Grand Prix 2014 Japanese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Lewis Hamilton is quoted as saying that whilst some are interested in getting the winning trophies from the F1 classics of Monaco and Monza he is much more interested in winning the ‘modern classics’ such as Silverstone, Spa and Suzuka. The fact that Suzuka is now a classic F1 race is not in doubt in my mind and whilst there was a move for it to be shared with Toyota’s home track in the late noughties it has been a staple diet on the F1 calendar since the 80’s. It has a much fabled history and was setting for the most talked about battle blows between Prost and Senna and whilst it won’t decide the championship this season it has been the deciding round on many occasions. Track wise its not the easiest one to pass on but it is unique in being a figure of eight and having a cross over point. It also has the much fabled 130R and I for one am looking forward to seeing how the 2014 spec F1 cars look going through it this year.

Last season was the first time since 1987 that the manic Japanese fans did not have a home driver to cheer on but, barring a sudden Caterham driver change, this year they will have Kobayashi to cheer on. In fact there is an official Kobayashi stand at the track this year. Kobi has very much been a legend with overtakes and performance on this track however you would think that he has his work cut out in the shopping trolley like Caterham car this year. The other home interest is of course Jenson Button who is judged as being Japanese through marriage. JB has always been good round here and whilst the Mclaren is not a race winner this year it does seem to be getting better and Button’s form has actually, whilst unheralded, has been very good this year and I expect him to push for a top 6 finish.

Championship wise this is a complete opposite to Singapore with neither Merc drivers having good form on this track. Results wise this is Lewis Hamilton’s worst track with a 3rd in 2009 behind Vettel and Jarno Trulli in a Toyota (!) being his best result. That’s not to say he hasn’t been quick round here but its just that the results have not come. Nico Rosberg meanwhile has never got higher than eighth but will have the bit between his teeth after a nightmare Sunday at Singapore. I expect the race win to be a battle between the two Mercs and if I had to put money on it then I’d give it to Hamilton but then I’d have said that at every round this year.

Down the field it will be interesting to see if Ferrari are as on from as they were in Singapore and also if Alonso can beat Kimi like he has all season when Suzuka is most certainly Kimi territory as he has had some mighty mighty drives around here. The Vettel/Riccardo scrap has been fascinating all season and I’ve no doubt it will be a close one yet again with Vettel seemingly at least on terms with his impressive young team mate in the last few races. Williams are impossible to predict as they seem to have a super car one week and a midpack car another but its interesting to see that Massa’s form has certainly improved of late. JEV comes to Japan after an brilliant drive in Singapore and seemingly with his young Russian team mate now in hand.

Its an early morning race start if you are based in Europe and a very late night if you are over the Americas but I’m sure you’ll all be watching. Are you a Japan fan or does this race bore you to tears? Will be interesting to hear people’s views on both the race and what you expect to happen in 2014.
 
Montoya crash definitely the result of car failure.

Anyways sad sad news, certainly similar to the Maria de Villota accident right? Not really sure what can be suggested from this. Freak accident, you can make things as safe as possible but can never reach 100% safety. Not that we can't learn from it I just don't see any major flaws with the current procedure.

Quick recovery, Jules.
 
They did experiment with cockpit canopies a while back. I'll repost what I posted somewhere else:

In my opinion, if there is a recovery vehicle in the confines of the circuit, especially in those conditions, then it should be full course yellows with a safety car. A safety car is the only way to ensure a racing driver will slow down in race conditions, otherwise they will always run as close to the set delta as possible, as they are in a race. If they are going to bring a tractor into a run-off area then they need to neutralise race conditions.
 
Or conversely have the tractors modified so that this kind of incident can't be repeated, or at least the likelihood reduced. If Bianchi had hit the tractor's side it would probably have been like most other racing incidents and he'd have probably walked away despite the high speed he was still carrying. The problem really occurred because he submarined under the back of the tractor. I totally understand where you're coming from, but from my perspective it simply isn't possible to put them all in a safe bubble where no one can get hurt or killed. That's why on every pass of every race it says the same old warning "Motorsport is inherently dangerous". We had cars spinning when under the safety car at the start of the race, a pile-up could have happened and someone be killed even under the slow speeds that they were running under. Mansell was taken out of an Indy race i seem to recall when the race was under full course yellows. Like the Darwin awards, drivers will find a way, self-inflicted or not, to have a big shunt.
 
I appreciate all the concern about making things safer, but how far do you go and where does it end?
Taking the principle of deploying tractors only under a safety car to its logical conclusion, one would soon end up with the same conditions for marshals themselves.
 
A few questions about cockpit canopies
  1. How does the driver extract himself from the car in an emergency?
  2. If the driver is unable to open the canopy how do the marshals gain access to the driver?
  3. What stops the canopy being accidentally opened at high speed?
  4. In hot races how does the driver keep cool?
  5. How does the driver see out of a canopy when it rains and what stops it from steaming up?
  6. How would the team make a steering wheel change if it were necessary in a pitstop and then insure the canopy was safely refastened?
  7. What effect would the canopy have on the air intake above the drivers head?
  8. Would the driver still need to wear a crash helmet?
I have other questions but those will do for now..
 
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I agree, almost any decision can have a downside and nothing is going to perfectly solve the problem. I agree with the GPDA, we don't need any knee-jerk solutions, a sensible and above all practical solution is needed.
 
Admittedly, there have not been many fires recently, but I'm damn sure we don't need another de Angelis. If they were to do canopies, it should be thought through thoroughly.
 
An open wheel race car with a canopy from which the driver can crawl or be extracted.

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