2007 Japanese Grand Prix

Sunday – Race Day, Kimi finishes 3rd

After an outstanding drive throughout the field, Kimi only just missed out on 2nd place.

It was one of those typical wet races in Formula One with the entertaining ingredients- mass pouring of rain, uncertainty, confusion, struggle, bravery, tears and grins. If you missed the race, don’t worry, the highlight video will be up next week!

Kimi’s and Felipe’s whole race was seriously compromised by a bizarre and undeniably silly error of negligence by Ferrari as they were ‘unaware’ the FIA race control ordered all teams to put on extreme wet tyres on. As the safety car began the race, Ferrari were on intermediates with both cars, and in that amount of rain they had no choice but to pit and Kimi and Felipe were dead last of the pack. How are Ferrari supposed to help Kimi win the WDC if they’re not even thinking properly about tyres? Starting on intermediates was a mistake itself, being informed to use extremes or not.

Kimi was fuelled to the end in his first pit stop and seemed a threat to the McLarens as they had to pit sooner or later. Despite that, it was a tough race for all involved, but Kimi gave 120% and found grip wherever he could, even off the track, anything to cut down the gap. Successfully passing drivers in neat and tidy moves and a courageous one on Coulthard, Kimi’s hardest competitor was fellow compatriot Heikki Kovalainen in 2nd place. While Kimi took every chance possible, taking new racing lines, it was too late and he had to cross the line 17 points behind Hamilton in the championship. Kimi actually did pas Heikki althought the Renault driver claimed it back – the Japanese race director was too busy showing us Hamilton cross the finish line. Massa took desperate measures to pass BMW’s Kubica in a last corner battle and only just crossed the line to claim 6th place!  It’s unfortunate that Kimi lost points to Hamilton when he needed to gain, but at least one McLaren crashed as most of us expected! Pity it was the wrong one…

But wow, two Finnish flags on the podium was a nice sight! Heikki did a great job, considering he had a crazy Kimi on his tail. I have to salute the F1 drivers today especially in this race – it baffles me how they can drive and race at those speeds with practically only 2/3 metres visibility infront! Well done! Although like I said, there are some sad faces and tears, mainly for Sebastian Vettel who looked in great position with Mark Webber. He caused an accident between the and Mark was pretty nasty about it!

Back to the winner though, Lewis Hamilton! The FIA’s favourite boy! Whose justice had to be fufilled just because BMW driver Kubica was racing with him and gave a little nudge where both spun off track. The verdict? A drive through penalty for Kubica. For what? Causing very little harm to golden boy Lewis. For heavens sake, it was hardly wreckless and not worthy of a penalty, in my opinion. But that’s the FIA, making strange decisions as ever. Thanks to Charlie Whiting however for letting the race take place, when it seriously looked like it wouldn’t. The conditions were treacherous and there are too many feelings and thoughts to put down here, so that’s all folks!

Quotes – Kimi: "We made a decision to start on intermediates," said Raikkonen. "It
started to rain a bit behind the safety car but that wasn’t really the
issue, it was more for me to see anything. After the race I heard there were some rules to force everyone to
start on full wets but the FIA or race control forgot to tell our team.
That forced us to pit behind the safety car. It cost us but not a lot.
All race I could not see anything. Then I tried to overtake Heikki (Kovalainen). Actually I got past
him but went too fast and he got past me back. The biggest problem was
to see the circuit and the cars. At least we got something out of it.

"I aquaplaned off a few times but I kept coming back. We had the car
set up for the dry so it was not perfect for the wet. I thought we had
a good car. If you are in front it is much easier. We could have gone
faster. We lost points to Lewis again but we could not do much after
that first pitstop."

Ferrari informed late about tyre rule – "We did not receive email notification of the stewards decision until
after the race had started. We have checked and on Stefano Domenicali’s
laptop it shows that he only received the message at 1.37pm," a Ferrari
spokesperson said after the race."

Sunday quotes: Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen – 3rd: "We raced with virtually zero
visibility. The hardest thing to work out was where the other drivers
were and what they were doing. My race was ruined by the enforced
pitstop on lap three. We had chosen to start on standard rain tyres but
we will never know now if this decision would have paid off.

"Once I was back at the pack we tried our best to move back up. All
in all, third place is not a result to complain about. I did a lot of
overtaking always in very difficult conditions. Our set up might have
been more competitive in the dry, but all the same the car was very
quick and I certainly didn’t lose any time because of this choice. Clearly the situation in the championship is now much more
difficult, but I will still give it my all right to the end of the
season as usual."

Post-race press conference – Japan – Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) To Heikki and Kimi. How did it
feel to be on the podium, two Finns at the same time, and the third one
trained by a Finnish guy?

HK: Yeah, of course for me it was a very good moment. It was
my first podium in Formula One. Obviously a lot of work had gone
towards that and the next thing is to be sitting in the middle. Of
course it’s very good to be there with Kimi as well. Kimi’s obviously
been there many times before, so I don’t think it’s a big deal for him
to be honest but for myself, it’s a great moment, a great feeling.

KR: Ah, it’s like any other podium really. I would rather be in the middle. Third place doesn’t really give me anything.

Q. (Carole Capitaine – L’Equipe) A question for Kimi. How do you
explain the last pit stop for Felipe at the end of the race when he was
in front of you, was it planned or was it a help for you?

KR: You need to ask him.

