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Formula 1
COOPER: Japanese GP Team By Team
The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit was a mixed bag for Red Bull Racing...
The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber had dramatically different outcomes in the Japanese GP. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Unfortunately, the Japanese GP was hardly a classic race, with matters not helped by a series of first-lap incidents breaking things up and delaying some of the main contenders. That should not detract from a great performance by Sebastian Vettel, who started on pole, led all the way and set fastest lap as he put his 2012 title challenge firmly back on track. Here’s what happened up and down the field:
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull looked fast all weekend, with Mark Webber on top on Friday and Sebastian Vettel quickest in FP3. They secured the team’s first front row of 2012 with the German ahead, both men setting times on the first runs. Vettel led away after the safety car restart, and never looked under any threat, eventually finishing 20 seconds clear of Felipe Massa after a smooth run. The race started disastrously for Webber when the Aussie was knocked into a spin by Romain Grosjean exiting the first corner. He pitted under the safety car but was not able to catch the queue and thereafter used two sets of primes and a bold one-stop strategy to recover to ninth – a great job.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton was an encouraging second fastest on Friday but the team struggled a bit on Saturday. Jenson Button did well to secure third, but a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change after the Singapore GP dropped him to eighth. Hamilton made a bad setup call and was a frustrating ninth. Both drivers gained from the first-lap accidents, with Button moving up to third, and Hamilton to sixth. Jenson lost out to Felipe Massa at the first stops and then nearly recovered third from Kamui Kobayashi right at the end. After running sixth early on, Lewis later lost a position to Sergio Perez, although he regained it later and also passed Kimi Raikkonen on his way to what by his standards was a low-key fifth.
Ferrari
Ferrari seemed to fall off the pace in Suzuka. Nevertheless, Fernando Alonso would have been higher up had he not found yellow flags on his second run. He qualified seventh, gaining a place from Jenson Button’s penalty. Felipe Massa had been faster most of the day but didn’t make Q3 in 11th, although Nico Hulkenberg’s penalty moved him up a spot. The race started disastrously for the team when Alonso was tapped by Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, and the Spaniard spun into retirement. Massa jumped up to fourth amid the chaos, and then a later first stop got him up to second, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Button. He did a great job to hold the position to the flag, giving himself a better chance of hanging onto his job.
Mercedes
The news of Michael Schumacher’s retirement dominated the weekend at Mercedes. The former World Champion crashed on Friday and was only 13th in qualifying, a 10-place penalty from his Singapore crash then dropping him back to 23rd. Nico Rosberg was only 15th but penalties moved him up to 13th. Alas, his race was a short one, for after just making it past the spinning Mark Webber intact, he was knocked into retirement by Bruno Senna. Schumacher instantly moved up to 15th, but was handicapped by an early loss of telemetry on his way to 11th, having briefly relieved Daniel Ricciardo of 10th until the Aussie got back ahead on the last lap.
Lotus
Once again, Lotus tried but abandoned its DRS ‘device’ on Friday. Romain Grosjean was sixth on Friday and secured fifth in qualifying, gaining another place from Jenson Button’s penalty. Title chaser Kimi Raikkonen spun on his second run and was only eighth, but thanks to Button, he also moved up a spot. Both cars were involved in the first-corner chaos, with Raikkonen tapping Fernando Alonso into a spin, and Grosjean hitting Mark Webber. The Frenchman had to pit for a new nose and later received a 10-second stop and go penalty. The team retired his car with two laps to go. Despite wing damage, Raikkonen, meanwhile, had a solid race to sixth, picking up more useful points.
Force India
It was a busy weekend for Force India with Paul Di Resta crashing heavily on Friday afternoon and Nico Hulkenberg doing the same on Saturday morning. The German required a new gearbox and, after doing well to make Q3, dropped from 10th to 15th, while Di Resta moved up from 12th to 11th. There were mixed fortunes for them at the start with Hulkenberg jumping up to eighth and Di Resta being badly delayed and dropping back to 14th, and getting himself mired in traffic. Hulkenberg gained a spot when Sergio Perez retired and eventually finished seventh, while Di Resta finished 12th after a frustrating day.
Sauber
Suzuka was expected to suit Sauber, and so it proved. Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were only 12th and 13th, respectively, on Friday but when it mattered in qualifying, the local hero was a sensational fourth, moving up to third thanks to Jenson Button’s penalty. Perez was 0.3s slower in fifth, and he also gained a spot to start fourth. Kobayashi got ahead of Mark Webber at the start and confidently held second place through the first stint. However, he lost out to Felipe Massa at the first stops and then just held off Button at the flag to claim third. Perez ran seventh early on and made a good pass on Lewis Hamilton. He dropped behind at the stops and spun off on lap 19 when trying to regain the position from Lewis.
