It has been a very turbulent day in Japan and one that has ended on a very muted and concerned note in the closing laps of the race. The positive is that Felipe Massa sustained a severe head injury in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian GP, and he pulled through to compete again and is doing well for Williams. So we can hope that Jules Bianchi can follow the same road to recovery following the incident this morning.
As threatened rainfall did have a significant influence on this race when the leading edge of Typhoon Phanfone brushed the circuit before it is scheduled to make landfall later on. In the end it was this rainfall that brought about the worrying conclusion of the race when cars on worn intermediate tyres were subjected to a fresh batch of rain. At the start of the day it seemed unlikely that there would be any racing at all when parts of the track were submerged and rivers were flowing across the circuit and down the pit-lane.
The Race
Like many people I was following twitter last night to track the incoming path of the typhoon and what the teams were reporting trackside with regards to the weather. Then when I activated the BBC recording earlier on today I was moderately unsurprised to see that it was in fact raining, but it wasn't severe enough to force the race into cancellation. Some parts of the track were naturally more wet than others and Sergio Perez had a couple of off-track moments on the lap to the grid - managing to avoid damage on all occasions. But with only ten minutes to go before the start the rain intensified significantly and this forced the race to start under the safety car. There were a couple of laps circulating at the lower pace, and the visibility was exceptionally poor especially on the back straight from Spoon to 130R. Marcus Ericsson aquaplaned in the final corner and span into the gravel, the marshals were able push the Caterham out and back into the race. At this point it was decided that the rain was too heavy to continue and the race was suspended while the band of precipitation cleared. With the forecast looking increasingly heavy a restart looked unlikely... I had flashbacks to the WEC 6-hours of Fuji which only lasted for 16 safety car laps before being cancelled.
As always when a rain delay surfaces all we could do was sit and wait - and go make breakfast - oh and check whether Kimi had paid a visit to the Ferrari ice cream stash. Fortunately the delay wasn't too long as a break in the weather was spotted on the radar, so off we went again under the safety car. However Fernando Alonso's Ferrari didn't quite agree with that sentiment - it only made it to turn five before calling it a day. It appeared the electronics shut off bringing the car to a halt before a single lap of green flag running. The safety car remained out for several laps, despite assertions by Lewis Hamilton that it was safe to race. However Lewis was second in the train, and therefore didn't have to face the wall of spray that cars deep in traffic would have to deal with. It is this visibility problem that limits running rather than track conditions or surface running. It is the reason why cars often have to wait until it is dry enough for intermediates before the safety car is pulled in. Shame really, but on lap ten things finally got started.
On the restart, or more accurately the only real start, Jenson Button and Pastor Maldonado immediately opted to pit for intermediate tyres at the first opportunity. Jenson has often made brilliant calls in terms of tyre selection in challenging conditions - but as Maldonado fell off the track on a couple of occasions the decision seemed all the more risky. Back with the cars that stayed out it appeared most were keeping their distance from each other, just so that they could see where they were going in the spray. A couple of drivers made an early charge starting with Sebastian Vettel who had a go at Kevin Magnussen in Kobayashi corner. The Caterham may not be able to keep the reputation of the hairpin alive in the hands of Kamui himself, but we still had overtaking there. The superior traction of the McLaren allowed him to power away from the Red Bull and kept the Red Bull behind. A second Red Bull liveried car was also losing ground as Daniil Kvyat became a victim of the Force India power when being overtaken by Nico Hulkenberg before 130R.
Wet conditions can reshuffle the pecking order in terms of performance, and Williams were certainly feeling the thick end of that particular stick. Their car with inherently low downforce creating high top speed - doesn't work too well when downforce becomes dominant factor. This became a particular problem for Felipe Massa - because the Red Bulls were closing in on the Brazilian. Massa was clearly struggling for grip and was losing so much time to the chasing pack, and when Vettel came knocking he had little weaponry available to defend his position. Having not made it stick on Magnussen at the hairpin, Vettel made a more definitive move on Felipe to take the place - Massa didn't have anywhere near enough traction to fight back. The extent of Williams difficulties were far more apparent when Ricciardo on the following lap could drive round the outside of Massa's car in the final part of the esses - in the dry a pass there on equal terms would be miraculous.