Photos
Mediafire >>> KRS FUJI 2007 SUNDAY.zip

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Videos
Post-Race Press Conference:



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or | http://www.mediafire.com/?7ozjw11nkam

Race Start Lap:



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Alonso’s Crash:



http://www.mediafire.com/?0nt500x2ado

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Saturday – Qualifyinq, Kimi P3

That was an interesting qualifying session! The drizzle meant that the drivers were able to influence their final grid positions more effectively as skill and precision is rewarded greatly. The McLarens’ start on the front row of the grid, with Hamilton making a great lap after having difficulty in the earlier sessions, almost being in the danger zone in Q2. The Ferraris’ are really close to the McLarens’ with Kimi just under a tenth behind Alonso in 2nd and Massa in 4th. Jenson Button, the only pride and joy for the Japanese today, did a solid performance and his best this year to qualify 7th for Honda, behind another good performer Rosberg in the Williams.

Hamilton had to dodge Kimi on the pit straight as he took pole

Despite having gear box problems and also having to shift around the 2nd and 3rd gears apparantly (that was Kimi on the straight where Hamilton just dodged him! Hamilton actually benefitted from some slipstreaming though), Kimi is looking in good shape. The rain won’t help much but he’s made it clear before that he’d rather qualify 3rd than 2nd, to start on the clean side on the track. If he gets a good run alongside Alonso (given that the Spaniard doesn’t push him off like a bull) then Kimi has a good chance to challenge for the win. It’ll be tough…but keep flying Kimi. Be prepared for a race that’s bound to have set off some fireworks tomorrow!

Quotes – Raikkonen stays hopeful for the race –

"It was okay. I had traffic on last lap and we had a small problem
with the gearbox so I hope we can fix it for tomorrow. I think we are in good shape."

"We don’t know the weather but it is
the same for everybody. The circuit is going to be different after the
rain."

"I am confident we have good car for the race. I think it will be a tight race between all four cars."

Saturday quotes: Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen – 3rd: "Quite a good qualifying
session. I could probably have got a better grid position but I came up
against a bit of traffic and also had a small problem with the
electronic management of the gearbox which cost me precious time. Of course it was something of a gamble starting qualifying in the
wet without having ever run in these conditions but it only took a
handful of laps to find the right line. I expect tomorrow’s race will
be very tight. As we could work out from yesterday’s practice, it is very close
between us and our main rivals. Overall, the car worked well and I
think I can be competitive in the wet or dry."

Felipe Massa – 4th: "Qualifying produced a very
close fight between us and our main rivals. In Q1 and Q2, I was very
pleased with the handling of my car but something changed in terms of
balance on new tyres and less fuel, given that it gave me a bit too
much oversteer. A shame, because even at the start of Q3 I was going well, but in
the end, with new tyres, I lost time with this oversteer. All the same,
fourth place is not a bad position. There are four of us in the same
two tenths of a second and all sorts of things could happen tomorrow."

Post-qualifying press conference – Japan

Q. (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, would you prefer to have a dry race or a wet race tomorrow?

KR: It’s the same for all the teams, all the drivers, so it
doesn’t really make any difference. It would be nice to have it dry or
wet, not really in between. There’s a bit more luck involved then. I
don’t know. Anything really.

Q. (MC) Did it dry out at all during that session, were the conditions pretty stable?

KR: There were some little dry places but not really completely.

Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, do you think that first corner is more decisive than usual?

KR: I don’t think so. It’s not any different to normal. It’s
going to be quite tight but the last race it was a very tight corner,
so I don’t think it’s going to decide any more than any other circuit.

Japan qualifying breakdown			Session 1			Session 2			Session 3
Pos	Driver	Team	Pos	Time	Lap	Pos	Time	Lap	Pos	Time	Lap
1.	Hamilton	McLaren	4.	1:25.489	10	1.	1:24.753	9	1.	1:25.368	11
2.	Alonso	McLaren	2.	1:25.379	6	2.	1:24.806	10	2.	1:25.438	11
3.	Raikkonen	Ferrari	3.	1:25.390	10	3.	1:24.988	8	3.	1:25.516	11
4.	Massa	Ferrari	1.	1:25.359	8	4.	1:25.049	10	4.	1:25.765	11
5.	Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	6.	1:25.971	10	5.	1:25.248	9	5.	1:26.505	11
6.	Rosberg	Williams	9.	1:26.579	11	9.	1:25.816	11	6.	1:26.728	11
7.	Button	Honda	10.	1:26.614	10	6.	1:25.454	10	7.	1:26.913	11
8.	Webber	Red Bull	5.	1:25.970	10	8.	1:25.535	8	8.	1:26.914	11
9.	Vettel	Toro Rosso	7.	1:26.025	11	10.	1:25.909	11	9.	1:26.973	11
10.	Kubica	BMW Sauber	8.	1:26.300	11	7.	1:25.530	11	10.	1:27.225	11
11.	Fisichella	Renault	13.	1:26.909	7	11.	1:26.033	10
12.	Kovalainen	Renault	15.	1:27.223	7	12.	1:26.232	10
13.	Coulthard	Red Bull	12.	1:26.904	11	13.	1:26.247	10
14.	Trulli	Toyota	11.	1:26.711	11	14.	1:26.253	10
15.	Liuzzi	Toro Rosso	16.	1:27.234	11	15.	1:26.948	11
16.	R.Schumacher	Toyota	14.	1:27.191	10	16.		0
17.	Barrichello	Honda	17.	1:27.323	10
18.	Wurz	Williams	18.	1:27.454	10
19.	Davidson	Super Aguri	19.	1:27.564	10
20.	Sutil	Spyker	20.	1:28.628	10
21.	Sato	Super Aguri	21.	1:28.792	10
22.	Yamamoto	Spyker	22.	1:29.668	10

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