Grand Prix 2011 Japanese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The championship is still alive!!!!!!!!!!! Okay that may be a bit over optomistic

Despite another crushing win by Vettel in Singapore, Buttons valiant second place ensures that the championship mathematically remains possible for the experienced Britain, but for him to take his second world title he requires Vettel to not finish in all the remain races and Button to win every race and to be honest there is as much chance of me winning the lottery.

Indeed, Button has had a strong 2011 and this would be more highlighted if it wasnt for the sheer dominance of Vettel who has taken a podium in every race apart from Germany. He has outperformed his beleagured team mate Hamilton who is under severe pressure from the media after another incident, this time with Massa who didn't take kindly to it and made his feelings clear after the race.

But at Ferrari they seem to be going through the motions after a great win at Silverstone, Alonso has strong drives without challenging and Massa is regularly in the middle of the points without ever challenging the podium, surely he'll be on the way out soon as he's not performing at a level that Ferrari require him to be if they want to be serious Constructors Champions in the future.

Big news at Mercedes as Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis have joined the team, with the team struggling (in comparison) since their return to the sport in 2010, these two signings might just get them back at the front in the near future and might convince Schumacher to extend his contract, Singapore aside, Schumacher's performances have been a lot better this season and at the very least he has matched Rosberg and perhaps there is still life in the old dog yet and the podium might not be too far away.

Japan has become famous for title deciders with Prost/Senna being the most memorable with the crashes at the final chicane and turn 1 being some of the most controversial in the sport (particularly the latter after a dispute over the start position). The track is regarded as one of the best driver tracks on the calendar, second only to Spa and returned to the calendar in 2009 after Fuji pulled out of F1 due to financial problems after holding the grand prix in 2007 and 2008 where Hamilton and Alonso won respectively.

No doubt the championship will be won in Suzuka but you never know, stranger things have happened in F1, surely the reliability of the Red Bull can't hold out forever, can we hope?

For Galahads superb circuit write up see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/suzuka-international-racing-course/
 
i personally think lewis went out too late.i dont know whether it was his decision or the teams,but he went out too late.
i mean what alot of ppl are overlooking is the fact jenson wasnt much further ahead of lewis,so if lewis hadnt of slowed down he would have ended up to close to the back of jenson which would have comprimised his flying lap.
i would like to know how much time there was left after jenson crossed the line for the others to cross the line?
also i think the reason why mark was so slow on his second run is because he was too close to jenson at the start of his second flying lap.so taking that into consideration,i think lewis would have lost out for the same reason if he had of made it over the line in time.
so i just think lewis went out too late.
 
If they left it up to Lewis himself, I think he might.

I think at the moment, though, if the team ordered him to move over, he certainly wouldn't.
By nature, contrary, which is a characteristic that I admire on the whole, can be self-defeating.
 
Does anyone think that if Vettel retired, Hammy was leading from Button, would he let him through? Because I'm not convinced he would

I think he would. While there's still a (very) remote chance that Jenson could win the championship, I think Lewis would do the right thing. Could Vettel fail to finish all the remaining races? There's more chance of me plaiting fog, but you never know!
 
So, anyway.

Vettel has now qualified on the front row for 15 consecutive races and could will be the youngest ever double WDC tomorrow.
Congrats to Seb for that, a superb achievement.

But hang on just a minute... What if Hamilton gets Vettel into the first corner, Seb goes off trying to get back past, or suffers a rare engine failure leaving the Mclarens 1 and 2, with Lewis leading; what happens then?

Oops, sorry: didn't see Joss's post above till too late :embarrassed:
 
Does anyone think that if Vettel retired, Hammy was leading from Button, would he let him through? Because I'm not convinced he would

there is a thread on this hypothetical situation on another thread where Vettel is out for 5 races and Button requires Hamilton to move over

As they say anything can happen in F1..say were Vettel to break a leg then Mclaren would look foolish if they did not

Remember Ferrari celerbrated too early in 2008 and did not realise until 30 seconds later so always fight to the end until it actually happens

As I've said Lewis would have just opened a can of worms at Mclaren and for other teams if he refused and confirm to Alonso and everyone of his fans Lewis is not a team player and would jeapardise team harmony for his own personal glory
 
I should add no one should be complaining if Mclaren did a switch because only one driver can go for the title and its LEGAL

But I am sure someone will kick a fuss
 
A bit late here but:

Got to love Schumacher and Webber overtaking Hamilton near the end! Nothing to do with it being Hamilton it's just that it providing probably the only excitement bar the front two in qualifying 3, as for who's fault was it, probably all 3.

Think Toro Rosso missed a trick by going out early in Q2 rather than later, heard that Renault and Kobayashi have used a lot of their tyres could hamper then in the race, once again Hamilton is the reason for his own downfall. Massa out qualifying Alonso again :)

I think Massa can spoil the two McLaren's races, he tends to get great starts, as does Alonso. The ones to watch, if tyre degradation is a big factor, are Rosberg and Perez.

Midfield will be tight, but the ones likely getting into the back of the points are the Force India drivers, used one set of tyres in Q2 and have the highest grid position out of the Q2 dropouts, although I can see Toro Rosso getting some points, although they really should have been in the prime (or option? :snigger:) position to get into the points but they got qualifying wrong.

One thing I don't understand is how the tyre degradation seems to be quite bad, I was watching FP1 and FP2 and Paul Hembry said the tyres where doing a good job :dunno:

Forgot to add, a great lap by Vettel to beat Button, seems like both McLarens have taken drugs for this weekend or something that they have become really fast.

Plus nice job by d'Ambrosio too!

But I just love Schumachers opportunism!
 
I don't think Hamilton would switch. Let's be clear here. Even if Vettel doesn't score in Suzuka and Button wins, and even if Vettel doesn't score again (even when he's not been out of the top 4 all year) the chance of Button winning the remaining races is slim when he's got competition from Hamilton, Alonso and Webber.

McLaren should let Hamilton keep the win, it will keep him happy and put a positive spin on the end to his poor (by his high standards) season. What would be even worse would be if they switched and then Button had an engine failure or something of the sort, the fallout would be huge...

As for McLaren's Q3 cock-up I think it's just that. McLaren's mistake and not the drivers. Button was still in the chichane as Hamilton was approaching it so he couldn't go any faster without a) overtaking Button ruining his lap and creating a rift or b) staying in front of Webber and Schumacher and having his lap ruined by the wake from the sister McLaren. No driver is at fault it's just the team being a shambles (again!).

Anyone know why Webber had such a bad sector 2 and 3 as I believe he was fastest in sector 1? Or was it Webber just being Webber?
 
Mod hat firmly ON:

Shall we draw a line under this issue now and look forward to an exciting race?

Yes it's a debatable subject and everyone and their cat has an opinion about what went on but shall we take it from the horse's mouth first?

Lewis Hamilton said:
It was my mistake, I should have got out sooner but I was making a wing change and I went out too late.

Martin Whitmarsh said:
Lewis is being a bit hard on himself. We could have been explicit to him about time running out.

The car in front of me [Button] was quite close to me so I was trying to make sure I had a gap between me and the car in front," Hamilton, who qualified third, said. The two guys you saw come across the start line before me; I was entering the last corner and Mark came out of nowhere and nearly crashed with me so I had to avoid him. Michael was on the outside and went across the grass so that was an interesting moment. I couldn't get a lap after that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/15226911.stm
 
I cant accept that lewis is so bad or so unlucky week in, week out. What is going on? Not really looking forward to this race. I used to love watching lewis drive but its getting ruined.:( Glad Vettel will seal it this weekend, he's deserved it, but beyond that, its all gone very flat for me.
 
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