Round 16: South Korea Review

Greetings Internet,

Well I spent the last few moments of yesterday's elongated post predicting that the 2012 Korean Grand Prix would be a little short of entertainment, in the hope that the race would defy those expectations. Rising to the challenge posted, much in the same way Valencia managed with a similarly uninspiring layout and minimal prospects. The BBC team made a point of showing the conflicts that had erupted in the previous two races at the Yeongnam circuit, and the majority of those were a result of the wet conditions in 2010 and some sporadic efforts of overtaking in the second race. All in effort of bolstering the image of the 55 laps that were to take place following all of the pre-race build up.

But in reality all those dreams and aspirations turned into approximately three corners of racing, with the occasional little battle further down the field but the competition for the first five places was decided by the exit of turn 6. With the exception of one car slipping out of the running through mechanical difficulties. Meaning the attentions were shifted a little further down the field where on the odd occasion, something was going on from time to time at the bottom end of the points positions. It wasn't an entirely event-less race, and there certainly have been less exciting encounters. In comparison to previous seasons in the original reign of Schumacher, today's race would have been considered the outright highlight of the year. Demonstrating the transition the sport has made since those processional years, I think the Hungarian GP of 2003 (probably) would go down as the most uneventful race of all time. So compared to that today was a thrilling experience, not that 9 year old comparisons matter all too much in the every changing world of F1.

credit to F1Fanatic for the image

The Race

Before the race was started the world was treated to a display of both hilarious and disturbing dancing by the entire of the BBC presenting team, who were being more enthusiastic then they probably should have been. What is more frightening is when the other people here at blog HQ decided to join in - I sensibly enough declined to follow the masses in mimicking the mad Korean who may as well own the internet at the moment. But as long as some of the people who do float around the realm of cyberspace find themselves here over the course of the weekend, I'm sure I can cope with that fact.

As the cars lined up the sky looked as murky as it did for qualifying, draining all the colour out of the scenery, not that there really is any scenery to look at on the other side of the concrete barriers. It would explain why the barriers are there, because the run-off behind them is a bunch of abandoned agricultural land - and cars spearing off into those areas wouldn't go down too well. On the formation lap Jenson Button took a little longer to leave the grid, prompting a little wave of the nearest yellow flag. But nothing was going wrong with the car, and Jenson was able to regain his position in the train of cars ahead of One-Stop Perez's Sauber.

Off the line it was Vettel who got the best launch, enough to draw alongside his team-mate taking the position through the middle of the first corner. It was all being rather organised, through turn one, well for the first half of the field behaved anyway, further back One-Stop Perez threw the car down the inside, locking everything up to avoid spearing into the cars ahead. The Sauber brushed the back of Hulkenberg's Force India and forced Button and Rosberg out wide on the exit. Back at the front a series of drag races were evolving on the straight, the two Red Bulls ran two wide, but behind them Alonso and Hamilton were also side by side. Then Kimi looked at the two cars in front of them and decided to make it three wide on the run down to turn three. The top 6 cars were virtually occupying the same space in the braking zone yet they all made it through on the track and without contact. A similar situation could not be said a little further back - as the two wide combat between Rosberg and Button was about to gain another contender. However Kamui tried to join in the battle through a gap which didn't really exist pinballing between the two. Rosberg suffered a damaged radiator and Button ruined front suspension, while Kobayashi drove away with a rear puncture.

The battles at the front hadn't sorted themselves out before charging into turn four, where the main fight was between Raikkonen and Hamilton - Lewis defended to the inside forcing Kimi wide. The Lotus was looking on to take the place but the McLaren driver pushed him off the outside of the track allowing Massa to pick up the place at the second phase of the complex. That concluded the competition for the positions at the front end of the field for a considerable period of time - and were there not to be mechanical interventions later on then things wouldn't have changed at all. It was at this point we saw the victims of Kamui's accident pull off the road and into retirement, Button on the exit of turn four, and Rosberg in a gap in the fence down the long DRS straight. Nico's car brought out the yellows for a considerable amount of time as marshals recovered the car, and also cancelling the DRS activation.

As things stabilised at the front of the field it was the turn of the mid-field runners to have some fun - where the Toro Rosso team were executing a series of coordinated strikes on the cars in front, running in attack formation. Their first target was the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, swarming all over the back of the Venezuelan before Jean Eric Vergne opened the door in the complex of corners at the back of the track. Ricciardo tried to follow through but almost lost the nose of the car through the sweepers in sector two, but that only delayed the inevitable and the second of the Toro Rossos was through. The pair both cruised up onto the back of the second Williams of Bruno Senna, Vergne made the pass at the end of the long straight, while Ricciardo deployed DRS on the following lap - allowing the STR Squadron to motor on towards their next victim.

Another little battle brewing, was between Schumacher and the Force India of Paul Di Resta over the final point in tenth position - Di Resta using the DRS down the back straight to get alongside the Mercedes but Michael always managed to do enough to maintain the position. Aside from that little duel not too much was going on a fact that several of the drivers noticed so they decided to take this opportunity to visit the pit lane, starting with Hamilton on lap 14, followed shortly by the remainder of the top six drivers. Such was the lack of action on the track Grosjean and Hulkenberg decided to wage their battle in the pit lane instead, after had discovered his DRS was seemingly useless against the speed of the Force India in a straight line. However despite a wave of the hand from the Frenchman, Hulkenbergs pit crew kept him ahead of the Lotus driver.

As the leaders filtered back onto the track following their stops they had to negotiate the Sauber of One-Stop Perez who as per normal was staying out longer than most of the grid. Sergio was passed by Alonso into turn four, and then by Hamilton on the exit as the older tyres compromised his traction on the exit. On the other side of the garage things were even worse for Kamui - who was handed a drive through penalty before pulling the car into retirement  likely due to damage taken in the crash. He was joined by Pedro De La Rosa seemingly a victim of a mechanical problem in the HRT. Perez's longer game was starting to exhibit flaws in pace, as he was rapidly caught and passed by Massa and then by Raikkonen both using DRS to demote the Sauber.

Another period of inactivity followed with everyone trundling round in position, until Hamilton started to haemorrhage lap time falling back towards Massa, this time last season this would be considered a recipe for contact. In a period when the two drivers were less than friends, this time around things were more civil - bordering on orderly as the Ferrari was able simply to drive down the inside on the DRS. As soon as the red car vanished into the distance a black and gold one was growing larger in the McLaren's mirrors as the Lotus of Raikkonen closed down the gap.  Their battle went on for a little longer - a consequence of the lower straight line speed of the Lotus in comparison to most of the other cars they had been fighting with over the course of the race. However after a couple of laps of looking for a way round the outside Kimi was able to get by on the outside of turn three. But Hamilton used some KERs power to retake the place in turn four, Raikkonen held on the outside but Lewis forced him off there for the second time of the race.

Instead of drawing out the battle Kimi took to the pits - which meant there was another interval where nothing was going on - and nothing would go on at the front with the minor exception of gap fluctuations. Only the DRS zone was seeing some rudimentary action as Ricciardo steamed past the Mercedes of Schumacher; a feat Grosjean attempted on Hulkenberg but once more the speed of the Lotus let him down and the Force India held onto the position. Finally Romain was able to use the zone to make the pass after a couple unsuccessful efforts on previous laps, and what did he do with the clear air in front of him. Drive across the apex of the final turn throwing dirt across the track narrowly missing the large apex curb, the last car that ended up there finished in the wall, oddly enough in the same seat that Grosjean is in now, back when the team was Renault and Petrov knocked some wheels off.

Another small battle was forming at the bottom of the points as Schumacher had the attentions of Di Resta and Perez. Also the Ferraris had closed in on each other, Massa proving to be the fastest of the two, something that seemed almost offensive to the people inside the team as Felipe had to be ordered to drop back from his team-mate. Almost as if it was considered an insult for the Brazilian to be anywhere near the other car, forced off by the vengeful hand of team orders. Hamilton meanwhile had the attentions of Grosjean and Hulkenberg - and it turns out even a wounded McLaren can be very wide indeed. Romain looked to the outside of turn three but Lewis pushed him off to the outside allowing Nico to close in. As Hamilton had to deal with the Lotus in turn four Hulkenberg went round the outside of the pair of them, despite Lewis pushing him off on the exit, Nico was able to hold the line into five and claim the position. It was a good time for Hamilton to pit and be far enough away from anyone else so he didn't push any more drivers towards the scenery.

With laps running out a series of radio calls went out to Vettel in the lead, threatening that the front tyre could fail at any point without warning and that he would only be a passenger after it failed. All conveyed in the most anxious tone of voice every other corner, trying to encourage Vettel to calm down with reminders that at any moment the car could fire itself into a concrete wall - comforting. Considering from the TV footage the tyres didn't look any worse than anyone else's - and they weren't receiving prophecies of doom so close to the finish. Even more inactivity followed, so much even the track was trying to leave - astroturf in the final sector parting company from the circuit.

It turned out the pit stop didn't do anything to rescue his dismal race as he found himself under-pressure from the Toro Rosso team - still running in formation and attacking a unit with Ricciardo leading Vergne. Using the straight line speed of the car both were able to pass the McLaren to duel among themselves for the remainder of the race. But some of the Italian nature of the team must have sank through as Ricciardo allowed his team-mate through under what can be assumed to be team orders. As Hamilton had to sit in behind watching them blue cars disappear further ahead. This did mean however he had no-one else to push around, so he turned his attention to assaulting the track instead, peeling more of the astroturf with his right turning vane. Dragging a strip of the green material around, further hampering performance allowing One-Stop Perez to catch the McLaren looking for the final point.

