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[spankyham]

 wrote:">Battle in the land of the Rising Sun

Maranello, 29 September – This Sunday’s race will be the thirtieth Japanese Grand Prix. It has only been held at two circuits, at Fuji four times and Suzuka on 25 occasions. Ferrari has come out on top seven times, making for a 24% hit rate.

Starting on the wrong foot. Formula 1 made its Japanese debut in 1976 as the final race and it produced the key moment of the season. Niki Lauda had returned to racing in record time following his terrible accident at the Nurburgring and the Austrian had a three point lead over McLaren’s James Hunt. On the day of the race, a terrible downpour hit the Fuji track and Lauda chose to pull out after just two laps. Hunt had nothing to lose and carried on, eventually coming home third, which was good enough to give him the title by a single point.

The famous figure of eight. After one more race at Fuji, Japan dropped off the Formula 1 radar. Only in 1987, on the back of Honda’s success, did the Circus return to the Land of the Rising Sun, at the Suzuka track, owned by the Japanese car manufacturer, which boasted a famous figure-of-eight layout. The first race at its new home proved propitious for Ferrari, with Gerhard Berger taking the win in the F1-87.
The Senna-Prost era. For the next few years, Suzuka became one of the focal points of the title fight, with the battle featuring the same two protagonists, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. In 1988, Senna had a terrible getaway off the line, but then caught up with his French team-mate and passed him to take his first title. The following year, the two McLaren drivers collided at the final chicane and this time, the title went to Prost. Now, the differences between the two men were irreconcilable and Prost moved to Ferrari for 1990. There was a season-long entertaining head to head between the two archrivals, who arrived in Suzuka with the Brazilian enjoying a slight lead in the points. In order to keep his championship chances alive, Prost had to finish ahead of Senna, who had secured pole. At the start, the Frenchman got away first, but the Brazilian speared into Prost at the first corner, in revenge for the year before, much to the annoyance of the Ferrari fans.

Red dawn after the disappointments. At the end of the Nineties, the Scuderia was a contender once again in Suzuka, mainly due to the efforts of Michael Schumacher. In 1997, Jacques Villeneuve was disqualified, while Michael won, to go into the lead of the Championship, although it slipped from his grasp in the final race at Jerez. In 1998 and ’99 came two more disappointments for the Maranello team. In the former, Schumacher had to make up four points on Finland’s Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren. Michael took pole, but stalled the engine on the grid and had to start from the back. He fought his way up to third, but on lap 31, a tyre blew up, putting an end to his chase. The following year, it was Eddie Irvine who was in the hunt for the title, but again it went to Hakkinen. However, Ferrari was able to celebrate taking the Constructors’ title, its first since 1983. However, Scuderia Ferrari’s day of glory at Suzuka would come. On 8th October 2000, the Drivers’ title jinx, which dated back to 1979, was finally broken. It was down to Michael Schumacher who was crowned with one race to go. From then on, Suzuka was painted red: Michael and the Scuderia won in 2001, 2002 and 2004, and the title was also assigned in 2003, when the victory went to Rubens Barrichello.

Up to date. The Suzuka idyll ended in 2006, when Schumacher had just passed Fernando Alonso’s Renault to take the lead. The two men had arrived in Japan equal on points, with two races remaining. Unfortunately, the first engine failure since 2000 let the German down and hopes of an eighth title went with it. Suzuka had further disappointment in store for the Scuderia in 2012, when Fernando Alonso collided with Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and had to retire. Vettel won, to reignite his title charge on the Ferrari man. Both current Scuderia drivers have won in Japan: Fernando in 2006 and 2008 and Kimi in 2005, when he staged a remarkable fight up the order from 17th on the grid.

[spankyham]

 wrote:">Japanese GP – Allison: “To learn what lessons we can”

It’s in Asia, it’s name starts with an “S,” and it also boasts a Big Wheel overlooking the track, but that’s where the similarities between Formula 1’s last appointment in Singapore and its next one in Suzuka begin and end.

While Singapore is a tricky, twisty street circuit, Suzuka is one of the finest examples of a true road course, with fast flowing turns, mixed in with a few idiosyncratic corners like the never-ending hairpin and the final chicane. “In Singapore, I think Mercedes probably had a bit more pace in hand, so that brought the front of the grid a bit closer together than normal,” says Scuderia Ferrari’s Technical Director, James Allison. “Also, it’s a track where the engine has a smaller effect compared with nearly all of the other tracks this year, so that provided another opportunity for the field to close up a bit. And finally, the nature of the corners at Singapore are also sensitive to the amount of mechanical grip that you can get from your package. That’s certainly an area where Ferrari has been working recently and it allowed us to have a rather better weekend.”

In another words, Japan is likely to be a more probing test for the F14 T. “Suzuka is a track where the importance of having horsepower is just a little bit less than the average for the year, so while power is not super important here, it’s not unimportant either,” continues Allison. “But it’s a track where a good handling chassis with a high amount of downforce is rewarded very strongly. Cars which score well on both those points will of course be right up at the front. But it gives some space to prosper to a car which is sweet handling and reasonable on downforce. Suzuka is one of the all-time great circuits, with some of the most challenging corners, one of the biggest tests of the car in the whole year, because it doesn’t just ask of the car that it can go well in the fast “S” complex in the first sector of the track, but there are also slow corners, long straights and all manner of ways to reveal the weakness of either the car or the driver. A team that comes back from Suzuka having done well knows that they are a good team with a strong package.” Tyre management will also play a key role as usual: because of the abrasive nature of the track surface, the long corners and the many rapid changes of direction, which generate a lot of lateral energy, Pirelli will be bringing its hardest compounds, the Hard and the Medium. Although not a deal breaker, the F14 T usually performs best on softer rubber.

As to the Scuderia’s goals for this weekend, our Technical Director reckons they are twofold. “We left Singapore with some satisfaction that areas we’d been working on the car, to improve its mechanical grip for example, appear to be paying off for us,” concludes the Englishman. “So we go to Suzuka and the remaining races determined to close the gap to Williams and then try and actually pull ahead of them, with the aim of securing a third place in the championship. We also plan to learn what lessons we can during the remainder of this season, to help guide us for the following year.”