Toro Rosso
As usual, the Toro Rosso drivers were battling each other. This time, Daniel Ricciardo had the edge on Jean-Eric Vergne, who struggled to find a balance in his Suzuka debut. Penalties moved Ricciardo up from 16th to 14th while Verge landed his own three-place penalty for impeding, but in the end only dropped two to 19th. As at Spa, Ricciardo gained from the first-lap incidents, and was 10th at the end of the first lap. Remarkably, he was still there at the flag, having won a close fight with Michael Schumacher, who briefly got ahead. Vergne had a less spectacular run to 13th.
Williams
Pastor Maldonado could not repeat his Singapore form and could not better 14th, although penalties gifted him two spots and he moved up to 12th. Bruno Senna didn’t make it out of Q1 in 18th after being blocked by Jean-Eric Vergne, but he also gained two places from penalties to start 16th. Senna’s race got off to a bad start when he lost his front wing after hitting Nico Rosberg at the second corner. He pitted under the safety car and then later on received a drive-through for causing a collision, eventually finishing 14th. For once, Maldonado had a quiet race but it was not a particularly fast one as he came home eighth.
Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen qualified in his familiar position of 19th, but he gained a couple of places from penalties and thus moved up to 17th. Vitaly Petrov made a mistake on his quick lap, and that consigned him to 23rd, although he also moved up thanks to Michael Schumacher’s penalty. Kovalainen was one of the main beneficiaries of the first-corner accidents, the Finn getting up to 12th and then passing Timo Glock soon after the restart. He stayed there through the first stint and got as high as 11th but inevitably fell back to 15th at the flag. Petrov had KERS and radio problems, and after a drive-through for ignoring blue flags, finished 17th.
HRT
A veteran of the Japanese scene, Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed his return to Suzuka and did well to outpace both Charles Pic and Vitaly Petrov to claim 21st, gaining a further spot from Michael Schumacher’s penalty. Narain Karthikeyan was 24th and one of only four drivers to start from the position in which he actually qualified! De la Rosa managed to weave his way through the first-lap chaos to be 16th for the safety car restart, but inevitably quicker cars soon began to find a way past, and he finished 18th. Karthikeyan stopped on the 33rd lap after a problem with the bodywork led to retirement on safety grounds.
Marussia
Timo Glock lost valuable track time with an oil pressure problem in FP3, and qualified 20th in the afternoon, some 0.7s behind Heikki Kovalainen, before gaining two spots from penalties. Meanwhile, track rookie Charles Pic took time to get up to speed on the difficult track, qualifying 22nd and moving up one thanks to Michael Schumacher’s penalty. There was some concern when Glock ran over a wheel nut in the pitlane just before the start, but there was no problem, and after a great first few corners, he moved up to 11th. He slipped down the order as quicker cars regained their rightful places, and finished 16th. Pic didn’t gain much from the first-corner trouble, and retired with engine failure after 37 laps, after a longer than scheduled pit stop caused some overheating issues.
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull looked fast all weekend, with Mark Webber on top on Friday and Sebastian Vettel quickest in FP3. They secured the team’s first front row of 2012 with the German ahead, both men setting times on the first runs. Vettel led away after the safety car restart, and never looked under any threat, eventually finishing 20 seconds clear of Felipe Massa after a smooth run. The race started disastrously for Webber when the Aussie was knocked into a spin by Romain Grosjean exiting the first corner. He pitted under the safety car but was not able to catch the queue and thereafter used two sets of primes and a bold one-stop strategy to recover to ninth – a great job.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton was an encouraging second fastest on Friday but the team struggled a bit on Saturday. Jenson Button did well to secure third, but a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change after the Singapore GP dropped him to eighth. Hamilton made a bad setup call and was a frustrating ninth. Both drivers gained from the first-lap accidents, with Button moving up to third, and Hamilton to sixth. Jenson lost out to Felipe Massa at the first stops and then nearly recovered third from Kamui Kobayashi right at the end. After running sixth early on, Lewis later lost a position to Sergio Perez, although he regained it later and also passed Kimi Raikkonen on his way to what by his standards was a low-key fifth.
Ferrari
Ferrari seemed to fall off the pace in Suzuka. Nevertheless, Fernando Alonso would have been higher up had he not found yellow flags on his second run. He qualified seventh, gaining a place from Jenson Button’s penalty. Felipe Massa had been faster most of the day but didn’t make Q3 in 11th, although Nico Hulkenberg’s penalty moved him up a spot. The race started disastrously for the team when Alonso was tapped by Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, and the Spaniard spun into retirement. Massa jumped up to fourth amid the chaos, and then a later first stop got him up to second, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Button. He did a great job to hold the position to the flag, giving himself a better chance of hanging onto his job.
Mercedes
The news of Michael Schumacher’s retirement dominated the weekend at Mercedes. The former World Champion crashed on Friday and was only 13th in qualifying, a 10-place penalty from his Singapore crash then dropping him back to 23rd. Nico Rosberg was only 15th but penalties moved him up to 13th. Alas, his race was a short one, for after just making it past the spinning Mark Webber intact, he was knocked into retirement by Bruno Senna. Schumacher instantly moved up to 15th, but was handicapped by an early loss of telemetry on his way to 11th, having briefly relieved Daniel Ricciardo of 10th until the Aussie got back ahead on the last lap.
