Japanese Grand Prix @ Fuji

[bravingbangkok]

Toyota's Timo Glock pipped Fernando Alonso to top spot in the second practice session ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 26-year-old clocked a fine time of one minute 18.383 seconds at the Fuji Speedway, edging out the Spaniard by 0.043s.

Lewis Hamilton, who was quickest in the first session, ended up third with a time of 1:18.463s ahead of title rival Felipe Massa who finished fourth.

Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fifth ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber, who managed a time of 1:18.734s to round off the top six.

Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima claimed seventh in his home race, with Sebastian Vettel finishing eighth, in front of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, who complete the top ten.

British pair David Coulthard and Jenson Button both had disappointing runs, with the Red Bull man ending up 17th, while his Honda rival propped up the pack.

Swapped

With the conditions dry, Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella recorded the first timed lap three minutes in with a 1:24.053s.

Alonso then took over four seconds off the best time with a 1:19.951s, which his former McLaren team-mate then went and beat by 0.315s.

The lead then swapped between Massa, Adrian Sutil, Trulli and Vettel before Glock went to the top of the timesheets.

Alonso showed some pace with a 1:18.426s to go second as Hamilton and Massa trained in vain on the final lap to gain top-spot, but had to settle for third and fourth.

P1 Times

1 L Hamilton, McLaren, 1m 18.910

2 F Massa, Ferrari, 1m 19.063

3 H Kovalainen, McLaren 1m 19.279

4 K Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 19.399

5 F Alonso, Renault, 1m 19.473

6 N Piquet, Renault, 1m 19.743

7 S Vettel, Toro Rosso, 1m 20.121

8 R Kubica, BMW Sauber, 1m 20.160

9 S Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 1m 20.182

10 Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 1m 20.217

11 A Sutil, Force India, 1m 20.288

12 N Rosberg, Williams, 1m 20.350

13 M Webber, Red Bull, 1m 20.620

14 N Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1m 20.628

15 J Trulli, Toyota, 1m 20.657

16 R Barrichello, Honda, 1m 20.753

17 J Button, Honda, 1m 20.769

18 T Glock, Toyota, 1m 20.823

19 D Coulthard, Red Bull, 1m 20.905

20 G Fisichella, Force India, 1m 21.014

P2 Times

1 Glock, Toyota, 1m 18.383

2 Alonso, Renault, 1m 18.426

3 Hamilton, McLaren, 1m 18.463

4 Massa, Ferrari, 1m 18.491

5 Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 18.725

6 Webber, Red Bull, 1m 18.734

7 Nakajima, Williams, 1m 18.734

8 Vettel, Toro Rosso, 1m 18.761

9 Kovalainen, McLaren, 1m 18.803

10 Trulli, Toyota, 1m 18.863

11 Kubica, BMW, 1m 18.865

12 Piquet, Renault, 1m 18.888

13 Rosberg, Williams, 1m 18.981

14 Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 1m 19.040

15 Barrichello, Honda, 1m 19.258

16 Sutil, Force India, 1m 19.287

17 Coulthard, Red Bull, 1m 19.327

18 Fisichella, Force India, 1m 19.482

19 Heidfeld, BMW, 1m 19.894

20 Button, Honda, 1m 19.999

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[bravingbangkok]

Qualifying Starts Saturday @ 11.57am on Star sports

Race Day Starts Sunday @ 10.30am on Star sports

Japanese Grand Prix starts @ 11.15am on Star sports

[bravingbangkok]

<H2 class="ss-header hstyle2 main-headline">Hamilton - No complaints</H2>

Championship leader quickest in session one

Lewis Hamilton said he was "very happy" with his performance during Friday's practice sessions for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The McLaren Mercedes driver was fastest in the opening session at the Fuji Speedway as he clocked a time of one minute 18.910 seconds before slipping down to third in the afternoon.

Toyota's Timo Glock sprung a surprise by topping session two, the German setting a time of 1:18.383s to edge Renault's Fernando Alonso by 0.043secs.

Nevertheless, Hamilton was satisfied with his day's work as he looks to increase his seven-point lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa in the Drivers' Championship.

