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Post by Anna on Oct 3, 2011 22:19:21 GMT
For all the discussion on the Japanese GP. I might actually be around for commentary ;D if I can be bothered to turn my computer on .
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kelli52
Baby F1 Fan
Sebastian Vettel....2010 & 2011 F1 World Champion :)
Posts: 131
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Post by kelli52 on Oct 5, 2011 12:40:13 GMT
I will be watching from the comfort of my bed So I probably wont join in the commentary as it will be too much of an effort to get out and go to the computer
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Post by Anna on Oct 5, 2011 16:20:07 GMT
You see my laptop is next to my bed and I had a tray/thing to put it on so I can use it in bed (not because I'm lazy I just don't have room in my room for it so my mum got me it to free up space on my desk for books) but I'd have to actually be properly awake if I want any chance of making sense.
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Post by r1ch91 on Oct 7, 2011 11:46:44 GMT
Jenson Button fastest in Suzuka first practice as Sebastian Vettel crashes By Simon Strang Friday, October 7th 2011, 02:38 GMT
Jenson Button led a McLaren one-two as the Woking team dominated the times in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, while world-champion-in-waiting Sebastian Vettel ended his session in the barriers at Degner Two.
The German, who was third fastest in the session, ran wide on his final attempt at Degner One, which meant he didn't have enough braking potential to stop his Red Bull hitting the barriers gently at the following corner. The most damage done was probably to the German's pride however.
The recently re-signed Button was quickest for much of the session and emphasised it by setting his best lap on his final attempt with a 1m33.634s.
He outpaced his team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.091s to establish the team at the head of the pack in front of Vettel, with Fernando Alonso fourth and Mark Webber fifth quickest, in what was, until the final moments at least, a relatively uneventful session.
Timo Glock led the cars out on to the very dusty Suzuka asphalt at the beginning of the 90 minute practice, but it was Narian Karthikeyan who set the first timed lap of the day with a 1m49.408s, some 25 minutes into the running. That effort lasted seconds at the top of the times though as HRT team-mate Daniel Ricciardo shaved six seconds off the Indian's mark. The pair then began trading times for a while, until home hero Kamui Kobayashi joined the fray.
The Japanese Sauber driver then very quickly established himself at the top, to the delight of the crowd, with a sequence of laps that resulted in a 1m37.760s with the Swiss team's heavily updated car.
It was forty minutes before the big players emerged from the pits and Alonso was the first to fire in a fast time - 1m35.181s. That was quickly eclipsed by Hamilton's 1m34.937s, but the Ferrari man was back on top again the next time around with a 1m34.372s.
Not to be outdone, Hamilton then posted a 1m33.725s to go six tenths clear at the top.
Emphasising McLaren's pace, Button then posted a 1m33.648s to lower the mark further and bump his team-mate to second.
It was around this time that Pastor Maldonado ran wide toward the end of the Esses sequence of corners before thumping across the grass at high speed and re-emerging on the track right in front of Red Bull's Mark Webber. The Williams man pulled off the track not long after.
Vettel emerged from the pits just after the halfway mark for an eight-lap run. But his fastest effort - at the end of that sequence of laps - was scuppered by a huge bite of opposite lock while on the power out of the chicane. Still the Red Bull man's efforts were good enough for fourth at this stage, behind the McLarens and Alonso, and ahead of Webber in the sister RB7.
With half an hour of the session to go, Button emerged from the pits once more - the McLarens still holding sway at the top of the times – and looked all set to improve his time further before locking up at the hairpin.
Vettel had another crack at it with 20 minutes to go, but could only manage a lap good enough for third, jumping ahead of Alonso who was also on track at the time doing an evaluation run.
The German was back out again in the final ten minutes, as were most of the field, but by this stage their prime tyres were well used and Button remained unchallenged at the top, and the scene looked well set until that final flurry of activity.
