Japanese Grand Prix 2013, Suzuka - Race 15/19

Duke · 7 Oct 2013 at 17:36

Suzuka

One of the greatest tracks used in Formula One racing today, Japan's Suzuka circuit is a massive test of car and driver ability. Built by Honda as a test facility in 1962, the track was designed by Dutchman John Hugenholz, the Hermann Tilke of his day. A huge theme park was also constructed at the track, including the famous big wheel which dominates the Suzuka skyline.

In 1987, having hosted various sportscar and F2 races, and having lost out initially to Fuji in the race to host the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda's influence finally prevailed and the Grand Prix had a new Japanese home. And - 2007/8 aside - at Suzuka the race has stayed ever since, providing the scene for many nail-biting end-of-season deciders, including the infamous collisions involving Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

Suzuka includes some of the F1 calendar's most challenging corners. Among the drivers' favourites are the high-speed 130R and the famous Spoon Curve. On top of this the circuit's figure-of-eight layout makes it unique in F1 racing.

TV Times

* For BBC times and info see here *

Track Diagram

Circuit Information

First Grand Prix: 1987
Number of Laps: 53
Circuit Length: 5.807 km
Race Distance: 307.471 km
Lap Record: 1:31.540 - K. Raikkonen (2005)

Championship Standings

Code:

[b]Pos Driver                Team                  Time       Gap     Laps[/b]
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m34.157s          19
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m34.487s  +0.330s 19
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m34.768s  +0.611s 24
 4. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m34.787s  +0.630s 20
 5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m35.126s  +0.969s 14
 6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m35.154s  +0.997s 16
 7. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m35.179s  +1.022s 15
 8. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m35.364s  +1.207s 17
 9. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m35.450s  +1.293s 27
10. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m35.635s  +1.478s 19
11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m35.868s  +1.711s 22
12. Nico Hülkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.900s  +1.743s 18
13. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m36.066s  +1.909s 20
14. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m36.165s  +2.008s 19
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m36.178s  +2.021s 12
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m36.340s  +2.183s 23
17. Paul Di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m36.399s  +2.242s 18
18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m36.760s  +2.603s 22
19. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m37.595s  +3.438s 22
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m37.629s  +3.472s  8
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m38.025s  +3.868s 15
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m38.763s  +4.606s 18

Report - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110513

Practice 2

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver               Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps[/b]
 1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m33.852s           35
 2.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m34.020s  +0.168s  35
 3.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m34.114s  +0.262s  36
 4.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m34.202s  +0.350s  17
 5.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m34.411s  +0.559s  30
 6.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m34.442s  +0.590s  36
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m34.473s  +0.621s  30
 8.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m34.698s  +0.846s  35
 9.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes      1m34.912s  +1.060s  34
10.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m35.087s  +1.235s  32
11.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.089s  +1.237s  36
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m35.109s  +1.257s  34
13.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.182s  +1.330s  34
14.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m35.275s  +1.423s  35
15.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m35.341s  +1.489s  25
16.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m35.709s  +1.857s  8
17.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m36.136s  +2.284s  41
18.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m36.722s  +2.870s  6
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m37.630s  +3.778s  31
20.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m37.905s  +4.053s  36
21.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m38.121s  +4.269s  33

Report - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110520

Practice 3

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver               Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps[/b]
 1.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m32.053s           17
 2.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m32.187s  +0.134s  18
 3.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m32.355s  +0.302s  18
 4.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m32.707s  +0.654s  26
 5.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m32.800s  +0.747s  14
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m32.815s  +0.762s  14
 7.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes      1m32.869s  +0.816s  17
 8.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m32.946s  +0.893s  25
 9.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m33.036s  +0.983s  8
10.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.076s  +1.023s  12
11.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.158s  +1.105s  15
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.260s  +1.207s  15
13.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.490s  +1.437s  16
14.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m33.638s  +1.585s  17
15.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.660s  +1.607s  19
16.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.732s  +1.679s  15
17.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m33.955s  +1.902s  18
18.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m34.773s  +2.720s  8
19.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m35.473s  +3.420s  20
20.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m35.518s  +3.465s  18
21.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m35.844s  +3.791s  16
22.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m39.378s  +7.325s  20