Oddly Vettel's car hadn't imploded with a catastrophic tyre failure, and in fact nothing happened at all to the German bloke as he crossed the line to extend the run of domination the team have shown and taking the championship lead in the process. Not that their championship matters too much around here. The second Red Bull crossed the line - also with all four tyres inflated - ahead of Alonso rounding out the podium. Massa was allowed to finish 4th, remaining a regulation distance from his team-mate as not to endure the wrath of the Italian Mafia. More points for Raikkonen in 5th, but seeing his run for the title slowly ebb even further out of reach, Hulkenberg finished the leader of the mid-field teams between the two Lotus drivers. Grosjean was seventh, managing to finish the race without hitting anyone in the process - even in a brief battle with the other villain of the season Maldonado. A collision between those two would have released enough energy to probably end the world, so we were gladly spared that. Remaining in the formation they'd been all race the STR cars finished 8th and 9th with Vergne in front, ahead of Hamilton still with carpet fending off Perez for the last point.

The Bonus Points Championship points winners

Right, where are points going to be assigned here then, because for a small amount of the battling that took place a whole lot of nothing filled the points and finding enough people to hand points to has been challenging but here goes.

• 25pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Another strong race leading the mid-field with a great double pass on the outside of turn four 
• 18pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - The leader of the STR rebellion force encountering the traffic first in making moves through the field
• 15pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Making 6 places off the start line and then working with Vergne to move into the points
• 12pts - Felipe Massa - For being faster than Fernando and being defeated by his own team orders
• 10pts -  Vitaly Petrov - For being the leader of the bottom division of cars despite losing the place initially to Heikki
• 8pts -  Sebastien Vettel - Fine have some points for winning
• 6pts - Romain Grosjean - For not hitting anyone off the start and racing well throughout
• 4pts - BBC Team - Humourous points for dancing with that Psy chap pre-race
• 2pts - Kamui Kobayashi - His pinball score from the first lap lunacy
• 1pt - Mother - For joining in the BBC dance session, despite how creepy it was

The Penalties championship

Yesterday it was assumed that we escaped without penalties, only those for technical issues caused changes to the grid before the race this morning, but today has been a little different and we have two penalties to add to the table.

• Kamui Kobayashi - Drive through penalty - For taking out Rosberg and Button in turn three
• Mercedes - 10,000 EUR fine - For an unsafe release in qualifying yesterday in front of Hamilton

The Penalty Points championship

The second of the penalty based championships also has some additions from the second phase of the event and these are as follows:

• Lewis Hamilton - For pushing everyone off the edge of the circuit
• Ferrari - I know team orders are legalised but a penalty point is still coming their way for the commands towards Felipe Massa.
• Korea  - For being dull

Looking ahead to India

From one new venue to another as we leave the land of dodgy dancing and ship-building and head back west a little to a vibrant world of colour, culture and curries. A track that was added to the calendar last season and in some respects shares a lot of design concepts with the layout of Yeongnam, as it has the same dual nature in terms of the disparity between two phases of the lap. In India we too have a section introduced for the sole purpose of introducing overtaking, aided with a new concept of wider breaking zones. Where the width of the track is extended closer to the apex, not that it seemed to help too much in the races. Round the other half of the track the corners are more flowing and faster, but once more suffers the problem of being designed in a computer in an office and doesn't mesh together in the same way that Spa or Suzuka would.

The problem that this and the tracks that follow it have is that they would appear to play to the strengths of the Red Bull team almost handing the title over to Vettel before the crates leave Korean soil. Ferrari held the lead with Fernando for a long time, but the speed of the Red Bull team has enough momentum to make even the six point lead Vettel now has an unassailable gap. Raikkonen in third is looking to maintain that position in the championship but anything further forward is too far out of reach despite being mathematically possible. The same can be said for the McLarens, and Webber -  the remaining three drivers who are numerically within a shot of winning, but with no realistic chance. However that title only plays a small supporting role to the main event which is the bonus points championship which is completely wide open - before this weekend all of the 60 contenders were mathematically able to take the tile. So as the races run out and only four weeks of the season left, we'll see who can become the second ever bonus points champion.

Round 16: South Korea Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

Another visit to the Yeongam circuit has actually seen some development, but that statement isn't as hopeful as it may seem on the surface. Because although the hopes of seeing the vast centre of tourism grown from the empty farmlands of South Korea have completely faded into obscurity, the track has changed this time round. Which is rather odd considering the place looked as if it hadn't been used at all since the last lap of the 2011 race, each corner had acres of dust from the months of neglect coating the surface. Also faint ideals of the layout being modified to make it a little more enjoyable have been dashed, the monstrosity that is the turn 4-6 sequence still remains. In fact all that has happened is that the wall on the inside of the marina turn has been moved a little further inside, leaving a thing strip of grass, and more bland tarmac. It does sort of elude to the plans the Koreans have for the future of the track, seemingly binning the ideas of the hotels and other buildings and moving instead towards correcting the lap towards a more generic setup.

As to the session this morning, a pattern is starting to emerge, a pattern that harks back to the previous years of domination from a certain German bloke in a Blue car. Much to the despair of the contenders in the Red and Silver teams who are seeing their challenge on taking the title in the remaining five races of the 2012 season slip gently from their grasp. Fernando has seen a very comfortable lead descent into the narrowest of margins recently and further struggles in the McLaren garage have seen them slip even further back despite the evidence showing that fundamentally the car is the fastest machine. Their strongest challenger Hamilton has seemed a little zoned out looking perhaps to his new seat across at Mercedes as the title becomes much less likely. So lets see how that played out Yeongam style... it had to be done really...

image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying

Resting in the shadow of the clouds of a major ship building industry on the other side of the hill - perhaps not an ideal location for a centre of proposed tourism in the first place, no wonder development never really kicked off. The result is that the track is veiled in a dull murkiness, a landscape of drained colour and in some respects also of imagination but from the times in practice the competition on the track could improve that outlook somewhat.

First one to take to the circuit was the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen, and as the green cycled round we looked towards the pit lane to see who else was going for a run, oddly there were no volunteers and Heikki was able to complete his lap on a completely empty track. After a few minutes alone the Caterham was joined by a flurry of cars as everyone else decided it was their turn to have a go at beating the only time resting on the scoreboard. This lead to issues with traffic round the more difficult single file section of the lap, Raikkonen had issues negotiating the Mercedes of Rosberg on his flying lap, and then roles were reversed when the German was on a flying lap having to avoid the Lotus in an identical place.

The difficulties paid off for Kimi as he went fastest, fending off competition from the rest of the field showing pace that the Lotus team hadn't showed earlier in the weekend in practice. Behind the Finn, the times were close with Massa running in second again surpassing the pace of his team-mate, however that only was only before the Red Bull team rolled out of the garage, and on cue Sebastien Vettel crushed Raikkonen's time by a massive seven tenths. At the direct opposite end of the field things were going backwards - literally. Narain Karthikeyan arrived at turn three rear wing first at a significant speed after suffering a rear break failure. It is incidents like that where having ludicrous amounts of run-off do help as the HRT didn't hit anything, just missing the back of Di Resta's Force India in the process.

As the session came to a close, something rather interesting materialised with drivers moving onto the softer tyres to make it through, the gains from the different compound caused difficulties for those who thought they were safe. Hamilton for example cascaded down through the order along with Alonso and Schumacher running a little close to relegation - all but Hamilton were on track to rescue their positions as the McLaren driver assumed he was safe at the time. Alonso escaped relegation pushing Hamilton into the final qualification place, and the only driver able to threaten that was Bruno Senna but the Williams didn't have the speed, a lap potentially compromised by a slow Ferrari on his outlap, but the McLaren was saved.

Moving swiftly on to the second session, and this time it was the Sauber of One-stop Perez setting the early time, as the main contenders made it on to the track. Sergio set the initial time from his team-mate and Di Resta in the Force India, before Webber in his Red Bull set a much faster time then those on track on the time. The dominance percolated through to the other side of the garage, as Vettel arrived and took the lead from his team-mate early on in the session. From that time Sebastien decided that he'd done enough to make it through without having to go back out using another set of tyres - and he was right. Even though the times were getting closer there was enough security in the Red Bull team going forward into Q3

Everyone else however was in danger of being relegated and the immense fluctuation in times saw drivers swapping places with each coming lap right up to the mid session break which came about once more this weekend. However the single lap plans for the end of the session took a slight hit in the same manner as it did in Japan through a late yellow flag incident as Daniel Ricciardo encountered technical difficulties towards the end of the lap. As a result the final runs of several drivers were compromised trapping some out in relegation. Both Saubers and Toro Rossos didn't make it, along with Di Resta in the Force India - but joining that list was the unusual name of Jenson Button. The reigning bonus points champion falling out at the end of Q2.