Behind the top five, Jaime Alguersuari made a good account of himself once again in sixth position for Toro Rosso, ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, Sebastien Buemi in the sister Toro Rosso, Michael Schumacher and Vitaly Petrov who completed the top ten.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.634s 20 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.725s + 0.091 18 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m34.090s + 0.456 22 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m34.372s + 0.738 24 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.426s + 0.792 25 6. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.937s + 1.303 23 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m35.585s + 1.951 27 8. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.590s + 1.956 25 9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m36.033s + 2.399 22 10. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m36.370s + 2.736 18 11. Bruno Senna Renault 1m36.487s + 2.853 18 12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m36.700s + 3.066 21 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.948s + 3.314 24 14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.949s + 3.315 22 15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.103s + 3.469 29 16. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.197s + 4.563 18 17. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m38.331s + 4.697 11 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m38.446s + 4.812 8 19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m39.168s + 5.534 10 20. Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 1m39.946s + 6.312 22 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m40.872s + 7.238 13 22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m41.019s + 7.385 24 23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m41.106s + 7.472 25 24. Narian Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m41.775s + 8.141 25
All Timing Unofficial
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Post by r1ch91 on Oct 7, 2011 11:47:30 GMT
Jenson Button goes fastest in FP2 as Red Bull hints at ominous long-run pace By Simon Strang Friday, October 7th 2011, 06:35 GMT
Jenson Button once again set the pace in the second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on Friday.
The McLaren man's best time of 1m31.901s was 0.174s quicker than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were only third and fourth fastest, but the duo's long-run pace on the softer option Pirelli tyres suggested that they may have an advantage when things get serious later in the weekend.
McLaren's drivers set the initial pace in the 90-minute session, following on from the team's strong showing in FP1, Button and Hamilton trading times at the top of the order. That dispute was settled in favour of Hamilton who set a 1m34.529s.
But that mark was only good until Alonso eclipsed it with a 1m33.848s lap, which itself got bumped when Webber set a new pace of 1m33.782s. Alonso then responded swiftly with a 1m33.503s.
That remained the benchmark for quite a while, with Red Bull's Webber 0.155s behind, as all the teams continued to work through their prime tyre programmes.
During this period Kamui Kobayashi had more than one small moment; Bruno Senna had a lucky moment when a spin resulted in no damage at Turn One; and Rubens Barrichello had more than a mere moment - instead thumping the barriers heavily at Degner One after getting on the grass on entry. The Brazilian climbed from his broken car unscathed.
Just before the hour mark, Barrichello's Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado also parked his car at Degner One - but this time with a technical issue. That resultant yellow flag period scuppered several drivers' first soft tyre runs.
By that stage though Alonso had already improved his best to 1m32.075s. Webber had also gone quicker to keep the Ferrari man honest - just 0.072s between them - and also Jenson Button had got a lap in on the softs...
In fact not only had he done that, but his 1m31.901s was the fastest anyone would manage on those tyres as he once again went fastest.
No sooner had the yellows dispersed from Maldonado's problems and Jarno Trulli's trundling Lotus, than Kobayashi had yet another scare. This time it was a big one when he got completely sideways in the middle of 130R. The Japanese saved it, but it was close.
Back up to speed again and with 20 minutes to go Vettel improved to third ahead of team-mate Webber, making it four drivers covered by 0.25s at the time.
The front-runners all stuck on those tyres as they begun their soft tyre evaluations and it became clear that while McLaren and Ferrari were quick on the one-laps, the Red Bulls were cruising along in the high 1m37s often a second faster than the opposition. Ominous.
Behind the top four Felipe Massa was half a second off the pace ahead of Michael Schumacher in the quicker Mercedes. The seven-time champion was the last man within a second of Button.
Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes was seventh with Hamilton, Vitaly Petrov and Sebastien Buemi completing the top ten.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.901s 32 2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.075s + 0.174 33 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.095s + 0.194 35 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m32.147s + 0.246 28 5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.448s + 0.547 34 6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.710s + 0.809 26 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.982s + 1.081 27 8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.245s + 1.344 26 9. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m33.446s + 1.545 36 10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.681s + 1.780 33 11. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.705s + 1.804 25 12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m33.790s + 1.889 36 13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.393s + 2.492 35 14. Bruno Senna Renault 1m34.557s + 2.656 27 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m34.601s + 2.700 33 16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.038s + 4.137 33 17. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m36.225s + 4.324 35 18. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m37.123s + 5.222 14 19. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m37.440s + 5.539 30 20. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m38.093s + 6.192 30 21. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m38.387s + 6.486 16 22. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m38.763s + 6.862 36 23. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m39.800s + 7.899 24 24. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m42.480s + 10.579 4
All Timing Unofficial
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Post by r1ch91 on Oct 7, 2011 11:48:31 GMT
Schumacher fined for pitlane incident, other drivers escape punishment By Jonathan Noble Friday, October 7th 2011, 10:52 GMT
Michael Schumacher has been fined 5,000 Euros for making a late entry into the pits during second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Schumacher dived into the pits after a bollard that marks the official start of the pitlane, which is a breach of F1's sporting regulations.
After investigation by the stewards, it was decided that because the incident took place in practice that there would not be more serious action taken against him - so he was fined 5,000 Euros.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, Bruno Senna, Sebastien Buemi and Heikki Kovalainen all escaped without punishment following investigations into yellow flag infringements during practice.
All four drivers were called to the stewards on Friday afternoon for having set their best sector times while yellow flags were out for Vitantonio Liuzzi's stranded car in second practice.
The yellow flag section was 278 metres of a sector that measured 2557 metres in total.
After analysis of data from each drivers' car, the stewards discovered that all the drivers had slowed down for the incident – which is why they decided to take no action.
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Post by r1ch91 on Oct 8, 2011 10:18:09 GMT
Sebastial Vettel pips Jenson Button to secure 12th season pole at Suzuka By Matt Beer Saturday, October 8th 2011, 06:02 GMT
Sebastian Vettel took his 12th pole position of the season at Suzuka, denying Jenson Button the top spot by just 0.009 seconds.
After McLaren and Button had topped all three practice sessions, and Lewis Hamilton led Q2 and the initial Q3 laps, it looked like Red Bull might finally be beaten to a pole for the first time in 2011.
But Hamilton got out slightly too late to complete his final Q3 run - losing time when caught up with Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher at the chicane - and found his 1m30.617s beaten by Vettel's 1m30.466s.
That left it up to Button to try and interrupt Red Bull's pole run, but the Friday pacesetter fell agonisingly short. Vettel can claim the world championship tomorrow by just scoring a single point, or if Button fails to win.
Hamilton ended up third, while the Ferraris were fourth and fifth, with Felipe Massa ahead of Fernando Alonso by 0.062 seconds. Alonso had to abandon his first Q3 shot after going off the road at Spoon.
Webber could only manage sixth in the other Red Bull, despite setting the fastest sector one time.
Schumacher was one of several drivers not to set a Q3 time as he saved tyres. His team-mate Nico Rosberg was not able to run at all on qualifying. A hydraulic issue kept his Mercedes in the garage and he will start 23rd.
Kamui Kobayashi delighted his home crowd by using soft tyres to set the outright pace in Q1, then made it through to Q3, where he chose to save tyres and did not set a flying lap.
Renault took the same strategy, having got over its Singapore dip and got both cars into Q3 again, with Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov starting eighth and ninth.
The Force Indias did not quite make Q3 and will share row six, ahead of the Williams.
Having shown some top 10 potential in practice, Toro Rosso looked like it might reach Q3 after the initial Q2 runs. But the team chose not to run again and the end of the session, so Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari found themselves pushed down to the eighth row.
Sergio Perez will start 17th, a hydraulic problem striking his Sauber before he could set a Q2 time.
