Formula One Highlights: Japanese Grand Prix, Raceday Part 3
Will the Red Bulls hold onto their 1-2? Was the Ferrari finally flexing its wings? Would there be any drama between the McLarens? When were the front runners planning to pit? These were some of the questions going through the mind as the race headed to lap
19. Welcome back to the highlights package of the Japanese Grand Prix from the Suzuka circuit.
The Ferrari went quicker than both Red Bulls and it was speculated that the Red Bulls were experiencing tyre ware issues.
Sutil and Kobayashi raced wheel-to-wheel as the Sauber driver was able to get his nose in front and snatch 9th position. Seeing the Japanese triumphant on the occasion, the Japanese crowd went bonkers as the local boy was in front.
It was tannounced that the stewards were to investigate the accident between Massa and Liuzzi on lap 1. The Ferrari had been taken out on the first turn and missed out on the opportunity of scoring points for the constructor’s championship. Further down
the grid, Yamamoto got past the Virgin of Timo Glock.
At the front, both Red Bulls responded to pressure from the only remaining Ferrari in 3rd position. The front two went round the track significantly quicker than Alonso. Vettel was able to set the fastest time for lap 21 at 1 minute 36.545 seconds.
Yamamoto and Glock continued their battle for P16. The lap also saw the first of the regular pit stops that featured Rubens Barrichello turning his Williams towards pit lane. He rejoined the race in 12th.
While the tempo at the front eased down, Glock and Yamamoto were providing some exciting racing at the back of the pack. Yamamoto took the defensive line into turn 1 to defend his position. Meanwhile, Alguersuari headed for the pits and joined the race at
13th place.
The McLaren pit crew got ready to welcome one of their cars. Hamilton dived in for a stop. He rejoined the race in 7th position, right behind Kobayashi’s Sauber. It was now plain simple that Button was going to run longer, even the entire race
distance by the reckoning of some Formula 1 pundits, on his hard compounded Bridgestones. Elsewhere, the Ferrari camp prepared for Alonso’s stop.
Alonso was expected to come out any second at the start of lap 24. However, the Spaniard stayed for another lap. He was 3 tenths quicker than the Red Bull cars on the previous lap. Michael Schumacher went and came out of the pit lane with a new set of rubbers.
He joined the race in 9th.
The next lap saw race leader Sebastian Vettel dive into the pits. He was joined by Alonso in 3rd position. Despite the coincidence in pit strategy, it was a clean stop. They went back on track in 3rd and 4th position. Hamilton
got past Kobayashi into turn 1 to take the 5th spot.
The pit lane was becoming an increasingly busy spot as Mark Webber entered next and came out in 3rd. He was comfortably ahead of Alonso and it looked that the Ferrari had to work some on track magic if it wanted to test the Red Bull at all. Jenson
Button was the only front runner yet to see the sight of the pit lane, since the driver started off on the harder compound tyres. However, it was still interesting to compare the lap times between him and the other contenders from there onwards.
Hamilton was able to put in a blistering lap at 1 minute 35.675 seconds. He was over two seconds quicker than his team mate Jenson Button. It was an equally important race for either of Whitmarsh’s drivers.
However, with pit stops out off the way, the order had initially shuffled but as things stood at lap 27, the classification became clearer. With nearly half the race left, Japan braced itself for an exciting finish.
Stay tuned…
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