"I feel very happy with the way the day went," said Hamilton, who won last year's race. "The car is very competitive here and that is always a good sign that we can compete for a win this weekend.

"Fuji is a place I really enjoy. It is not the easiest of tracks because it requires a good set-up to get the best from the car but I had no complaints today.

In the first 90 minute-long session Hamilton went quickest shortly before the hour mark thanks to a time of 1:19.062s.

He then improved to 1:18.910s which remained the benchmark for the rest of the morning.

Hamilton finished 0.153s faster than Massa and the Englishman is confident he can stay at or near the sharp end of the field throughout the weekend.

"We were immediately on the pace and found very good balance straight away," Hamilton added.

"In the afternoon I did a promising longer run with no major problems and I feel confident about our pace for the weekend."

Traffic

Meanwhile, Massa once again finished one place behind Hamilton in the afternoon session, recording a time of 1:18.491s to go fourth quickest overall.

Although the Brazilian said he could have gone quicker but for traffic, he was happy with his overall performance.

"I am pleased with the first day in Japan," Massa said. "The balance of the car is very good both on the first timed lap and over a distance.

"The times are very close and maybe I could have gone a bit further up the order in the afternoon session if I had not encountered traffic on my last run on the soft tyres.

"I really want to do well this weekend and we will try to win and bring home the best result possible for the two Championships."

Red Bull's David Coulthard improved slightly from 19th in session one to 17th in the afternoon, with the Scot admitting he was finding grip hard to come by.

"I had a low grip through the last sector, which meant the car had a lot of oversteer and was sliding," he said.

"These cars don't generate high levels of slip angle and go fast so it means you lose some lap time but that is the challenge of this circuit."

But Jenson Button once again struggled in Honda's home race, finishing 17th and 20th in P1 and P2 respectively.

"I just had very little grip and I felt like the tyres were graining immediately," he said.

"We will have a look at the reasons for this ahead of qualifying tomorrow."

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[TBWG]

Hmmm .. Luca Di Montezemola's target of Ferrari coming first and second in the remaining three races has not got off to a very good start. In fact no cars looked to have an out and out advantage.

The whole pack is so close that it is more difficult to predict a winner than ever. However has any team ever had a 1-2 in 3 consecutive races? I can't think of any, but then I never thought Torro Rosso would win a GP!

TBWG

[bravingbangkok]

What I always find more than ever this season is that teams who want to continue with a lot of funding tend to pull all the stops out towards the end races of the season. They also tend to run in practise and qualifying with low fuel loads as to get a high postion in the grid. This will probably improve the amount of money they receive from their sponsers and from whoever funds the team.

Just you watch that wanke_r Alonso in Q3, he will be up in the top 3 only because he will be running on no fuel at all. He and his team are a bunch of cheats and I am convinced that Pique crashed on purpose 2 weeks ago at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Massa will try and run on low fuel as well, he has been doing this for quite a while now and on some races it has actually worked. I do not agree with these massive reduction in fuel loads in Q3 as it does not show who is the quickest. Everytime if the fuel loads are equal or similar either Massa or Hamilton have been quickest. It is stupid when lower teams run on fumes just to get up on the grid and then eventually finish 7th or worse.

[bravingbangkok]

Lewis Hamilton has given himself the very best chance of extending his World Championship lead after taking pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The McLaren Mercedes driver vaulted to the top of the timesheets late on in the third session at the Fuji Speedway with a time of one minute 18.404 seconds.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen starts second after lapping in a time of 1:18.644s, while Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen took third ahead of Singapore Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton's title rival, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, will start fifth on the grid.

More to follow...

Edited October 11, 2008 by bravingbangkok

[bravingbangkok]

"I'm very happy, the team have done a phenomenal job," Hamilton said. "We will push forward with the strategy we have tomorrow."

Massa, who appeared set for victory in Singapore before a pit-stop blunder put paid to his chances, could only manage a time of 1:18.874s and faces an

uphill challenge if he to prevent Hamilton from edging closer to the title.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who had gone fastest in practice earlier on Saturday, will start sixth while Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock - who was quickest in session one - gave Toyota a boost in their home race by claiming seventh and eighth respectively.

Toro Rosso pair Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais round out the top 10.

