Sunday, Race Day – Vettel Dominates to Victory, Trulli 2nd, Hamilton 3rdFull race report | Race Lap Analysis | Race History Analysis | Race Fastest Laps | Japan GP Photo Album
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1h28:20.443
2. Trulli Toyota (B) + 4.877
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 6.472
4. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 7.940
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 8.793
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 9.509
7. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) + 10.641
8. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) + 11.474
9. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 11.777
10. Alonso Renault (B) + 13.065
11. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 13.735
12. Fisichella Ferrari (B) + 14.596
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) + 14.959
14. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) + 15.734
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 17.973
16. Grosjean Renault (B) + 1 lap
17. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Webber, 1:32.569
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 58
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 26
Glock Toyota (B) 15
News & Quotes:Injured Glock out of Japanese GP
Button title hopes suffer grid blow
Vettel confident title is still possible
Hamilton rues KERS problem
Button comfortable about points gap
No action taken on Rosberg incident
Massa set to test 2007 F1 car
Ferrari Team Quotes – Kimi: It will be hard to keep third – "Today the car wasn’t bad, but it was not quick enough to fight for
the podium. This fourth place is useful in terms of keeping the team in
third place in the Constructors’ Championship, but it will be hard to
hang onto it over the final two races. I will definitely do everything
I can though. I was unable to make up places at the start, especially as the
first corner is not that far from the start line and so I was unable to
make the most of the KERS. In the first stint, when I was on hard
tyres, the situation was a bit difficult, but then, once on the softs,
things improved considerably. I managed to close on Heidfeld and pass
him at the pit stop, even though, coming away from my stop, I found
myself in traffic behind Button. Then there was not much to fight for
to the end of the race."
FUCK ISRAEL 
although my feeligs didn’t come true,i’m still happy with Kimi peformance today,he very fast with that F60,Congrats to Seb for the win
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hi everybody!fantastic race from Kimi! even if he didn’t manage to win, we could see that he was FLYING throughout the race! 3rd fastest lap with a crap car! there’s no doubt he’s the BEST out there!Keep Flying Kimi!!!=D
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Hi to all! Great job Kimi. Today he did what he could with that slow car. I’m very happy, and at one point of the race he set the fastest lap,again with that sloooooooooooow car. Keep flying Kimi,we are very pruod of you!;))))))))
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Great stuff from Kimi – totally shocked that he wrung out a fastest lap from that car (until Seb reclaimed it)! And nice gutsy cut in front of Nick at the pit lane exit too. 🙂 That’s our guy, giving it 150%, despite a very difficult weekend for him on a personal/career front. Congrats to Seb – awesome performance, and I’m definitely rooting for him to do a Kimi 2007 – he’s only 16 points away from Jense! Go Kimi, and go Seb!! Sorry to see that poor Heikki didn’t have a good outing – this is really not helping him retain that McLaren seat (if it isn’t already gone). Read that McLaren isn’t going to make an announcement too soon (sorry if this is old news to some of you):"Raikkonen joined Ferrari from McLaren and is widely expected to return to the Mercedes-powered team if he does not leave the sport altogether."We don’t have to make those decisions right now and I think the right and courteous thing to our current drivers is to support them and see if we do a good job and get some results in these last few races," said Whitmarsh."Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idINIndia-42894720091004Isn't this a nice little dig at Ferrari? McLaren have clearly got their head screwed on right + decent. I’m beginning to like them already… 😉
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@ribbonseal: exactly what I thought when I read Whitmarsh’s comments, "the right and courteous thing to our current DRIVERS is to support them and see if we do a good job and get some results in these last few races" is something Ferrari should learn.Back to the race, Kimi’s first stint was good even though he couldn’t pass anyone but overtaking pretty much sucked at Suzuka this year. I’m disappointed with that. But then, Kimi’s second stint was the important part and he owned! With 3rd fastest lap of the race, behind the Red Bulls, Kimi is only continuing to cement his name as the fastest driver out there even when the car sucks. Shame on Ferrari – they never capitalised on helping Kimi at the first half of the season (both 2008 and 2009), and when he finally gets somewhat comfortable with the car (strangely when Massa’s out the picture and all focus switches to Kimi) they stop development for 2010 like they haven’t got any hope at all despite having a world champion doing miracles with that piece of junk. What a lovely way to ‘remember’ and see out your world champion, Ferrari.Their loss.
