F1; Japanese Grand Prix
October 11th 2010 14:23
Link: twitter.com/mattsaltmer
Yesterday saw the most eventful, and possibly most entertaining, day in the 2010 F1 season so far. After bad weather ruled out any racing on Saturday, the Qualifying session took place just hours before Sunday's race. Going into the weekend, Mark Webber held an 11 point lead over Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. With his Red Bull team mate Sebastien Vettel, and McClaren's English duo, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, not far behind either, and with 25 points up for grabs for the winner, Sunday was a crucial day in the title race, with only three more races left to go.
Hamilton had to change his gear box during Friday practice, so despite qualifying 3rd, had to start 8th on the grid. Red Bull locked out the front row, with 2009 pole sitter and winner, Vettel, starting from the front again. Renault driver Robert Kubica broke the big five's dominance by qualifying in 3rd, ahead of Alonso. This session finished around 4am English time, 12pm local, and the race began just three hours later.
With both Red Bull and McClaren drivers in the title hunt, and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso also in the mix, his teammate, Felipe Massa has to be the most disappointed man this season. And Japan brought no better look for the Brazilian, as he was an early retirement after going off track. In a blow for any neutrals like myself, Kubica was also forced into an early end to his afternoon, ending any hopes of a different face on the podium for the change. There was, however, an encouraging race for 41-year-old Michael Schumacher, finishing a solid 6th. Given that the top five in the Championship finished the race 1st-5th, 6th was a very good result.
Like so many times this season, it was Red Bull who ultimately ruled supreme. Having qualified 1st and 2nd, that's exactly where they finished. German Sebastien Vettel got a vital win, closing the gap on Webber to 14 points. Alonso's 3rd placed finish now also sees him trailing 2nd placed Webber by 14 points. The 1-2 almost confirms Red Bull as the winners of the Constructors Championship. But the cautious staff at Red Bull, are insisting there are still 134 points on the line in the Constructors, but a 45 point lead seems unassailable.
Button and Hamilton look to have fading title ambitions for this season now, after finishing 4th and 5th respectively. The 2009 and 2008 World Champions, now trail Webber by around 30 points, but there are still 75 points to play for. While Jenson has never really been up to pace for the majority of the season, Hamilton will look back on his two retirements in the previous two races, and feel he should still be leading the Championship. If it had not been for his gear box change making him start this race 8th, who knows how he could have done.
But with races in Korea, Brazil and Abu Dhabi remaining, this is how the top of the Drivers, and Constructors Championships look, after this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix;
Drivers Championship
1 Mark Webber - 220
2 Sebastien Vettel - 206
= Fernando Alonso - 206
4 Lewis Hamilton - 192
5 Jenson Button - 189
6 Felipe Massa- 128
Constructors Championship
1 Red Bull - 426
2 McLaren - 381
3 Ferrari - 334
4 Mercedes GP - 176
5 Renault - 133
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