Some of the leading runners, including Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa decided enough was enough and moved onto the intermediate tyres. What this did was promote Jenson Button up the field into 7th place... but was even more impressive was that Jules Bianchi in the Marussia was running in 6th place. In front of them the Red Bull assault roared up behind Valtteri Bottas - just like Massa there was nothing Bottas could do. At first Vettel went round the outside of the Finn at the hairpin which was seeing more action. Then to make matters worse Ricciardo, in a carbon copy of the pass on Massa, was able to drive round the outside of the Willams in turn six. Over the next couple of laps Red Bull brought their cars in for new tyres along with Bottas' Williams. All of this was making Jenson's early call look even more inspired as he cycled through into fourth place, but Bianchi was in a podium position, in a Marussia...outstanding. Alas it wasn't to last as the Frenchman also had to make his visit to the pit-lane and relinquish that lofty postion.
At this point the two Mercedes cars were light-years ahead of the rest of Jenson Button in third place. So when the time came for their stops they were easily able to pit and rejoin out in front - in an effort to steal the lead in the pit-stop phase Hamilton ran slightly wide in turn one but recovered without losing too much time. Kevin Magnussen on the other hand had a more entertaining off at the same corner, completing a very elegant 360 degree spin when rejoining the track. Lewis efforts were not strong enough to take the lead, as he rejoined in second place. It appeared the duel for the lead would be very on - as a radio call from the team informed Lewis that there would be no more significant rain before then end of the race. Giving him enough time to charge after Rosberg - but that forecast was made with low certainty.
While we were watching a brewing struggle outside the points between Gutierrez, Maldonado, Sutil and Vergne - in which we saw Maldonado overtake a Sauber without crashing into it. Perhaps is there was a Mexican in the other seat I daresay several wheels would be pointing in different directions. It appeared that the two cars at the front were getting closer together, we cut to a end of a move in which Lewis almost made up the inside of the Casio Triangle but wasn't in range. In the end Rosberg's lead was on borrowed time, because the German was really starting to lose grip and lap speed in respect to his chasing team-mate. His defensive position became even more tenuous after the last car changed onto intermediate tyres - meaning the track was now dry enough for DRS to be activated. Giving Hamilton even more weaponry to go on the offensive against Nico. Lewis made another visit to the tarmac run-off area in turn one, losing some of the ground he made up - but he was easily able to reel in the German in a matter of a few corners.
On the main straight, the grand battle we had been looking forward to in Monza - and didn't get, and then again in Singapore - which also failed to appear, was set in motion... By turn to that gargantuan tussle was over... this is to be the season of anti-climaxes and unfulfilled hopes. Hamilton simply opened the DRS and sailed round the outside of Nico in the first corner - it was an overtake that did take skill with little room for error. But it was nowhere near as impressive as the BBC commentary team made it out to be - Lewis was on the drier gripper part of the track and Rosberg didn't have enough grip to force the issue. What it meant was that Hamilton vanished off into the distance while we waited for the second round of stops as the intermediate tyres came close to the end of their lifespan.
Those pit stops turned out to be the undoing of Jenson's podium hopes - because when the McLaren driver came in they had to change steering wheels. The resultant 6.9s stop demoted Jenson down behind the two Red Bull drivers promoting Vettel up into only accessible podium position. Daniel Ricciardo cycled through into the lead after both Mercedes' cars pitted - and there were a couple of radio messages to Lewis suggesting that the Australian might try and stretch the life of his tyres to the end of the race - or at least until the next band of rain. Almost as that sentiment crossed the airwaves the BBC reported that the intensity of rainfall in the pits had intensified. Intriguingly the lap-times continued to improve - Vettel and Button trading faster laps with each other, but the track was getting wetter. Cars were starting to spend a lot more time a little closer to the scenery - Maldonado and Gutierrez both found themselves scampering across the tarmac run-off at turn one. Sebastian Vettel had a trip across the gravel in turn three costing him his advantage over the Jenson Button/Ricciardo battle.
Ricciardo attempted a pass on Jenson at the hairpin, but like the Vettel/Magnussen fight earlier - the McLaren had enough traction on the exit to defend the position. As the rain continued to intensify Jenson made another tyre condition call and headed in for wets, a decision that had the race unfolded differently could have given him back the podium spot.