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@Saima – absolutely. Heikki hasn’t been doing great all year, but McLaren is giving him the respect he should have as one of their current drivers. I’ve never been a McLaren fan, but they’ve definitely risen several notches in my book! :)Ferrari can do what they like, but their World Champion is seeing himself out with style, and no one can take that away from him. The worse that car is, the more miraculous Kimi’s performances are. I feel like saying alot of not-so-nice stuff about the team and Domenicali in particular, but since Kimi’s being so gracious, I’ll take a leaf from his book and just wish them the best of luck for next year. 😉 Having said that, I hope Kimi destroys the grid, whatever car he’s in for 2010!!On a happier note, did you guys see that some of the Japanese fans had Ferrari shirts on and little Finnish flags? 🙂 I sure hope Kimi noticed them!
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@both Saima and ribbonseal,Being so happy with Kimi’s performance today. IT IS HIM and the PITCREW who work together to save for Ferrari the only glory it has left. Kimi would deliver another two amazing drives before he leave with all the embarrassment and shame left for SD.Brilliant pit lane exit from him~They would remember him, and they may miss him more if things go not that well for them next year~ SD has lessons to learn~I begin to like the idea of pairing Kimi with Hamilton. Hopefully this will come true. Do you think there are other choices out there? I doubt. They may just want to get a good bargain.Yep, I’d love to see Vettle do a 2007 Kimi again~He is a nice guy and pushed really hard today, wish his engine goes well~ His ‘unbelievable’ quote is lovely~
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I completely agree with both of you, Ribbonseal and Saima – McLaren are treating their current drivers with so much more respect. As a matter of fact, I should say simply ‘with respect’ because Ferrari have no respect at all to begin with, so there’s nothing to compare McLaren with. Congratulations to Seb who happens to be a good mate of Kimi – I hope he does a Kimi! (Did you see the pic of Kimi, Seb and Heikki during the driver’s parade? They all look so relaxed and are obviously good friends)Yes, Xiaoyu, it is Kimi and his crew (Stella and the other guys) who work very well together and I’m sure they will all miss him. These are the slient Ferrari guys who have no say in the decisions made.So, Kimi continues to hold the fort singlehandedly—ROUND 2 STILL GOES TO THE ICEMAN!"You will never hear me say anything negative against Kimi…never." – Stefano Domenicali (Of course, because Kimi never gave them any reason to say anything negative)GREAT JOB, KIMI!!!Still doing your job with no complaints…Still fighting for the team who do not even realize your worth…Still trying to win a losing battle with a stick against the other teams guns…Still trying to save them when they don’t deserve you…Show Ferrari the true meaning of RESPECT and LOYALTY to the team – AND THEN WALK AWAY WITH YOUR HEAD HELD HIGH!YOU ARE THE TRUE WINNER IN THIS FIGHT!
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Yep. Very Good Race From Kimi. But nothing different than what I expected out of him. ;)Btw, I watch the race on Star Sports India. The one which does the commentary somehow always says after Kimi sets the fastest lap every race that "It took half a race to wake Kimi up!"! C`mon You Stupid. The car works that way. It takes awful time to heat those tyres. Lower Downforce —> Lower heat generated —-> Takes many laps to get the tyres working. Gosh, He must know that being a F1 commentator. He speaks so stupid!Coming back to the race, I though when Stefano spoke to Kimi about trying to be 4th. I just laughed in my mind and said "Yeah, Only Kimi can save you. And you are gng to get rid of in 2 races. So So Stupid!"Well Done Kimi! And yeah Saima, hope you include that conversation in the highlights video and play that funny song which you played in the other so called "Kimi-Ferrari-Alonso" video.
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Well Said Kracer, ribbonseal and Saima.I hope Robertson`s give us at least a sneak peak in what is going on. But on the other hand, they should not give any comments until the deal with Mclaren is finalised. :)I heard that Puttonen might not drive Brawn next year because there`s no sufficient pay rise offered by Ross Brawn. So Brawn is another option IMO. Even though Kimi might not get better money there.
