2011 Japanese Grand Prix - Button wins the battle; Vettel retains his title

CHAMP: Third place for Vettel was enough for a second title

SEBASTIAN Vettel made history this morning in Japan by securing the one point he required to become the youngest ever back-to-back Formula One world champion.  The German, 24 finished in third place at Suzuka to finally extinguish the final hope from a potential championship challenge in the form of Jenson Button.  However, Button won this tremendous Japanese Grand Prix in style to not only cement his position in second place in the driver’s championship, but lay down a serious marker that things might be significantly different in 2012.

GRASSY: Vettel squeezes out Button on the rundown to turn one

    Vettel arrived in Japan looking very relaxed, with just one point required to finish the job and finally rubberstamp the seal on a dominant season, which has seen his Red Bull dismantle a top-quality field.  Even if he remarkably failed to get anymore points between this race and the season’s conclusion in Brazil on November 27, Button would have to win every single event left on the 2011 calendar.  This weekend, the McLaren looked the better package around this high-speed venue and only an immense lap from Vettel earnt him his customary pole position yesterday.  He didn’t waste his advantage at the start of the race either, which irked Button.  Sebastian moved across the road to defend his position into the first corner, leaving Jenson with the choice of having a silly accident or backing off onto the grass.  Sensibly, Jenson lifted and this forced hesitation allowed Lewis Hamilton into second place.  Button was livid and wanted his title rival to get a penalty for his questionable driving.  Rightfully, the race stewards looked into the incident, but correctly decided not to take further action.

      With high tyre degradation levels from the Pirelli tyres this weekend, managing the rubber was going to always be the decisive factor, with DRS not playing so much of a crucial role in Japan.  Hamilton picked up a slow puncture early on and had to let Button through into second, before being forced to pit.  His podium chances were finished and once again, Lewis would have a run-in with his best mate at the moment, Felipe Massa.  The pair made contact on lap 24 into the final chicane, with a piece of debris coming off the Ferrari in the process.  Again, the stewards took a closer look, but decided that Hamilton’s strong defensive driving was legal.  However, the Safety Car was curiously called out to remove the tiny, offending Ferrari piece of bodywork on the road. 

     Button seemed to have the measure of Vettel on the option tyre and with the champion-elect’s setup indicating higher tyre wear, the McLaren was able to take the lead at the second round of stops and control proceedings from there.  His pace on the Safety Car restart was blistering, whilst Vettel’s tyres kept …blistering.  After another stop, the German got bottled up behind Adrian Sutil for two laps and this enabled the canny Fernando Alonso to leapfrog Vettel into second place.  Slightly ahead of them and Michael Schumacher took the opportunity to lead some laps thanks to the bunching up behind the pace car.  It means Schumacher becomes the oldest driver to lead any racing laps since Sir Jack Brabham in 1961 and that’s a record Vettel will struggle to take.  In the closing stages, Alonso upped the ante and forced Button, who was in fuel saving mode, to respond.  As you would expect from the 2009 world champion, he did and crossed the line approximately two seconds infront of the Spaniard to record his third win of the season.  Vettel kept pushing, but knowing that the podium was safe, held back to take the 15 points on offer for third position and sealed the inevitable of becoming 2011 FIA Formula One World Champion.

     Behind them, Mark Webber drove to fourth in the second Red Bull, to strengthen the team’s constructor’s championship ambitions.  Hamilton described his race as ‘shocking’ afterwards, but still recorded fifth, ahead of Schumacher and Massa, who put in another poor performance in the sister Ferrari, considering he outqualified Alonso on Saturday.  Sergio Perez came eighth for Sauber, holding off the effects of a flu bug that made him look as white as a sheep all weekend.  Vitaly Petrov’s fighting ninth place keeps Lotus Renault well on course for fifth in the constructor’s championship and Nico Rosberg made use of his five sets of fresh tyres after a hydraulics failure eliminated him in Q1.  Rosberg’s point was a good performance, ahead of both Force India’s and the local hero, Kamur Kobayashi.  Although it earnt nothing, Adrian Sutil pulled off the move of the race and potentially the season, when he drilled Kobayashi on the inside of the daunting 130R, on worn tyres and the dirty racing line.  It was a brave and superb piece of driving from Sutil and it earnt him, 11^th place and no points.  The only retirement of the afternoon was Sebastian Buemi, who had to pull off when a tyre wasn’t fitted onto his Toro Rosso properly after his first pitstop.

SOAKING: Winner Button gets a nice champagne shower from Vettel

     The emotion on Button’s face was clear afterwards, as he lives in Japan for most of the year with his beautiful Japanese girlfriend, Jessica.  Having spent several years driving for Honda too, you can understand Jenson’s affection for the place.  This was his first dry race win for McLaren and on this evidence, he will win more before the end of the season.  It was a great performance and in his celebrations, he pointed to his special helmet, which is to be auctioned off for charity to help those still suffering from the after-effects of the devastating tsunami to hit the country in March.

