Suzuka 2009

It's a very wet first practice.

Timo Glock is apparently unwell which fortunately gives Toyota's Japanese test driver, Kamui Kobayashi, the chance to get some laps in.
What a coincidence...
 
A very wet P2, as well... The highlight of the session was the little paper boat, sent sailing down the river of water flowing down the pit lane. :D

The cars did a few laps at the end (not the Brawns, though). Not enough wet weather tyres.
 
Here are the results in case anyone's interested:

P1
Pos  Driver        Team                      Time              Laps
1. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:40.356 24
2. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.648 + 0.292 18
3. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:40.806 + 0.450 14
4. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:40.985 + 0.629 27
5. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.421 + 1.065 26
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:41.443 + 1.087 15
7. Alonso Renault (B) 1:41.532 + 1.176 22
8. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:41.577 + 1.221 25
9. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:41.821 + 1.465 18
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:42.188 + 1.832 20
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:42.332 + 1.976 10
12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:42.475 + 2.119 15
13. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:42.657 + 2.301 13
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:42.667 + 2.311 27
15. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:42.833 + 2.477 16
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:42.977 + 2.621 14
17. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:43.218 + 2.862 11
18. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:43.318 + 2.962 17
19. Kobayashi Toyota (B) 1:43.407 + 3.051 16
20. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:43.572 + 3.216 22

P2
Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
1. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:47.261 5
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:47.923 + 0.662 6
3. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:47.931 + 0.670 4
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:47.983 + 0.722 5
5. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:48.058 + 0.797 8
6. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:48.691 + 1.430 9
7. Alonso Renault (B) 1:48.693 + 1.432 5
8. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:48.737 + 1.476 6
9. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:48.802 + 1.541 11
10. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:48.861 + 1.600 6
11. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:48.886 + 1.625 4
12. Kobayashi Toyota (B) 1:49.054 + 1.793 7
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:49.382 + 2.121 7
14. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:49.405 + 2.144 6
15. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:49.553 + 2.292 5
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:49.872 + 2.611 7
17. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:50.179 + 2.918 9
18. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) No time
19. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) No time
20. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) No time
 
thanks bro

if i understand properly and this was a training not on a circuit but in a river, then luizzi did great. sutil and vettel as can be expected in these conditions.
 
Yes, it was a fairly wet session.

Thanks to the silly tyre rules, a lot of the teams chose not to do much running as they only have a limited number of sets which have to last practice, qualifying and race.

For the life of me I can't see how this makes racing safer but there you go.
 
I'm considering trying to get up for P3. I was going to get up for Qualifying anyway, at 5.00am, so P3 starting at 3.00am isn't that much different, is it?!

Suzuka doesn't come round often of late :disappointed: , so I'm going to have to make the most of this weekend.... Plus I'm a glutton for punishment!

And it had better be dry tomorrow! Land of the rising sun? Yeah right. LOL

So, who's gonna get pole tomorrow? I'm sticking my neck out and saying Sutil. Flat out round 130R, use the power of the Mercedes engine, job done. :) It'll be interesting to see where the Brawns end up, after no running in P2. And then there's the Red Bulls.

Just have to bide me time till tomorrow now. :bored:
 
I'll be around for Qualy but not P3.
I need those extra few hours at my age LOL

Besides, I'm going for a run tomorrow and if I get up at 3 that won't be happening
 
here is the bridgestone report. apparently the intermediate lasts for 20 laps or so.


Japanese GP: Practice notes - Bridgestone
02/10/2009
Bridgestone's intermediate tyre was the fastest rubber on Formula One's return to the challenging and technical Suzuka Circuit as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest lap on the first day of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The morning practice, when Kovalainen set his time, took place on a wet but drying circuit. In the afternoon, continuous rain meant that only the final 30 minutes saw timed laps and only Bridgestone's wet tyre was used. Adrian Sutil (Force India F1 Team) was the fastest driver. Not all drivers completed timed laps.

What was significant about today's running?
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development: "Today we have learnt that our latest specification intermediate tyre works very well here. This tyre stood up well for around 20 laps when used on a drying track. The rain through most of the second session meant no running took place for the first hour. This makes the weekend very interesting as the teams have no data from the dry tyres today."

