And that is that, the Japanese GP is over for another year, just like the conclusion of the Monaco or Belgian GP's there is that sense that the remainder of the season will be worse for it knowing that we no longer have these events to look forward to. In reality there is only Interlagos now at the very end of the season at a venue the holds a similar level of anticipation, between now and then we have a wash of those Tilke tracks in India and Abu-Dhabi. Austin after that is slightly different but still falls a long way short of the alluring nature of the Suzuka track. It is ever more the shame when a race opens in the manner this one did with such hope and such an opportunity, only to reveal that the balance of power is skewed so strongly towards a certain team that reversing an initial deficit becomes almost effortless.
The outcome of today's result only confirms the fact that the driver's championship is a complete formality and is merely a matter of time before all the questioning to Horner, Alonso, and Vettel comes to an end, because it will be over. The whole universe knows how unlikely and borderline impossible it would be for anyone other than the German bloke to take that inevitable title - so why on earth are the protagonists been interrogated so constantly. But then again the media inevitable have time for making fools of themselves - conveniently forgetting that the grid does contain several other drivers with their own agendas and battles to fight out where the outcome is far from decided. For example there seems to be something brewing between Bianchi and Van Der Garde as this the second race in a row where things are going on on the opening lap at the very back of the grid. Today's race won't go down in the annuls of history but this was the first time in a while where we had the vague illusion of a different result at the front of the field... even if it was only a false hope...
The Race
We had a front row that had all the characteristics of a very entertaining battle given the intra-team politics between the two in this farewell season for Webber. But as the lights went out neither of the Red Bull's got away terribly well and the second row jumped ahead of the first - Grosjean steamed down the outside to take the lead of the race. Hamilton aimed between Vettel, Webber and Romain and there was not quite enough room for all four cars and there was the merest of contacts between Vettel and Lewis. One atom of carbon brushed the rear tyre on Hamilton's Mercedes and caused an instant puncture - the flailing tyre damaged the floor and brakes of the car forcing an early retirement. At the very back of the field slightly out of camera shot Van Der Garde seemed to drive into the back of Jules Bianchi firing both off into the gravel at turn one.
It seemed for a while that Grosjean was pulling away from the two Red Bulls - but a series of radio messages sent to both Webber and Vettel in second and third informed the pair to drop back two seconds from the car in front. Lulling us all into a false sense of security as they saved tyres rather than trying to fight for position - knowing full well that they could charge and get Grosjean whenever they felt like it. Therefore we had to look a little further back for the rest of the action to take place, where Rosberg had gained the attentions of the Ferrari team lead by Massa. Nico initially had a slight lead over the red cars but ran wide through the first turn opening up a bigger gap to the top three cars. A devious encoded message was sent to Massa involving strategy which conventionally is an instruction for Massa to move himself out of the way... But the positions remained the same.
Time for the opening round of pit stops and Vettel decided to stay out for a few more laps even though it seemed a little odd at the time because his pace was slower than that of Webbers and Grosjean's because they were on newer tyres. Further back Mercedes' day was slowly getting worse and worse as the team tried to release Nico's car into the side of Perez's McLaren earning Rosberg a drive-though penalty. Moving in the opposite direction through the field was Hulkenberg in the Sauber, jumping ahead of the two Ferraris and assuming the lead of the battle for everyone else as the top three were very much gone by this point. This was further exacerbated by the fact there was Daniel Ricciardo out of position still on track, the Toro Rosso was running 4th by virtue of starting on the harder tyres and running longer in the race. Creating a large void between the top three and everyone else, because Ricciardo's tyres were close to the end of their lifespan.
The Ricciardo train started to get very intense - firstly Hulkeberg caught the back of the Toro Rosso, and Nico was then joined by the two Ferraris who in turn were caught by Gutierrez, who was followed by Raikkonen and Button. Nico didn't have the top speed to out-drag the Toro Rosso in a straight line in the DRS zone down the main straight so he tried something a little different. Daniel defended the inside line on the run towards Spoon corner but was slower down the back straight allowing Hulkenberg to pass the Australian on the inside of 130R. Felipe defended Alonso into the final chicane, but that compromised his exit and ultimately surrendered the position. Within a lap Massa came under attack from Gutierrez - as Esteban used Sauber's favourite overtaking spot at Kobayashi corner trying to force the Ferrari off the course on the exit. But Massa held his ground and resisted the attack from the Mexican to retain the position. It did open the door for Raikkonen who thought it was a good idea to pass the Sauber round the outside of 130R - not bad.
More pit-stops and Ricciardo finally relinquished the struggle of holding off a bunch of faster cars to get some new tyres. But there were troubles for McLaren and Ferrari - the rear wheels on both McLaren pit-stops were considerably slower than they needed to be and dropped both Button and Perez down the field. Massa on the other had was adjudged to have exceeded the pit lane speed and was the next one to be handed a drive through penalty. To complete the trio of penalties we turned to Daniel Ricciardo who was duelling with Adrian Sutil after his stop, Sutil defended into 130R as Ricciardo went round the outside - so far outside that he ran off the track. The problem was that Sutil pitted so he couldn't redress the position and thus was handed a drive through penalty.
