The Motorsports Thread

[Hirsch]

Stayed up until 2am last night to watch F1 qualifying from Suzuka in Japan.

Brilliant 2nd and 3rd sessions, a nail-biter until the end.

Hamilton, in what I can only call driver error, let Mark Webber and Micheal Schumacher pass him in the closing seconds of Q3 in order to get clear track. But he gave up too much time and didn't make it around the track in time to put down a hot lap. Vettel got his 12th(!) pole of the year, with Button starting 2nd and Hamilton lining up 3rd.

How they will roll off tomorrow(Sunday@ 02:00am)

1	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	1:33.051	1:31.424	1:30.466	14
2	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.947	1:31.434	1:30.475	14
3	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.843	1:31.139	1:30.617	14
4	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:33.235	1:31.909	1:30.804	15
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:32.817	1:31.612	1:30.886	13
6	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	1:33.135	1:31.576	1:31.156	14
7	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:33.748	1:32.116		10
8	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	1:33.359	1:32.297		12
9	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:32.877	1:32.245		17
10	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:32.626	1:32.380		15
11	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:32.761	1:32.463		14
12	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:33.499	1:32.746		10
13	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:33.921	1:33.079		13
14	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	1:33.781	1:33.224		14
15	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	1:33.064	1:33.227		10
16	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	1:35.111	1:33.427		10
17	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:34.704			6
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	1:35.454			3
19	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	1:35.514			6
20	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	1:36.439			8
21	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:36.507			7
22	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	1:37.846			7
DNQ	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes				1
DNQ	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth				2
		Q1 107% Time		1:39.109

[Hirsch]

Sebastian Vettel sealed his 2nd drivers championship in as many years by finishing 3rd in the Japanese Gran Prix from Suzuka today. It was an uneventful race that saw a safety car period for a piece of a front wing end plate on the track, not even on the racing line and very little on track passing. Vettel started on pole but lost two positions on the 2nd round of pit stops, relegating him to the 3rd and final position on the podium. Jenson Button finished 1st with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso coming home 2nd.

Results:

1	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	53	1:30:53.427	2	25
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	53	+1.1 secs	5	18
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	53	+2.0 secs	1	15
4	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	53	+8.0 secs	6	12
5	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+24.2 secs	3	10
6	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	53	+27.1 secs	8	8
7	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	53	+28.2 secs	4	6
8	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	53	+39.3 secs	17	4
9	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	53	+42.6 secs	10	2
10	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	53	+44.3 secs	23	1
11	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	53	+54.4 secs	11
12	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	53	+62.3 secs	12
13	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	53	+63.7 secs	7
14	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	53	+64.1 secs	14
15	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	53	+66.6 secs	16
16	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	53	+72.6 secs	9
17	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	53	+74.1 secs	13
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	53	+87.8 secs	18
19	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	53	+96.1 secs	19
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	21
21	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	20
22	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	22
23	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	50	+3 Laps	24
Ret	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	11	Wheel	15

Points with 4 races to go:

1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	324
2	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	210
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	202
4	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	194
5	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	178
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	90
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	63
8	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	60
9	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	36
10	Nick Heidfeld	German	Renault	34
11	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	28
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber-Ferrari	27
13	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	20
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	16
15	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	13
16	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	13
17	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	4
18	Bruno Senna	Brazilian	Renault	2
19	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Cosworth	1
20	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	Sauber-Ferrari	0
21	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Lotus-Renault	0
22	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	0
23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	HRT-Cosworth	0
24	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Belgian	Virgin-Cosworth	0
25	Timo Glock	German	Virgin-Cosworth	0
26	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT-Cosworth	0
27	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	HRT-Cosworth	0
28	Karun Chandhok	Indian	Lotus-Renault	0

[Aero]

It looks like it is going to be a tight end of season for the second position. I hope Fernando gets it!.

[Hirsch]

Technically 2nd place is up for grabs between 4 drivers.

Button, Alonso, Webber and Hamilton all have a legitimate shot at 2nd place. Though it would take a lot of bad luck on everyone elses part for Hamilton to get 2nd.

[SpecialTool]

Red Bull 1-2 would be nice ... go Mark!


It was always going to be that top 5 this year. For some reason Massa just isn't a contender these days.