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/
 
Now all he needs to do is win not as a result of others mistakes and misfortunes and he's home and dry (no pun intended)!
 
Are you suggesting Hamilton would have beaten JB without these?

It's all if's and but's, but... Yes.

I don't doubt it was a great race and I'm all for the approach he takes to racing. It didn't work last year, it's nearly worked this year bar Vettel having a perfect season. Good job Jenson.
 
I'm not so sure about that, don't forget Button had his problems as well, namely being an over zealous defense by Vettel which put Button to third.
 
After a few laps he was about 2.5 seconds behind Hamilton which indicates to me he wasn't as quick and would have given Hamilton the priority on pit stops also. The start was just racing (borderline) and we all know that's what Vettel does.

Of course the age old tyre management comes into it, but unfortunately they didn't even start level pegging as Hamilton had to start on an older set of softs.

I'm not trying to detract from a very good race from Button and he did very well at the end, I thought his number was up. But.... for me it seems that his good races are normally when a competitor has an awful one and particularly when the old McLaren strategy comes into play. I've revised my views on his overtaking ability and ability to be aggressive when required, but I want to see him win outright on his own when someone else doesn't falter.
 
Now all he needs to do is win not as a result of others mistakes

Hard to argue about the misfortunes part, but if he wins because other people make mistakes and he doesn't, then that simply means he drove better and has earned the victory.

Unless you mean mistakes from the pit crew/pit wall, then you can just disregard this post :p
 
Hard to argue about the misfortunes part, but if he wins because other people make mistakes and he doesn't, then that simply means he drove better.

Unless you mean mistakes from the pit crew/pit wall, then you can just disregard this post :p

I mean both but yes I agree if someone makes a mistake it's their own bloody fault and of course he's driven better. But when everyone drives well it's not usual that we see Mr Button on the top step. Of course this is since McLaren. It will happen I'm sure and given the tyre deg today, today may well have been that day!
 
im not suprised one bit by what happened in the race today.
i expected something to go wrong with hamiltons car,or a bad strategy,pitstop or a puncture.
so when he got the puncture followed by the slow pitstop i just smiled because i knew it would happen.
thats 2 punctures in a row now,and its 2 times in a row lewis hasnt been able to do a second run in quali.
they are trying to take away that strength of his too now.lewis should leave mclaren.

anyway well done vettel and button.oh and alonso too.
 
im not suprised one bit by what happened in the race today.
i expected something to go wrong with hamiltons car,or a bad strategy,pitstop or a puncture.
so when he got the puncture followed by the slow pitstop i just smiled because i knew it would happen.
thats 2 punctures in a row now,and its 2 times in a row lewis hasnt been able to do a second run in quali.
they are trying to take away that strength of his too now.lewis should leave mclaren.

anyway well done vettel and button.oh and alonso too.
Crossed out the bit I don't agree with (hope you don't mind). Personally, I blame "Murphy" - as in Murphy's Law which states "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong". Luck has a habit of compounding it's effects. It seems to be a universal constant. There will come a turn-around, it's just a question of when not if.
 
Very largely missed by the TV Director but "grandad" Schumacher led a few laps in Japan and, according to Brundle, the oldest driver to lead a Grand Prix since Jack Brabham in 1970. Well done Michael, let's hope Mercedes build you a better car for next season and we see your podium leap once again (although not too often ;))
 
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Is it a rule that under SC conditions they have to wait for the field to completely bunch up, effectively committing us to ?3/4 laps while this happens every time its deployed, however trivial the cause (as today)?
Didn't have much effect today, other than taking away any 3 vs 4 stop decisions, but doesn't seem logical
In the good old days the drivers were allowed to catch up to form a train behind the SC, which then allowed the marshals almost a whole clear lap to clear any debris once the train had passed. Nowadays they must crawl around at a pre-determined maximum speed, or 'Delta', thus ensuring that the train never really has time to form and any clearance takes longer, as the marshals never really know what might be coming round the corner. There's Health & Safety for you.
 
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