt that Alonso would have been champ in the Macca.

In 2008 it looked like, having secured his title, Raikkonen just couldn't be bothered. There can't have been too much wrong with the F2008 as Felipe Massa took the title fight to the very last round and it won the Constructors'. Despite his performance, Ferrari extended Raikkonen's contract. How come ?

After being out-manouevred by Brawn et al over the new regulations, the F60 was little better than a disaster at the start of the year. Under these circumstances you'd think the drivers might be forgiven for lack of results, but it gradually became clear that Ferrari had fallen out of love with Raikkonen. Maybe it was his obvious lack of concern and motivation - remember the ice cream incident in Malaysia? Or maybe there is a more traditional Ferrari alive in Maranello than there sometimes seems in this corporate brave new world - however bad things are, it cannot be the car. Or maybe he was just too cold and uninspiring. Luca has said Alonso will be a better fit with Ferrari and he certainly gives the impression of being a never-ending fighter for a result.

Anyway, Kimi's down the road. Ferrari must want rid of him really badly as they've paid him off in full. I wonder if this is one reason the 458 Italia needs to be priced at a rumoured £175k (basic)? Hindsight is 20/20, but the unforgivable thing for we Tifosi about the Raikkonen era was that it looks like Schuey was forced out to make way for him. The McLaren "Spiegate" incident may have revealed some questionable.phpects about Alonso's character but if he's fast, passionate and gives it the max at all times, then he'll do. Felipe Massa, who this week tested an F2007, has said that the Singapore scam effectively cost him the 2008 championship and has now said he feels that Alonso knew about it! He also said, "What is certain is that this episode will not mar in any way the relationship I'll have with Fernando when we will be team-mates." Yeah right!

It was giving it the max that caused a few problems at Suzuka. This is an old circuit with fast, flowing sections, gradients, small run off areas and gravel traps. It's demanding and exciting, Lewis Hamilton said it was the best circuit he'd ever driven on, but if you make a mistake it bites you. The weekend was characterised by a number of massive accidents, mostly amongst the inexperienced, though Mark Webber crashed so hard his car's chassis cracked. It had to be replaced and he missed qualifying.

The Adrian Newey designed car was clearly the thing to have here as not only was Vettel very fast in his Red Bull - he qualified on pole - but the Tori Rossi were quick too. However, unlike Vettel, they were fast and dangerous, their drivers' inexperience showing. Jaime Alguersuari got through to Q2 when he crashed, causing a red flag. Team mate Sebastien Buemi did better, going off in Q1, but getting through to Q2 where he did the job properly, trashing his car and being unable to take part in Q3. In the race Alguersuari had a huge shunt after going off in 130R.

This all looked like a dangerous combination of over-exuberance and inexperience. Vettel is a young man (22) and was very young (19) when he made his F1 debut for BMW in 2007, but the difference between him and the similarly aged Alguersuari is that whereas Vettel had done lots of testing, Alguersuari has done none outside his six GPs. Lack of experience cannot be blamed for Timo Glock's shunt in Q2. This was hard enough to put him into hospital, out of the GP and the next one too. Kovalainen was another experienced driver to crash, this time in Q3, which caused another red flag.

All this makes one wonder how much this has to do with testing being replaced by simulators and racing at Tilkedromes with run-off areas the size of supermarket car parks. In neither case does an off have the serious consequences it does at a proper circuit.

Buemi's Q2 off at Suzuka had consequences extending far beyond himself. Not only was he demoted five places for dragging his damaged car back to the pits, there were penalties for both Brawn drivers for not lifting under the consequent yellow. Sutil set his fastest lap under the yellow. Alonso did lift off, but not at the right place according to the Stewards. All were penalized five grid places, as were Kovalainen and Liuzzi for gearbox changes!

Penalties are not applied after qualifying finishes, but as the offences occur, so no-one actually dropped five places! Barrichello was least affected by his penalty, dropping down only one place on the grid, whereas Button went down three. The flip side of all this of course, was that other drivers moved up, including Raikkonen who went up three places to number five. In a sport where overtaking is very rare, this was going to make a huge difference. For those who are really interested, here is the complete Top 20. OK pop pickers?

After all that, it left only the race. Vettel ran away and hid. On the rare occasions the camera was on him, it was a joy to watch his lines as he swooped round this superb circuit with bold wheel movements. He took a single point apex in some corner, yet followed the kerb for quite a way in others, but never taking too much kerb and be swept to disaster as others had done. He went on to take a superb win.