     However, Sebastian Vettel steals the limelight today with his incredible feat, in what has been an almost faultless season.  This won’t be his last title either and many of Schumacher’s records look increasingly under threat now, from this latest German wunderkind.  He joins Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Brabham, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Alonso in the shortlist of back-to-back world champions and it is a list he fully deserves to be on.  Although the constructor’s championship still needs to be sorted, we can now go racing and enjoy the final four races of the season, starting with next weekend’s Korean Grand Prix.

Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing on their title success; the kings of Formula One in 2011.  

F1 classic races - Japan

1994

WINNER: Damon Hill (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Benetton Ford), 3^rd: Jean Alesi (Ferrari)

SUZUKA 1994 began in truly awful conditions.  Michael Schumacher started on pole position, but nearly half the field fell off the road early on as aquaplaning took hold.  When Gianni Morbidelli and Martin Brundle went off heavily at the Degner complex; Brundle’s accident badly injuring a marshal, the race was eventually stopped.  Despite concern over a restart, the rain relented and the fans that stayed witnessed a battle of aggregate timing to decide the race between Schumacher and Damon Hill.  Hill’s one stop strategy gave him the time advantage, but on worn tyres, he was struggling against the fresher Benetton in fast diminishing light.  However, Damon held onto win by 3.3seconds and took the title showdown to that controversial finale in Adelaide.  Nigel Mansell had a similar exciting battle with Jean Alesi and passed the Frenchman into the chicane on the final lap.  However, on the timing rule, Alesi was the final driver on the podium.

1996

WINNER: Damon Hill (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3^rd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

WITH a nine point lead over rookie team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill could only throw away the 1996 championship.  He qualified second, behind Villeneuve and people thought it would be a cautious drive.  However, he stormed into the lead from the start and despite an early vicious attack from Gerhard Berger, which left the Austrian needing to pit for damage, Damon was largely untroubled.  Villeneuve had a horrible start and dropped to sixth, struggling to keep up with Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine.  On lap 36, a rear wheel pitched off the Canadian’s car and sent him into the gravel trap.  Hill coasted home, ahead of outgoing champion Michael Schumacher and Hakkinen, leaving Murray Walker literally with a lump in his throat and the perfect way to end Grand Prix on the BBC chapter one!

1997

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Williams Renault), 3^rd: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari)

HE WAS under pressure to deliver after some suspect performances in Austria and at the Nurburgring, but Michael Schumacher once again produced a stirring drive at Suzuka to win and take the title lead with one race to go.  His rival for the championship, Jacques Villeneuve, had to race under appeal after he had been initially excluded from the meeting following his fourth yellow flag infringement of the season during Saturday morning practice.  On Sunday, Villeneuve’s only intention was to destroy Schumacher’s race, but his plan backfired.  Ferrari’s plan was to get Eddie Irvine into the lead and pull enough of a lead out, so Villeneuve could not slow everyone down.  Better pit work from Ferrari got Schumacher ahead of the desperate Canadian, before Irvine slowed down and let his team leader through.  Damon Hill’s Arrows badly held Schumacher up in the closing stages, which gave Heinz-Harald Frentzen the chance to attack.  However, Schumi held on and with Williams dropping their appeal after the event, Villeneuve lost his two points for Suzuka and went to Jerez a point behind.  At least Frentzen’s ability to overhaul Irvine for second place in the race did secure the constructor’s championship for Williams.

2000

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes) 3^rd: David Coulthard (McLaren Mercedes)

THIS was a true battle between the modern greats of the sport; Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.  Schumacher took pole position after a fierce scrap in qualifying, but like in 1999, Hakkinen made the better start.  They traded fastest laps throughout, as they left the rest standing.  David Coulthard, who came third, finished over a minute behind.  A sprinkling rain shower saw McLaren pit Hakkinen a bit earlier for his second stop.  He got held up badly behind Pedro de la Rosa’s Arrows and this allowed Schumacher to set the quick times required to get out ahead of his only title rival.  Mika kept pushing to the end, but Michael held his nerve to win the 2000 event and the world championship for the third time; Ferrari’s first driver’s title since 1979.  At last, the Schumacher/Ferrari combination had delivered and it started a new era of utter domination in F1.

2005

WINNER: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes), 2^nd: Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), 3^rd: Fernando Alonso (Renault)

PASS: Raikkonen is about to complete his epic drive in 2005

KIMI Raikkonen produced the finest win of his Grand Prix career, in a titanic 2005 race, one of the best ever in the history of the championship.  After wet qualifying, the likes of Raikkonen, new world champion Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya started near the back of the grid.  Montoya was eliminated on the first lap, crashing heavily out of the final corner while attempting an ambitious move around the outside of Jacques Villeneuve.  Alonso showed his determination, as he drove flat out around the outside of Schumacher’s Ferrari at 130R on lap 16 in a stunning move.  Gradually, Raikkonen hauled himself upto second place, but Giancarlo Fisichella still had a healthy 20 second cushion infront.  Alonso used more bravery to pass Mark Webber’s Williams on the grass with five laps remaining to snatch third, but Fisichella switched off and was powerless against the relentless Raikkonen.  Kimi charged upto his gearbox and then drove past him into the first corner around the outside of the Renault as they started the last lap.  This was a day when man and class in driver tolled over the usual combination of driver/machinery and kept the constructors championship battle alive to the finale in China.

