Japan Grand Prix

The big (but not entirely unexpected) news is that Red Bull has replaced LAW with TSU – just two weekends seems a quick decision to drop the Kiwi, but I think a lot of people expected TSU to be in that seat from the start of the season. The short notice meant some of the trackside signage still showed the previous assignment but I’m sure they’ll have it all straight in time for the race.

NOR is 8 points ahead of VER with RUS in third in the Drivers’ Championship after China; McLaren are 21 ahead of Mercedes, who in turn are 21 points ahead of Red Bull. Ferrari are 5th, behind Williams, thanks to the double disqualification at the previous race.

Many of the drivers and some of the teams are using special designs this weekend, most notably Red Bull’s white cars that look a lot like their junior team.

Qualifying

Marshals are busy wetting down grassy areas to prevent more fires; there’s rain forecast overnight so it should be less of a risk for the race.

Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
BEA 1:29.434
BOR 1:29.361
LEC 1:28.571
(HAM P2 on medium tyres)
NOR 1:28.233
PIA 1:28.143
HAD ran wide, touching a gravel trap; he was also on the radio, reporting “the same problem in the cockpit” possibly relating to his safety belts
NOR 1:27.845
HAD’s onboard camera shows him grimacing as an engineer adjusts his belts
5mins left; bottom 5 are LAW, ALO, ANT, HAD, STR
PIA 1:27.687
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are DOO, OCO, LAW, HAD, STR
DOO P16
HAD P12, HUL P16
STR P20
OCO P15, BOR P16
HUL P16, OCO P16
BOR P16
LAW P15, HUL P16
Back of the grid: HUL, BOR, OCO, DOO, STR

Qualifying session 2
VER 1:27.502
NOR 1:27.146
Red flag – another grass fire
Q2 resumes
5mins left; bottom 5 are SAI, ALO, BEA, TSU, LAW
Radio from LEC, “First sector was rubbish from me” although he went P4, just ahead of teammate HAM
TSU runs a little wide; only improves to P11
LAW P10, GAS P11
ALO P10, LAW P11
BEA P8, ALO P11
GAS P11
SAI P12 but did he block HAM?
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are GAS, SAI, ALO, LAW, TSU
HAM’s abandoned his lap
TSU P15
LAW P14
ALO P13
GAS P11
Middle of the grid: GAS, SAI, ALO, LAW, TSU

Top 10 shootout is between NOR, RUS, VER, PIA, LEC, HAM, ANT, BEA, HAD, ALB
Incident involving SAI impeding HAM will be investigated after Quali.

Qualifying session 3
RUS 1:27.318
VER 1:27.278
PIA 1:27.052
NOR P4
HAM P5
LEC P3
Order after the first run: PIA, VER, LEC, RUS, NOR, HAM, HAD, BEA, ALB, ANT
RUS P4
NOR 1:26.995
HAM P8
Chequered flag; order is NOR, PIA, VER, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAD, HAM, BEA, ALB
ALB P9
LEC P4
VER 1:26.983
PIA P3
BEA P10
ANT P6
HAD P7
RUS P5
NOR P2
Front of the grid: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAD, HAM, ALB, BEA

Provisional grid: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAD, HAM, ALB, BEA, GAS, SAI*, ALO, LAW, TSU, HUL, BOR, OCO, DOO, STR

SAI has received a 3-place grid penalty for impeding HAM

Race

Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Grid: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAD, HAM, ALB, BEA, GAS, ALO, LAW, TSU, SAI*, HUL, BOR, OCO, DOO, STR

VER leads everyone away on the formation lap
The track is still a little damp; notably the right side of the grid (even numbered spots)
Everyone starting on medium tyres except HAM , OCO and BOR on hards, and DOO and STR on softs

01/53: VER leads through Turn 1
ALO has a look inside BEA into the hairpin but BEA stays ahead
BOR had a poor start; he’s dropped to P20

02: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAD, HAM, ALB, BEA
SAI up to P15

03: DRS enabled
Radio from VER complaining the upshifts are “really bad”
TSU now P13, ahead of LAW

05/53: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAD, HAM, ALB, BEA, ALO, GAS, TSU, LAW, SAI, HUL, OCO, DOO, STR, BOR

06: HAM inside HAD into Turn 1 to take P7

08: Radio for NOR warning him there might be a brief, light shower in a few laps

10/53: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAM, HAD, ALB, BEA
STR pits from P19; switches from softs to hard tyres; rejoins P20

13: RUS has DRS to help him close up on LEC

16: DOO pits to go from softs to hards; rejoins still P19

17: SAI locks up, cuts the chicane between LAW

18: TSU closing on GAS
Radio for NOR, “box to overtake VER” (or is it a dummy?)
NOR is told to stay out
Incident involving SAI cutting the chicane has been noted

20/53: VER, NOR, PIA, RUS, ANT, HAM, ALB, BEA
RUS pits from P4; mediums go on; rejoins P13

21: PIA pits from P3; mediums; rejoins P9
Incident involving SAI – no further investigation

22: VER, NOR and LEC all pit
NOR touched the grass coming out of the pit lane
They rejoined P5, P6 and P10

24: Replay shows VER only moved right a fraction; he could have moved left to make space for NOR but that’s not something VER will ever do

25/53: ANT, HAM, HAD, VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, LAW, SAI

26: HAD pits; hards; P10 but OCO immediately looks for a way around him

Half distance

29: SAI cut the chicane a second time but again no further action
ALB around OCO for P11

30/53: ANT, HAM, VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, LAW, SAI, HAD
SAI defending P9 from HAD, so the rookie goes around the outside and takes the place
HAM locks up and heads for the pit lane

31: HAM pits from P2; mediums go on; rejoins P7

32: ANT pits from P1; hards go on; rejoins P6
Radio for OCO telling him to let teammate BEA through as they’re on different strategies

33: OCO pits, letting BEA take P12
Radio for GAS telling him teammate DOO will let him take P15
RUS cuts the chicane

34: LAW and SAI pit; both take on softs

35/53: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAM, HAD, ALB, BEA, ALO, TSU, GAS, DOO, HUL, LAW, SAI, OCO, BOR, STR

36: SAI past LAW to take P16

38: VER leads by 1.3sec over NOR, who in turn is 1.2sec ahead of teammate PIA

40/53: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAM, HAD, ALB, BEA
PIA now has DRS behind NOR

43: Radio from PIA trying to convince the team to swap him & NOR

44: PIA under 0.5sec behind NOR; VER is ~1.4sec clear of NOR

45/53: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, RUS, ANT, HAM, HAD, ALB, BEA

46: NOR closing a fraction on VER