Red Bull's David Coulthard narrowly missed out on progressing to Q3 and will start in 11th place while Honda's Jenson Button could only manage a disappointing 18th.

Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:18.404

2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:18.644

3. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1:18.821

4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:18.852

5. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:18.874

6. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:18.979

7. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:19.026

8. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:19.118

9. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 1:19.638

10. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso 1:20.167

11. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1:18.187

12. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:18.274

13. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 1:18.354

14. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams 1:18.594

15. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 1:18.672

16. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:18.835

17. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:18.882

18. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:19.100

19. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1:19.163

20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India 1:19.910

[TBWG]

"I'm very happy, the team have done a phenomenal job," Hamilton said. "We will push forward with the strategy we have tomorrow."

Massa, who appeared set for victory in Singapore before a pit-stop blunder put paid to his chances, could only manage a time of 1:18.874s and faces an

uphill challenge if he to prevent Hamilton from edging closer to the title.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who had gone fastest in practice earlier on Saturday, will start sixth while Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock - who was quickest in session one - gave Toyota a boost in their home race by claiming seventh and eighth respectively.

Toro Rosso pair Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais round out the top 10.

Red Bull's David Coulthard narrowly missed out on progressing to Q3 and will start in 11th place while Honda's Jenson Button could only manage a disappointing 18th.

Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:18.404

2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:18.644

3. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1:18.821

4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:18.852

5. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:18.874

6. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:18.979

7. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:19.026

8. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:19.118

9. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 1:19.638

10. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso 1:20.167

11. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1:18.187

12. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:18.274

13. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 1:18.354

14. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams 1:18.594

15. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 1:18.672

16. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:18.835

17. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:18.882

18. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:19.100

19. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1:19.163

20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India 1:19.910

Hi F1 fans

My take on the situation .. Raikkonen on front row first time since French GP = low fuel load and spoiling tactics by Ferrari, Alonso running on fumes usual Renault tactic of late which has occasionally paid off.

Massa, Hamilton & Kovalainen all on similar fuel strategy, with Massa just not getting in the groove and with Kubica and the on form Toyotas breathing down his neck. However all above scenarios must favour McLaren who must be reasonably content with life at the moment whether it stays dry or rains.

With the pressure now on Ferrari in a big way look forward to some more crazy antics.

Roll on the race!

TBWG

[bravingbangkok]

Yeah no doubt there is going to be some dirty tricks in the next few races. I just hope the FIA punish any bullshit that Ferrari pull.

[kartman]

I liked Star Sports new Grand Prix commentator Karon Chandock don't know about his sidekick Steve Slater though?. The exchange..."Slater"..Karon what will Force India need to do to get into Q2..."Chandock"...put that aside for a moment..I want to talk about this now..was a CLASSIC Somebody's glasses must be very steamed up .

[TBWG]

I liked Star Sports new Grand Prix commentator Karon Chandock don't know about his sidekick Steve Slater though?. The exchange..."Slater"..Karon what will Force India need to do to get into Q2..."Chandock"...put that aside for a moment..I want to talk about this now..was a CLASSIC Somebody's glasses must be very steamed up .

Think the Chandock guy is a Malaysian Journalist who did in fact test for 1 of the back marker teams .. might have been Spyker but can't be sure.

TBWG

[JetsetBkk]

I liked Star Sports new Grand Prix commentator Karon Chandock don't know about his sidekick Steve Slater though?. The exchange..."Slater"..Karon what will Force India need to do to get into Q2..."Chandock"...put that aside for a moment..I want to talk about this now..was a CLASSIC Somebody's glasses must be very steamed up .

Wish I'd heard that Slater is often talking about Force India - I think he must be on a little earner with them.

One good point about the Star Sports presentation is that the background noise is pretty loud - not quite loud enough to drown out Slater completely, but close.

[kartman]

Tuned in to watch F1 drivers but donkeys on instead?

[bravingbangkok]

I give up with the FIA !

Massa is a cheating little twerp !

[TBWG]

Well what can one say, Hamilton made a hash of the start and it all went downhill from there. McLaren must be shell shocked from hero to zero in a few laps!

