Japanese Grand Prix 2011, Suzuka Circuit - Race 15/19

None of this would have happened if McLaren had sent their cars out 10 seconds earlier.

the race is going to be a tyre lottery

Don't even get me started on the stupid tyre rules.

Pirelli turned up with a tyre that would last half as long as the old Bridgestones, and the FIA went "ah, cool, we will give the teams less sets per weekend then..."

:confused:
 
I think Skeeter is taking on the role of drama-queen tonight. Easy tiger...no one has died and Hamilton not on pole isn't a big deal.

tonight? you mad bro? It's nearly 8am sat morning :p

Vettel put in the lap he needed by any chance?
 
The FIA reduced the ruling on the number of sets of tyres available before Pirelli 'turned up' at Australia.

The reasoning for this rule change was that teams were only using half their set of tyres during a race weekend in the previous years with Bridgestone. Yes the teams asked for tyres that degraded like they did at Montreal and that's what Pirelli have provided and yes the FIA should re-evaluate their number of sets available. Pirelli have also advised using some qualifying specific tyres.
 
Pirelli built what the FIA asked them for. People were raising concerns over the potential issue with the number of tyres way before the season started. Its damaging the show of F1. Having only 6 cars on track at the end of Qualifying because there is more of an advantage to be had by not setting a time just makes a mockery of the whole Qualifying process.

They should give the teams 2 additional sets which have to be handed back after Q2. The drivers who go out in Q1 and Q2 don't have to use their quali tyres in the race, so that would allow people to go mental on the softs and hammer laps in to try to get to Q3. Then when in Q3 they can keep the 'start on your quali tyres' rule, but everyone will have enough sets to set a couple of times without having to sit in the garage saving tyres.
 
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Hamilton was between a rock and two hard places there. There was only room for one car to put in a quali lap behind Button, and three cars fighting for it.

But for me that wasn't the story of quali. Again we had drivers not even going out on track because of the FIA's poor rules. It's a farce, and it has to get sorted for next year.
 
Kamui's clever little outlap on the harder compound has netted him 7th on the grid.

Hope he has a good race, think we might see more of him trying to defend his position this year rather than the banzai overtakes from last year.
 
Looks like we could be on for a good race tomorrow, seems very tight at the top.

Hopefully the fact Hamilton and Massa start side by side won't mean it'll cause issues! :p
 
Apparently Vettel's front wing only arrived 20 mins before qualifying began.

The factory were probably having kittens, or were they calm CS||nutS? :p

Horner also says if it hadn't arrived in time that they would not have asked Webber to swap his over.
 
We'll probably never find out if Lewis was daydreaming or McLaren weren't keeping him informed. I expect the team will close ranks and roll out the standard "Team decision" statement.

Schumacher and Webber were both obviously aware of the time issue and if I'd have been then I'd have done the same thing to Hamilton.

Grid should make for an interesting race tomorrow.
 
I fell asleep in Q2 and dreamt that Button had crashed... it was very surreal. But I also dreamt that we were in the US and George W Bush was driving a Torro Rosso...

Saw the end though. Not sure what to make of the Hamilton incident. Still, decent positions for the race tomorrow. I think JB could have it. And we'll use Lewis to push Vettel off the track. Viva la championship!
 
I think people need to calm down, what happened was just unfortunate timing..

If you removed Schumacher and Webber from the track, and factor in that for a perfect lap you need to be a good 1.5 - 2 seconds back from the car in front for 3 reasons, aero, distraction and enough buffer if you are .2/.3 seconds quicker, and see that he was getting a bit too close to JB for a perfect gap as he approached the final chicane.. he was screwed at that point, as Schumacher/Webber had to cross the line in time, too many cars, not enough time for them all to be 2 seconds apart (at least).

I assume that JB had his own situaion where he ensured a big enough gap to get in a good situation for a perfect lap, I'm sure he wasn't backing up on that last chicane on purpose.. (If you notice that entering/going around 130R, JB wasn't even remotely in view by LH, but at the chicane, LH, despite taking it easy himself was suddenly starting to get within 2 seconds of JB who was in vision..)

I put the blame squarely on McLaren and circumstance.. this whole notion that LH should just have gone faster and he'd have made it is not viable, he'd have been in the wake of other drivers, or close enough to not have a nice clear view, and when trying to set a pole, that's not the conditions you want..

He might have been a bit miffed, but he has a small tyre advantage, which he'll probably be grateful of as he does usually struggle with that aspect..

Shame really, knowing Lewis' tyre management being probably the least of the top 3, getting pole would have been a small consolation from inevitably been hampered by a tyre race..

I also think they need to have an allocation just for qualifying, seeing a lot of cars staying in the garages is just not right..
 
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Lewis Hamilton was left frustrated after he was unable to complete his final run in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, labelling his incident with Michael Schumacher as dangerous.

The Briton did not cross the finish line in time to start another run after he was overtaken by Mark Webber and Schumacher during his warm-up lap.