On the exit of the Dunlop corner, rivers were starting to form and aquaplaning becoming a problem - especially on these intermediate tyres at the end of their lifespan. Adrian Sutil collected one of these rivers and span out of the race, the Sauber collected the outside barrier and required recovery...
This caused a problem, Felipe Massa has said the race should have been put under safety car earlier - and that the handling of Sutil's crash could have been better. But the circumstances are what they were and things can't re-write that. Given the increased intensity of rainfall and the characteristics of the Dunlop curve it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that another car would go off in a similar place. This is precisely why taking the time to repair the barrier in silverstone after Raikkonen punched a hole in the wall after his accident was essential. Today while rescue crews were removing Sutil's car, Jules Bianchi hit the same river and span off in the same place. In lieu of television coverage for obvious reasons it is difficult to say precisely what took place. Adrian Sutil's post race interview revealed the events to be harrowing - he seemed deeply shaken by what he saw as he waited by the side of his stricken car. I haven't seen such shock on a driver's face since Giancarlo Fisichella's interview following the news of Alan Simonson's crash at Le Mans.
From the evidence, reports and imagery available the only conclusions I can draw is that Bianchi's car made contact with the recovery crane taking Sutil's car away. The Marussia went underneath the tractor and the underside of the crane severed the top of Bianchi's car including the roll hoop and safety structures. Bianchi suffered what has been diagnosed as a severe head injury as a result of the accident - recent news indicates that Jules has come out of surgery and is breathing on his own which is a major positive considering the magnitude of the damage. If the chassis of the tractor was a few inches lower I dread to think what the outcome will be. The sport hasn't lost a driver in a race since 1994 and we don't want that figure to be updated.
The race was red flagged while Bianchi was taken to hospital and would not be restarted. Therefore Hamilton was declared the victor ahead of Rosberg and Vettel. Ricciardo finished fourth on countback after crossing the line 3rd due to a late Vettel stop. Button claimed fifth for McLaren ahead of the two Williams who struggled in the wet conditions. Hulkenberg also was allowed to keep his 8th place after breaking down on the pit-lane exit one lap before the race was called short. Vergne scored points from the back end of the grid - why is he being fired again... and Perez took home the final championship point in 10th.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Today we saw a race severely influenced by rainfall and a deeply unfortunate incident that brought about the conclusion of the race, and here are the points winners from the race.
- 25pts - Jules Bianchi - Needs some points in fighting the injury sustained today and hoping for a strong recovery
- 18pts - Jenson Button - An inspired call at the beginning to switch immediately to intermediates, that steering wheel change cost a podium
- 15pts - Sebastian Vettel - So very nearly dropping out of Q2 to find himself on the podium in a difficult race
- 12pts - Lewis Hamilton - A strong persistent race today, and kept on was able to put aside the result in favour of Bianchi's condition
- 10pts - Marcus Ericsson - Despite spinning on the opening lap, Ericsson caught a passed the rest of the lower division and lead it comfortably
- 8pts - Daniel Ricciardo - There may have been a big pace advantage, but those passes on the Williams cars were impressive
- 6pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - After a 10 place grid penalty and two early stops the Frenchman still fought back into the points
- 4pts - Kevin Magnussen - Scores some points for his 360 spin on the exit of the first corner
- 2pts - Pastor Maldonado - Gets a couple of points for not hitting anyone in some very difficult conditions
- 1pt - Sergio Perez - Gets the final point for his pair of saves on the lap to the grid to keep the Force India out of the wall
I could go on to assign penalty points but, at this stage with little information available it would be unfair to lay blame at anyone's door. All we can do is hope for a full recovery and a return to racing for Jules Bianchi
Looking ahead to Russia
It is very much a step into the unknown next week as we head to a completely new circuit within the Sochi winter Olympic park in a country making it's first visit to the F1 calendar. Naturally from the pictures and footage that has been released from the test events held at Sochi the initial comparisons are going to be made with the Valencia street track. That doens't sound too positive considering how naff that 'street' track was, but in fairness to it the final event it hosted in 2012 was a brilliant race. So there is hope that Sochi can deliver a sparkling debut. There may be many political controversies regarding this part of eastern Europe at the moment - but as we saw from the winter Olympics Russia does know how to put on a show and provide some excellent facilities. However in the run up to that race the blog's and the world's thoughts remain with Jules Bianchi as his recovery continues.
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