TBWG

[Merlin]

all in all an unusual race

what are the odds of PM losing his one point in the inquiry into the incident after the exit from the pits?

[dumball]

all in all an unusual race

what are the odds of PM losing his one point in the inquiry into the incident after the exit from the pits?

Massa should lose way more than that for his premeditated bump into the left rear of Hamilton that he needed to cut the corner to achieve . With all the cars behind so close together , he was well aware that hamiton would have little to no chance of recovering until they had all passed .Massa is a very poor loser , but an excellent driver , he was well aware of the consequences of his INTENTIONAL bump to the left rear .

[kartman]

I liked Star Sports new Grand Prix commentator Karon Chandock don't know about his sidekick Steve Slater though?. The exchange..."Slater"..Karon what will Force India need to do to get into Q2..."Chandock"...put that aside for a moment..I want to talk about this now..was a CLASSIC Somebody's glasses must be very steamed up .

Think the Chandock guy is a Malaysian Journalist who did in fact test for 1 of the back marker teams .. might have been Spyker but can't be sure.

TBWG

He's a GP2 driver and will probably be in F1 in the next 2/3 years won German GP support race this year and i think will be a test driver for one of the F1 teams in 2009.

[TBWG]

all in all an unusual race

what are the odds of PM losing his one point in the inquiry into the incident after the exit from the pits?

I do despair, why I continue to follow F1 I do not know. Mosley maintains that the FIA/stewards are entirely impartial, well whether you agree with him is another matter but certainly some of the decisions seem rather odd.

Bourdais exits pits has no option but to stick to inside line and get up to speed ASAP. Massa dicing for 8th place with no other cars in sight has the entire width of the track at his disposal and decides that the Torro Rosso is invisible and wants the same piece of track, with the inevitable consequences.

Result Bourdais gets a 25 sec penalty and Massa gains another place an hour after the race has finished. Another decision which favours Ferrari hardly likely to convince the fans of impartiality.

As Brundle commented on ITV the nanny state has now taken over F1 and drivers will be afraid to do get near another car for fear of falling foul of another irrational decision.

Having got that off my chest I think I'll now go and have a lie down.

TBWG

[kartman]

It happened because Massa still had his blinkers on and now his got an extra bale of hay

[Lickey]

Seems like the pantomine season has started early this year,

Heres an interesting site http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19972.html and if you type in F1 stewards you will find a lot of interesting reading,

Hamilton could win by 100 pts this year but ferrari paid? stewards would somehow knock him back 101 pts,

Its a total farce, and im loosing interest very quickly.

[onzestan]

Oh Dear, oh dear oh dear,

Massa doesn't give in to Hamilton's bullying tactics (he's known for that you know) and all of a sudden he's the bad guy.

ok I'll get my coat now.

onzestan

[Samuian]

Oh Dear, oh dear oh dear,

Massa doesn't give in to Hamilton's bullying tactics (he's known for that you know) and all of a sudden he's the bad guy.

ok I'll get my coat now.

onzestan

seconded!

majority english here, McLaren should win, no matter how wreckles lewis drives, everyone else is cheating, or the Mosley Conspiracy?

[onzestan]

Oh Dear, oh dear oh dear,

Massa doesn't give in to Hamilton's bullying tactics (he's known for that you know) and all of a sudden he's the bad guy.

ok I'll get my coat now.

onzestan

seconded!

majority english here, McLaren should win, no matter how wreckles lewis drives, everyone else is cheating, or the Mosley Conspiracy?

Wow, thank you, seems I'm not the only one to dislike McLaren's golden boy's antics.

I wonder who really was to blame for last years controversy with Alonso?

And Ron Dennis can claim (lie) as much as he wishes that there are no team orders at MacLaren, we all know better don't we?

Just ask Kovalainen who clearly is not a happy camper for the moment.

My 2 cents

onzestan

[Samuian]

Oh Dear, oh dear oh dear,

Massa doesn't give in to Hamilton's bullying tactics (he's known for that you know) and all of a sudden he's the bad guy.

ok I'll get my coat now.

onzestan

seconded!

majority english here, McLaren should win, no matter how wreckles lewis drives, everyone else is cheating, or the Mosley Conspiracy?

