Japanese GP 2011 - Suzuka

[horse]

To be honest, I don't think Fred actually had the pace to win today. It just seems like JB had serious fuel issues at the end and Vettel was told to take it easy and just finish.

Not saying that he doesn't have the skill, but he just doesn't have the car. Though hands down he did an amazing job today to take 2nd when clearly McLaren and Red Bull were the faster package.

What I saw was a Ferrari that had more tyre available (i.e less wear) than RB and McLaren. We've seen this used positively before with a fast degrading option tyre, but today was different in that the car was capable of getting the prime to work as well, which has been their Achilles heel in similar circumstances (by not getting to temperature). I think if Ferrari can maintain this good tyre wear / good temperature combination then they could well be right up there for the end of the season.

Wow. JB wins but Lewis says he didn't have any grip?

What do you think the difference is?

All tyres again, I reckon. Lewis and Mark were eating through the options something wicked today.

EDIT: Speaking of Webber, funny how the car seemed unaffected by losing a big chunk of front wing after contact with Schumacher.

[Traction]

Vetted was also going through tyres really quickly but Hamilton and Button in the same car, same tyres had different results. Perhaps that just illustrates how differently two drivers set their cars up.....

[Aced]

What I saw was a Ferrari that had more tyre available (i.e less wear) than RB and McLaren. We've seen this used positively before with a fast degrading option tyre, but today was different in that the car was capable of getting the prime to work as well, which has been their Achilles heel in similar circumstances (by not getting to temperature). I think if Ferrari can maintain this good tyre wear / good temperature combination then they could well be right up there for the end of the season.

Perhaps you're right. I do believe that todays race was decided by tyre management though. Not saying that JB hasn't had raw speed lately but his ability to make tyres last today was a massive plus for him.

It's interesting though because Ferrari made no upgrades to the car this weekend, as far as I know. So I'm not sure whether the track suited them or that they actually figured out how to make the tyres work. After all they've had horrible traction the past few races.

Wow. JB wins but Lewis says he didn't have any grip? That has to be a first, hasn't it?
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/10/09/h ... king-race/

What do you think the difference is?

I believe it all comes down to the tyres. Even though lately JB has been very close to Lewis on raw speed, we've even witnessed it on qualifying, his good tyre management has been the advantage.

If I remember correctly, in Hungary, Lewis would always increase the gap to JB to about 9 seconds in the beginning of the stint. But towards the end of the stint JB would always close down the gap to about 3 4 seconds. That's about 5-6 seconds in just 5-6 laps. That happened twice, exactly the same way.

Lewis is definitely eating his tyres very aggressively. It could be his driving style, it could be the setup, it could be that he's pushing very hard on low-temp tyres. Perhaps that's the reason why JB always takes it easy on the tyres early on a stint.

Bottom line, in my opinion, the Pirelli tyre isn't working for Lewis. He's had the issue all year.

[raymondu999]

I don't know if that gives Jenson an overall edge in terms of just raw race pace. It means he's quicker at the end, but he's quite a bit slower at the start of the stints.

[ell66]

Having watched the race again and read/listened to the post race comments, lewis really didn't do much wrong and i think the puncture cost him dearly, not just with the time/positions lost, but it made his strategy more difficult by pitting that early as he was very strong up until that point, the poor pit stops again didn't help either.
This article explains why he struggled for pace after...

"Lewis had a more difficult afternoon. We weren't immediately aware that Lewis appeared to suffer a slow puncture to the right-rear in the first stint. That created a growing pressure differential across the rear axle, and potentially led us to add too much front wing to compensate for the lack of balance at the rear.

"In hindsight, that may have led to Lewis fighting to find a satisfactory balance for the next two stints as we attempted to restore the set-up he'd enjoyed during the previous two days. It was a challenging afternoon for Lewis, but he never gave up, kept pushing and scored some strong points for the team. He had the pace this weekend, so I'm sure he'll be as tough as ever in Korea next weekend.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95219

[raymondu999]

How exactly did he get the puncture? I didn't see that bit

[Traction]

How exactly did he get the puncture? I didn't see that bit

No explanation was given, he just slowed right down and then at the end of the lap entered the pits. It wasn't an obvious puncture. Everybody only found out after the pit crew commentators reported back.

[raymondu999]

Was that on that first stint? When he ran wide at Spoon?

If your rear is lacking balance, I would assume that means the tail is wagging. Why on earth would you add front wing?

[beelsebob]

Ah, I found what I wanted – an interview with Massa...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95216

Funny to see him raging again after another race where he collides with Hamilton, Hamilton comes off worse, and then comes back to finish ahead.

[ajdavison2]

Ah, I found what I wanted – an interview with Massa...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95216

Funny to see him raging again after another race where he collides with Hamilton, Hamilton comes off worse, and then comes back to finish ahead.

There are alot of similarities with the singapore incident, i.e. One driver trying to overtake another on the outside, the driver on the outside makes contact and damages his car. Obviously in the singapore incident massa also suffered. but the point im making is that if ham was to blame in singapore, and lets assume without the usual BS that he was. Then surely we must also say that massa was to blame for this incident. I know the corners are different, with different closing speeds etc etc. but I think the point i'm making is valid that Massa is being a bit hypocritical in once again having ago at Ham when I see this incident as his fault. Also note that I have only seen the race once and i am therefore only going off the benefit of the bbc coverage and replays. I am also not being bias towards any one driver before we get into the usual 'fanboy' criticisims.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Interesting fact, this is Button's first win for McLaren at an entirely dry race

[ell66]

How exactly did he get the puncture? I didn't see that bit

was a slow puncture, must of been from some debris, cos he didnt touch anyone at the start and wasnt close to anyone for the first 8 laps.

[thatnoone]

Interesting fact, this is Button's first win for McLaren at an entirely dry race

Excellent race from Button, proved me wrong. Tyre preservation was the key to this.
When the fuel load gets low they just find pace. RBR must be testing new parts
for next year but they still have the constructor to contend with. How many points
are they in front?

[raymondu999]

130 points ahead, with 172 to play for. But leaving Korea they will have 129 to play for. So basically; to stop RBR taking the WCC in Korea; McLaren must score 2 points more than RBR

[Gerhard Berger]

Just watched the re-run. Not a classic, but an interesting tactical battle. Would still like to see more variation in strategies between the front runners, rather than just pitting whenever the first guy comes in.

Button did really well and is now consistently getting the better of Hamilton even in the dry. A deserved victory, but tbh i don't think he can have many complaints about Vettel's move on him at the start. That kind of chop is done regularly at the start of races, and usually the other driver just backs out.

Alonso was also very impressive in getting 2nd place in what was probably the 3rd best car. I hope Ferrari give him a championship challenging car next year - he deserves it.

Vettel - a solid race but i think we saw how he struggles a bit when not in the lead. He couldn't make an impression on Alonso despite being faster. Congrats on his 2nd WDC, a deserved winner.

Hamilton is clearly fast but everthing else is not working for him. He's starting to remind me of Montoya now.

Massa - typical race, though was annoying how the moron Brundle immediately started screaming about team orders when Alonso passed him.