With only ten drivers remaining it was time for the start of Q3, and the two Mercedes driver lined up at the end of the pit lane - the pair probably had been there a little too long because Schumacher seemed to fall asleep. As Rosberg drove away from the line the other German just sat there, as the rest of the queue drove round the stationary Mercedes, eventually the wake up call did go out to Michael and he pottered off after the rest of the qualifiers. What made the scenario even more senseless was that both of the silver arrows only completed an out lap without setting a time, which made the concept of waiting around completely pointless.  Elsewhere Hamilton was being a little impatient, first looking to pass Webber in the pit-lane when avoiding the Mercedes, but then making the pass on track after showing the nose first in turn one. A move that also proved rather pointless as just in front Webber was Grosjean so there was no free space.

From the congestion the Ferraris broke free, with Alonso leading Massa on the initial timings - Hamilton backed off to leave some space between him and the Frenchman to complete the third fastest time at the early stage. The Ferrari lock out of the front-row was interrupted by Webber's Red Bull sneaking in between the two red machines. Of course there was the small matter of a certain German bloke who went to the front of the proceedings almost four tenths clear of his title rival Alonso.

As the second runs of Q3 were about to get underway, Hamilton was up to more impatience in the pit lane when Michael was crawling out of his garage at the same time the McLaren was heading down the lane. Instead of waiting in a traditional British spirit of queuing, Lewis swerved round the German - luckily the Mercedes mechanic was clear before Hamilton made his move. On the track Webber was the first to set a final time and in an impressive lap the Australian went fastest, with a time that weathered the pressure from behind. Vettel was unable to improve, while Hamilton dragged the McLaren into third behind the dominance of Red Bull. Fernando was forced down into 4th place just ahead of Raikkon in 5th and Massa in 6th. Grosjean and Hulkenberg lined up next, and the two Mercedes cars did set a time in the end but only managed to finish  9th and 10th with Nico behind his elder team-mate.

The bonus points championship points winners

In a session that was for the most part unremarkable, but likely remains the highlight of the weekend in Korea deciding where to assign the bonus points was not a straight forward process. But here are the winners from Qualifying.

•  10pts  - Nico Hulkenberg  - for being the only mid-field runner to be able to break into the top ten in Korea for Force India
•  8pts -  Mark Webber - an impressive pole, escaping from the shadow of the dominance the German bloke in the other car has been dishing out
• 6pts - Vitaly Petrov - for being the top driver in the bottom division group of cars instead of the usual victor Kovalainen
• 5pts - Charles Pic - for out-qualifying Glock at Marussia despite now receiving a penalty for an engine change post session
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - Has to be awarded some points for being the only loony joining in with the dance a certain mad Korean has plagued the internet with. 
• 3pts - Narain Karthikeyan - for missing Di Resta when spinning down the back straight after the brake failure
• 2pts - Pastor Maldonado - not for qualifying but for a truly epic slide during Friday practice 
• 1pt -  Mother's Car - After reflecting on the specs of the vehicle it turned out that Wikipedia claims it has the same weight as a current F1 car - at 640kg so deserves a point.

The penalty points championship

As there have been no actual penalties dished out for driving infractions - Pic took an engine penalty but nothing else, we move swiftly on to the penalty points series where there are some additions today.

• Michael Schumacher - for sitting around at the end of the pit lane for no apparent reason at the beginning of Q3
• Lewis Hamilton - for being all manner of impatient, just calm down seriously - diving past people in the pit-lane is not recommended.
• Mercedes - Sending both cars out at the front of the lane just to cycle round on an outlap

Looking to tomorrow

Well it's not that too far ahead from now as this has once more taken in inordinately long amount of time, and the race is scheduled to kick off on in the small hours of the morning - I'll let the sky box wake up and handle it. Because of all the early races the Korean GP is not the sort of event that would inspire anyone to force themselves out of bed that early on. There are parallels that can be drawn to Japan last weekend, as there are two blue cars on the front row looking to drive off in to the distance leaving the rest to sort it out among themselves. The fact that the cars are closer on the timesheets could help reduce the domination factor this time, combined with the fact that Mr Tilke has drawn an entire sector devoted to overtaking. 

One thing that could influence the nature of the race is the prevalence of safety car interventions, something that has been a factor of both previous Korean race, although the debut event was more of an exercise in drowning. With four hours of rain and silliness, involving multiple safety car interventions, and last time Petrov and Schumacher had a coming together in turn three - the closeness of the walls and limited infrastructure trackside does increase the likelihood of needing a safety car incident. Strategies for the race do seem to veer towards one or two visits to the pit-lane - discounting any advantage low users like Sauber or Lotus may have across the race distance. I am rather hoping that by keeping expectations fairly low that the race will spring a surprise in the same vane that Valencia produced earlier. So until later on tomorrow evening this is farewell from my here at Blog HQ.

Round 16: South Korea Preview 2012

Greetings Internet,

The pace of the final phase of the season is relentless, with races paired up in back-to-back events - last week we had the traditional high speeds of Japan's brilliant Suzuka circuit, and this week we don't. Instead replacing the idyllic corners with a plateau of unused land somebody decided to stick a race track to. In the short space of time between races not too much has had time to elapse, no more drive change confirmations, as the world is still waiting on the final decision on Massa, many assume that he will remain there in a Ferrari, while others remain slightly skeptical. Here at blog HQ however, we've noticed a significant improvement in Felipe's driving and has been scoring well in the bonus points stakes in the past two races. Duelling two wide across the Andersson Bridge in Singapore is a reflection of that, maybe this can be traced to a degree of confidence in his future job security. Or on the other hand, a desperate attempt to rescue it.

Elsewhere Ricciardo is staking his claim to a continued drive in the sport down in Toro Rosso, the Australian has been more competitive than Vergne, despite both drivers being graduates of the British F3 Series. However Toro Rosso does have a habit of binning drivers on a regular basis, the entire 2011 squad was flushed out of the system despite both putting in some strong drives, Jaime Alguersuari even did quite well in the bonus points standings. However this time things are a little different, Red Bull doesn't have the same quantity of development drivers to swap in - previously their program was over-populated leading to instablity. There are still drivers in the system, the likes of Carlos Sainz Jnr for example in British F3, but for now the team does need consistency to move forwars, instead of being a development factory for the main Red Bull team.

But before those questions can be answered, the series rolls into Yeongnam - for the third running of the South Korean GP.

Circuit graphic credit to the FIA

The Track

The Korean circuit is one of stark contrasts, and unfulfilled promises - back in 2010 when the track and location were announced we were shown all manner of 3D graphics of the plans for development and the final targets. Those videos looked interesting, an implementation of a unique topology, instead of taking the road network of a city and attemting to thread a track through it, Korea planned to do the opposite. First build the track with the pit facilities and other infrastructure requirements, and then surround it with hotels, villas and leisure activities. Inevitably this lead to compromises in the layout where certain structures were going to be constructed, but steered away from the endless strings of 90 degree corners that often plague street circuits.

Has any of that happened, well no, not by a long margin - none of the planned structures have even started production - from reports on the internet it seems no-one has even been to the track since it was used last year. Citing problems like weed propagation in the paddock area, illustrating that the track is highly underused and not particularly well maintained. In 2010, there were concerns about the track not being ready in time, and we arrived to find some of it looking a little like a building site, but to find the same thing two years later is a little disappointing.

Despite the track having as desolate of a social life as I have here at Blog HQ, it is the layout which is the most important thing, the teams tend not to turn up planning to race in the spectator areas. However there isn't too much to write home about here - granted it is a lot better than what Valencia had put together - but it seems a little forced and artificial. The opening sector has no driving challenge or excitement value about it whatsoever, only existing to provide a place for cars to overtake - erasing any requirement for innovation of intution. Making it obvious where the next pass is going to occur, exacerbated by some questionable design ideas - the pit exit road is a key flaw. Turns 4-6 for example come across as completely unecessary, I can see they tried to emulate the final sequence at the now booted Istanbul circuit but it really hasn't worked. Of course the original idea is not exactly a work of art to start off with.

After that however things do start to improve (well it couldn't get too much worse) as the initial corners of the second half of the track are quite nice, gentle inclines mixed with high speed corners. Aided by the fact they are not all simple full speed kinks, a little bit of thought is needed to stay on the road, because this phase was designed to be outside the resort complexes. As the track returned to the realm if imaginary development relics of the unfinished project start to become visible - for example the positioning of conrete walls at the side of the track. Something which still seems alien on a permanent circuit, it would be like deciding to coat the entire Arena section at Silverstone with immovable barriers....hmm on second thought. Anyway the layout and configuration of these coners just seems to be a little out of sync, you expect Spa and Suzuka to flow seamlessly, while Montreal and Albert Park are more of a stop-start format. Korea sits awkwardly in the middle of the two, the same can be said of Abu Dhabi as well, maybe it will take some getting used to - as in comparision to other circuits it is one I have completed few laps on to find a decent line through.

At the end of the lap, there is another rather odd feature, where a curved concrete corridor was planned to curve around the circumferance of a marina section. As with the rest of the plans, there is no marina section and I doubt there ever will be, as a result the corner exists completely on it's own, collecting dust between the barriers making it an interesting challenge. Are the flashes of greatness enough to presever the event's position in the calendar, probably not - a list of countries are wanting to join the championship and there is limited time during the year to vist them all. Therefore some venues will be under pressure to improve or risk being replaced, Istanbul and Valencia have been the recent losses, so will Korea follow them through the exit. I guess it all depends on Bernie, he'll have the competing offers from Russia, South Africa and a crazy proposal I sense coming from Greece.

