Formula One Japanese Grand Prix preview
The drivers don’t know who will win the Formula One world championship, and they’re not the only ones.
Shaping up to be the closest and most exciting championship in the history of the sport, the legendary Suzuka circuit, the scene of many triumphs and controversial moments, hosts this weekend’s grand prix. Michael Schumacher is the most successful driver here, winning six times, but Suzuka will always be remembered for the most bitter rivalry Formula One has witnessed.
Who can forget what happened in 1989? The late great Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were two of the most determined drivers, and their rivalry at McLaren tore up the rule book. Their collision on a chicane at the end of the lap saw Prost out of the race, while Senna went on to win the race, only to be disqualified. Words were exchanged and a bad taste was left in Senna’s mouth .
A year later, Senna was on pole, and Prost, who switched to Ferrari, started in second. On the cleaner side of the track, Prost made the better start and got the jump on Senna, but heading into the first corner, they collided at around 170mph.
There will likely never be a rivalry like that again, and the five drivers in the hunt for this year’s championship will be hoping to avoid crashing out in this race; a collision similar to that would dash their hopes.
Mark Webber is the leading driver, 11 points ahead of Fernando Alonso. Despite being in front, the Australian doesn’t consider himself the favourite. Strange? He doesn’t seem to think so. “I'm not the favourite. I think we're all pretty even at the moment, and it can change pretty quickly, in a good way or a bad way for me,” he said. “I need to keep racing hard and going for victories - that's what we need to do."
“I have a bit more scope, but I'm not looking to abuse that advantage because it can go very fast. The points advantage is a nice thing to have. It would be more important if it was the last race, but this isn't the last race,” he added.
Alonso is the form driver, winning back-to-back grands prix in Italy and Singapore. For most of the season he has been playing catch-up, but is now in the mix to win a third world crown. The Spaniard, however, has said there will be tough times ahead in the remaining four races.
“It seems that you need to keep the momentum now for more races, but we saw this year that people that win two races, or have two or three podiums in a row, then they have some bad results and then they come back good,” said Alonso.
On this year’s championship, Alonso believes it is better to fight with more than one driver. “It is different in a way because you need to control more drivers - more teams in terms of strategy,” said the Ferrari driver. “Now with five it opens a little bit more the window for different things - and it is difficult to control all of them.”
Lewis Hamilton has suffered back-to-back retirements and is 20 points off Webber. The 2008 world champion has failed to score points at the most critical part of the season, and he admits it will be difficult to reduce the gap. “It's going to be tough for all of us, but I feel I have as good an opportunity as anyone, so I'll work as hard as I can to finish the races,” Hamilton said.
Critics have said Hamilton’s aggressive style of driving was to blame for the collisions in the last two races, but Hamilton says he won’t change. “I could just go and drive around and not overtake anyone and just stay in position, that's easy enough, but that's not me so that definitely won't be happening,” said the Briton.
Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Jenson Button is 25 points off Webber, and believes all the pressure is on the Red Bull driver to deliver. “There are a lot of very talented drivers in Formula One and when you feel you are under pressure you can make mistakes, so it could possibly make a difference,” said the reigning world champion.
“We will see how he [Webber] copes over the next few races. He has a very quick team-mate as well, and is trying to claw points back on him. So there will be a lot of action over the next few races,” said Button.
That quick teammate is young German Sebastian Vettel, and he is 21 points adrift of Webber. Vettel finished a close second to Alonso in Singapore, and is confident he has the ability to win more races and the title. “In the end, if you are one point behind or 10 points behind, or this year 25 points behind, what matters in the end is you have to believe in yourself and trust yourself,” he said. “I'm not in Korea. I'm not in Brazil and I'm not in Abu Dhabi [the final races]. I'm in Japan, and so I'll put my head down and focus on this race and nothing else,” Vettel added.
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