Talking Japanese

[Brogan]

So the next race on the F1 calendar is Fuji Speedway, Japan.

Who can forget the carnage of last year with just 10 cars out of 22 finishing the race?
Official results here: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/784/

The rain was so bad that the race started behind the safety car....for a full 19 laps!
Lewis Hamilton showed his wet-weather skills by coming 1st, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in 2nd and Kimi Räikkönen in 3rd.
In doing so he set a new lap record of 1:28.193.

A couple of post-race reports from the 2007 race to whet your appetite here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7020434.stm
http://www.crash.net/motorsport/f1/feature/12048-0/japan_2007_fuji_opens_floodgates_for_lewis.html

Circuit preview, maps and high quality video of a simulated lap here:
http://cliptheapex.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=262

So who's going to be victorious this year?
Will it be Lewis again or perhaps Felipe can continue his run of good form with regards to qualifying on pole?

What if it's wet again?
Will that hand the advantage to McLaren and Lewis?

Selected highlights (commentary in Italian)

Massa vs Kubica

 

[Speshal]

Regardless of the weather (I hope it rains ) I think you can expect the 2 Finns to be short fuelled to get ahead of the main championship protagonists in quali. I hope Heikki can step up to the plate

Useless fact (stolen from QI) Mount Fuji means Mountain Mountain

 

[teabagyokel]

It'd be nice to see a dry Fuji, we didn't really get the feel for the circuit last year due to it being obscured. However, looking back at the 70s races Fuji has a long history of being wetter than the Pacific. We're more likely to be looking at a cancellation á la Adelaide 1991/Monaco 1984 than at any point during the season!

 

[Brogan]

I can't understand how little interest there is for this race.
Barely 3 days away from the Qualifying session for what could be a pivotal race in both the WDC and WCC and there is almost no discussion about it

Well I for one am looking forward to it.
I just hope it's dry so we see some proper racing.

 

[Penske666]

Wow 3 races left to go - it's getting really exciting now. If Kimi doesn't win or come second he's out of the show!

 

[McZiderRed]

I can't understand how little interest there is for this race.
Barely 3 days away from the Qualifying session for what could be a pivotal race in both the WDC and WCC and there is almost no discussion about it

Well I for one am looking forward to it.
I just hope it's dry so we see some proper racing.

I'm interested! So much so, that I may get up early to watch the qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday... supplies of coffee needed me thinks..

I always disliked the time that the Japanese races were on, as I would always hear the result before the re-run was shown. Work commitments now mean I'll miss the re-run, so I shall make the effort to get up and watch the race live.

 

[Speshal]

Oh no doubt I'll be at some point should be a cracker.

Well Berger me! Massa driving in the wet

 

[slickskid]

That time of the morning my dreams are usually far more interesting! However, i made the effort and now i seen the track in the dry lets hope it rains