Before Korea is banished never to return it might be a good idea to release this weeks video, brought to you this time in full 1080p HD - things have changed a little at blog HQ in the hardware department. But all the extra power still didn't prevent me from trying to upload the content at 2am this morning, only makes the recording process a lot smoother and in much shinier detail, so here is the introduction to the Korean GP.

What to expect

Well the track is a significant world away from the format of last week's race in Suzuka, but there are still some elements which are transferrable, especially away from the dull opening sector. As a result it can be assumed that Red Bull will be very strong as the updates they applied in Japan were successful in producing a major performance update. The margins will be closer to the rest of the field, allowing McLaren and Ferrari a chance to challenge for the win over the course of the weekend, something that should please Alonso after the monumental cut his lead took last time out. In terms of the championship, well the less important one governed by FIA points, it will likely be Raikkonen who will lose out in the Lotus unless of course the team have a few secrets hidden away.

As the season progresses the boundaries between the divisions become increasingly blurred with mid-field teams scoring podium finishes and significant points hauls. But in this group there has been a emerging shift in the heirachy, Sauber have risen to the front of the group, getting both cars into the top ten in qualifying more regularly. In their ascendency they hace pulled foward Force India who also took strong results in Spa and Singapore with 4th places in both events, this leaves Williams who are falling back a little - not quite Toro Rosso far back but a long way from where they were earlier in the season. Maldonado has managed to draw some impressive qualifying results from the car, but on balance development has stalled out in comparison to the immediate competition. This should come as an incentive to the STR team, who like in 2011, have produced a better car at the end of the year, Korea was a strong race for them last season so the compression in the mid-field is set to increase. Applying pressure on the likes of Mercedes at the tail end of the front divsion.

Down here at the back of the grid some degree of normality has been restored, in Singapore the Catherham team were caught in qualifying and then overtaken during the race - losing their place in the championship. But back on a more traditional track in Japan the order returned to its former form, where Marussia were in second behind the green machines battling with HRT in their own little world. This weekend however presents a half way medium between Singapore and Suzuka as such, and therefore the margins between the cars back here could be just as intriguing.

The Blog prediction effort

Well I started this additional feature for the first race of the season and can conlude that it has been a complete and utter failure, it bears no relevance and has no contextual value, all it does serve to do is demonstrate that after writing down all these words every weekend I still have no idea what is going to happen. In a way that is a testament to the amount of fluctation in form and performances that has evolved this season, so I shall press on and have a go at sorting out the Korean GP

1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Alonso
4. Hamilton
5. Raikkonen
6. Webber
7. Rosberg
8. Massa
9. Perez
10. Hulkenberg

Qualfying

• Red Bull - Vettel
• McLaren - Hamilton
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Lotus - Grosjean
• Mercedes - Rosberg
• Sauber - Kobayashi
• Force India - Hulkenberg
• Williams - Maldonado
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

So there you go, the premise to the Korean GP, looking at the relative speed of the cars and the nature of the track, the times and competition could turn out to be rather close and transferably interesting. Across the weekend the track will evolve more than some of the other venues as a result of it barely being used for anything other than the F1 event, meaning it collects dust and debris throughout the year. Exacerbated slightly by the fact that some of the lap is walled in and surrounded by undeveloped land.

Despite presenting some of the most unimaginative layout design in the history of the universe the track does have some redeeming and interesting features posing unique challenges to the drivers, and in contrast to some modern facilities little room for error in places. One slight downer is that the race weekend is predicted to be dry in its entirity, and it is a venue that could benefit from a little moisture, perhaps not to the extreme extent that the 2010 race was plagued by, but enough to make it a bit more exiting. Overall there is a vague promise that the event can be exiting and dynamic, so until next time this is farewell from the blog.

Round 15 - Japan Review

Greetings Internet,

Well our adventure out in the far east has now been brought to it's conclusion and all the boxes and crates are being hauled away for the short hop to South Korea. There were some fears here at the blog head-quarters that the race could turn into a simple processional event because overtaking is difficult on a track like Suzuka. That difficulty did come across in the race especially considering when cars on alternate strategies and ageing tyres getting involved in those contending for the podium. It was a race which had intrigue at both ends of the race starting off with a major championship changing event through the first corner.

Elsewhere the Japanese GP reflected some of the trends that we have seen unravel across the season and some localised traditions reappearing on track. At the end we had a not entirely unpredictable result at the front of the grid, but for the rest of the major points scoring positions the results were very popular. Not only at the track in front of the enthusiastic crowd, but through the world of formula one, and more importantly here in the small world of Blog HQ. If I wasn't attempting to maintain a neutral blog perspective there would have been all kinds of jumping and gesticulations at the television. Much in the same way that the majority of the field have been trying to restrain themselves from unleashing towards a certain accident prone Frenchman.

The Race

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

As it did yesterday the Suzuka circuit looked as fantastic as ever in the afternoon sun, as here at the headquarters the power of time delayed tv coverage, which is better than dealing with the 7am original race start. Of course there is the added advantage of having additional cake when the race is shown at a more hospitable time of the day. So with pre-race toasties prepared we were in position for the 53 laps of the spectacular Japanese GP, where the only small moment of concern fluttered around the Red Bull of Mark Webber as a small piece of something was seen coming off his car as it toured round to the grid. An investigation from the team indicated that the piece was picked up off the circuit and was not representative of any damage to the car. 

At the start Vettel and Kobayashi made the best of the starts escaping from the field ahead of Webber and Grosjean. A little further back Button was charging up the field, running three wide with Alonso and Raikkonen approaching the first corner, perhaps someone should have reminded Fernando that is was Kimi's Lotus on the outside. The Ferrari edged away from the McLaren but into the Lotus forcing Kimi onto the grass, Fernando later said that he expected Kimi to get out of the throttle at this point. Assuming Raikkonen was going unessecarily give position that easily became a problem for Alonso as the Lotus didn't yield to the Spaniard. There was wing to wheel contact and Fernando suffered an instant rear puncture sending he spinning into the gravel, almost spinning back into the oncoming back of traffic - but out of the race.

While all this was unfolding in turn one, at the top of the screen in the second corner there was more carnage with more spacial awareness failings this time for Romain Grosjean... again, probably now overtaking Maldonado's quantity of accidents. The Lotus was focusing on the Sauber on his outside of the corner and seemed to forget there were other cars involved in the race, in the same part of the track, and drove into the side of Mark Webber spinning him off to the inside. As the group backed up to avoid the collision Senna ran into the back corner of Rosberg's Mercedes knocking the German out of the race. From the melee the safety car was deployed and Senna, Grosjean and Webber pitted for repairs and tyres - the former two receiving penalties for their actions. A 10s stop and go was handed to Grosjean which is something that hasn't been issued in a while to a driver, but Romain has built a habit of binning people on the opening lap.

On the restart Vettel was able to build a gap from Kobayashi in second, the Sauber receiving a lot of attention in the chicane before the drop of the green flag. The second of the Saubers was attempting to make a move round the outside of Kimi Raikkonen through the first two corners, but the Finn wasn't having any of it as per normal easing One-Stop Perez out and off into the run-off space allowing Hamilton's McLaren through. Through the opening lap spins and contact Button was now running 3rd and Massa in fourth, but also worth noting was Kovalainen in 11th just outside the points and Schumacher recovering from a 10 place drop before the race. There was a little period of calm after some of the over-exuberance early on, where all the investigations and penalties were doled out to the villains of the first two corners, as the DRS system was deactivated following the restart.

Things slid back into action down at the hairpin where we saw a Sauber diving down the inside of a McLaren, this time it wasn't Kobayashi in his favourite overtaking spot, but One-Stop Perez catching Hamliton off guard with a brilliant pass. In the early stages Hamliton's pace was not up with the cars around him and came under pressure from the next car in line - Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. There were also problems in the Mercedes garage where their remaining car had lost all telemetry, something that has become more of an issue, the third car in as many races with data transmission issues. Life was much easier at the front where Vettel was having a very easy drive with a decent gap to Kamui, and Button was slowly drifting back towards the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. 

While not too much was going on it was a good time to start the pit stops no-one was coming in too early do confirm they were running a three-stop race, but not too late to rule out the possibility in case plan B was needed. However there were some drivers staying out a little longer, cementing the predominant strategy, which caused problems for those in the top half of the field, mainly caused by the Torro Rosso team. Two pairs of drivers found themselves trapped behind one of each of the STR cars - Kimi and Hulkenberg found themselves trapped behind Vergne; while Kamui and Button were stuck behind Ricciardo. As these drivers were being hampered others benefited, none more so than Felipe Massa who jumped ahead of Kobayashi into 2nd. Eventually the Sauber driver was able to defeat the Australian, naturally using his favourite corner to get the job done and pull out a gap while Button attempted the same feat. 

