Japanese GP 2010 - Suzuka

[myurr]

Just to add.. this RedBull has no new upgrades on it. They did very well considering the track is a low G-force track. Isn't it scary what will happen in Suzuka? You might as well call it Silverstone II.

Singapore is the highest downforce circuit on the calendar - even higher than Monaco according to the Radio 5 live commentators. This should have been a Red Bull circuit, but they no longer seem to enjoy such a large downforce advantage.

McLaren also have a further large upgrade targeting Suzuka so I expect all three teams to still be very closely matched.

[andrew]

Circuit length – 5.807km
Race distance – 53 laps / 307.573km

Top speed (race) – 313kph
Full throttle – 67%
Longest flat-out section – 16s / 1.23km

Right/left-hand turns – 10/8
Tyre wear – high
Brake wear – high
Downforce level – low
Gear changes per lap – 42

Strategy

2010 tyres: Hard (no stripe) and soft (green stripe)
2009 tyres: Hard (no stripe) and soft (green stripe)

Fuel use per lap – 2.752kg
Pit lane time loss – 19.9s (source: Williams)

2009 Top 8

1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2 Jarno Trulli Toyota
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
5 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
7 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes
8 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes

[univex]

2009 Race Mark Webber crashes in FP3 and can't take part in Qualifying, finishes last in the race. A couple of crashes in Quali, (Alguesari, Glock and I think Buemi too) mostly at Degner including Webbers. MW can only improve on his 2009 result.

1. Mark Webber
2. Sebastian Vettel (Team Orders)
3. Fernando Alonso

SV is still 21 points behind and only 4 races to go. I would not be surprised if it was 1.SV, 2.MW, & 3.FA for the RB's to swap places. SV is running out of races to catch Mark.

[univex]

Ecclestone admits to concerns over Korean GP
http://en.espnf1.com/korea/motorsport/story/29484.html

Make that SV is 21 point behind with possibly only 3 races left!

[TheRMVR]

This should be a walk in the park for RedBull like Hungary was. What I don't understand is that Ferrari is worried about this track. Stefano said they wouldn't bring any major updates anymore this season. Only small bits. We know McLaren have quite an update planned for Suzuka and RedBull have already said they'd pull everything out of the bag this season. So I think damage control for Ferrari there.

1.Webber
2.Hamilton
3.Vettel
4.Alonso

[raymondu999]

After today I don't see how anyone can perceive Red Bull as favoring Webber over Vettel.

[vall]

This should be a walk in the park for RedBull like Hungary was. What I don't understand is that Ferrari is worried about this track. Stefano said they wouldn't bring any major updates anymore this season. Only small bits. We know McLaren have quite an update planned for Suzuka and RedBull have already said they'd pull everything out of the bag this season. So I think damage control for Ferrari there.

1.Webber
2.Hamilton
3.Vettel
4.Alonso

A source? I thought they had their big update for Singapore?

[Giblet]

Suzuka will be interesting. Vettel has said on record that Mark is very good on high speed corners, so it could well be his race.

At the same time, the Mclarens are very good where low drag is needed, and the F10 being a car that is not the best at anything but very strong in all types of corners might suffer at a track like Suzuka where it mostly high speed.

Also, the Renault has come on strong with their F-Duct, and may be a dark horse to spoil, but not win. If Kubica can get in front of the WDC leaders, they may have trouble getting around him due to his general lack of mistakes.

[zeph]

At the same time, the Mclarens are very good where low drag is needed, and the F10 being a car that is not the best at anything but very strong in all types of corners might suffer at a track like Suzuka where it mostly high speed.

Hm, I thought that Monza was considered a high-speed track, too? The Ferraris did not do too shabby there.

[raymondu999]

We have to remember the Ferrari was very good in Silverstone though. Second only to Red Bull. Just the safety car fiasco that cost them points. I'm not too sure about Mark. He crashed out last year in FP2/3 I believe? And started in the pitlane?

Giblet, when did Vettel said Mark is good at high speed corners?

And zeph, Monza is high speed but that's because of it's low drag high topspeed configuration. Suzuka is fast like Silverstone, due to fast corners.

[TheRMVR]

This should be a walk in the park for RedBull like Hungary was. What I don't understand is that Ferrari is worried about this track. Stefano said they wouldn't bring any major updates anymore this season. Only small bits. We know McLaren have quite an update planned for Suzuka and RedBull have already said they'd pull everything out of the bag this season. So I think damage control for Ferrari there.

1.Webber
2.Hamilton
3.Vettel
4.Alonso

A source? I thought they had their big update for Singapore?

Button told the BBC that they couldnt put every new part on the car this race because of reliability issues and that they decided to put it (anyone knows what he might be talking about?) on the car for Suzuka. Whitmarsh also said in an interview with BBC that they will bring updates next race.

[Giblet]

We have to remember the Ferrari was very good in Silverstone though. Second only to Red Bull. Just the safety car fiasco that cost them points. I'm not too sure about Mark. He crashed out last year in FP2/3 I believe? And started in the pitlane?

Giblet, when did Vettel said Mark is good at high speed corners?

And zeph, Monza is high speed but that's because of it's low drag high topspeed configuration. Suzuka is fast like Silverstone, due to fast corners.

It was at the beginning of the year, when it became known that Mark was using Vettels setup as it was working better then his.

Sorry no link, just going off memory, but it was said.

[raymondu999]

They often use each other's setups I believe. But when did he ever say that Mark was better in the high speed?

[Giblet]

At the same time, the Mclarens are very good where low drag is needed, and the F10 being a car that is not the best at anything but very strong in all types of corners might suffer at a track like Suzuka where it mostly high speed.

Hm, I thought that Monza was considered a high-speed track, too? The Ferraris did not do too shabby there.

Yes but Monza is low downforce. Suzuka needs more of a balance.

@raymondu999 - I actually worded that Vettel said Webber was very good at high speed corners, not that he was better. This was said at the beginning of the year, by Vettel, when Webber decided to start using Vettels setup on a regular basis. They had very different setups at the start of the year, and when Webber used Vettels setup it worked well for him.

Not sure if this is still the case. Sorry, again, I don't have a link.

[raymondu999]

Oh right. Ok. I misunderstood. Error on my part and I stand corrected.