Sebastian Vettel (1st)
A quite brilliant weekend for Vettel. Lost a little time in his first pit stop due to Heidfeld passing, but the German was in a class of his own. Even though he’d never raced at Suzuka Vettel produced one of the most dominant drives of the season. 10/10
Jarno Trulli (2nd)
Lost out to Hamilton’s boost button at the start, but never let him get too far ahead and eventually jumped him at the second stops. Quite where he was last weekend in Singapore is anybody’s guess. However, he was right on it in Japan. Great drive. 9.5/10
Lewis Hamilton (3rd)
Made a good start and looked to be in control of Trulli until the latter part of the race when his KERS system decided to pack up and go home, and his car went into neutral while leaving the pits. Lacked downforce in the first sector, but I suggest this was as good as it could have got for McLaren this weekend. 8/10
Kimi Räikkönen (4th)
How on earth does Räikkönen, with no more development being done on the car this year, manage to pick up five points? By driving quite superbly. It’s now certain that he won’t be at Ferrari next year, but he’s doing a fairly good job of trying to make the team doubt that decision. 9/10
Nico Rosberg (5th)
The timing of his second stop, just as the safety car was deployed, certainly helped him. However, you can’t say too much against Rosberg since, once again, he delivered while his team-mate was pottering about in 15th. By no means his best weekend, but he’ll be a happy man to take home four points. 7/10
Nick Heidfeld (6th)
Lost some time in his second stop after a wheel nut got stuck and also lost a place to Rosberg with the timing of the safety car so was unlucky not to be placed higher up. Having said that he did spend a certain amount of time with his team-mate trying to get past him. I think we can safely say there are no team orders at BMW… 7.5/10
Rubens Barrichello (7th)
A qualifying penalty effectively ruined Barrichello’s afternoon, but in the race his pace wasn’t consistently great. Where in the first stint he made Button look somewhat average, he was much slower in the second stint. He won’t be robbing Button of the title with performances like this. 6/10
Jenson Button (8th)
The fact that he managed to cruise past Sutil and Kovalainen when they collided in the first stint pretty much summed up how lucky Button has been in the second part of the season. Spent much of the race in dirty air, but when he was in the clear he was certainly quick enough to have finished higher up. 6/10
Robert Kubica (9th)
A good battle with team-mate Heidfeld probably didn’t consol Kubica too much after so narrowly missing out on a point. He was trying everything he could to get past Button after the safety car, but it just wasn’t enough. A strong race though and good to see BMW away from the back of the grid. 6.5/10
Fernando Alonso (10th)
A single-stop strategy meant Alonso struggled with faster cars in the opening stint, but thanks to a strong drive he did manage to eventually salvage 10th. Something I doubt he could have done much better than considering how unsuited the Renault was to the twists and turns of Suzuka. 7/10
Heikki Kovalainen (11th)
Running much slower than Hamilton in the opening stint (with fuel weights taken into account) and then collided with Sutil. Having left the door open for him he promptly shut it at the following corner. As Coulthard put it, he was “fighting too late”. An absolutely superb pass on a sleepy Fisichella on the way out of the pits brightened his afternoon a bit. 5/10
Giancarlo Fisichella (12th)
Fisi still seems to be struggling to get to grips with the Ferrari, but his race pace has picked up. What he could do with just one days testing would be interesting to see, however, with a team-mate like Räikkönen he’s never going to look (itals) that (end itals) quick. 5/10
Adrian Sutil (13th)
Unlucky to be tagged by Kovalainen after he got past the Finn and be demoted to 12th. An afternoon of being stuck behind slower cars meant that he stayed there. The straight line speed of the Force India is quite phenomenal, what it’s like to actually get round a corner must be something else… 6/10
Vitantonio Liuzzi (14th)
A good overtake on Nakajima in the second stint and also passed Alonso a couple of times throughout the race. However, I suggest he’s another victim of the lack of testing. A shame, especially after his debut at Monza. 5.5/10
Kazuki Nakajima (15th)
Stuck in traffic for most of the race and even when he wasn’t, Nakajima didn’t exactly set the lap timing sheets alight. A weekend to forget, and there’ve been too many of those from the Japanese driver. 4/10
Romain Grosjean (16th)
A very heavy car meant that he had chronic understeer. He went wide in the second stint to let Sutil through, which is just another mistake in a Formula 1 career with too many mistakes. Again, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a bit of testing… 4/10
Mark Webber (17th)
Where to start? He pitted five times, started from the pitlane and had one of those races where a lesser racer would have driven straight into the garage and left the car there. He didn’t though and went out – three laps down – to post the fastest lap of the race even though he was fighting… well, for nothing. Superb. 8/10
Jaime Alguersuari (RET – 18th)
He may have been held up in the first stint, but he didn’t help lower Toro Rosso’s giant bill for their drivers crashing their cars during the weekend by losing it at 130R. 3/10
Sebastien Buemi (RET – 19th)
Not an ideal weekend for Buemi after crashing during qualifying and then his clutch going wrong in the race. 2/10
As the “Boss” was out doing other things yesterday I was in control of the remote and after yet another tedious GP and a similarly drab MotoGp, I thought I’d have a look at the BTCC on ITV4 and that really blew my socks off. Four different makes of car really going for it and loads of place (and paint) swapping. Possibly due to the lack of obvious aerodynamic bodges on the basic saloon shapes or maybe because it was the last 3 rounds of the year but it was really excellent RACING. And the good guy won! Terrific stuff.
Ed,
The stewards handed 5th to Nico…he should have been classified 7th…don’t know if that would warrant a lower rating.
Good on you for giving Webber 8/10…the man is a racer through and through.