Hamilton also gained from the first round of stops, emerging back ahead of the Sauber that passed him earlier in the race, but Perez was carrying more pace than the McLaren. Sergio came across the Lewis once more into the renamed Kobayashi corner, Hamilton defended catching Perez out a little forcing him to dive to outside to avoid contact. The Sauber slid on the marbles on the outside and ended up facing the barrier sitting in the gravel in retirement. Raikkonen on the other hand was doing a better job of getting past people, first using DRS to dispatch Vergne into the first corner, before catching Heikki's Caterham (which at this point was in the points) on the run towards Spoon. Due to the massive difference in car pace the pass was easy in the end down the inside of the first part of the corner. Further up the grid there were some concerned faces on the McLaren pitwall as Jenson reported a gearbox issue, and after Hamliton's erupted in Singapore, but the problem was traced to some damaged sensors on the rear of the car and not race threatening. 

The small flurry of activity had once more settled down once more once the majority of the cars had cycled through their the pit-stops. Vettel had gone and remained gone a long way in the distance from Massa in second, Kamui completed the podium at this point with button in 4th, Raikkonen and Hamliton were contending for 5th. All the way down the field order was being restored and penalties from the opening lap being sorted out - Kovalainen was being shuffled back from the lofty heights of being in the points back towards the rest of the newer teams as the likes of Senna and Grosjean recovered from lowly running positions. Some fluctuation in the relative distances between the main runners up front suggested change was possible as Massa chipped time from Vettel and the same with Button catching Vettel but the differences were minimal. 

So we shall wheel ahead to the second round of pit-stops and Hamilton's call to pit came a little earlier than he had planned - just as he started setting strong sector times the team brought him in as they saw a chance to pass Kimi. As long as the stop was close to the 2.5s mark - making it a rather close call, and things got just as close as Lewis left the lane and rejoined the track. Both cars arrived into the first corner two wide with Hamilton on the outside, Kimi fought for the place but had to turn out of the the corner to avoid contact in turn two losing the position to the McLaren. Jenson was in the same situation with his battle with Kobayashi, a good stop could take the position, but it wasn't to be as a little issue on a front wheel delayed the stop and the Sauber held onto third place. Back outside the points something interesting was emerging, Senna on a set of soft tyres was setting an array of fastest laps. This raised the question of who else was going to have a go on the alternate compound to gain speed towards the end of the lap, but only Schumacher on the fringe of making it into the points decided to have a go. 

Senna found himself behind the Force India of Paul Di Resta with considerably more pace, and for a while this was the only battle in the entirety of the field, as everyone else had spaced themselves out after the final stops. Bruno struggled to find away past the Scotsman who had enough pace on the main straight to counter the DRS attacks on the main straight. Therefore the Williams driver needed to be a little more inventive, and the move came in the most unlikely of places, after getting a strong run on the exit of Spoon corner Senna went to the outside towards 130R. Luckily Bruno was able to complete the pass before the turn in point to the corner, because running two wide on worn tyres through that bend would likely result in a lot of damage and a visit to the tyre barrier. 

As the laps ticked down towards the end of the race two battles were starting to develop, as the fight for the victory was effectively over yesterday and Massa was secured in second. But things were not certain for the final podium finish, as Button was closing methodically on Kamui hoping to steal the place from the local hero at the end of the race. Something that wouldn't go down too well with the crowd. At the opposite end of the points Schumacher was trying to take tenth place away from the Torro Rosso of Ricciardo and the final championship point. It was a tense few laps for both battles especially the duel for third place, as Button eeked closer to the Sauber, it was scary here at blog HQ and conflicted. On the one hand it would have been nice to see last season's bonus points champion do well, but it would have been so much better to see Kamui to hang on to the podium at his first race when fighting for his drive. 

Out front Vettel was so far ahead he had already finished by this point, and Massa was able to drive the remaining Ferrari home for an important podium and his first since Korea 2010 continuing a good run of form to save his drive. The battle for the podium went to the line, but Kamui absorbed all the pressure Button could deliver to keep the position and score a fantastic podium position on his home track - if that doesn't resurrect his drive not much else will. Behind Button was Hamilton, benefiting from other strategies and co-operation from Raikkonen to claim 5th ahead of the Finnish driver. More points for Force India delivered by Nico Hulkenberg in 7th, while Maldonado finished 8th as Grosjean starts to claim his title as the Villain of the series. The top ten was rounded out by Webber in 9th recovering from the initial lap spin after being hit by the Lotus, and Ricciardo held off Schumacher to take the final point in tenth place. 

The bonus points championship points winners

The Japanese GP has proven to be a great success, with immensely popular results towards the front of the grid, with some strong recovery drives and important career saving performances across the field. But if there is anything more important than keeping your seat are the all important bonus points. 

• 25pts - Kamui Kobayashi - A fantastic first podium finish in front of the local crowd
• 18pts - Felipe Massa - Another very important result when his team-mate made a mess of the opening corner
• 15pts - Mark Webber - A strong recovery drive after being binned in turn two and not being allowed to catch the train of cars before the restart
• 12pts - Jenson Button - A very strong start from 8th to 3rd, avoiding the melee and pressuring the Sauber to the end of the race
• 10pts - Sebastien Vettel - Suppose there should be some points for being so dominant
• 8pts - Bruno Senna - Has to have some points for going round the outside of Grosjean in 130R
• 6pts - Lewis Hamilton  - A decent drive considering the flaws in the pace of the car, and racing with Kimi through turn one
• 4pts - One-Stop Perez - A great first move on Hamilton on lap 6, would have been more if the second one worked out too
• 2pts - Pastor Maldonado - Scoring points without hitting people in a solid and well behaved race
• 1pt - Daniel Ricciardo - For holding off the charge of Schumacher's Mercedes for the last point

The penalties series

After the Belgian GP where things were quite a lot heated in the first corner and penalties were issued across the weekend things were calmer and more well behaved, however that run ended this weekend and some penalties have been issued as follows. 

• Romain Grosjean - 10s Stop and Go Penalty - For hitting Webber in the second corner
• Bruno Senna - Drive through penalty - For hitting Rosberg in the melee
• Vitaly Petrov - Drive through penalty - For ignoring blue flags at some point during the race

The penalty points series 

Where the stewards didn't take action against the drivers or other entities there is always this championship to take care of things. Today there is only one addition to things and it really only adds further insult to rather disastrous afternoon for Romain Grosjean. Being handed a penalty point for pulling the car into retirement without there actually being a problem with it.

Looking forward to Korea

Sadly we do have to drive away from Japan and the traditional undulating sweepers and legendary curves of Sukuka, but the calendar moves on at a relentless pace. In less than a week the first practice session will be underway in South Korea, at an event which is at risk of losing it's place on the calendar for future seasons. Initial plans claimed a whole city of resorts and attractions would spring up around the track, but in the two years the series has visited no progress has been made. Some of the track still looked like a building site in the second running of the event.

As a track it is another Tilke effort and is a lap of two distinct phases, one designed to challenge the cars and be enjoyable to drive, and the other half only existing to allow passing and encourage some overtaking. The result is a that neither phase works particularly well and some elements are just appalling and badly suited to high power open wheel racing. But some interesting weather in it's début race rectified the flaws in the layout. Some of the track that has been engineered to reflect a street environment that was never actually built can prove difficult to remove stricken cars as shown by Schumacher's crash last season opening the door for more safety car interventions. So while on the surface Korea can seem like an uneventful race, but there are chances for more unpredictability and entertainment, so until then this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.

Round 15 - Japan Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

In the early hours of the morning the next qualifying session of the season took place while the majority of the people here in this part of the world were asleep, I certainly was. But fortunately there was a lump of plastic there to handle the recording for me which is always helpful, because crawling out of bed at 6am is not something that takes place all too often. When I finally managed to wake up it was a session of contradictions where some things were all too familiar, and others proved to be a little more interesting. In the end it was almost like being transported back in time to a realm of complete and total dominance out front with a front row lock-out and 0.7s back to the nearest other team.

The track looked as resplendent as always, proving that you don't need lightyears of tarmac run-off areas stretching out into the horizon for a circuit to fit into the modern calendar. A narrower lap lined with grass and gravel before a shorter run to the tyre walls, the challenge of the circuit showed up in the practice sessions as both Force Indias visited the wall. We also saw the retiring (again) Schumacher spin off on the entry to Spoon corner and also find himself in the tyres. There were a fair amount of moments which could also have resulted in contact with the wall, Maldonado in Degner one was a significant one. But all the trackside attention is naturally directed towards the local hero Kamui Kobayashi, although the Japanese fans retained a high degree of support for those who formerly drove for the home teams of Honda and Super-aguri, both former homes to the other Japanese blog legend and current Indycar driver Takuma Sato. However it is time to move swiftly on to qualifying as due to the time difference, the race is not too far away.

Qualifying

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

As the session was planning to get underway we were once more informed of impending grid penalties for technical difficulties, this time for Jenson Button. Additionally Hulkenberg was sitting in the garage while repairs were being made on his car after he crashed it in the morning session in Degner two, and concerns over the stability of the Caterham rear wing after it fell off at the end of FP2. Everyone else was looking towards the bottom of the pit lane, where Red Bull were feared to be an unstoppable force coming into the session.

It was Paul Di Resta that started things off, making up for the loss of time throughout second practice after his accident in Spoon. He was followed by a wide range of mid-field teams including Williams and Torro Rosso. Di Resta set the initial time, a tenth clear of One-stop Perez's Sauber, before the Lotus team sent their two drivers out and they went straight to the top of the timesheets split only by 0.15s. Contrasting fortunes were erupting in the Willams pit garage while Senna set the third fastest time, Maldonado came back in with some technical issue and frantic work took place on the Venezuelan's car. Out on the track One-Stop Perez took a little too much curb on the way into the Dunlop corner, as a result the car went out wide and embarked on a long voyage through the gravel, but without hitting anyone. 