2007 (Fuji Speedway)

WINNER: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes), 2^nd: Heikki Kovalainen (Renault), 3^rd: Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

UNDER pressure from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton delivered a masterful performance to win in terrible weather conditions at Fuji Speedway.  With Suzuka’s facilities needing an urgent update, Fuji staged the event for two seasons (2007 & 2008).  The race began behind the Safety Car, with Ferrari’s curious decision to start on intermediate tyres sending their drivers to the back of the field.  Hamilton pitted later than Alonso when racing got underway and cleared some important traffic, which Fernando couldn’t.  Despite a collision with Robert Kubica, Lewis continued to pull away at the front whilst Alonso ended up crashing out of the event.  After another Safety Car, which saw youngster Sebastian Vettel blot his copybook and crash into the back of a furious Mark Webber, Hamilton drove away again as he pleased to earn a vital win.  Kimi Raikkonen produced a similarly great drive against adversity to finish third behind Heikki Kovalainen.  Kubica ended up with a drive-through penalty for his clash with Hamilton, before losing a ferocious last lap dice over sixth with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which had echoes of Gilles Villeneuve/Rene Arnoux at Dijon in 1979.

The Senna movie - A fitting tribute

By Simon Wright (Personal Review)

ON TUESDAY lunchtime, I went to the cinema to watch a motor racing movie about one of my heroes, who really appealed to me, Ayrton Senna.  When The Senna Movie was announced for commission at the beginning of last year, I was looking forward to seeing the final piece of work.  Senna’s life, both on and off the racetrack was certainly full of theatre and deserved the proportions of a movie on a big screen.

     Ayrton Senna was only 34 years old when he was killed, crashing into a concrete wall on the Imola circuit during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.  Although I’d heard a lot of positive reviews about the movie from motorsport experts, commentators and from the Senna family themselves, I did hope this would be a moving that would give depth to his life and be a fitting tribute.  Maybe it was concern from The Social Network, which showed how Facebook was created, but struggled to appeal to me when I saw it in November last year, but I was hoping that The Senna Movie wouldn’t go down a similar route.  My plaguing doubts turned out to be completely whittled away.

     When I came out from the film, I realised that I had witnessed a piece of sporting drama in the big screen that had really captured the imagination.  Even being a motorsport fan, I saw some never-before-seen footage and learnt more about the great Brazilian’s life.  The main focus point of the movie was the two controversial clashes with Alain Prost at the Suzuka circuit which decided the 1989 and 1990 world championships.  I saw footage of the driver’s briefings from both years which were very interesting.  In 89, Senna looked a serious figure, one who seemed to be fed up with the politics already before the Japanese event.  Prost seemed far more relaxed about the whole situation.  That was surprising, considering it was Prost who couldn’t cope with Ayrton’s attitude and had already decided to quit the McLaren team at the end of the season.  A year later, Senna looked even more fed up with the politics in the sport, especially against the controversial FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre.  He was convinced that Balestre was cooperating with his fellow countryman Prost for the championship both seasons.  In 1990, Senna walked out of the drivers briefing after Nelson Piquet raised a controversial point about the chicanes at Suzuka and he was furious that the other drivers agreed with Piquet, who disliked Senna anyways.  When pole position was refused to be moved onto the cleaner side of the grid, the consequences became inevitable for the tangle in the first corner.

SMASH: This crash led to another clash between Senna and Balestre

     A year later, Senna clashed again with Balestre, this time over chicanes at the German circuit, Hockenheim.  Ayrton had escaped unharmed from a spectacular crash in practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, which had been made worse by the lack of absorption from the tyre barriers.  He was furious to find tyre stacks put at the end of the three long straights on the Hockenheim track.  He bickered with Balestre, insisting that cones should be used in place for safety.  This time, the other drivers agreed with the world champion and it is believed that this confrontation of views led to Balestre’s downfall and eventual departure as FISA president.

     Senna’s death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix rocked not just the world of Formula One and sport, but the worldwide news, which showed the significant impact he had on the sport.  His country Brazil went into national mourning.  Brazil was going through some difficult times and alongside Pele, Ayrton Senna gave them a glimmer of hope and belief that united a country full of divisions.  Watching Senna in the movie on that Imola weekend was sad.  He never smiled on the weekend and looked to be occupied with other matters.  It was interesting to see new camera angles of the terrifying startline crash which saw spectators injured, Ayrton’s reaction to Roland Ratzenberger’s fatal accident on the Saturday, his fury at how slow the Safety Car was going whilst the debris was being collected up, moments before his demise. 

     I was only five when Ayrton Senna was killed.  I remember fuzzily watching some of the race on Eurosport, although I can’t honestly remember the accident.  However, Senna was one of my inspirations in life and his legacy on the sport will never be forgotten.  Ironically, another of my inspirational figures in Nelson Mandela, who at the time, was being sworn in as the president of a previously divided South Africa.  He is still missed, even 17 years on from the tragic accident.