Out front Vettel was still in the lead after once again running longer than Grosjean while higher tyre wear on the part of Mark Webber forced him onto an alternate strategy. Away from the top three Nico Hulkeberg's pre-race banana had clearly worked as he found himself once more ahead Alonso, the last time Fernando had such difficulty passing what is supposed to be a slower car it was the Renault of Vitaly Petrov in Abu-Dhabi in 2010. The German once more had two world champions lurking in his mirrors, as Alonso was followed by Raikkonen in the second Lotus. Nico was able to resit the attacks from the Spaniard. The same could not be said for Grosjean who suddenly found himself with Vettel approaching at quite a speed - it was this moment that pretty much summed up the dominance of the Red Bull car. Within the space of a few corners with the benefit of a new set of tyres saved from the day before the German Bloke erased several seconds of deficit and merely swept past the Lotus on the main straight. And with that the race was Vettel's... again. Webber lead the race at the time but had another stop to make yet.
Webber's stop placed him behind Grosjean, but also on much fresher tyres and was able to close in very quickly on the Frenchman, but he didn't have quite the same advantage that the German bloke did. Speaking of Germans - Hulkenberg had survived the Ferrari onslaught for some time now but, the Sauber didn't have the same advantages here and Fernando found a gap down the inside of the main straight to take the place. Raikkonen replaced the shape of the Ferrari in Nico's mirrors, however Raikkonen could not use straight line speed to pass the Sauber and therefore tried something a little different something a little unexpected - round the outside of the final chicane. The same move didn't work out too well for Rosberg and Perez as the McLaren edged across and brushed wing to wheel with the Mercedes puncturing the McLaren's rear tyre. Another example that these pirelli tyres are very vulnerable to wing contact.
The battle for second was getting closer, but Webber despite the fresher and softer tyres was having great difficulty defeating Grosjean - until the pair came across a large collection of lapped cars. Williams, Toro Rosso and Perez were in a large battle for 12th place as Grosjean came to put them a lap down. Maldonado and Perez were the first in the queue to give way, but Romain got a little caught up behind Bottas in the final chicane this allowed Webber to be close enough for the DRS to work and through he went. So we now had a Red Bull 1-2 and nothing was going to get in the way of that when both cars are working properly. Mark had more pace than Vettel but no where enough laps to make up the distance and had to settle for second place behind the German, while Romain claimed another podium position in third. Several seconds behind all this was the rest of the field lead by Alonso in 4th. His position means that we'll have another week of meaningless interrogations about the championship. Raikkonen finished 5th for Lotus ahead of Hulkenberg doing well again for Sauber. Due to a lot of people getting penalties and punctures ahead Gutierrez found himself in the points for the first time, and the first rookie to score in 2013. Rosberg recovered from his penalty to finish the race in 8th place.
At this point it was largely assumed that the race was over and the positions settled, but not at the very end of the points - Massa and Button were side by side in the final chicane, Massa forced Button across the curb with a little contact along the way. Jenson was able to out-drag the Ferrari to the line and re-take the position by a fraction of a nose, even though the final timings suggest the gap was over 8 seconds. Even outside the points there were some last minute lunges - as Maldonado threw it down the inside of Bottas forcing the Finn across the grass - all this for 14th place...
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Here are the winners following the Japanese GP
- 25pts - Romain Grosjean - So close to beating those all powerful Red Bulls and leading off the line from the second row
- 18pts - Esteban Gutierrez - First points for a rookie this season, that took a while
- 15pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Another strong race, surviving the pressure from Alonso for so long
- 12pts - Webber/Vettel - Once again unstoppable but without fighting each other.
- 10pts - Sergio Perez - Quick reactions in the pit-lane to avoid Rosberg... only to hit him later
- 8pts - Kimi Raikkonen - round the outside at the chicane, and of 130R one per Sauber.
- 6pts - Daniel Ricciardo - six points for collecting a six car train before pitting
- 4pts - Jenson Button/Felipe Massa - So very close crossing the line after fighting in the chicane
- 2pts - Maldonado - Because being 16th is clearly very important
- 1pt - Paul Di Resta - Well done for not crashing into anything today
The Penalties Championship
From today here are the penalties issued
- Nico Rosberg - Drive through penalty for trying to crash into Perez in the pits
- Felipe Massa - For going too fast in the pits
- Daniel Ricciardo - For passing Di Resta off the track
Looking to India
From one country where the layout and tradition of the track draws the anticipation, to one where the immense vibrancy of culture becomes more dominating than the events on the track. With this being potentially the final race in India as the track goes on a sabbatical next season with a potential return the year after. In a way this is a bit of a shame firstly because India is such an emerging market with a huge population to introduce the sport to and such a gloriously intoxicating backdrop to set a race against. Secondly because of all the Tilke tracks that have invaded the championship in recent years, the Buddh International circuit is one of the better ones even though those opening straights are a tad excessive again. But the problem is the vast disconnection between the businesses and wealth responsible for bringing the race to fruition, and the fans and national population who would like to attend the race. High ticket prices and a low income setting are not a sustainable model and combined with Bernie's race fee demands have forced if off the calendar in the face of higher bidders.
So here's hoping - like Korea - when the future of the race is in doubt, we end up with a brilliant race. So until then this is farewell from blog HQ.
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