[Race] 2017 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

[Taxi645]

I suggest putting Massa to the back of the grid next race for strongly interferring with the battle for the lead in the final lap.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Lulu. He's now got a 59 point lead and 4 races left. He could win the WDC at Austin.

[bobec]

Really bizarre how Ferrari completely ruined a potentially very interesting championship finale with their last few races. It would take any other team some effort to do that.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Dear Mr Fernando Alonso,

I have not been too pleased with your comments in regards to our engine in the recent history of our partnership. Your comments have done much damage to Honda's reputation around the world, and especially, here in Honda's home country of Japan.

So, in light of this, I took it upon myself many months ago to reserve a special spot for you on the grid when you were in Japan. Say hello to the very back of the grid Mr Alonso. Enjoy your race!

Best regards,

Masashi Yamamoto.
General Manager, Honda motorsport

It's like satire.

Originally Posted by bobec

Really bizarre how Ferrari completely ruined a potentially very interesting championship finale with their last few races. It would take any other team some effort to do that.

And this time they forgot to swap cars.

It's a real shame as at the point when we really thought we were in for a great championship. Vettel's pole turned into three poor races and a massive deficit in the table.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by bobec

Really bizarre how Ferrari completely ruined a potentially very interesting championship finale with their last few races. It would take any other team some effort to do that.

Mclaren made a pretty good job of it in 2007 ;-)

[djinvicta]

Taxi645. I agree. Massa should have got well out of the way on the last lap...Ruined a great finish. He should know better...but with a Merc engine in the Williams.....Just go and "retire" once and for all....Actually looking at the whole scenario of that race, if Bottas hadn't have "held" Max as well, we would have had a different 1...2..

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by djinvicta

Actually looking at the whole scenario of that race, if Bottas hadn't have "held" Max as well, we would have had a different 1...2..

I doubt that. Valtteri held Lewis up for a couple of laps, then Max for a couple more. He's got his own race to drive and he seemed to be doing that. After all, he's now got a sniff of second in the WDC.

[wolfhound]

I noticed that Massa lost half of his coat hanger at some point during the race.

To add to the Ferrari conspiracy theories, they parked Vettel's car in Kimi's side of the garage.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

To add to the Ferrari conspiracy theories, they parked Vettel's car in Kimi's side of the garage.

Was that just an 'oops'.....?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

To add to the Ferrari conspiracy theories, they parked Vettel's car in Kimi's side of the garage.

I'm sure the Ferrari pit stops were being done outside Vettel's side of the garage, it makes sense to put his retired car on Kimi's side out of the way of them bringing out tyres etc.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I noticed that Massa lost half of his coat hanger at some point during the race.

To add to the Ferrari conspiracy theories, they parked Vettel's car in Kimi's side of the garage.

Just as long it wasn't a repeat of the Raikonnen driving Vettel's car, which is why it was 'retired' before the race started, theory.

[Taxi645]

I find the parallel between the performance development of Red Bull throughout the season this and the previous year remarkable. Starting the season not being able to compete with Ferrari and Mercedes and getting increasingly closer towards the end of the season.

It would be interesting to know the absolute and relative amount of resources of those three teams having gone into the 2018 car (not that we'll ever know of course). Giving this seasons performance development, one would expect Red Bull is putting relatively more resources still into the 2017 car, which would lead one to expect the start of their 2018 campaign to be similar to their 2016 and 2017 one. I hope this is not the case.

[F1Guy]

Another insight into the driver briefing. From Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=tPr5khO86Eg

[S griffin]

Well Ferrari's only hope now is that Lewis is yet to have a DNF, but even then he can afford to have one

Nice to see a hard but fair move from Kevin this time and great chase by Max at the end. Ocon looked good today and Felipe and Fred were quite rightly in their own battle at the end

[RWill2073]

So it's pretty safe to say that Ferrari has severe management and prevention processes problems at this point. This kind of failure should not be happening.

Max is so good. Mercedes is so far ahead of all teams it's not even much of a competition.

One thing that stood out yesterday for some reason. There are 4 manufacturers: Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda. The factory teams for Renault and Honda are squarely in the back of the pack. Ferrari has management issues, as mentioned above. It really is effectively a one make series right now. Red bull is dragging Renault higher than it rightly should be on the backs of 2 of the top 5 drivers and maybe best chassis.

Another championship for Lewis. Without much competition again.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by RWill2073

Another championship for Lewis. Without much competition again.

Likely, but not certain - and I think since its all been turned round from him being in arrears in the space of 3 races, describing it as "without competition" is an odd conclusion to reach.......

[RWill2073]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Likely, but not certain - and I think since its all been turned round from him being in arrears in the space of 3 races, describing it as "without competition" is an odd conclusion to reach.......

It's really been competition with one other car, that lasted 3/4 of a season, that was consistently a few tenths slower most of the year. So "without much competition" may be better.

Also, at Austria the commentators were talking about Ferrari maybe using oil in their fuel mixture and some aero pieces being beyond the rules and having to correct both of those. Ever since then, they have been a little weaker.

[loon]

At the start Hamilton made exactly the same chop across the front of Vettel as Vettel did to Verstappen in Singapore, but strangely no controversy?

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by loon

At the start Hamilton made exactly the same chop across the front of Vettel as Vettel did to Verstappen in Singapore, but strangely no controversy?

We all tend to judge events more on the outcome, rather than the action. It's not right, of course, but it's how we all tend to do it.

[S griffin]

Lewis was fully ahead anyway

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by loon

At the start Hamilton made exactly the same chop across the front of Vettel as Vettel did to Verstappen in Singapore, but strangely no controversy?

Except Hamilton did it while he was ahead and there was room for Vette as S griffin saysl. Which, in reference to Akrapovic's post, resulted in a different outcome.

This useage of the word exactly is one that has become more common with the advent of Internet forums.

[Kempi]

Same applies for double standards as in Lewis passed Max after chequered flag in Malaysia and noone complained that passing after the chequered was not allowed.

So I would say this all adds up to: the chop has been there for decades and will stay. We will have crashes and depending on whose fan one is there is noone to blame, one particular driver to blame or everyone. And we will at some point have another runin after the chequered flag with noone caring whether you may pass or not that has any power to make decisions.

Or to say it another way: same same but different.

[Born Racer]

I went for Verstappen. Got the jump on his team-mate at the start, stuck it out down the inside and then a decisive move on Vettel, which was key at this time for his hopes of closing down Hamilton. The Red Bull was quick in the fast corners, but I would still have thought Mercedes would have the edge, so I think he did well to get so close to the race winner.

A good drive from Magnussen too and Ocon probably did what he could.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Adam43

This useage of the word exactly is one that has become more common with the advent of Internet forums.

Absolutely.

That too

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Greem

Absolutely.

That too

Fact!