     The Senna Movie is a chilling, emotional and passionate piece of theatre and I’d urge everyone, even those who don’t have any following with motorsport to watch the movie.  It is very powerful and a fitting tribute to a Brazilian legend.   

2010 Japanese Grand Prix - The Conclusions

IN THIS piece, I will be assessing ten key features from each Grand Prix weekend from the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.  The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka provided the fans with a Super Sunday event, and it certainly was for Red Bull Racing, as they cemented their place at the top of both championship standings.  So, this is the round-up of race sixteen out of nineteen in 2010, as five drivers still remain in the fight, with three races to go.

Sebastian Vettel – The Suzuka Maestro

In 2009, his Suzuka victory kept his limping championship aspirations open and this year, Sebastian Vettel managed to repeat the trend.  He was utterly dominant in Japan, although Mark Webber kept him well and truly honest all weekend.  An eighth pole position of the season was converted into his third win of the season, his first since June’s European Grand Prix at Valencia.  In the last two races, Vettel has knuckled down and got the job done, and now can win the final three races and guarantee himself a fortunate championship.  The momentum in the Red Bull camp has swayed back and forth all season, and it is now in the German’s court.  After Belgium, anyone who put a bet on Sebastian winning the title would have looked like a complete fool.  Now, he might well be the narrow favourite into the final three events.

Red Bull Racing – Both Drivers in the Title Fight, A Difficult Situation

With the constructor’s championship looking more and more likely that it will be won by Red Bull Racing, attention will slowly drift to the driver’s battle.  With both drivers in the title fight, Christian Horner finds himself in a very difficult situation.  Plus, with the events of Silverstone bound to still be floating about in Mark Webber’s mind, no favouritism must be allowed.  I’ll give them that, they have given their drivers every chance to fight for the championship, but so did Williams in 1986 (Mansell & Piquet) and McLaren in 2007 (Hamilton & Alonso).  On both occasions, the outsider, Alain Prost and Kimi Raikkonen stole through to claim the glory.  Can Fernando Alonso provide a sting in the tail, and upset the Red Bull applecart.  Don’t count the Spaniard out just yet, especially as Vettel and Webber have already proven this season, to have a chequered history.

Lewis Hamilton – Another Weekend of Woe

It was another dark weekend in Lewis Hamilton’s fading world championship challenge.  A crash into the barriers at the formidable Degner curves left him with next to no track time in Friday practice.  Hamilton went into qualifying further on the backfoot, thanks to Saturday’s washout and a five-place grid penalty for changing a gearbox.  McLaren failed to spot that Hamilton’s box had collected terminal damage in his collision with Mark Webber in Singapore.  Had they spotted the problem straightaway, Hamilton would have been a serious threat from third on the grid.  Instead, their costly lack of judgement left Lewis languishing in eighth and needing a miracle in the race.  That never looked like happening, and in the race, he lost third gear with his new gearbox, meaning he could only use fourth to seventh gear for the last 15 laps.  Hamilton limped home in fifth, and put a brave face on the latest disappointment.  Don’t write McLaren off just yet, but Korea next weekend is a win or bust situation for both Hamilton and Jenson Button if they want to stay in the title battle.

Robert Kubica – High Expectations Gone in Minutes

After his heroics at Spa, Robert Kubica would have been confident of his chances at Suzuka, a circuit where he could make the most of Renault’s excellent f-duct device.  The Pole was stunning all weekend, qualifying an excellent third, following Hamilton’s demotion, over a second faster than team-mate Vitaly Petrov on Sunday morning.  At the green, Kubica jumped a slow-starting Webber and was harrying Vettel, when a wheel fell off his car behind the Safety Car.  Three laps in, and those high expectations of his had gone in minutes.  Kubica probably didn’t have the race distance pace to beat the Red Bull’s, but the final podium spot was up for grabs, so this was a missed opportunity for Renault.  With no score, the team can now forget catching Mercedes now for fourth in the constructor’s championship. 

Japanese Chaos – Amateur Acrobatics from Petrov, Massa & Alguesuari

Five seconds into the Japanese Grand Prix and Vitaly Petrov’s race is already over, after one of the most amateurish pieces of driving I’ve seen in recent years.  Starting 13^th, Petrov made a great start, but failed to check his mirrors and cut across an innocent Nico Hulkenberg, when he was nowhere near clear of the Williams.  Petrov then had the decency to blame Nick Heidfeld for the incident, but the television replays confirmed his fate.  A five-place grid penalty in Korea beckons and the Russian can surely now kiss goodbye to hanging onto that Renault seat for 2011.  If Petrov’s moment was crazy, Felipe Massa’s attempt to pass two cars on the grass was kamikaze!  Massa screwed up qualifying on Sunday morning and started a dismal 12^th.  Into turn one; he attempted to pass Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil on wet grass, a move which you might expect from a debutant, but not a seasoned pro like Massa.  His Ferrari slewed across the track and took out the luckless Vitantonio Liuzzi, destroying the Force India in the process.  How Massa didn’t earn a grid penalty boggles the mind, considering his manoeuvre was just as bad as Petrov’s!  To top off an amateurish day, Jaime Alguesuari takes the award for the daftest attempt at driving a rival off the road.  Angered by a clumsy move that Kamur Kobayashi pulled on him earlier in the race, the Spaniard was passed again in the closing stages, around the outside of the hairpin by the feisty Japanese driver.  Rather than accept defeat, he turned his Toro Rosso into a ramming rod!  Despite three bashes at the Sauber’s sidepod, Alguesuari got what he deserved, which was a damaged front wing, and consequently lost the final point to team-mate Sebastian Buemi.  It was a stupid moment of madness from a young driver who has shown flashes of talent this season, and rounded off a day of amateurish driving that would make Jedward look like music world beaters!