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I’m so proud of Kimi he really was fantastic despite missing the podium….i think this was his best race this season. To see him set fastest laps was amazing and wiz that junk he’s driving….WOW.Ferrari can just burn in hell…..for a long time they were viewed as the most respectable and straight team while Macca were considered to be the bad ones (the spying scandal and lying to the stewards didn’t help them shed that bad image) but lately i think all of that hat have been put into question.Martin Whitmarsh was clearly taking a hit at Ferrari but he also gave a very good demonstration of how a team principal should act….always supporting his driver even when he’s not performing well and he’s likely to replace him 4 next year….he knows very well that if u expect ur driver to do well u shouldn’t put him down and always should do ur best to boost his morals….hope Domenicali learns something from that but i doubt it, at the end what can one expect from Stefano when he says: "Kimi is an unbelievable character and he lives on another planet".. Obviously no one at Ferrari understood Kimi apart from few ones like Dyer,Stella and Todt but that’s not enough….they feel that Alonso will be better fit 4 them and will do a better job…. well we’ll see about that at the end it’s their loss….maybe they like Alonso better bcz he has a big mouth and knows how to put on a show like Felipe Baby.At least Kimi always is a real gentleman, he never trashes anyone or his team when they make mistakes unlike that bloody spaniard.Ferrari could have waited til the end of the season to make a decision or announce Alonso but they didn’t and they still expect from Kimi to help them get 3rd in championship….Anyway Kimi is the real champ everyone knows that and it makes no difference if Ferrari acknowledges that or remember it bcoz we do.Keep Flying Kimi!!!!!!!!!!!
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who says "kimi has lost his mojo"?….and ill shoot ’em!
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Kimi is a great man, a great driver! Sad that lots of peoples in F1 world don’t notice that & don’t value it but yet said the opposite. His passion to defend the 3rd WCC for Ferrari has never changed even after the annoucement that he will be replaced by Alonso next year. Hat off for him!I just wish he will join a ‘great’ team soon & do much better than his time in Ferrari. I wish to see lots of smiles on his faces next season onwards.
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its gonna be hard keeping 3rd in the constructor’s champinoship specially when the last 4 or 5 races only one driver(kimi) is scoring points.only 2 or 3 points(correct me if im wrong) adrift from mclaren.Fisi really needs to start scoring points!
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Wanted to share with you 2 pics from autosport.http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/1319503 Lol Better he drives with this car. :Phttp://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/1319488 This one just an example of Ferrari fans supporting Kimi.
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Hi to all,@Amol: Funny pictures… Thank you for to share them with all us. I am disappointed behavior of Ferrari… Kimi did a very beautiful race… The podium wasn’t far… But with a race car not very reliable, Ferrari should rather thank a lot Kimi for his extraordinary piloting… Thank you KIMI to let all us dream the formula 1 through your great strategies of the piloting !!!… Have a Great and Wonderful Sunday everyone, Bye-Bye and see you!!!…
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I felt today’s race was great. I enjoyed it but later when I visited a few forums to see what people had to say about it I was surprised to see they were all disappointed to see such a ‘dull’ race at Suzuka with little overtaking or any other excitement. Even the safety car at the end didn’t stir things up, as they said. Then I thought about it and I realized that they were quite right. Even I had left watching the race on the telly after the first few laps, as they weren’t showing Kimi anymore. But I was involved in a chat with fellow Raikkos and was following the Live Timing alongside, and I had a wonderful time. Watching Kimi go faster and faster every lap in that second stint was breathtaking. He was pushing the tractor so much, he even set the fastest lap of the race, which stood for a long time, only thrashed by Vettel and Webber in the final laps. That part was so exhilarating 😀 and throughout the race we were having our non-stop banter, laughing and cheering. As Kimi says, things don’t change for him, and it’s always about going as fast as possible. It’s wonderful to have a good result from him again.Great to see so many fans supporting him at Suzuka :)Keep flying Iceman.
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ribbonseal, you’re so right about Whitmarsh that he feels he shouldn’t make a comment which would affect his driver, nice to see him showing support for his drivers.I agree with kiki that Dyer and Stella appreciate Kimi’s performance, his talent and always speak well of him. Here you can see, in the Japanese GP preview, what Chris Dyer has to say : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaAq_zv-5lE. That last statement just sums it up all – "he can take the F60 to places where it shouldn’t be". I’m sure he must be feeling very sorry to see Kimi go, and he can’t do anything about it.It doesn’t matter what Domenicali has to say about him now. Kimi has always been the same and always will be. Even if Ferrari don’t know how to treat their world champion, Kimi will do all he can in order to give them the 3rd position in the constructors’ championship.
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pernilla(Non in linea)ha scritto: Kimi is trying so hard to do his best and without him ferrari is nothing. look at poor fisichella’s performance and sit up and think, my dear tifosi ah ah ah ahtaking a 4th place with such a bad car like this in a boring race is not for all kind of drivers. Kimi is KIMI.about mcxlaren…I agree with you, ribbonseal and we can also see many pictures with Kimi talking friendly with haug…..it’s quite clear I hope….
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I really don’t care how ferrari ends in the championship. I just hope to see Kimi win again
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Wow great race! No how bad does Ferrari look?@Saima i think for the highlights of this race u would need some livetiming materials in there.. just a thought 🙂
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