After rained-out practice, and accident-filled qualifying, the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at Suzuka was a calm and controlled race. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel jumped off early to a healthy lead and kept it, while behind him the field kept their cars on the track. The racing was fast, but the drivers, perhaps chastened by the numerous crashes on Saturday, raced without drama.
Vettel Untouchable
Vettel was by far the fastest driver on the track; he was never challenged, and cruised to victory with a five-second cushion.
“With pole position and also strategy-wise we were the favorites, but first of all you have to do the start,” said Vettel. “We were pretty confident; we’ve had good starts in the past, so we were confident to defend the position. But it was closer than I thought it would be. Going into Turn One all of a sudden I saw a silver arrow [Hamilton’s McLaren] on the left-hand side. I had the inside so it was my advantage but it was closer than I thought it would be.
“After that I just put my head down and tried to push every single lap. I was able to pull a gap quite quickly. Until the end it was pretty much in control.
Vettel held a ten-second lead through most of the race. Then on lap 44, Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari crashed coming though Turn Fifteen, the fastest corner of the course, where drivers hit 190 mph. Alguersuari went wide and slammed head-on into the tire barrier. He was uninjured, but the crash brought out a full course caution and bunched up the field.
The race went green with four laps to go. Vettel started strongly and immediately reopened a gap, and went on to win the race.
“On the last stint I wanted to have a bit of fun. I did one very quick lap I think :32.5, then my engineer came on the radio and said “Be aware of your tires, there might be a safety car or anything.” Two laps later there was the safety car. Obviously it’s not what you are hoping for when you are in the lead by roughly ten seconds.
“A very good restart and then three or four phenomenal laps again, to build a gap that was safe enough to win the race.”
Good Finish for Toyota
Jarno Trulli took second, showing that Toyota, which had been contemplating leaving Formula One, made the right choice to stay another year.
“I knew that the start would be the hot spot of the race, and the most difficult because I had this guy [gesturing at Hamilton] who is very strong at the start, and generally we don’t get very good starts,” explained Jarno Trulli. “As well, this was with the KERS, so it was pretty easy to imagine what would happen in the first corner. But this time the car pulled away pretty well, so I was nearly able to keep the position. But Lewis got by, and I was obliged to follow him.
“From then on it was a fantastic race for me because I really enjoyed running qualifying laps, lap by lap with Lewis, closing the gap, coming closer … It was really, really hard but I really enjoyed it because the car was really strong and everything was fine and it was just a matter of pushing as hard as I could and putting pressure on Lewis. Eventually, thanks to the team and the strategy, we got him at the last pit stop.”
The Toyota crew made a fantastic final pit stop, getting Trulli back into the race in 6.7 seconds, which allowed Trulli to reenter the track just in front of Hamilton. A few tenths more and Trulli would have rejoined the race third, and might never have gotten back around Hamilton; the two were too close in performance.
“From then on it was easy for me. With the safety car, I thought it was going to be a difficult restart. I thought Lewis would be close to me with the KERS power, but then I was pulling away again. I am really happy and I have to thank the team. It was a fantastic result, though I must admit that I really wanted to win, but it was impossible today because he [Vettel] was untouchable.”
McLaren Crippled by Loss of KERS
Lewis Hamilton brought the McLaren home in third. He held second for much of the race, but lost time in the final third, slowed by a malfunctioning KERS system.
“We had a great race, I tried to get both of them [Trulli and Vettel] at the start but they both had really good starts. We had quite a good battle, especially for me and Jarno,” said Lewis Hamilton. “Sebastian drove fantastic for all the race, so he pulled away into the distance, but me and Jarno were battling with our times. I couldn’t match these two in the first sector—and that’s purely down to down force—but in the middle sector I was quite quick and in the last sector, with KERS we were again quite quick.
“I had to have a three-second gap before the last stop and I think I had a 3.1. then on the last couple of laps I lost half-a-second or so. We came out very close, but once he was in front of me it was impossible to keep up.
“These two [Vettel and Trulli] did a fantastic job today,” Hamilton concluded. “We’ll battle them again in the next race.”
The Brawns, relegated to mid-pack for ignoring a yellow flag in qualifying, were unable to catch the leaders, thought they did manage to finish in the points, with Rubens Barrichello seventh and Jenson Button eighth. Button drove hard to get from his 12th-place start to get into the points, but didn’t have the pace of the front-runners.
Poor Mark Webber, who wrecked his Red Bull in Saturday morning practice, had to start from pit lane, and then had to pit repeatedly to make minor adjustments and repairs. He had no time to test-drive he rebuilt car; little problems kept cropping up. Had the car been right form the start, he could have been an important factor in the race, as he showed when he turned fastest lap of the race on lap fifty.
Sebastian Buemi, also driving a rebuilt and untested car, burned oput his clutch at the start and had to retire soon after. This was a bit ironic, as he made it through so many crashes and spins in qualifying to start the race, only to break before completing a lap. Between Buemi and Alguersuari, Toro Rosso had a very expensive and a very disappointing weekend.
The next race, the Formula 1 Grande Premio Petrobras do Brasil, is on Sunday, October 18, 2009.
Please visit the Formula 1.com Web site for travel and ticket information.
| Driver Standings |
| Constructor Standings | ||||
|
| Driver | Pts. |
| Team | Pts. | |
| 01 | Jenson Button | 85 | 01 | Brawn-Mercedes | 156 | |
| 02 | Rubens Barrichello | 71 | 02 | Red Bull-Renault | 120.5 | |
| 03 | Sebastian Vettel | 69 | 03 | Ferrari | 67 | |
| 04 | Mark Webber | 51.5 | 04 | McLaren-Mercedes | 65 | |
| 05 | Kimi Räikkönen | 45 | 05 | Toyota | 54.5 | |
| 06 | Lewis Hamilton | 43 | 06 | Williams-Toyota | 34.5 | |
| 07 | Nico Rosberg | 34.5 | 07 | Renault | 26 | |
| 08 | Jarno Trulli | 30.5 | 08 | BMW Sauber | 24 | |
| 09 | Fernando Alonso | 26 | 09 | Force India-Mercedes | 13 | |
| 10 | Timo Glock | 24 | 10 | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 5 | |
| 2009 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/retired | Pts |
| 1 | 15 | 53 | Winner | 10 | ||
| 2 | 9 | 53 | +4.8 secs | 8 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 53 | +6.4 secs | 6 | ||
| 4 | 4 | 53 | +7.9 secs | 5 | ||
| 5 | 16 | 53 | +8.7 secs | 4 | ||
| 6 | 6 | 53 | +9.5 secs | 3 | ||
| 7 | 23 | 53 | +10.6 secs | 2 | ||
| 8 | 22 | 53 | +11.4 secs | 1 | ||
| 9 | 5 | 53 | +11.7 secs | |||
| 10 | 7 | 53 | +13.0 secs | |||
| 11 | 2 | 53 | +13.7 secs | |||
| 12 | 3 | 53 | +14.5 secs | |||
| 13 | 20 | 53 | +14.9 secs | |||
| 14 | 21 | 53 | +15.7 secs | |||
| 15 | 17 | 53 | +17.9 secs | |||
| 16 | 8 | 52 | +1 lap | |||
| 17 | 14 | 51 | +2 laps | |||
| Ret | 11 | 43 | Accident | |||
| Ret | 12 | 11 | +42 laps | |||