How do you expect the allocation to work over the weekend?
HH: "Any data learnt from this morning using the wet and intermediate tyres will be lost in translation for using the dry tyres if the weather is better tomorrow. If it is wet then we will have a very interesting day as the grid could be determined by a wet qualifying session. If it is dry it will also be very interesting as the teams will have to learn the hard and soft tyre performance with only limited track time. This gives the teams a big challenge, not just for qualifying but also for Sunday's race."
 
Here are the times from this morning's P3. Blue sky and the sun was out, so everyone was cramming all their setup runs into the 1 hour session...

P3
Pos  Driver        Team                      Time              Laps
1. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:31.709 24
2. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:31.771 + 0.062 26
3. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:32.343 + 0.634 28
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:32.414 + 0.705 19
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:32.445 + 0.736 26
6. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:32.467 + 0.758 25
7. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:32.488 + 0.779 24
8. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.546 + 0.837 22
9. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:32.668 + 0.959 25
10. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:32.689 + 0.980 20
11. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:32.717 + 1.008 25
12. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:32.736 + 1.027 21
13. Alonso Renault (B) 1:32.742 + 1.033 21
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:32.749 + 1.040 26
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:32.752 + 1.043 23
16. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.789 + 1.080 19
17. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:32.848 + 1.139 20
18. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:32.878 + 1.169 26
19. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:32.930 + 1.221 15
20. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:33.167 + 1.458 18
All timing unofficial

Timing info courtesy of Autosport.com
 
Looks like it could be a dry qualifying session then :thumbsup:

Oh dear, just seen that Mark Webber trashed his car in P3 and won't be participating in qualifying.
His car needs to be rebuilt using a new chassis and he will start from the pit lane tomorrow.
 
Sébastien Buemi went off at the same place as Mark Webber and hit the barriers.
He managed to keep the car going, get out of the gravel trap, get back to the pits and replace his broken rear wing and got through to Q2 :D :thumbsup:

An interesting stat'.

In Q1, the gap from P10 to P15 was 1/10th of a second.
Amazing really when you consider the circuit is over 5km in length and all the cars are different.
 
Another red flag!

Timo Glock goes off at the last corner and embeds his car into the barrier.

With less than 8 minutes left in the session, only 2 drivers have managed to do flying laps.
 
Button and Barrichello manage to get through to Q1 despite setting their fastest (and only) time through a yellow flag sector after Buemi hit the barrier.

Strictly speaking, isn't it against the rules to set your fasest sector time through a yellow flag zone?
If so, even though it was their only time then the 2 Brawn times should have been scrubbed?
 
Yet another red flag in Q3!

Heikki Kovalainen goes off at the same corner and is straight into the barriers.

Final results.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:30.883 1:30.341 1:32.160
2. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:31.063 1:30.737 1:32.220
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:30.917 1:30.627 1:32.395
4. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:31.386 1:31.222 1:32.466
5. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:31.272 1:31.055 1:32.660
6. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:31.501 1:31.260 1:32.945
7. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:31.041 1:30.880 1:32.962
8. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:31.228 1:31.052 1:32.980
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:31.499 1:31.223
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:31.196 1:31.103
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:31.286 1:31.482
12. Alonso Renault (B) 1:31.401 1:31.638
13. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:31.417 1:32.341
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:31.550
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:31.571
16. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:31.704
17. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:31.718
18. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:32.073
19. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:32.087
20. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B)
 
six drivers called to the stewards for incidents: both brawns, both bmws, alonso, sutil

All for speeding in a yellow flag zone. Sutil has the additional charge of blocking.
 
a bit more information has appeared:

Button, Barichello, Sutil and Heidfeld summoned for best lap times under a yellow flag. Alonso and Kubica summoned for overtaking Buemi under a yellow flag. that last one seems logical cos buemi was kinda in the fences by then.
 
Brawn only have themselves to blame.

They left it so late that the drivers only had the chance to do 1 flying lap.

There had already been 2 red flags so they should have been out straight away instead of hanging around in the pits.
Terrible strategy from Brawn.

I guess Buemi has been summoned for driving a damaged car extremely slowly around the track.
Very dangerous.
 
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