Button lost a place at the start KERStousey of Kovalainen. This dropped him to 11th, but he got a place back when he passed Kubica. Sutil's Force India was once again fast on the straights and quicker than the McLaren of Kovalainen in front of him. On lap 12 he attempted to pass in the Esses, the place was his, but Kovy refused to cede, spinning Sutil and allowing Button to nip past both of them. This put Jenson in eighth place where he stayed to the end. One more point as he painfully inches his way towards the world championship. Rubes finished seventh, so his gap to Button only reduced by one point. It has to be said that Barrichello has done a much better job than Button in the second half of the season but it's probably too late to catch him.

Hamilton was secure in second place for most of the race. Then, exiting the McLaren box after his final pit stop, he buzzed the engine onto the rev-limiter for a long time, then it looked like the pit-lane speed limiter cut in after the white exit line. He also had a bit of trouble with his KERS, which he had to cure in textbook IT style by re-booting!
All this was enough to drop him to third behind Trulli. Neither Toyota driver has a contract for next year, as Toyota say they've got to sign a driver who can make a difference; it's only taken them eight years to work this out.

They've missed out on Kubica, who's off to Renault, but have said they are interested in Raikkonen who can certainly do it when can be bothered, but must be about the last bloke to inspire a team. He may end up back at McLaren, where presumably Lewis will do all the intense, motivational stuff. Kimi went very fast on the soft tyres in Japan and pinched fourth from Rosberg in the pits. It's ironic that he seemed to come alive after Massa's accident, but it looks like the relationship between him and Ferrari was on the rocks by then.

Heidfeld was seventh in a race which saw both Bimmers running well. The future of that team is looking dodgy with questions being asked about their future backer Qadbak Investments. Also, having initiated the crisis in the first place, the BMW Board made things worse for the team by refusing to sign the Concorde agreement. This would have given the team a vital asset, a guaranteed place on the 2010 grid. As it was, they petitioned the other teams to allow 14 teams to enter but Williams, Campos GP and Red Bull vetoed this. One would have been enough, team decisions have to be unanimous under the Concorde agreement. The "Sauber" team now rely on one of the 13 teams who have a place for next year dropping out.

Of these we've seen and heard nothing from Campos GP, whose car is being built by Dallara. USF1 say their car is in the construction phase, though no pics of it or their facilities other than the existing Windshear wind tunnel have been released. Nick Wirth of Simtek, constructor of Manor GP's car says it's on schedule and amazingly says it has not nor will ever have any input from wind tunnel work, the whole thing being done on CFD! This week, "Lotus" released pics of their wind tunnel model.

Oh, what about Fisi? In China he was fourth quickest in wet practice, but could only qualify 16th in the dry, which became 14th on the grid. In the race he was 12th, losing a place after being barged aside by Kovalainen in the pit-lane exit!

Click here for FIA lap chart (Japan, despite what it says).

Stefano Domenicali: “We got the most out of the F60 as it stands today and, thanks to yet another great drive from Kimi, we also managed to stay third in the Constructors’ classification. Giancarlo also drove a good race, driving competitively in terms of pace and performance, as can be seen from the fact he set the eighth best lap time. In the middle stint, on the soft tyre, both our drivers were very quick, their lap times matching those of the best. ”

Giancarlo Fisichella: “I had a better feel for the car this weekend and I think the effect from that could be seen, although maybe not in terms of the results. It’s a shame I lost a place in my battle with Kovalainen. We managed to get ahead of him in the pit stop, but then he swerved across to the inside at the only point where I left the door slightly open and he leaned on me, managing to get by. Towards the end, I had to fight off Sutil who was very quick and was on the soft tyre, while I was on the hard: at this point the KERS came in handy. Now I am looking forward to Interlagos in a more confident mood: it will be important to get a slightly better start position to try and finally make it into the points.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Today the car wasn’t bad, but it was not quick enough to fight for the podium. I was unable to make up places at the start, especially as the first corner is not that far from the start line and so I was unable to make the most of the KERS. In the first stint, when I was on hard tyres, the situation was a bit difficult, but then, once on the softs, things improved considerably. I managed to close on Heidfeld and pass him at the pit stop, even though, coming away from my stop, I found myself in traffic behind Button. Then there was not much to fight for to the end of the race.”