At the back, Lotus kept a one-second cushion over Virgin, were Jerome D'Ambrosio outqualified Timo Glock. Tonio Liuzzi's gremlin-strewn weekend continued as his HRT developed further problems early in Q1 and stopped him setting a time.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.466s 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m30.475s + 0.009 3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m30.617s + 0.151 4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m30.804s + 0.338 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m30.886s + 0.420 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.156s + 0.690 7. Michael Schumacher Mercedes no time 8. Vitaly Petrov Renault no time 9. Bruno Senna Renault no time 10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m32.380s Gap ** 11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m32.463s + 1.997 12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m32.746s + 2.280 13. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m33.079s + 2.613 14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m33.224s + 2.758 15. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.227s + 2.761 16. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.427s + 2.961 17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari no time Q1 cut-off time: 1m35.111s Gap * 18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m35.454s + 4.988 19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m35.514s + 5.048 20. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m36.439s + 5.973 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m36.507s + 6.041 22. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m37.846s + 7.380 23. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time 24. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth no time 107% time: 1m39.109s * Gap to quickest in Q1 ** Gap to quickest in Q2
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kelli52
Baby F1 Fan
Sebastian Vettel....2010 & 2011 F1 World Champion :)
Posts: 131
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Post by kelli52 on Oct 8, 2011 17:05:32 GMT
I'm getting quite annoyed with Qualifying. I think it should be a rule that every car that takes part in quali should set at least one time in every session, unless there's a technical reason, i.e like Rosberg had today. If the car doesnt take part because they want to save tyres or whatever, they should be relegated to the back of the grid and everyone else promoted up a place.
It's annoying for the fans when only the fastest cars bother to set a time and you're sat watching an empty track for most of Q3!
Maybe a good move would be to bring back qualifying tyres that cant be used in the race, that way you're not having people refuse to set a time because they need to save tyres.
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Post by r1ch91 on Oct 8, 2011 17:28:41 GMT
Yeah I agree, its annoying and confusing trying to figure out where all the cars are on the grid Pirelli want qualifying tyres but FIA said no don't see why, would make Q3 more exciting instead of seeing half the cars sitting in the garage
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Amanda
F1 Fanatic
#WINNING
Posts: 213
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Post by Amanda on Oct 8, 2011 19:23:41 GMT
It would be more interesting in general to have qualifying tyres. But since when do the FIA agree to anything that would make the show more interesting for the fans?
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Post by Anna on Oct 9, 2011 13:36:52 GMT
This has been the problem all year long, remember when Mark kept qualifying in like 17th and would get good results because of how many clean tyres he had left and people worried it'll become the norm for them to just give up on quali? I think its what we've seen happen now. Plus think if it was last year, I don't like him and didn't find it amazing but it stops someone like Hulkenberg trying to get pole and maybe just once stealing the show by doing something they shouldn't really be able to do. Qualifying tyres really are a must. Anyway I was half dead during the race this morning so didn't come online, gonna commentate the re-run just to be boring!
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Amanda
F1 Fanatic
#WINNING
Posts: 213
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Post by Amanda on Oct 9, 2011 13:41:02 GMT
I thought I'd come and keep you company . Are you tweeting on the re-run? I know it'll make no difference this weekend but just wondered .
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Post by Anna on Oct 9, 2011 13:43:19 GMT
Why thank you Amanda urgh I was thinking I should tweet unfortunately seeing I've been dead all week and haven't come online at all the twitter page has died to only me, Rich and Fiona following it but I might do a re-run tweeting. I mean to be fair I'm going to be tweeting on my twitter page too . Ohh the confusion!
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Amanda
F1 Fanatic
#WINNING
Posts: 213
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Post by Amanda on Oct 9, 2011 13:48:49 GMT
Poor you how are you now? Are you any better now? You want to get your Tumblr sorted .
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Post by Anna on Oct 9, 2011 13:54:12 GMT
I'm still dead I don't know what is wrong with me I guess it might have something to do with working all week, not that it was the working, its the way that it was so dead and I was just standing about and the weather was horrible and..... Yeah I'm alright . Just a bit tired. And sad Mikey Welsh the former Weezer bassist died last night which has saddened me. But I'll talk Robbie Savage with you laters . I know I do, I feel so bad for having such a crappy Tumblr week . So is this rerun what we're hoping for next season? PLEASE say they'll miss the formation lap lol .
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