Forget Formula 1 at Suzuka – It’s more Like the Boat Race!

Saturday’s washout in Japan meant it was a repeat of the 2004 event, when a threatened typhoon in the region moved qualifying to a Sunday morning.  The fans on Saturday that came got a soaking, and Kamur Kobayashi criticised the FIA for taking a full 90 minutes to cancel qualifying, when in reality, it never was going to happen.  The conditions were more appropriate for the boat race, rather than an F1 qualifying session.  The two-day event worked well here again in Japan, and although it shouldn’t be a permanent switch to this format, maybe we need to look into this area for races that could be affected more by the weather, like Malaysia and China for instance.

Kamur Kobayashi – Showing His True Potential on Home Soil

As the season has developed, Kamur Kobayashi has turned into an excellent race driver.  Earlier in the campaign, Kobayashi looked like a nervous wreck, but as the Sauber has gradually improved over the season, so has the Japanese racecraft.  Although he was sixth at Silverstone, Suzuka was undoubtedly his best performance of the campaign.  He should have made Q3, but messed up the final chicane on his best lap and started back in 14^th.  Despite a poor start, and the wrong strategy, Kobayashi was the man of the race, pulling over brilliant passes into the hairpin on Adrian Sutil, Rubens Barrichello and team-mate Nick Heidfeld, as well as surviving an assault from Jaime Alguesuari.  Seventh place was a fitting result; he looks set to only improve on his massive potential.

130R Shows It Bites Again – Lucas di Grassi’s Warm-Up Smash

Lucas di Grassi had impressed in outqualifying Timo Glock in Japan, but he didn’t make the start, after making a mess off his Virgin Racing car on the way to the grid!  Di Grassi was warming up his tyres and brakes, when it appears he went offline in the daunting 130R corner, which despite recent modifications, still doesn’t take any prisoners.  The result was one very battered Virgin and one rather sheepish Brazilian driver.  Although it looked more like a car failure than driver error, this has done di Grassi no favours in his battle to hold onto his Virgin drive for next season. 

Mercedes GP – Another Mixed Weekend

It was another mixed weekend for Mercedes GP, though they showed more competitive pace, which means that they are now almost uncatchable in their fight with Renault for fourth in the constructors championship.  Michael Schumacher, having had one of the worst weekends of his career in Singapore, had one of his best weekends of his poor comeback season in Japan.  Istanbul aside, Schumacher showed a consistent pace all weekend, and had the measure of Nico Rosberg throughout.  However, Rosberg still outqualified the seven-time world champion, with a brilliant sixth on the grid, compared to tenth for Schumacher, although Michael had an f-duct issue in Q3.  At the start, Rosberg botched his getaway, and was lucky not to be taken out by the out of control Massa at Turn One.  He smartly pitted under the Safety Car, which allowed him to jump a faster Schumacher, despite Schumacher looking the faster, especially after he pulled off a great pass on Rubens Barrichello into the final chicane, shortly after the restart.  A fantastic team result went sour with six laps to go, when a wheel flew off Rosberg’s car, pitching the hapless Nico into the barriers at the Dunlop Curve.  Schumacher survived to finish a solid sixth, so despite the late DNF for Rosberg, slight progress was made.

 

BBC Gambles on Lee McKenzie Presenting – Did It Pay Off?

With Jake Humphrey away to cover the Commonwealth Games in Delhi for the BBC, Lee McKenzie moved up from pitlane duty to host the BBC’s coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix.  Lee’s performance was never going to be upto the typical high standard of Jake, but it was a decent effort at short notice, although Jake’s presence was missed throughout the weekend.  McKenzie did well to keep Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard on a tight leech, though her mathematical skills and calling Martin Whitmarsh, Martin Whittaker after the race left a lot to be desired!  However, Jonathan Legard’s boring commentary in Suzuka could have spelt the death knell in his F1 commentating career, especially when BBC TV lost sound in the closing stages and we heard David Croft going bananas at Rosberg’s crash, when Legard’s version (heard on the highlights programme) had as much excitement as a wet sponge!  Surely the BBC has got to consider promoting Crofty to its TV coverage.  As for Lee McKenzie, it was an okay performance, but we will be glad that Jake is back to resume duty in Korea next weekend.

