The Official 2012 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX thread

[ErikGTI]

Classic Kimi. Lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0TQUcvqNFc

That's great.



Erik

[TBomb]

from what I take from Quali it looks like it will be a Redbull cakewalk but hey if that's your idea of a good race then yeah it will be good..lol.

Qualifying doesn't always equate to race day results

[TBomb]

Classic Kimi. Lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0TQUcvqNFc

What a bad ass

[kfzmeister]

Sorta fitting for this weekend's race, a pretty lengthy clip from Senna and Prost coming together and then Senna coming all the way around while loosing his front wing. Those cars look like beasts to drive back then....
PS: You remember he was excluded from that race, due to "going through a chicane" and lost the championship to Prost that year.

[hemanthjava]

The 2012 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2012 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) is a Formula One motor race that is scheduled to take place at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan on 7 October 2012.

http://www.sportsbun.com/formula1/fo...stream-online/

[Oliver@triplezoom]

Crazy start! Alonso out already.

[rscshakespeare]

redbull (vettel at least) crushing the field. adrians new double drs is a winner. the guy is patient and brilliant.


it is really nice to see koby and massa up there. it will probably save there seats for next season.

sucks for alonso. looks like redbull will walk away now. ferrari have no wind tunnel. geez!

grosjean his seat will probably become open

mclaren could not compete to the others.

[Imola Yellow GTi]

Now how is it possible KR taking a slice out of FA not scrutinized while the other run ins were. Someone replay the KR quali interview again. LOL

[tbvvw]

Congrats to Vettel...there was no stopping him this weekend and by this time next week, I think he'll be P1 in the driver points. He's got the momentum and the pace.

[Mk1Racer]

kfz,


Thanks for posting that video, it brought back memories. That era of F1 is far and away my favorite. That Honda sounded glorious!!

SV had the field covered today, but a big congrats to FM and KK. FM still has it, and KK did a great job holding off JB.

And the only thing you can say about RG is . How many times has he crashed at the start this year? How many more of these before they pull his ticket? One of these times, he's going to kill someone. And it's a tribute to how strong the Red Bull is for MW to be able to finish in the points. Not to mention doing essentially a 1-stop on the prime tire.

Sucks for FA, but he got it right, it's a mini-championship w/ 5 races to go.

[kfzmeister]

OMG, i can't believe what i've witnessed. This seems like a nightmare. Can't really blame anybody for that. Alonso squeezed Kimi and then seemed to want to move right for the first turn, yet there was a car (Button?) and he had to react and move to the left slightly and that's when he touched with Kimi. Lot's of people playing the blame game, but not sure anybody's really to blame. Unless we can blame that one on RoGro, too?

I would say at this point that it might slip away from Alonso, since Ferrari can't get their sh!t together and give the man a consistently fast car. To top it off, Fingers is gonna get his third title?? That just eats away at me even more. Anybody but him and it wouldn't be so bad.

[kfzmeister]

The 2012 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2012 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) is a Formula One motor race that is scheduled to take place at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan on 7 October 2012.

http://www.sportsbun.com/formula1/fo...stream-online/

Hey, thanks so much. I've been watching the GPs all season on your links. Wouldn't have a way to watch it live any other way. Really appreciate it.

[Imola Yellow GTi]

Why did they cut short KK when they stuck around for FA at Monza. KK earned the moment up there.

[tbvvw]

Now how is it possible KR taking a slice out of FA not scrutinized while the other run ins were.

I just watched the start again 3-4x and Kimi was pinched so far to his left his left rear goes off the track...FA pushed him too far.

[tbvvw]

To top it off, Fingers is gonna get his third title?? That just eats away at me even more. Anybody but him and it wouldn't be so bad.

If Vettel does win his 3rd WDC, it'll be well deserved. Period.

[Imola Yellow GTi]

I just watched the start again 3-4x and Kimi was pinched so far to his left his left rear goes off the track...FA pushed him too far.

From the overhead on the Speed version, it looked like Kimi's vehicle was entirely behind FA trying to squeeze through on the left... perhaps left so much as to get his left tires off track. I don't believe FA abruptly moved to the left side of the track as well.

Best click it soon before F1 gets it taken down... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7HhefopHzg

If Vettel does win his 3rd WDC, it'll be well deserved. Period.

Agreed. Anyone who win's WDC is well deserved.

Doesn't mean I'm rooting for him. I'm not really a SV fan but fact remains whoever wins it deserves it.

[rideboarder]

From the overhead on the Speed version, it looked like Kimi's vehicle was entirely behind FA trying to squeeze through on the left... perhaps left so much as to get his left tires off track. I don't believe FA abruptly moved to the left side of the track as well.