Report - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110551

Qualifying

Code:

[b]Pos Driver                Team                 Time            Gap    [/b]
 1. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m30.915s                  
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m31.089s  +0.174s         
 3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m31.253s  +0.338s         
 4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m31.365s  +0.450s         
 5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m31.378s  +0.463s         
 6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m31.397s  +0.482s         
 7. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m31.644s  +0.729s         
 8. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m31.665s  +0.750s         
 9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m31.684s  +0.769s         
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.827s  +0.912s         
Q2 cut-off time: 1m31.848s                                   Gap **       
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.989s  +0.699s         
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m31.992s  +0.702s         
13. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m32.013s  +0.723s         
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m32.063s  +0.773s         
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m32.093s  +0.803s         
16. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m32.485s  +1.195s         
Q1 cut-off time: 1m32.875s                                    Gap *
17. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m32.890s  +1.066s         
18. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.357s  +1.533s         
19. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.320s  +2.496s         
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m34.556s  +2.732s         
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m34.879s  +3.055s         
22. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.958s  +3.134s

Report - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110554

Race

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver             Team                         Time  [/b]
 1.  Sebatian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault        1h37.410s           
 2.  Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault            +7.1s           
 3.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault               +9.9s           
 4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                    +45.6s           
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +47.3s           
 6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Sauber-Ferrari             +51.6s           
 7.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari           +1m11.6s           
 8.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                 +1m12.0s           
 9.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes         +1m20.8s           
10.  Felipe Massa       Ferrari                  +1m29.2s           
11.  Paul di Resta      Force India-Mercedes     +1m38.5s           
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap           
13.  Daniel Ricciardo   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap           
14.  Adrian Sutil       Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap           
15.  Sergio Perez       McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap           
16.  Pastor Maldonado   Williams-Renault           +1 lap           
17.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Renault           +1 lap           
18.  Charlies Pic       Caterham-Renault           +1 lap           
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap

Report - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110598

Standings following this race

Code:

[b]Drivers:                      Constructors:              [/b]
 1.  Vettel        297        1.  Red Bull-Renault          445 
 2.  Alonso        207        2.  Ferrari                   297 
 3.  Raikkonen     177        3.  Mercedes                  277 
 4.  Hamilton      151        4.  Lotus-Renault             264 
 5.  Webber        148        5.  McLaren-Mercedes           83 
 6.  Rosberg       126        6.  Force India-Mercedes       62 
 7.  Massa          90        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             55 
 8.  Grosjean       87        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31 
 9.  Button         60        9.  Williams-Renault            1 
10.  Hulkenberg     49                                          
11.  Di Resta       36                                          
12.  Sutil          26                                          
13.  Perez          23                                          
14.  Ricciardo      18                                          
15.  Vergne         13                                          
16.  Gutierrez       6                                          
17.  Maldonado       1

Guerrilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 18:52

Cheers Duke

Love these early starts and 1 week breaks... good times

smr · 7 Oct 2013 at 19:50

Wooohooooooo Back 2 Back Formula 1 weekends. Up there in my top two this circuit as well!

Thanks Duke

JHeaton · 7 Oct 2013 at 19:54

Always look forward to Suzuka and even miss it being the final race of the season. I would absolutely love to drive a Formula 1 car around here, especially through the first sector.

Rybo89 · 7 Oct 2013 at 19:58

Yes, Yes and Yes again! We did it!Thank you! Ringa ding ding.

Hammy for second this week me thinks.

deuse · 7 Oct 2013 at 21:05

Thanks Duke.