Wow, thank you, seems I'm not the only one to dislike McLaren's golden boy's antics.

I wonder who really was to blame for last years controversy with Alonso?

And Ron Dennis can claim (lie) as much as he wishes that there are no team orders at MacLaren, we all know better don't we?

Just ask Kovalainen who clearly is not a happy camper for the moment.

My 2 cents

onzestan

Been looking into this thread while holding my breath...!

It's ok to be fan of a team, but then to blackmail others for their tactics, wins so on... makes these fans look very poor!

In F1 teams like Williams, Ferrari, Mclaren, once Bugatti, Audi and Mercedes have dominated the races with one or the other champ may it be it Schuhmacher, Berger, Senna, Prost, Piquet, Lauda, Gilles Villeneuf, von Trips, Marcel Renault, to name a few, every period of F1 and other motorracing sw times when certains teams and rivers dominated the scene!

[rixalex]

I wonder who really was to blame for last years controversy with Alonso?

Urm... that would be Alonso himself i would say. He spat the dummy because he was being out-performed by a rookie. He demanded that Mc Claren give him preferential treatment. They said no. Things got messy. Who was the loser? Well Alonso ended up driving for a team well off the pace, and depsite the last two races, it remains a team unlikely to be challenging for the Championship any time soon. Looks like he's stuck there at least for another year. It's a shame in the sense that he's probably the best all-round driver in F1 today, but for acting like a 5 year old, he gets what he deserves.

Why come out and say he wants to help Massa beat Hamilton? What's it got to do with him? Massa's not his team mate. He should be concentrating on helping his own team. It shows how small-minded and what a bad sportsman he is.

And Ron Dennis can claim (lie) as much as he wishes that there are no team orders at MacLaren, we all know better don't we?

I believe that at the start of the season, there are no team orders. But once you get half a way through the season, if one is clearly performing better than another, you have to concentrate your efforts slightly harder in the direction of one driver - that is if the Driver's Championship means anything to the team

Just ask Kovalainen who clearly is not a happy camper for the moment.

There's a very good reason why he isn't happy... he's driving badly.

[rixalex]

Oh Dear, oh dear oh dear,

Massa doesn't give in to Hamilton's bullying tactics (he's known for that you know) and all of a sudden he's the bad guy.

Who was bullying who? Hamilton passed Massa into the corner, and then Massa cut the next turn and drove into the side of Hamilton. I'm confused...

[kartman]

Alonso is trying to help Renault with that statement he's sowing seeds of doubt in Hamiltons mind that during the next two races if they get into a racy situation together it might be better on Hamiltons part not to push it with what he's got to lose, and what happened in Japan that might be right! it's a pity Bernie hasn't released the incar of what happened at Fuji at the second corner when Alonso and Hamilton arrived joint second and departed 2nd and about 7th.

[rixalex]

Alonso is trying to help Renault with that statement

There's only one person in this world that Alonso truly wants to help.

[dominique355]

Oh Dear, oh dear oh dear,

Massa doesn't give in to Hamilton's bullying tactics (he's known for that you know) and all of a sudden he's the bad guy.

Who was bullying who? Hamilton passed Massa into the corner, and then Massa cut the next turn and drove into the side of Hamilton. I'm confused...

And what about Hamilton's first corner, where he deliberately run wide by breaking way too late thus forcing the Ferrari of Kimi off track in order to avoid a collision. In the same manoeuvre he also forced other cars off the track, such as Massa and even Heiko. And please don't tell me this was a normal race accident. LS is not a rookie anymore, he knows the corner, the car. the breaking points and that his car's tires are cold. He took a deliberate decision to kick off Kimi, who had a better start.

OK, he got punished for that and PM got punished for his risky behavior. Nobody should complain. But the other drivers are getting fed up with LH driving style.

We might argue about this kind of penalty inflicted by the marshals, and I too believe this practice has gone too far. For heaven's sake let these guys race, Formula 1 is not an after-noon tea party. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. But why complaining that there is no real fighting in Formula 1 and no overtaking, but as soon as the guys do fight, they get punished.

I repeat that Max Mosley is pure poison for Formula 1; we really should get rid of this guy.