As the video clearly shows Kimi was to the side of Alonso and got pushed off track causing him to almost lose control. He obviously couldn't stay half way off the track, which is why Kimi's front wing was clipped by Alonso. So Alonso really has no one to blame but himself. He should've left Kimi enough space since he was already next to him. My guess is that's why it was never investigated to begin with, since that's racing and pretty much his own fault

[J-Tim]

As the video clearly shows Kimi was to the side of Alonso and got pushed off track causing him to almost lose control. He obviously couldn't stay half way off the track, which is why Kimi's front wing was clipped by Alonso. So Alonso really has no one to blame but himself. He should've left Kimi enough space since he was already next to him. My guess is that's why it was never investigated to begin with, since that's racing and pretty much his own fault

Yup. Alonso doesn't make mistakes very often, but he put himself into a situation he could not get out of.

Then during the interview, he actually blamed Kimi for not backing off.

[Mk1Racer]

As the video clearly shows Kimi was to the side of Alonso and got pushed off track causing him to almost lose control. He obviously couldn't stay half way off the track, which is why Kimi's front wing was clipped by Alonso. So Alonso really has no one to blame but himself. He should've left Kimi enough space since he was already next to him. My guess is that's why it was never investigated to begin with, since that's racing and pretty much his own fault

Which is one of the screwed up ways the stewards deal with things. Apply the rules objectively and evenly. It shouldn't matter if you take yourself out because of your boneheaded move (and it doesn't take someone else out), you should get a penalty.

And one more time, what's it going to take before they pull Grosjean's license? I'm surprised that Lotus continues to put up w/ his BS. The certainly would have been in 3rd, if not 2nd, in the WCC, if not for his crashing out several cars. He's already been given a 1 race suspension, the FIA needs to step in and say enough is enough, before he kills someone.

[Gran Turismo]

Not gonna lie but as a fellow Asian, I got kinda of teary when Kobayashi stood on the podium. He was the real star of the day.

Congrats to Vettel as he was unstoppable and even bigger congrats to Massa for trudging through that 36-race slump!

Im still hoping for Alonso to get the WDC though. ****ing Grosjean....

[24vEngineer]

Will grojean be able to keep his seat after this?


Vettel drove a strong race, but did anybody notice that Massa's pace was the same or slightly faster the second half of the race?

[dubsix]

One of these days Vettels gonna bin it trying to nail fastest lap after he's cruising home with a healthy lead.

Really sucks for Alonso but he's level headed enough to take it in stride, it's his car that will lose him the WDC though, not him. Another rough day for Lewis, this year is slipping away, god they lost a lot if races they could have easily won 😞

[nickthaskater]

One of these days Vettels gonna bin it trying to nail fastest lap after he's cruising home with a healthy lead.

Really sucks for Alonso but he's level headed enough to take it in stride, it's his car that will lose him the WDC though, not him. Another rough day for Lewis, this year is slipping away, god they lost a lot if races they could have easily won 😞

Alonso's car was good enough to challenge for the win today, or at least take a relatively easy 2nd place, he just f*cked himself out of it completely on his own.

That aside, it was a great race. I was overjoyed for Kamui taking the podium in what may well be his last season in F1. A great moment both he and the Japanese fans

Flawless drive by Vettel doing what he does best: leading from start to finish. This championship is his to lose now without a doubt.

Strong comeback by Schumacher from 23rd, but the Merc just ran out of gearing behind the STR under DRS. Tough luck on what should have been a points finish.

Vettel drove a strong race, but did anybody notice that Massa's pace was the same or slightly faster the second half of the race?

Vettel was maintaining the gap. Every time Massa got within the 10-second window, Vettel would go on a tear and turn in fastest laps and get the gap back up. At the start of the second stint, the gap was around 9-10 seconds, but it finished at 19 seconds. I think that says it all.

[nickthaskater]

One of these days Vettels gonna bin it trying to nail fastest lap after he's cruising home with a healthy lead.

Q: You were pushing very hard to do the fastest lap. You risked a lot for that...

SV: Ha, I know that my race engineer Rocky almost had a heart attack on the team radio, but believe me if I thought there was any risk I wouldn’t have gone for it! But, as I just said before, if you have a car like that you also want to enjoy it - it was a joyous ride.

I love that he pushes right to the end

[kfzmeister]

The thing that really helped RB is their new Double DRS that they can use during qualifying to get them towards the front. They've been using it since Singapore and it it has had a profound impact on the Championship. Newey at his best again. Ferrari doesn't have a bad race pace (Oh what Alonso might have been able to do ), yet their qualifying has been their Achilles heel all season.