Rybo89 said:
Yes, Yes and Yes again! We did it!Thank you! Ringa ding ding.

Hammy for second this week me thinks.

One can hope.

tummelv · 7 Oct 2013 at 21:08

And now we go from the best grand prix of the year to the worst.

IPBA · 8 Oct 2013 at 08:29

Love Suzuka absolutely one of my favourite tracks.

My prediction for this weekend:

FP1: X (sub X for a driver other than Vet) is fastest.
FP2: X (sub X for a driver other than Vet) is fastest.
FP3: Vettel is 0.5 seconds faster where did that come from

rolleyes

Qualifying: Seb takes a dominating pole position by X seconds.

Race start: Vettel leads into turn 1.
Lap 1: Vettel is 2.5 seconds clear of 2nd place man & he has broken DRS.
Lap 2 to 53: Rocky to Seb - Manage your tyres you are faster than everyone.
End of race: Vettel wins the race (lights to flag victory).

Team radio Horner: Well done Seb great race you done it.
Seb Vettel: Ringa ding ding ding - thanks guys

Rinse repeat for India, Abu Dhabi, America and Brazil.

I don't have an issue with him winning. I would just like the other teams to improve and challenge him. The guy has it too easy and hence I find it hard to gauge how good he is. I know from watching Seb in Hungary and Mark in other races the RB is not so good behind other fast cars. Prime example was Mark in Spa, he could not get past Rosberg for most of the race.

Anyhow its a F1 weekend - yay

Duke · 8 Oct 2013 at 12:15

Well that didn't take long.

XeNoN89 · 8 Oct 2013 at 12:33

Result:

1. Vettel

Everybody else .... ?

JeditOjanen · 8 Oct 2013 at 12:59

tummelv said:
And now we go from the best grand prix of the year to the worst.

You have that backwards.

Please, please, karmic spirits, let Vettel have some kind of non-fatal, non-career ending accident that nevertheless will prevent him driving for the rest of the year.

PinkFloyd · 8 Oct 2013 at 13:44

JeditOjanen said:
You have that backwards.

I took that to mean Best Suzuka, through to India being the worse. I'm guessing you took it as Best Korea, worst Suzuka?

Personally in recent years I'd say Interlagos has been the best race of the season in most years!

Looking forward to watching this at the weekend, hoping for something other than a lights to flag victory for Vettel.

lunarwolf · 8 Oct 2013 at 13:56

one of my 3 favourite tracks. Spa, Monza and Suzuka

. good track for the Red Bull and Vettel. gonna be a big gap unless safety car

Irish_Tom · 8 Oct 2013 at 14:03

JeditOjanen said:
You have that backwards.

PinkFloyd said:
I took that to mean Best Suzuka, through to India being the worse. I'm guessing you took it as Best Korea, worst Suzuka?

You two missed the troll face in his post.

tummelv · 8 Oct 2013 at 14:07

Irish_Tom said:
You two missed the troll face in his post.

Nightglow · 8 Oct 2013 at 14:12

JeditOjanen said:
You have that backwards.

Please, please, karmic spirits, let Vettel have some kind of non-fatal, non-career ending accident that nevertheless will prevent him driving for the rest of the year.

Appendicitis...

He would miss a couple of races.

deuse · 8 Oct 2013 at 15:47

Red Light 1........2.........3.........4........5 and vimto wins

Also MotoGp the sport of REAL men is on this weekend as well at Malaysia, Sepang and live on the BBC

MooMoo444 · 8 Oct 2013 at 17:26

I hope Vettel wins.

Trying a bit of reverse psych.. -_-

FrankJH · 8 Oct 2013 at 17:47

Very damp / full wet on the last & 1st corner and dry everywhere else (with those "rivers" going across the track)

Otherwise it will be a pretty boring race I suspect

Skeeter · 8 Oct 2013 at 17:50

Do people still think TV figures are dropping purely due to Sky?