Hamilton admitted he was surprised by the situation, as he believes Webber's and Schumacher's moves were dangerous.

"You could see on TV. I would have to watch replay," said Hamilton. "Jenson was in front of me, he slowed down to get his gap and I was coming to the last corner trying to make sure I had a gap between him and me.

"It wasn't that big and then just was I was coming into the chicane, I looked in the mirror and saw Mark diving inside me. And then I didn't see Michael but he came past me and we nearly crashed with me to the left. It was quite dangerous."

Hamilton had looked like one of the favourites for pole, but his failure to complete the final run left him down in third, which he labelled as good enough.

"It is what it is. But we are still on second row so that is good enough," he said.

Schumacher, meanwhile, said Hamilton had pushed him onto the grass.

"I had Webber in front because Hamilton slowed down. I don't know what was in front of him, if he really had to slow down that much, but it was tight for all three of us so we all had to push somehow to make it through and do another lap.

"At that moment I was set to do a lap because I didn't know whether Kobayashi, or somebody, may go out [to set a time]. I tried my best and Lewis pushed me a little bit wide onto the grass. I made it through, but a bit of an awkward start of a qualifying lap."

The Mercedes driver said he final lap had not been compromised too much by the incident, but he still believes Hamilton was driving too slowly.

"Not really [compromised], luckily nobody else - or at least Kobayashi - didn't go out again to set another lap, because that would have meant I would have been shy by probably a second. Which was a bit stupid - at the last chicane everybody was driving so slow.

"I saw my time, so I knew I had to go through somehow otherwise I wouldn't make it. I just missed it [the flag] by a second. Bit of a shame, but it didn't make a problem in the end."

Amazing words from Lewis, considering the way he acted in Singapore qualifying with Massa
 
video of Lewis here..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/15225562.stm

Would love to know how anyone can say Jenson was right in front of him lol

It depends what you mean by "right in front". Lewis started to go for it on the run up to the chicane, and then saw he was close to Button who was going slowly. If Hamilton hadn't slowed at this point, he wouldn't have had enough of a gap to do a quali lap. At that point he had to slow, give himself a bit more of a gap while stopping two cars from barging past. Hamilton didn't judge it perfectly, he slowed to much and left a gap on the right, but I don't think he did anything particularly wrong either - he was just in a difficult position. I thought Hamilton's words were a bit strong in the press conference though.
 
Just watched it, what a muppet and love whit marsh. No, Lewis was told to hurry up and not let anyone pass.
Why did he slow down, he slowed down so much he took MSC by surprise and he had to go off the track.

Still long race, short on tyres. Game is on.
 
I am so fed up of the attitude on here. Just because I don't want to try to look clever in front of my internet friends by subscribing to the 'it's cool to blame LH for everything' lynch mob, somehow I'm the idiot?

LH had nowhere to go, JB was right in front of him. And he was put in that position by the team. Simple as.

But hey, I'll just shut up now and conceed that I don't fit in with all the cool kids.

He wasnt RIGHT in front of him at all - he could have still taken the corner and then slowed slightly (although he only had a couple of seconds to go)

We saw that JB didnt have that much time at the end of his lap (although admittedly he could have been a little closer and still not been affected)

Personally thought it was a Hamilton fail as he knew how close he was already (and yes the dashboard would have told him, they get split times on it so Im sure he would get a count down to the flag too), but also a bit of McLaren **** by releasing so late also


Anyway with times so close I really cant see pole counting for squat tomorrow - unlesss something happens between now and then in parc ferme. I just hope both McLaren's get off the line perfectly and it should be a great race



Dont know why Vettel is so magical by managing to get across the line before the flag, just like 100's of drivers before him and undoubtedly after too
 
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If there's not at least one McLaren infront of Vettel by the end of the first lap I will be very surprised. And if tyres will be the decider tomorrow it's time for Button to shine. Vettel will have the championship this weekend.
 
If there's not at least one McLaren infront of Vettel by the end of the first lap I will be very surprised.

Didn't watch practice fully but I thought on the highlights they were saying that RBR were much faster with full fuel loads? If so then Vettel should zoom into the lead at the start and probably stay there unless they make a mistake. Mclaren's only chance is to get a safety car later in the race that pegs Vettel back to them when fuel loads are low and they look more competitive. Although Mclaren aren't ahead on low fuel rather they have just caught up.

I think the most interesting aspect will be Button and Hamilton at the start. I bet Whitmarsh is going to very nervous during those first few corners hoping Lewis doesn't play dodgems trying to get ahead of Jenson :D
 
Generally mclaren is faster on heavy fuel than qualifying pace.
Or you can say it the other way that rbi is generally faster in qauli than the race.

Just seen this on twitter. I'm confused.

Still no official grid but Renault's @AlanPermane confirmed that they agree Kobayashi is seventh and have no problem with that
 
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