More levels of intrigue were unravelling as Felipe Massa went fastest maintaining the three tenth gap he had over Alonso across the weekend - something that would bode well for his hopes of remaining at Ferrari. The other main runners were starting to impact on the session with Webber going second and both McLarens placing inside the top 6. Down at the lower end of the grid the relegation looked a little odd, with Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Vettel and Maldonado languishing at the bottom of the timings. But Vettel had no problem making it through, while Maldonado and Nico opted to go straight to the softer tyres to escape relegation. This left Schumacher needing to make it through and drop either Vergne or Senna out in his place, with his final lap Michael did break through by a tiny margin of half a tenth. As for the other two drivers, they were not making friends with each other - Vergne was trying to make space for his lap and got in the way of Bruno Senna. As the Brazilian drove past he waved all manner of gesticulations at the Frenchman, to which Jean-Eric replied by repassing the Williams before turn one. The end result was that Bruno was in and Vergne was out.

Off into the second phase of qualifying, and it was local favourite Kamui Kobayashi who left the garage first, much to the adoration of the Japanese crowd, setting a modest time in the process. Which didn't stand too long, as Vettel came out and destroyed Kamui's lap by over a second underlining the pace in that car. It quickly got very busy on circuit with the majority of the cars circulating which lead to problems once more at the final chicane, four cars were trying to leave each other enough space to complete their laps. Normally this doesn't cause too much of a problem but with the high speed 130R corner preceding zone of compression and cars on a fast lap behind it gets complicated. Cue Paul Di Resta having to weave through a maze of slowing cars to finish his lap, with Webber on the outside, but Grosjean was slowing up on the racing line forming a slow rolling chicane on the braking zone.

As with last race there was a mid-session break in Q2 where only Schumacher was driving round on the track all by his self - a reflection of his now empty solitary career prospects. This lead to a frantic final phase of the section, with a flurry of cars on track - positions started to change rapidly -  Rosberg made it through but within a minute was bumped into relegation. The Saubers both made their way into the next round, with Kamui leading the team, he was to be joined by Hulkenberg's Force India. This meant that falling out of the session were both the Mercedes drivers, which won't be helping Hamilton's prospects for the next season, Maldonado also failed to make it through. In contrast to the earlier form of the day Massa was in relegation and defeated by Alonso for the first time of today. As Grosjean dumped Felipe out of the final promotional place.

Ten minutes remained to settle the line-up for the 2012 Japanese GP, on one of the greatest tracks of the season. Raikkonen and Hamilton were the first two drivers to venture out at the beginning of the session, out of the two it was Kimi who set the pace a tenth clear of Lewis. But a little further round the lap the two Red Bulls were setting purple sectors to dominate the challenge for pole, Vettel was first and set another dominating time 1.3s clear of the field. A small mistake by Webber in Kobayashi corner cost him a couple of tenths dropping into second behind his team-mate. The only driver to even come close to matching the pole time was Button - another local favourite - but even his efforts were almost half a second down. Grosjean made it into fifth before everyone ventured into the garage for the mid phase break.

Prepared with a fresh set of tyres the cars headed back out onto the track attempting to challenge the dominant power of the Red Bull team currently locking out the front row. One-Stop Perez was the first of the drivers to complete a lap, to move ahead of the Lotus team into 5th. However improvements were to be few and far between because Raikkonen had brought out the yellow flags after spinning on the astroturf in Spoon corner. Not something that phased Kamui however, who kept the boot in all the way round the lap, setting an impressive time to take 4th, much to the pleasure of the crowd. Everyone else was hampered by the spinning Lotus, which confirmed the inevitable result of a Red Bull 1-2, with Button 3rd (but demoted to 8th due to the penalty). This means Kobayashi will start 3rd at home ahead of Grosjean and Perez, behind Sergio lies current championship leader Alonso with Raikkonen. Button will slot back into the grid in 8th, still in front of the other McLaren of Hamilton, while Massa ended 10th following another technical penalty for Hulkenberg. 

The bonus points championship points winners

From an interesting session with some points of inconsistency and some surprising results there are to be points awarded to the following contenders.

• 10pts - Kamui Kobayashi - For being strongest competition for the top three runners and lining up 3rd on the grid tomorrow morning.
• 8pts - Jenson Button - For being the only person able to compete directly with the Red Bull team this weekend
• 6pts - Mark Webber - Despite making a mistake at the hairpin, remaining on terms with the german bloke out front
• 5pts - Sebastien Vettel - Frankly for being a little dominant once more in Japan
• 4pts - Kimi Raikkonen - For his post race interview, stating how little he cared about the people affected by his spin, and being hilariously deadpan
• 3pts - Felipe Massa - For the majority of the session being ahead of his team-mate
• 2pts - Paul Di Resta - For avoiding the maze of cars on the exit of 130R 
• 1pt - One-Stop Perez - Scoring a nice new drive in the 2013 McLaren

The penalties championship

This morning was not a penalty free affair and here are the ones issued.

• Jean-Eric Vergne - Three place grid drop - Blocking Senna in the final chicane
• Kimi Raikkonen - 2200 EUR fine for speeding in pit lane in FP1
• Giedo Van Der Garde - 400 EUR for speeding in pit lane in FP1

The Penalty points championship

For the most part people were well behaved but there was some bunching up on the entrance to the Casio Triangle chicane and it is there where the penalty points will be aimed today.

• Romain Grosjean  - for slowing down and waiting on the racing line, while cars on a flying lap are trying to get through
• Nico Hulkenberg - for not setting a time in Q3, thought you'd got away with it but none escapes a penalty point
• Bruno Senna - as noted in commentry if he just drove away from vergne he could get a lap in but slowed down to wave angrily

Looking to tomorrow

The Japanese GP, generally doesn't echo of enthralling wheel to wheel racing for 90 minutes - it is flowing track which doesn't encourage too much overtaking, even with the DRS. The only main overtaking locations are into the final chicane and into the first corner at the end of the DRS zone, unless of course you are Kobayashi, then the hairpin is also an option. So in that respect there is a reliance on the tyre degredation to increase the amount of on track action, meaning that the latter phase of the race could become more interesting than the intial stint. 

In terms of a result, it can be assumed that the Red Bulls will probably vanish off into the distance not to be seen until the flag falls at the end leaving only one place on the podium up for grabs. On the grid Kobayashi leads that charge, but on raw pace the Sauber will be weaker than those around it. Which could mean that this part of the grid could offer some intrigue, throwing both Saubers into that could add something to the mix. There is enough in this race to chase away the prospect of a processional event, and that worked well on a dull track in Valencia so on the epic turns of Suzuka the results can be fantastic. So until tomorrow this is farewell from the blog.

Round 15: Japan Preview 2012

Greetings Internet

Well, well, well. In the brief space of time following the racing under the lights in Singapore things have developed a little - all in the realm of the driver market. As the teams packed things away a fortnight ago the line-ups were hanging waiting for something to swing into action. All eyes were focused to the front of the grid where the key players were responsible for deciding the fate of the rest of the grid. Rumors were circulating around both Massa and Hamilton and their futures with their current teams - and it is those decisions which seem now to be cemented into position and set things into motion. Firstly with Massa, some dodgy performances had called his position into question and replacement seemed to be on the cards, but now it appears that Ferrari are retaining the services of the Brazilian. Then there is the Hamilton situation, where theories connected the McLaren driver to the Mercedes team, which seemed to be a crazy idea, leaving the fastest car on the grid to a slower team.

Last week that decision was made, and surprisingly Hamilton decided to go - so we can assume that Lewis knows something the rest of the world doesn't, most likely with respect to their 2014 program. Because the 2013 car will be probably as far off the pace as they are at the moment, waiting for the new engine regulations for the year after that, where it is possible that Mercedes could have an advantage then. This leaves a hole at McLaren and an overbooked seat at Mercedes, it was revealed that Button will be joined by Sauber's One-Stop Perez, and heading out of the series to make room for the emigrating McLaren driver is Oh Schu...macher. As the German is heading off into retirement for the second time - assuredly permanently this time around.

Now that is all cleared up time to move things along onto the matter of the next race on the calendar, and we are staying in Asia this time moving from Singapore off to Japan. To the land of giant city destroying reptiles, robots and talking lavatories - what more could anyone want from a country. Waiting in this exotic eastern land is Suzuka, a wonderful undulating circuit full of challenging high-speed corners and technical sections. The penultimate traditional layout of the season, and one of the most impressive laps of the entire season.

Qualifying

Even the circuit diagram looks impressive, for example looking at the lap of Spa and driving round it in the sim are completely different, but this time round the challenge oozes from the screen. The track is one designed by the same designer behind Zandvoort in Holland and the similarities can be seen in the flowing nature of the lap. Additionally these traditional layouts don't suffer the dual personality issues the modern interpretations have seemed to introduce so separate the racing from the challenging sectors.

