2015 Japanese Grand Prix

[buttonfan 5]

Come on guys, again the thread opens after practice? :p  

So, Friday practice was wet so that means we're in for a very busy FP3 where everyone tries to find the ideal balance. Will we see Mercedes regain their pre-Singapore  form? 

Discuss.

[Jiggy 5]

I hope they don't. For the predictor-game, two wet free practice sessions means it's mostly guesswork, but Suzuka might add for some excitement like it has done so in the past. Expecting a lot from the overtakers, like Perez, Ricciardo and Verstappen. That's mostly based on what Kobayashi used to do here. I don't base my expectations on anything other than vague gut feelings. But I am excited for Suzuka, I always am.


And R.I.P. Jules Bianchi. Suzuka is also the scene of F1's most recent fatal crash, so I'll hope for a great race to put some positivity behind this GP again.

[VetteIfan 0]

Hamilton has his Hungaroring. Kimi has his Spa. Alonso has his Catalunya. And Vettel most certainly has his Suzuka.

So as a result my expectations for this weekend are sky high. Unfortunately the two most Suzuka like circuits so far this year have seen Ferrari's two worst performances - Silverstone and Spa, so those expectations might be shortened quite quickly. Also the wash out on Friday it has the potential to mix up the field a bit this weekend, so maybe even the Williams and RB's might come in to play for the podium. 

It's an overly used term, but Suzuka really is a very rare breed of "old school" circuits left on the F1 calendar. Imo, the best track in the world. May it never be dropped. 

[MATT 23]

Well, that was a nasty crash. Luckily Kyvat is okay.

[Mexicola 10]

Violent looking shunt there, wheel tethers didn't really do their job but it's probably no surprise considering the energy of the impact. I can't help but be impressed that the onboard camera was completely intact however.

Rosberg beats Hamilton though, could have a fight on our hands tomorrow. Part of me is hoping that Hamilton suffers some sort of catastrophic problem just so the championship lead closes up.

Then again, if Hamilton dominates again I won't care too much either. I hate both of them.

[Hughesy 254]

Wow that was a huge crash! Glad he is ok. Annoying though as that was shaping up to be a battle between the Mercs, Hamilton had plenty of time to find due to 2 mistakes he made, so I think he had him. Shame I won't get to see the race until tomorrow night as I'll be at Silverstone. Somehow I need to avoid the results until I get back :#

[Alexease 0]

Formula1 2015 Suzuka: Codemasters vs Real 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aoUhVsNZSo

[AMSKRR 3]

Does anyone know where I can get a refund for the last 1 hour and a half ish of my life? 

[Mexicola 10]

I don't have a problem with Hamilton pushing Rosberg off, what I do have a problem with is Rosberg letting him push him off. You let him push you off, you jackass.

Just give me one race where your uselessness doesn't frustrate me, please?

[couger1981 89]

Another boring race except for the battle between Per, Eri, Kvy and Ric.

[Mexicola 10]

At least we'll be seeing Alonso and Button in WEC soon enough.

[Mexicola 10]

Who put Honda in charge of the PA system?

[VetteIfan 0]

Mexicola said:

I don't have a problem with Hamilton pushing Rosberg off, what I do have a problem with is Rosberg letting him push him off. You let him push you off, you jackass.

Just give me one race where your uselessness doesn't frustrate me, please?

Imo Hamilton actually got quite rude on the exit of turn 2. Hamilton had the line but Rosberg had a sizeable amount of his car still alongside to warrent a bit of track space. Close call, but I can't help but think there would've been some complaining had it been the other way around. 

[Mexicola 10]

I'll agree with that, personally I don't mind a bit of dirty driving. I just wish Rosberg would put up some sort of a fight in turn 2.

[MBKF1 91]

I was out last night so wasn't gonna wake up early to watch the race anyway, but when I did get up I discovered that I hadn't actually set up the race to record. So I watched the 1 hour highlights on Sky F1 instead, and man, I'm glad I did!

When they showed the full formation lap I thought 'wow they must be filling the hour up as the rest was so dull', and that was the case! The world feed hardly showed the front runners (I read Mercedes were only shown for about 5 minutes for the entire race), and the midfield battle didn't really come to much in the end.

Hopefully Sochi can be a bit better. Also I realised that even if Rosberg won all the remaining 5 races with Hamilton 2nd each time, it wouldn't be enough for Rosberg to win it, he needs Lewis to be off the podium a couple of times, or for him to have a retirement to have a chance.

[GoldenColt 1]

All Lewis needs from now on is 2 wins and a podium and he's WDC for the third time. 

Personally, I'd love him to win all of the remaining races and equal Schumi's and Vettel's record of 13 wins in a season, but that's not going to happen with Brazil being on the calendar. 

[sjsharp2010 225]

Mexicola said:

Who put Honda in charge of the PA system?