As far as Alonso's puncture scenario, I thought Alonso definitely squeezed Kimi, yet came back over to the racing line to take turn 1 and there was a car just ahead of him on the right (Button?). It looked to me like they came close together and Alonso for a second (time) came back over towards Kimi and that is where his left rear got punctured. Now i know i'm wearing Alonso goggles, but it really seemed like an unfortunate racing incident to me.

If Fingers wins this year, he can thank Newey once again for putting him in the best car. Again.

[Binary Star]

It's not over yet, Kfz. Championship just got a little fun, albeit a little scary for us Alonso fans. It really does suck that Ferrari can't upgrade their cars at the rate that McL or RB's have been able to. I'm super excited for back to back race weekends even though Ferrari aren't planning any major updates for this race.

EDIT: there is one thing that Ferrari has the upper hand on - they still have 2 fresh engines for the next 5 races.

[rscshakespeare]

ferrari have no planned upgrades for korea. it also sucks they have no wind tunnel.

i was also unaware that the drs lotus has and many have talked about is 100 percent legal for next year according to matchett. so they are taking their sweet time developing it.

[kfzmeister]

ferrari have no planned upgrades for korea. it also sucks they have no wind tunnel.

i was also unaware that the drs lotus has and many have talked about is 100 percent legal for next year according to matchett. so they are taking their sweet time developing it.

I thought DDRS is prohibited next season.

[kfzmeister]

ferrari have no planned upgrades for korea. it also sucks they have no wind tunnel.

This in contrast to what i read Alonso say recently and today i read a quote from Horner that states the same.

..."I think Ferrari has got big upgrades coming over the next couple of races, which they have mentioned. We can only control what we are doing and try and get as much performance out of our package as we possibly can – we cannot control what others do."

[nickthaskater]

The thing that really helped RB is their new Double DRS that they can use during qualifying to get them towards the front. They've been using it since Singapore and it it has had a profound impact on the Championship. Newey at his best again. Ferrari doesn't have a bad race pace (Oh what Alonso might have been able to do ), yet their qualifying has been their Achilles heel all season.

For all the DDRS, RB is still barely cracking the top-10 in the speed traps even in Qualifying.

As far as Alonso's puncture scenario, I thought Alonso definitely squeezed Kimi, yet came back over to the racing line to take turn 1 and there was a car just ahead of him on the right (Button?). It looked to me like they came close together and Alonso for a second (time) came back over towards Kimi and that is where his left rear got punctured. Now i know i'm wearing Alonso goggles, but it really seemed like an unfortunate racing incident to me.

It was just as much a racing incident as Vettel on Alonso at Monza, yet there wasn't even an investigation here.

If Fingers wins this year, he can thank Newey once again for putting him in the best car. Again.

And if Alonso wins, he can thank the rest of the field for continually having issues that allowed him to pick up enough scraps to get to the top step.

Good fortune is good fortune, and no one wins a championship without it. You also have to make the most of it, as both Vettel and Alonso have of their respective circumstances. Either would be a deserved champion.

[GTIVRSEX2]

I dont think the Ferrari was that bad, If Massa was able to get second place... ahead of the Mclarens....

The big question is who is going to qualifie in front of Grosean!

[nickthaskater]

I dont think the Ferrari was that bad, If Massa was able to get second place... ahead of the Mclarens....

The big question is who is going to qualifie in front of Grosean!

That's what I said initially... People are bemoaning the pace and development of the Ferrari, but how bad can it be when Massa can haul himself from 9th to 2nd place well clear of 3rd, running very close to the pace of the RBR?

[kfzmeister]

It was just as much a racing incident as Vettel on Alonso at Monza, yet there wasn't even an investigation here.

Read yesterday about Vettel's impeding Alonso during his qualifying lap at Suzuka. He got off lightly, but will get a ten-spot grid penalty if it stewards are called in again to review his questionable behavior during qualifying. The article claimed that his team must have informed him of Alonso still being on a flyer, even if yellows were waved due to Kimi's spin. Vettel claimed that he didn't think there were any cars on flying laps anymore.

[nickthaskater]

Read yesterday about Vettel's impeding Alonso during his qualifying lap at Suzuka. He got off lightly, but will get a ten-spot grid penalty if it stewards are called in again to review his questionable behavior during qualifying. The article claimed that his team must have informed him of Alonso still being on a flyer, even if yellows were waved due to Kimi's spin. Vettel claimed that he didn't think there were any cars on flying laps anymore.

Neat.

[TBomb]

I thought DDRS is prohibited next season.

Lotus' "device" is passive, and not really a true part of the DRS that is switchable by the driver, or even a DDRS which would use the rear DRS to stall out the front wing. This is moreso a system that has different aerodynamic properties on the rear wing depending on the car's velocity. As such, it will be legal for 2013...but who knows beyond that.