2010 Japanese Grand Prix - Sebastian Strikes Super Suzuka Blow

Sebastian Vettel produced a faultless and dominant display this morning to win the Japanese Grand Prix at a sunny Suzuka.  It was the young German’s second successive victory on the demanding Japanese circuit, and moves him to within 14 points of championship leader, Mark Webber.  What this means now that Vettel, who won his first event since June’s European Grand Prix at Valencia can win the last three races and take the title, no matter what Webber does.

Suzuka was always expected to favour the Red Bulls, and this is exactly what happened, though not quite the dominant pace they showed at Barcelona and the Hungaroring.  With Saturday being completely rained off due to a rainstorm of biblical proportions, qualifying took place at 2am British time this morning, which saw the Red Bulls lock out the front row.  Their dominance was threatened by Renault’s Robert Kubica, who jumped past the slow-starting Webber on the rundown to Turn One.  However, the Pole was out on Lap 3, when his right-rear wheel bizarrely fell off behind the Safety Car.  Investigations seems to hint that the wheel was not done up properly on the grid, so no wonder why Kubica looked bemused when he got out of his car.  His demise was a shame for the race, as he really could have mixed it up with the championship contenders.

The Safety Car was out after some amateurish driving on the first lap which saw five cars eliminated before the race was two corners old.  First, a suspected suspension failure sent Lucas di Grassi’s Virgin Racing careering into the tyres at 130R on the way to the grid.  Seconds after the lights went out, Vitaly Petrov chopped across a slow-starting Nico Hulkenberg without having got a full car length infront of the Williams.  The result saw the Russian pitched into the barriers a mere 200 yards into the 53 lap extraganvanza.  Hulkenberg was forced to park his car with a smashed front suspension and they were joined on the sidelines by Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and Vitantonio Liuzzi’s Force India.  Massa lost his bearings and used the grass on the first corner to try and pass Nico Rosberg.  With no grip on the dirt, the Brazilian skewed across the road and took out an innocent Liuzzi, causing massive damage to the under-pressure Italian’s car.

With Kubica out of the way, Red Bull’s main threat came from the McLaren’s.  Jenson Button had attempted a different tyre strategy, but it didn’t work out as anticipated, due to the option tyre holding out longer than expected.  Button had to settle to 4^th, which now leaves his chances of retaining his championship as very remote.  Having started back in 8^th, after a five-place grid penalty, Lewis Hamilton was charging hard, but a loss of 3^rd gear with his new gearbox.  The Brit could only limp around to a 5^th place finish, which like Button leaves his hopes of winning a second title looking very distant.  The closest and most consistent challenger to the Red Bull’s is Fernando Alonso, who maximised the equipment he had with his Ferrari to finish 3^rd, and stay within 14 points of championship leader Webber.  Despite not being much difference between Vettel and Webber, the Australian was always trailing Vettel by around a tenth of a second.  It is something he will need to reverse in one of the last three races; otherwise he will lose his chance of claiming his maiden championship.

Elsewhere, the main action in the midfield was created by the home boy Kamur Kobayashi.  Kobayashi pulled off five stunning overtaking moves in the race, including clean moves on Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello, to finish an outstanding 7^th.  Sauber recorded only their second double points finish of the season, with Nick Heidfeld finishing an excellent 8^th in only his second race of 2010.  Michael Schumacher had one of his strongest races of his difficult comeback year, finishing 6^th, though he was trailing Rosberg when his team-mate crashed with just six laps to go, another victim of a wheel flying off his car, through no fault of his own.  Barrichello and the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Buemi completed the point’s scorers.  Sutil was another late retirement, victim to a spectacular engine blow-up in 130R which saw the German spin on his own oil.

Three races to go, and Red Bull now have the momentum.  Has Sebastian Vettel delivered a crucial blow to the other championship contenders with his dominant Japanese weekend?  Now F1 heads into the unknown, with a new circuit in Korea the next stop in two weeks time.

Ayrton Senna - A Genius Remembered

This year, the legendary Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna would have celebrated his 50^th birthday.  Sadly, he isn’t around to cherish this amazing anniversary – sixteen years after he tragically perished at the wheel of the Williams FW16 in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.  However, this opportunity gives me the chance to produce my memories of Ayrton Senna: The Man, and Ayrton Senna: The Genius behind the Wheel of a Racing Car.  Forget Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher: In my opinion, Senna was the greatest ever human being to drive in Formula One.

Senna was very successful in the junior formulae in Brazil and in England.  He had begun karting at the tender age of four.  For him, racing was in his blood and so to, was his will and desire to win.  To him, second place wasn’t acceptable; he felt it was first of the losers.  He underlined that ruthless streak early on in his career, in the tense and exciting duel with Britain’s Martin Brundle for the 1983 British Formula 3 Championship.  Senna dominated the first half of the season, Brundle the second half and it left Ayrton to pull off some crazy overtaking attempts that often ended in accidents.  Eventually, he overcame Brundle in the season finale at Thurxton, and Formula One beckoned.

