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[Stevie]

Enjoyable race - brilliant stuff from the top three, Raikkonen a bit disappointing in parts, Alonso mega as ever....starting to really enjoy watching Hulkenberg get better and better. He deserves a top drive for sure.

Not sure what all the fuss is about regarding SV and LH - anyone watching the race closely enough can surely see that it was LH who moved across on SV after being eased aside by MW at the start. LH caused that one, without a doubt. Don't understand why people are blaming SV.

[Ferrari man 009]

After Webber's first sop he was on for a two stopper. Halfway through the stint they changed to a three. Webber asked "will it work" and is told "yes" .
Screwed over.
https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/stat ... 1472720896

they should have probably added "yes, if you are able to use the advantage of softer tires to quickly overtake Grosjean, like your team-mate was able to do on harder tires."

On the contrary, in Webber's sky interview he was asked that if he passed Grosjean on the 1st lap, could he have caught Vettel and he said be couldnt because Vettel's tyres only had to go 18 laps in the final stint and Webber felt he had more pace in the car if he needed it. He felt he had a minor advantage on the mediums but not enough.

To me it looked like poor tactics from RB. If 3 stop was a better option why didnt they put Vettel on it? Or switched Vettel and left Webber!

[mnmracer]

After Webber's first sop he was on for a two stopper. Halfway through the stint they changed to a three. Webber asked "will it work" and is told "yes" .
Screwed over.
https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/stat ... 1472720896

they should have probably added "yes, if you are able to use the advantage of softer tires to quickly overtake Grosjean, like your team-mate was able to do on harder tires."

On the contrary, in Webber's sky interview he was asked that if he passed Grosjean on the 1st lap, could he have caught Vettel and he said be couldnt because Vettel's tyres only had to go 18 laps in the final stint and Webber felt he had more pace in the car if he needed it. He felt he had a minor advantage on the mediums but not enough.

To me it looked like poor tactics from RB. If 3 stop was a better option why didnt they put Vettel on it? Or switched Vettel and left Webber!

A 3-stop was better for Webber because he couldn't make a 2-stop work.

[spankyham]

What made this race for me was the circuit. This really is an exceptional track. Japan seems to be blessed with great racing facilities.

Yet another race where the extreme advantage the Red Bull's have over every other car was again displayed to us. They really need to exalt Adrian Newey for his brilliance. This car is so good that it can give up the start and numerous places off the line and still muscle its way past everything else on the track. Dirty air which effects every other team has almost no impact on the RBs.

Seb just reeled off easy laps with great rhythm with all the patience needed after blowing the start so badly. I don't understand people not wanting to give him the credit he deserves. He could not have done more - especially over the last five races. He deserves full recognition for what he has achieved on the track. Simply giving a driver the fastest car on the track will not always yield wins the way Seb has.

I loved Daniel Ricciardo's overtake - which he was eventually penalized for.

Another great effort from the Sauber team and another sterling drive from Nico especially.

I think Ferrari would have been very surprised at doing a little better than Merc this race. A bad call IMO from the team cost Nico dearly and, whilst I applaud Lewis for his aggressive start, I personally feel the touch was his fault rather than Seb's. Either way absolutely nothing more than a racing incident.

Excellent drive from Romain, he did a brilliant job for Lotus and himself and showed a lot more maturity in his driving. Congrats to him for this drive. If the RB9 wasn't so much faster than the Lotus he would most definitely have had his maiden win. Dare I say, if this event was raced under the original rules/tires Romain would most definitely would have had a win here IMO.

I think Felipe really needs to show more in the final 4 races if he wants to get a decent seat next year. He did a great job in Q but his race was really sub-standard.

Mark lost his chance of winning when he was switched to a 3 stopper. Mark said as much in his post race interview. The team clearly wanted to keep both cars apart on the track for as long as possible. Putting them on different stop strategies ensured that.

I still think we have plenty to look forward to over the next four races in the Ferrari V Merc V Lotus battle as well as the Nando V Lewis V Kimi battle.

[Denthúl]

Great race from Grosjean. This season has been far better than last, despite a relatively steady start to the year. He's only 3 points behind Massa now, so I can definitely see him finishing the season ahead of a Ferrari, although I expect that Rosberg will be too hard to catch as the Mercedes is bound to have some good pace at at least a couple of the coming tracks. The Hulk also had another solid race, too. Shame he didn't finish in P4 but still a good points haul. Pairing him with Grosjean at Lotus for next season would make for a very strong lineup indeed.