Lotus
Once again, Lotus tried but abandoned its DRS ‘device’ on Friday. Romain Grosjean was sixth on Friday and secured fifth in qualifying, gaining another place from Jenson Button’s penalty. Title chaser Kimi Raikkonen spun on his second run and was only eighth, but thanks to Button, he also moved up a spot. Both cars were involved in the first-corner chaos, with Raikkonen tapping Fernando Alonso into a spin, and Grosjean hitting Mark Webber. The Frenchman had to pit for a new nose and later received a 10-second stop and go penalty. The team retired his car with two laps to go. Despite wing damage, Raikkonen, meanwhile, had a solid race to sixth, picking up more useful points.
Force India
It was a busy weekend for Force India with Paul Di Resta crashing heavily on Friday afternoon and Nico Hulkenberg doing the same on Saturday morning. The German required a new gearbox and, after doing well to make Q3, dropped from 10th to 15th, while Di Resta moved up from 12th to 11th. There were mixed fortunes for them at the start with Hulkenberg jumping up to eighth and Di Resta being badly delayed and dropping back to 14th, and getting himself mired in traffic. Hulkenberg gained a spot when Sergio Perez retired and eventually finished seventh, while Di Resta finished 12th after a frustrating day.
Sauber
Suzuka was expected to suit Sauber, and so it proved. Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were only 12th and 13th, respectively, on Friday but when it mattered in qualifying, the local hero was a sensational fourth, moving up to third thanks to Jenson Button’s penalty. Perez was 0.3s slower in fifth, and he also gained a spot to start fourth. Kobayashi got ahead of Mark Webber at the start and confidently held second place through the first stint. However, he lost out to Felipe Massa at the first stops and then just held off Button at the flag to claim third. Perez ran seventh early on and made a good pass on Lewis Hamilton. He dropped behind at the stops and spun off on lap 19 when trying to regain the position from Lewis.
Toro Rosso
As usual, the Toro Rosso drivers were battling each other. This time, Daniel Ricciardo had the edge on Jean-Eric Vergne, who struggled to find a balance in his Suzuka debut. Penalties moved Ricciardo up from 16th to 14th while Verge landed his own three-place penalty for impeding, but in the end only dropped two to 19th. As at Spa, Ricciardo gained from the first-lap incidents, and was 10th at the end of the first lap. Remarkably, he was still there at the flag, having won a close fight with Michael Schumacher, who briefly got ahead. Vergne had a less spectacular run to 13th.
Williams
Pastor Maldonado could not repeat his Singapore form and could not better 14th, although penalties gifted him two spots and he moved up to 12th. Bruno Senna didn’t make it out of Q1 in 18th after being blocked by Jean-Eric Vergne, but he also gained two places from penalties to start 16th. Senna’s race got off to a bad start when he lost his front wing after hitting Nico Rosberg at the second corner. He pitted under the safety car and then later on received a drive-through for causing a collision, eventually finishing 14th. For once, Maldonado had a quiet race but it was not a particularly fast one as he came home eighth.
Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen qualified in his familiar position of 19th, but he gained a couple of places from penalties and thus moved up to 17th. Vitaly Petrov made a mistake on his quick lap, and that consigned him to 23rd, although he also moved up thanks to Michael Schumacher’s penalty. Kovalainen was one of the main beneficiaries of the first-corner accidents, the Finn getting up to 12th and then passing Timo Glock soon after the restart. He stayed there through the first stint and got as high as 11th but inevitably fell back to 15th at the flag. Petrov had KERS and radio problems, and after a drive-through for ignoring blue flags, finished 17th.
HRT
A veteran of the Japanese scene, Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed his return to Suzuka and did well to outpace both Charles Pic and Vitaly Petrov to claim 21st, gaining a further spot from Michael Schumacher’s penalty. Narain Karthikeyan was 24th and one of only four drivers to start from the position in which he actually qualified! De la Rosa managed to weave his way through the first-lap chaos to be 16th for the safety car restart, but inevitably quicker cars soon began to find a way past, and he finished 18th. Karthikeyan stopped on the 33rd lap after a problem with the bodywork led to retirement on safety grounds.
Marussia
Timo Glock lost valuable track time with an oil pressure problem in FP3, and qualified 20th in the afternoon, some 0.7s behind Heikki Kovalainen, before gaining two spots from penalties. Meanwhile, track rookie Charles Pic took time to get up to speed on the difficult track, qualifying 22nd and moving up one thanks to Michael Schumacher’s penalty. There was some concern when Glock ran over a wheel nut in the pitlane just before the start, but there was no problem, and after a great first few corners, he moved up to 11th. He slipped down the order as quicker cars regained their rightful places, and finished 16th. Pic didn’t gain much from the first-corner trouble, and retired with engine failure after 37 laps, after a longer than scheduled pit stop caused some overheating issues.
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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