Great race for Vettell!!!! and equally great for Kimi considering how poor that car is… Fisi is a solid F1 driver who can’t get within 1.5 seconds of Kimi in that car
Kenny,
I know, I am perhaps being slightly influenced by his team-mates’ results.
Especially since I was told the other day that that car should be going quicker than it is. Although, I do find that hard to believe as Rosberg is a very, very good driver.
EF
Furthermore I think you’re a little cruel on Jenson given that he managed to overtake two drivers, better than most managed in “dirty air”, and comprehensively outpaced Rubens (on Sunday at least). And whilst this time he was fortunate that Sutil & Kovalainen crashed ahead of him, most of his “luck” this year has been a case of making his own luck, and maximising the situations he has been in to ensure he can take advantage of any opportunities which come up, much like Schumacher being “lucky” so often in his Ferrari heyday. I’m sorry but I get irritated when people confuse hard graft and talent for luck!
Who was it who said “the harder I practice, the luckier I am”? I think they had a point!
Rob,
I see your point, and I’m certainly not doubting Jenson’s ability. The point I was trying to make was that he has been let off the hook many times in the second half of the season as his main rivals have failed to capitalise when he’s had a poor result.
I just really hope he gets another win this year as it would cement the fact that he is a very worthy champion… I just don’t want him backing into it!
EF
Ed,
In the thick of silly season I am now hearing Kimi’s people are talking to Red Bull? I would asssume if that happened Webber would slide in the open seat at Toro Roso. Can you see that happening?
I find the McLaren thing too hard to buy with Anthony Hamilton pacing the sidelines and Lewis so entrenched as a #1.
Jenson and Rubens placings in recent races has all to do with the Brawn team’s performance. Here is a team that after a brilliant start has thrown away the technical advantage they took almost two season’s to develope and steadily has lost ground in the developement race over the season. This technical mediocrity will continue and Brawn will be a mid-field runner next season. Brawn has seen the writing on the wall and sold a substantial part of the team to Mercedes in the hope that they will reinvigorate the technical foundations of the team. With “equalization” of the engines in the cards that might not be enough.
Also with Rosberg coming next year Rubens is gone and Ross is using a Frank Williams strategy to cheap out on Button’s contract for next year which I imagine is just what Jenson needs to be distracted with right now.
I agree with Chris in that I was hoping for a bit more of show in this race. Vettel was on it and put on a masterful show on how to go about winning, and Webber made the most of awful circumstances, but in the end I don’t regret not seeing the race live.
Brazil should be interesting, the last 2 races there have been…eventful :) (tough I can’t imagine it being more nerve wracking than last year).
The testing ban works against any moves to lower driver salaries as those that have experience have a definite advantage over those that can’t get testing mileage under their belt due to the testing ban. Another wrong turn from the FIA? Double World Champion Alonso stepped back from racing and had a whole year back as Tester.
In the podcast Nigel Roebuck repeated that comment he’s said in print that the McLaren team could get a fairly accurate handle on how Kimi would perform that weekend from his mood when he arrived on Thursdays. Given that would McLaren want him back?
I am not sure we can criticise any team over car development given what Heidfeld said about the tyres being so variable. Why are they called ‘Control Tyres’ again?
I seem to recall back in April that even Ross himself was skeptical as to whether the team could keep its’ technical advantage. Having said that, haven’t the Brawns still been winning, even in the second half of the season? Jenson needs to take advice from undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and “Step His Game Up”.
Dave,
Brawn have won twice during the second half of the season but after winning six on the trot you must agree that this is a downturn in results for the team. Monza, which is a unique track in the series was really they last competitive showing and the downward trend is continuing.
Control tires is a very interesting subject. Bridgestone’s racing philosophy in MotoGP where they are the sole supplier is totally different to F1. Tohru Ubukata, Bridgestone’s MotoGP Manager stated after the Estoril race that while Bridgestone worked closely with all the riders during a race weekend it was the right of the team’s and riders to select which tires to race on. Bridgestone claims that it is at the request of the F1 teams and the FIA that in F1 Bridgestone decides which compounds are raced on and dictates that two compounds which are different enough in performance to require chassis compromises must be used in each race. This must be regarded as an attempt to provide a differentiator to help “spice up” the show. It is a total failure and the drivers (did no one ask them?) have been so outspoken against this practice, after all they are the one who take the risks on track, that Bridgestone has had to modify the compound spread during the middle of the season.
I think it is also interesting that this modification to the tire strategy was instituted after Turkey at the time that Brawn’s performance advantage disappeared.
Maybe they should be named “Control Brawn Tires”?
There you go for podcast content suggestions, the testing ban and the control tyres. Sadly I’m starting to wonder if the rot from F1 has infected MotoGP?
Alastair,
As I said earlier, if Sunday’s MotoGP is the shape of things to come, it already has.
“In the podcast Nigel Roebuck repeated that comment he’s said in print that the McLaren team could get a fairly accurate handle on how Kimi would perform that weekend from his mood when he arrived on Thursdays. Given that would McLaren want him back?”
Well given the fact that Martin Whitmarsh just cant stop signing his praises, I suppose the answer is definitely, yes.
Martin Whitmarsh: “Kimi drove very well again at the Japanese GP. He hasn’t the most competitive car but especially in the middle sector of the Suzuka circuit he was stunning.”
Q: You were reported as saying that McLaren wouldn’t have any problems with Kimi Raikkonen coming back. What exactly does that mean?
MW: Kimi is a fantastic driver, and I like him and know him well. He was with the team for five years. He is quick, he is committed and I think he probably would be very committed to beating Ferrari in the future – knowing him. All these are attractive things with Kimi. He is not political. He is absolutely straightforward – what you see is what you get with Kimi. And on top of that everyone knows that he is a winning driver. I think he has been underestimated technically. He is a very good racing driver and I think he would fit well in this team, if we choose to go down that route.