Despite testing for McLaren and Williams in the winter of 1983, Senna opted to sign on for the Toleman team, an unfamiliar name to many in the sport.  Immediately, Senna made an impression, despite his inferior equipment.  He came so close to winning his maiden race that season too.  In Monaco, Senna made full advantage of the awful weather conditions, to charge through from 12^th on the grid.  He pulled off some stupendous overtaking moves, with the confidence that suggested he would be a champion in future waiting.  Only the insistence of race leader Alain Prost got the race red-flagged, though the half points would eventually cost him the 1984 championship.  Senna insisted that he would have won if the race had run just one more lap.  The determination to succeed was firmly there.  Podiums at Brands Hatch and Estoril followed, but Senna knew that Toleman was not a long-term stay.  He went to Lotus for the next three seasons, convinced that this might be the team that could deliver him the world championship.

In only his second race for the famous British marquee, Senna won in Portugal – in very similar conditions to those of Monaco 1984.  Second placed Michele Alboreto was the only driver not to be lapped, in a clinical and masterful performance in the wet.  Not only did Senna edge himself into a great wet weather runner, he developed a close association with the Japanese manufacturer Honda in his time at Lotus, and also the amazing skill he had to pull off a flying lap when the chips were down.  Eight pole positions went his way in 1985, and this skill remained in Senna’s book all the way through to his untimely death.  Although Schumacher has beaten this statistic now, it took him twelve years to do it after Ayrton’s death.  Sixty-five pole positions in 161 races, over 33% is one of the most impressive ratios I’ve ever seen.  In his three years with Lotus, Senna achieved 3^rd place in the 1987 championship and six wins, including a maiden triumph on the streets of Monte Carlo.  However, the British team was on a steady rate of decline and Ayrton elected to jump ship, taking Honda with him to McLaren.

Frustrated by seeing the more superior Williams of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell often get the better of him, despite his undoubted talent, Senna was convinced the switch to McLaren would finally give him the success it craved.  There, he was partnered with the Frenchman, Alain Prost, the golden boy of McLaren at the time.  Fireworks would explode between the pair, though not initially.  The 1988 McLaren Honda was the most dominant car in Grand Prix history, winning 15 of the season’s 16 races.  If Jean-Louis Schelesser hadn’t rammed Senna in the closing stages at Monza, it could well have been a clean sweep.  Senna won eight races, to Prost’s seven – though the ‘Professor’s’ consistency meant he went on to score more championship points.  However, on a countback system, which the sport used at the time, Senna knew that victory in the 1988 Japanese Grand Prix would be enough for his first championship.

The start was a disaster, Senna squandering pole position, and dropping to 14^th by Turn 1, giving Prost a colossal advantage.  Very quickly, Senna showed the superiority of his McLaren, and charged through the pack.  By Lap 16, he was fourth and eleven laps later, was challenging for the lead.  When Prost was trapped in backmarkers, Senna seized his opportunity and squeezed past his team-mate on the start-finish straight.  It was a clinical piece of overtaking, and a drive that thoroughly deserved to win the championship.  Prost was very gracious in defeat, admitting that Senna had been the better driver during the campaign.  Apart from a moment in Portugal, when Ayrton had nearly put Alain into the pit wall, their battle had been clean and a joy to watch in 1988.  Sadly, the next two years bought politics and accusations to the heartfelt of the game.

Race two of 1989 was the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.  Prost and Senna had entered a gentlemanly agreement, that the man who approached the breaking point for the Tosa hairpin first, would go onto win the race.  Senna took pole position and led on the first lap.  However, when his good friend Gerhard Berger crashed at Tamburello and his Ferrari burst into flames, the race required a restart.  Prost made the better start, and led approaching Tosa.  Senna, presuming that the agreement only meant on one attempt, stole the lead into the hairpin and drove into the distance.  Perhaps a gentle misunderstanding, but Prost, who finished over a minute adrift, refused to talk to Senna again.  

1989 was not a lucky year for the Brazilian, losing certain victories in USA, Canada and Italy due to mechanical problems, whilst he was taken out in Portugal by the already disqualified Mansell.  Once again, Suzuka would be the deciding factor in the championship battle, this time with Prost the overwhelming favourite.  Senna had to win, to stand any chance of taking the fight to Adelaide.  He lost the lead with a poor start, and harassed Prost all afternoon, with little chance of getting ahead.  On Lap 47, he closed up and made his move into the final chicane.  Prost, knowing that Senna had to win turned into the corner and the accident was inevitable.  The two McLaren’s interlocked wheels and slid to a halt.  Prost unbuckled his belts and walked away, but Senna kept his engine running and restarted.  However, he needed outside assistance from the marshals to get going again.  Despite needing to pit for a new nosecone, catching and overtaking the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini, Senna won and was promptly disqualified, for the outside assistance offence.  Prost was champion.  Ayrton was furious, almost refusing to race in Australia, threatening to walkaway from the sport he loved, believing that a conspiracy had been set-up against him, by Prost and the unpopular FISA president, Jean-Marie Balestre.  More allegations and accusations followed, and Senna’s super license was revoked.  Had he driven Formula One for the last time?