Here the opening sector is one of the best sequences of corners on the entire calendar, from the double apexed turn one and two, and cascading up through the slalom section climbing the hill - each corner slightly tighter than the last. Where each phase of the sequence is marginally different and a unique challenge, ending with the Dunlop corner which opens out on the exit. Following this are the two degner curves, the first is fantastic, just short application of the brakes filtering into the second phase which is cambered brilliantly before heading underneath the crossover section.

After the tunnel, is the slowest corner on the track - renamed here in the localized world of blog HQ as Kobayashi corner on account of Kamui passing almost everyone during the race in 2010 at the hairpin. The exit radiates round gradually on a narrower section of the track towards spoon corner either named because it looks remotely likely like a utensil, or something relating to the honda tuning company. Spoon exits onto the back straight over the top of the crossover section towards the fastest corner of the track - 130R. In this era of high downforce the corner is not longer so much of a challenge - some teams even able to negotiate it using the DRS system. To finish the lap there is the casio triangle chicane, brought in a safety measure before the final corner, the only blemish on the lap as such. But it still manages to fit and offers an overtaking zone towards the end of the lap.

But here is the video introduction to the Suzuka circuit, which has been filmed back in the original blogmobile that the season was kicked off with before the controller died. As it has be replaced I have enough control and precision needed to manage running the F1 car, not that it helped the lap time which is still a long way off the pace, but these things happen.

What to expect

In contrast to Singapore last time, this is a fast flowing track without the array of tight traction limited corners on a temporary racing surface. This means rather than Mechanical grip being the priority, the balance slips more towards aero grip. Therefore the power deficit that some of the teams have will be countered by an advantage in downforce and aero performance, namely playing towards the Red Bull team mostly. On that note we can assume that all three of the major teams will be in contention for the pole and victory, with the possible addition of the Lotus team. Amid the main runners it would not be too much of a surprise if the mid-grid teams do not make an appearance towards the front, both Sauber and Williams have found front row grid positions in the past three races.

Which means the middle of the field competition is much closer as the season comes closer to the conclusion in Brazil, the likes of Force India, Willams and Sauber have been scoring significant points recently. Two forth place finishes for the Force India team indicating that their pace seems to come to the fore more in the races than in qualifying - in contract to their immediate competition. This does cause a slight problem for Torro Rosso, are a little adrift from the rest of the mid-field teams, but despite that on raceday the team has been scoring points. Sometimes as a result of attrition from other teams but the race-pace of their car is an improvement also from their qualifying pace.

Down at the back of the grid, things are changing - once we had an almost infallible system where Caterham were out front and nothing ever changed since the teams joined the sport back in 2010. However last race saw Marussia catch the green cars on ultimate lap pace actually forming a challenge to the order of things. Then in the race, Marussia went ahead on track, and in the championship ordering, a result of a large jump in development and with the handicap of not running KERs. Consequently this leaves HRT out on their own down the back of the grid, the only thing going to plan there is the increase in equality across the team between the two drivers.

Blog predictions

Once more this is the section where I demonstrate that the championship is beyond prediction, with spontaneous mechanical failures and safety cars conspiring to make things even more unpredictable each weekend. Despite this the blog will still have a go at trying to guess what is going to befall us across the weekend.

1. Vettel
2. Hamilton
3. Webber
4. Alonso
5. Button
6. Raikkonen
7. Rosberg
8. Massa
9. Kobayashi
10. Grosjean

Qualifying battle

• Red Bull - Vettel
• Mclaren - Hamilton
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Lotus - Raikkonen
• Mercedes - Rosberg
• Sauber - Kobayashi
• Force India - Di Resta
• Williams - Maldonado
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

Well there we go then, everything is prepared for the start of the Japanese GP weekend, the first of the early time-zones at the far end of the season, where FP1 starts at 2am here in little old England. Safe to say for the main sessions of the weekend, will be caught at the re-run times when I have actually awoken from the darkened realm of sleep. It is one of the main disadvantages of Japan being all too far away, it would be far more convenient if the country could be relocated rather closer to HQ. One upside of moving the country would be that it would avoid the typhoon season that affects that area of the Pacific ocean, and due to Suzuka being on the southern coast is often exposed to the storms. Previous Japanese GP's have been affected by the severe rains, washing out qualifying completely in 2010, and forcing the track to be evacuated several years before that. 

This may not turn out to be one of the most enthralling races of the season, it is often the way with the more flowing layouts which lead to processional races. However some of the greatest moments have happened at the track Raikkonen victory in 2005 passing people in 130R and round the outside of the first corner to take the lead from Fishichella in a Renault (before acquiring Squadron status). So this weekend could go either way, and until Saturday this is farewell for now, when the next phase of the eastern adventure will be revealed. 

Round 14: Singapore Review

Greetings Internet,

Normally I'd open as night descends over the circuit, but that naturally occurred before the start of the race and traditionally the darkness and floodlights can unleash some craziness. We see in the NASCAR series over in America that for their night races - also with walls in close proximity, the drivers tend to be a little more wild, but things are generally quite unpredictable to start off with. Back here - or more accurately there on the nocturnal streets - things were a little more calm and serene, at least for the first half of the race anyway. Starting off very conserved and cautious, the possible conflict between the front row drivers never quite materialised. In the few races that have been held in Singapore some constants have been build, things that are almost certain - and this time out those elements didn't change, the SLS was on the track and the race ran up and over the two hour time limit as a result of the Mercedes taking to the circuit. We were also only a few metres away from a third consecutive Schumacher/Sauber confrontation.

It has been an afternoon of deep contrasts and to painfully apply a footballing analogy it was a race of two halves - which does make me feel a little ill just muttering it through my keyboard. But although it took a while to build, after the mid-race reset things did start to change with some of the most innovative overtaking efforts of the season and technical issues starting to effect many of the contenders across the field. We also had a small sprinkling of contact to round off the event, and one driver had a problem with a loose nut, which as D.C. pointed out is never something to recommend in the humid conditions...

credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

The Race

There is always an air of anticipation before a street race, some of the craziest races in the world have happened when the walls threaten to punish the slightest mistakes with race ending damage - even more so now in this era of health and safety run-offs. Valencia this season serves as a great example, not as a track, but the race this year over there was surprisingly impressive considering the lap is rather naff. It's the same as the grid in Monaco on the tighter, twisting European roads in contrast to the wider faster street configurations that exist in other locations round the globe.

All that anticipation was realised when the lights were extinguished and the front two cars left the line virtually in unison. Alonso made an uncharacteristically poor start and ended up with cars running four wide behind him avoiding running over each other while all drifting towards the pit-wall, as the cars reached turn one Webber and Rosberg ran out of room and went across the run-off. Right at the front, Maldonado went in a little too deep and lost position to Vettel which in turn opened the door for Button to claim third position from the Williams. In the middle of the pack, where any contact is likely to happen the long angle shots seemed to see that Kamui brushed his endplate on the back of Massa's Ferrari in a late dive into turn one, and somewhere in the group Vitaly Petrov perhaps on the back of the slowing Ferrari with it's rear puncture.

After half a lap of running two wide the field settled down as this is the longest race of the season, no-one wanted to make any crazy early moves on the car in front. While Hamilton was building a reasonably safe gap from Vettel in second - the two main challengers from qualifying heading the field. Button was dropping Maldonado and Alonso behind him. These opening laps were bordering in on the processional and Webber decided that he'd had enough of being in the queue and opted to pit in for a newer set of tyres, pitting first out of the main contenders. This being a street circuit there was a lack of overtaking with the first pass outside of the first lap falling to Bruno Senna making up for an technical grid penalty using the DRS system to out-drag Heikki into turn 7 at the end of the DRS straight.

Webber's switch onto newer rubber acted as a signal for the other drivers to consider making their stops, Vettel came in next and dropped in behind a long train of cars - with Perez immediately in front. On fresh tyres Sebastien was easily able to pass the Sauber on his out-lap. The McLaren cars were holding out longer on the tyres at this stage of the race, even though Hamilton claimed he had a funny feeling in the tyres - something he probably should be keeping to himself. Of the two it was Lewis who pitted first as Button was closing the gap as a result of not having any 'funny feelings'  rejoining safely ahead of Vettel. In the Ferrari garage Alonso also rejoined behind Perez who as per normal is still not pitting in the Sauber, after spending several laps in the wake of the Mexican, Fernando used a decent helping of KERs drive past on the way down to turn 14.

What was impressive was that no-one had made contact with the ominous walls as we approached one third race distance, but that stat was about to be altered as Timo Glock tried to enter the tunnel sideways, which didn't work out too well. But as with Grosjean in Q2 yesterday the plastic barriers didn't do too much damage to the Marussia and Timo was able to drive away without any major loss in pace. A little further up the two cars running longer - Hulkenberg and Perez pitted releasing Webber and Di Resta. Then we encountered the biggest development of the race, when Hamilton entered turn one the car emitted all kinds of terminal sounding noises, Lewis' funny feeling just became slightly less amusing as his gearbox managed to grind itself into oblivion. And sending Hamilton and his questionable feelings into an early retirement, gifting Vettel the lead.