They probably did that themselves it is their track after all.

[sjsharp2010 225]

MBKF1 said:

I was out last night so wasn't gonna wake up early to watch the race anyway, but when I did get up I discovered that I hadn't actually set up the race to record. So I watched the 1 hour highlights on Sky F1 instead, and man, I'm glad I did!

When they showed the full formation lap I thought 'wow they must be filling the hour up as the rest was so dull', and that was the case! The world feed hardly showed the front runners (I read Mercedes were only shown for about 5 minutes for the entire race), and the midfield battle didn't really come to much in the end.

Hopefully Sochi can be a bit better. Also I realised that even if Rosberg won all the remaining 5 races with Hamilton 2nd each time, it wouldn't be enough for Rosberg to win it, he needs Lewis to be off the podium a couple of times, or for him to have a retirement to have a chance.

yeah I agree it wasn't the most exciting race I didn't think either but then with Suzuka being a bit of a narrow track I do find a lot of races that aer held there a bit boring at least for me anyway. Sochi should be better though I quite enjoyed last years race there but that may have been just the fact it was a new track in a new location at the time.

[Mexicola 10]

MBKF1 said:

Hopefully Sochi can be a bit better.

Boy I wish I had your optimism.

[VetteIfan 0]

GoldenColt said:

All Lewis needs from now on is 2 wins and a podium and he's WDC for the third time. 

Personally, I'd love him to win all of the remaining races and equal Schumi's and Vettel's record of 13 wins in a season, but that's not going to happen with Brazil being on the calendar. 

Gonna be interesting too to see whether Lewis can break Seb's pole record. Needs to take every pole between now and the end of the season, but with Rosberg being the only man who can challenge him in 95% of circumstances, I'd say he has a good shot at it. 

[Hughesy 254]

Can't believe @RevolvingPrawn and I didn't have the race result ruined whilst out at Silverstone yesterday. We thought we'd hear someone talking about it, but luckily we didn't. I don't feel Hamilton did anything wrong, Rosberg knew he would run out of road so should have backed out earlier. Unless Hamilton gets reliability problems I can't see Rosberg catching him, he's just not on the same level. I'd love to see Vettel finish P2 in the championship.

[Mexicola 10]

Hughesy said:

Rosberg knew he would run out of road so should have backed out earlier. 

He shouldn't have backed out at all. What he should have done is kept his line, let Lewis decide what he wants to do, and if he attempts to push him off, which if Lewis is smart he wouldn't do, then it's his fault.

Instead, he surrendered. Totally and utterly surrendered. And that's why Hamilton is kicking his ass. David Coulthard puts it perfectly when he says that Hamilton just has that little thing that makes him better than Rosberg. Hamilton isn't much better than Rosberg, that much is obvious, but he's always one tiny step ahead of him. And it's going to stay that way until Rosberg finds and unlocks that "something special".

[Hughesy 254]

Mexicola said:

Hughesy said:

Rosberg knew he would run out of road so should have backed out earlier. 

He shouldn't have backed out at all. What he should have done is kept his line, let Lewis decide what he wants to do, and if he attempts to push him off, which if Lewis is smart he wouldn't do, then it's his fault.

Instead, he surrendered. Totally and utterly surrendered. And that's why Hamilton is kicking his ass. David Coulthard puts it perfectly when he says that Hamilton just has that little thing that makes him better than Rosberg. Hamilton isn't much better than Rosberg, that much is obvious, but he's always one tiny step ahead of him. And it's going to stay that way until Rosberg finds and unlocks that "something special".

Rosberg is the one than can't afford to retire though, for Hamilton it wouldn't matter if he or both of them crashed out ;)

[Mexicola 10]

Hughesy said:

Mexicola said:

Hughesy said:

Rosberg knew he would run out of road so should have backed out earlier. 

He shouldn't have backed out at all. What he should have done is kept his line, let Lewis decide what he wants to do, and if he attempts to push him off, which if Lewis is smart he wouldn't do, then it's his fault.

Instead, he surrendered. Totally and utterly surrendered. And that's why Hamilton is kicking his ass. David Coulthard puts it perfectly when he says that Hamilton just has that little thing that makes him better than Rosberg. Hamilton isn't much better than Rosberg, that much is obvious, but he's always one tiny step ahead of him. And it's going to stay that way until Rosberg finds and unlocks that "something special".

Rosberg is the one than can't afford to retire though, for Hamilton it wouldn't matter if he or both of them crashed out ;)

True, Rosberg doesn't need a retirement at this stage, but neither does Hamilton because Vettel still does have a chance at the title, and Vettel is more or less on the same level of points as Rosberg. If both did crash, Vettel would have won the race, and it would have put the gap between him to 24 points. Hamilton would have to consider that.

[GoldenColt 1]

Mexicola said:

 Hamilton isn't much better than Rosberg

The numbers say otherwise.