[What's Burning?]

It was a good race, there is competition at least behind the RB9. The start didn't go so well for Lewis, but it was a racing incident, so often these things go one way or the other, he made a good start and he paid the price being squeezed by both Red Bull drivers seeing him as the competition which let Grosjean easily take the lead with his good start.

Ferrari let their drivers race, but what choice did they have really. The were fortunate to have outscored Mercedes in Japan. Vettel was fortunate not to have suffered front wing damage, just as there were unfortunate events for some drives. As they say, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. I think we got good racing, and seeing the cars through the esses on the perfect line, cars taking 130R at that fantastic speed and some of the defending into turn one by various drivers was an excellent show in an excellent circuit.

[racechick]

Well I like the circuit.............

[CookinFlat6]

Good race overall. Unlucky for Lewis but the only way to beat cars so much faster is to take these chances, and that increases the chance of these racing incidents. I remember when Seb routinely squeezed other drivers into the wall at the starts.

Webber allowed to use the pace of the car without the usual mysterious issues, well apart from suddenly been asked to stop once more than his teammate. Strange how the team split the strategies like that, when you consider that both cars were together on the grid and in a straight fight. Its not like the 2 strategies were both the optimum or quickest.

Great race from Sauber, both drivers especially Hulk. Perez outdrove Button on track and was unlucky with his extra pitstop for a puncture. Just looking at the relative performances of the drivers, its mad that any team who have a seat would not immediately take Hulkenburg over Massa, Perez, Button, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Sutil, Di resta.

[1Lemon]

Impressive stuff from Grosjean, I was urging him on to take that win but alas that RB is far too fast.

That last move of Maldonado on Bottas was just stupid, on the last corner of the last lap putting yourself in a position that was incredibly risky for 16th place was just pointless, fed up of being out raced by his far better rookie team mate I suppose.

[f1boy]

Another Seb win. Yawn.
I have to say, this season has been a disappointment as Red Bull are making everyone else look ridiculous.
I hope 2014 provides some actual competition for them.


Unlucky for Lewis today. Overall, I enjoyed the race though.

[Ferrari man 009]

After Webber's first sop he was on for a two stopper. Halfway through the stint they changed to a three. Webber asked "will it work" and is told "yes" .
Screwed over.
https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/stat ... 1472720896

they should have probably added "yes, if you are able to use the advantage of softer tires to quickly overtake Grosjean, like your team-mate was able to do on harder tires."

On the contrary, in Webber's sky interview he was asked that if he passed Grosjean on the 1st lap, could he have caught Vettel and he said be couldnt because Vettel's tyres only had to go 18 laps in the final stint and Webber felt he had more pace in the car if he needed it. He felt he had a minor advantage on the mediums but not enough.

To me it looked like poor tactics from RB. If 3 stop was a better option why didnt they put Vettel on it? Or switched Vettel and left Webber!

A 3-stop was better for Webber because he couldn't make a 2-stop work.

We can speculate about which was better, but the thing that makes me disagree is Webber hinted that he felt he was able to do a 2, he seemed annoyed that he was brought in earlier. Plus with his extra straightline speed, he may well have beaten Vettel by simply staying ahead on the road

[What's Burning?]

The three stop was the wrong call, but they didn't try it on Seb, that's for sure. Mark would have done better staying out on the primes with 11 or so laps to go and take his chances, he would have at least been defending for the top spot instead of spending the next five or six laps trying to get to second place.

[CookinFlat6]

No need to speculate, a 2 stop is 6 seconds faster than a 3 stop on this circuit

[racechick]

And guess who got the three stop!!! Even after mark questioned if he was switched.

[What's Burning?]

Seb was picking up about a half second a lap with 11 laps left. Webber about a 14 second lead. Do the math, it was better to defend the lead and make someone pass you for the win, rather than to have to chase back and claw a six or seven second deficit that was ruined once he was unable to quickly get past Grosjean. I shouldn't complain too much, I did well in the pool today... deep down, we "knew" it wouldn't be Webber first to the finish line.

Will Ricciardo become a fly in the ointment.