Elsewhere in the middle of the points there was a train forming behind a Mercedes driver, although this time it wasn't Oh Schu....macher, instead Rosberg was becoming more popular with the immediate attentions of Grosjean in the Lotus. But the second silver car was also joining the battle pursued the other Lotus of Raikkonen, but no-one was able to make any impression on the car in front. As it was time for some more pit stops once more lead by Webber in the Red Bull, but a little further forward Maldonado and Alonso pitted - and left in formation. The pair dueled round the out-lap Fernando looking to the outside through turn 14 which became the inside to turn 15, and then the outside for 16, all the way through the drivers leaving enough room. Which is slightly unusual for Pastor who has spent a season hitting people and pushing them off the road so that was nice.

Just as we had finished being impressed with that battle the wall had gained another visitor this time on a more permanent basis. The car of Narain Karthikeyan had also found the barrier in the tunnel and removed the front wheel from the HRT and bringing out the inevitable safety car intervention. Several laps later of removing the damaged car and filtering the lapped cars out of the way, it was time for the restart, which Button seemed to think started a little earlier than it did, almost wiping out the back of Vettel's car when the field was in the German Bloke's control.

When the race did get underway everyone was once more well behaved and controlled, the only car encountering difficulties was the Sauber of One-Stop Perez as he lost a couple of positions half way round the lap. On the back straight past the theatres he had to go defensive to prevent Vergne taking the position - which in the end proved to be a very lucky escape, because behind the pair was Schumacher who does like to assault Saubers at this race. The Mercedes driver applied the brakes for turn 14, but not enough decelleration and in another Oh Sch...umacher moment ploughed into the car ahead, which for a defensive line was not Perez this year. The Torro Rosso of Vergne was not to lucky being wiped out by the sliding German car, and the safety car came back out again.

The second caution period forced everyone to the pits as they could make it to the end from here, it also helped out some of the drivers who had difficulties early on bringing both Massa and Senna into the points. Life was not going to plan on the other side of the Williams garage as he had to pull the car into retirement with hydraulic difficulties as we hear the radio message to Schumacher asking "What happened there?" and Michael cites confusing technical issues with the brakes not being able to avoid ramming Jean-Eric. More difficulties in the pit-lane as Vitaly Petrov's Caterham was allowed to leave with a loose nut but was recalled before entering the track.

It was another controlled restart, this time without anyone running over the back of each other or coming close but thing were going to get interesting. Felipe Mass and Senna were battling over the final two points positions where the Ferrari clearly had a significant advantage over the Williams - instead of using the standard overtaking zones Felipe decided to do something a little different. Cutting underneath Bruno out of turn 12 and running two wide across the Andersson Bridge, Senna pushed Massa into the barrier brushing bodywork with the Ferrari. Massa stayed in position and got all kinds of sideways down the other side of the crest claiming the position into the hairpin in easily the greatest pass of the day. Williams protested the incident citing that Massa took too much of the inside curb before the bridge, but the move stuck without action.

Massa was not done yet, quickly catching up to the back of Ricciardo's Torro Rosso, and this time the Brazilian got a better run through turn nine and was able to pass the Australian before the dodgy chicane at turn 10. His next target was the two Lotus drivers who were encouraged to swap positions to aid Kimi's Championship challenge meaning Grosjean was the next car in line for Felipe's charge. A second battle was brewing a little further back as Kamui Kobayashi who frankly was not having a good day was out of sequence running off the pace ahead of Webber, Hulkenberg and One-Stop Perez. It was towards the back of the train where impatience first started to shine through as Perez had a go at Nico coming off the bridge. Unlike Massa's pass this one was a little later on in the corner and therefore was not contact free. Sergio lost a wing element and Nico lost a turning vane from the sidepod but no major damage to either car. Two cars further forward Webber used the DRS to pass Kamui's Sauber, braking round the outside of turn 7. Nico Hulkenberg followed the Red Bull through the opening, but somehow there was contact between Kamui's front wing and Nico's rear tyre. Kobayashi's front wing was badly damaged and the Force India suffered a puncture taking both back to the pit lane.

Back in the Williams camp, Bruno Senna paid his fourth visit to the wall this weekend, on the exit of turn 9, only bumping a rear wheel on the plastic barriers, but the car had other problems, terminal problems causing another retirement for the team. At this point the race organisers had given up on completing the full race distance of 61 laps and started the timed countdown to the conclusion of the race, with Vettel and Button tracing a comfortable pace out front with Alonso completing the podium enhancing his championship position. A couple of battles had broken off through the field - Massa stuck behind Grosjean and Webber had found the back of his countryman Ricciardo in the remaining Torro Rosso to be a little too wide. Mechanical attrition and Schumacher had thinned the field diluting the race towards the end as the timer counted down.

Vettel crossed the line with one minute remaining to signify the final lap, a lap just to bring the car home for his second win of the season and helping him close slightly in on Alonso. Button finished the race on the podium, after the other McLaren fell out of the race earlier on in the first half, while the Ferrari of Fernando completed the podium scoring yet more points to limit Vettel's gain. In fourth position finished Paul Di Resta for his best ever finish for Force India. Rosberg managed to finish fifth without seemingly doing anything, probably swept up the grid due to attrition and the safety cars. The two Lotus cars came home in 6th and 7th headed by Raikkonen retaining 3rd place in the championship, Massa's manic final charge brought him up into 8th ahead of the pair of Australians Ricciardo ahead of Webber. One thing that is worth noticing two spots further back was Timo Glock - after bouncing off the wall defeated all of the newer teams to record the highest finish for any of the three lower division squads.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Today was the longest race of the season, in terms of green-flag running time - discounting the extended red flag break in Malaysia for the rain storm, failing to complete all of the 61 laps allocated, falling 2 short of the total. In a race of this length drivers have periods of greatness before fading through tyre degradation or having runs and strategies hampered by the safety car interventions. But nonetheless points need to be awarded and they are as follows.

• 25pts - Timo Glock - For defeating all of the newer cars after bouncing off the walls in the tunnel, knocking the toe out and to take 10th in the constructors for the team, all in all good day
• 18pts - Felipe Massa - That was a brilliant pass and recovery from an early race puncture
• 15pts - Paul Di Resta - Another fourth place for Force India - one per driver now very strong race
• 12pts - Jenson Button - Firstly for missing the Red Bull on the restart but also for a strong race
• 10pts - Sebastien Vettel - After Lewis retired it was a fairly dominant performance
• 8pts - Lewis Hamilton - Should have been another win, and until things went wrong a strong drive
• 6pts - Pastor Maldonado - Another unlucky retirment, but didn't anyone and raced well with Fernando and at the start 
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - For completing the race and scoring decent point mainly under the radar, except when holding up Grosjean
• 2pts - Fernando Alonso - Forever managing to score points and finish well, looking good for his championship
• 1pt - David Coulthard - For the joke regarding Petrov and the loose nut problem

The Penalties Championship

In a street race there generally is a high chance of earning penalties from the stewards and several investigations were carried out during the race including cars running wide on the opening lap, and Massa's awesome pass on Senna but only two official penalties were delivered.

• Michael Schumacher - 10 place grid drop - For assaulting Vergne in the braking area for turn 14, missing a third year of consecutive Sauber contact by a couple of metres. As the team counldn't prove there was a technical reason for his crash.
• Mark Webber - 20s time penalty  - For passing Kamui Kobayashi round the outside of turn seven off the circuit on the other side of the white line.

The Penalty Points Championship

Today the officials didn't have too much to officiate on with only four investigations and for the most part the drivers were well behaved, probably still under supervision from the officials since the start-line crash in Spa all those weeks ago now. But this week there is one thing that does need handing a penalty point, and those are the stewards themselves, at times being unnecessarily pedantic especially this weekend with the proliferation of white lines offering racing surfaces on both side. At times I can agree that cutting down on drivers abusing the limits of the track is a good idea, but in a racing situation there are more factors to consider. When a driver is forced off the track then some form of common sense should be introduced, but I guess that if that kettle of worms is open all sorts of weird and crazy decisions will be made. But on this day I feel like giving them a point and because I make the rules here on a very arbitrary basis the point will stick.

Looking Ahead to Japan

Just like Spa or a pre-arena Silverstone, Suzuka is a fantastic drivers circuit and running the laps in the simulator when composing the video is much more of a pleasure than it is at some of the other layouts - yes Valencia I am pointing a finger at you as you are booted in to exile provisionally for next year. The fantastic sweeping curves of the opening sector leading into the excellent pair of degner corners underneath the cross-over. Suzuka is one of the most exciting laps of the season situated in one of the most exciting nations which is always a great combination. The southern region of Japan is not immune to a bit of rain, in fact it can rain quite a lot - drowning out the 2010 qualifying session completely resulting for a very long night at blog HQ - not that blog HQ existed back then. 

There is only one problem with a track like Suzuka, its immense flow and rhythm can restrict quality of the racing as there aero dependence hampers overtaking in the same way that the tight restrictive confines of a street track do. All of the long straights lead into fast corners with minimal braking zones, especially the full speed 130R corner at the end of the cross-over on the figure of eight lap. There have been some fantastic races at Suzuka and is a dramatic improvement over Fuji which hosted the race for two races in 08/09 - back in 05 Raikkonen made some epic passes including round the outside of Fisichella in a Renault (before Squadron status) for the lead in turn one. So with the championship battle intensifying with three main contenders remaining: Alonso from Vettel and Kimi a little further behind, with an outside chance for Hamilton in 4th to claim it. This season is building to something impressive, and the next stop is one of the most impressive laps of them all, so until then this is farewell from the blog.