The following March, he was back, having apologised for his actions and won the season opener in Phoenix.  Once more, the fight for supremacy was between Senna’s McLaren Honda and Prost, who had swapped seats with Berger and moved to McLaren’s arch-enemies, Ferrari.  For the third successive year, Japan was the deciding point for the championship saga.  This time, it was Prost who needed to win to keep his title dream alive.  Senna took his customary pole position, but bitterly complained all weekend that pole position was on the dirtier side of the grid.  He campaigned for it to be changed, and Prost actually agreed.  The officials granted Senna’s request, but Balestre refused to back down.  Consequently, Senna vowed that if Prost turned into Turn One first, he would regret it.

Twenty-four hours later and Senna sprinted away, but Prost got the better start and took the immediate advantage.  Senna looked for a gap on the inside of the first corner that was simply always going to disappear.  The result was catastrophic.  The McLaren and Ferrari disappeared into a cloud dust, the pair clambered out of their battered motorcars, neither talking to the other but the outcome of the 1990 FIA Formula One World Championship had been decided in a matter of seconds.  Replays clearly put the blame fair and square at the Brazilian’s door, though he defended his actions long after the event.  It was a second title for Senna, but bittersweet and distasteful in the circumstances.  Only at the same event a year later, with Balestre gone and replaced by Max Mosley did Senna admit that he deliberately ran Prost off the road in 1990.  He will and desire to win couldn’t be faulted, but in attempting to knock another car out on purpose was a hideous crime, which on a normal UK road would land you with at least a driving ban, and possibly a jail sentence.

In 1991, Senna won his third and last drivers title, for the umpteenth time at Suzuka, the deciding point of most title battles.  Prost fell away and was fired by Ferrari before the season’s end, so it left for a renewed rivalry to remerge between Senna and ‘Il Leone,’ Nigel Mansell.  Senna won the first four races in 1991, but as the Williams Renault became the stronger package during the campaign, Senna grew frustrated, realising that McLaren were being out developed by a rival for the first time in his stint with the Woking team.  Eventually, reliability and a terrible pitstop in Portugal shot Mansell’s 1991 title dream, but not for the worth of trying.  He went wheel-to-wheel with Senna, sparks flying at some 200mph down the backstraight of Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, one of the sport’s most iconic images.

As the Williams team mastered the active suspension and traction control systems, McLaren drifted further behind the game and Senna had to work especially hard for any of his later victories in his career.  1992 was a major disappointment, as Ayrton finished 4^th in the final standings, with just three wins, compared to the nine of the dominant Mansell.  Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of the season, and Senna questioned whether he should remain in the sport, especially when Prost ‘vetoed’ him not to drive alongside him at Williams in 1993.  Senna was incensed with this, but pot, kettle, black spring to mind when he did the same thing in 1986, to deprive Derek Warwick of a Lotus drive.  One of his greatest victories came in Monaco 1992, when he managed to hold off a hard-charging Mansell, who clambered all over the back of his McLaren in the last five laps. 

However, he had saved the best for last on a damp, dull Easter weekend in 1993.  The venue was Donington Park for the European Grand Prix.  Senna, now in a McLaren Ford had qualified 4^th and made a bad start, squeezed out by the uncompromising Michael Schumacher on the rundown to Redgate.  Undeterred, he out-accelerated the young German on the exit, and then swept past the fast-starting Karl Wendlinger in his Sauber around the outside of the Craner Curves.  Next target were the dominant Williams and just three corners later, he went inside Damon Hill to move into second.  He tore into Prost’s early advantage and finally, outbraked his chief rival into the Melbourne Loop.  He had gone from 5^th to 1^st by the end of the first lap, definitely the greatest lap in Grand Prix history.  Senna won the race from Hill by nearly a full lap.

For 1994, Senna got his dream move to the almost unbeatable Williams Renault squad.  With Prost having retired, and Mansell conquering the IndyCars scene in America, this was Senna’s chance to add to his forty-one victories.  Sadly, the partnership that promised so much never came to fruition.  Senna didn’t like the handling of the FW16, and had a miserable first two races.  He spun off and stalled his engine in Brazil, chasing down Schumacher’s Benetton, then was tipped off by an over-ambitious Mika Hakkinen into the first corner of the Pacific Grand Prix.  Arriving at Imola, Senna had no points, Schumacher twenty.  Autosport magazine claimed he was a man under pressure.  He didn’t show it though, focused on his goal to bring Williams back to the top, after an unconvincing start.  He blitzed the entire field in San Marino, setting the quickest times in every single session.  However, accidents to his countryman Rubens Barrichello and the death of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger in qualifying deeply affected Senna.  Deep down, he didn’t have the passion to race.  Some say he was not on the best of terms with his family, due to his burdening relationship with Adriane Galisteu.  Others suggest he believed that Schumacher and Benetton were cheating their way to success, by using the now banned electronic aids.  Either way, he put those issues aside, dropped his crash helmet and went out to race.  A startline accident put the race under caution behind the Safety Car.  On the restart, Senna charged away, determined to pull away from the pest that was Schumacher.  On Lap 7, he entered the flat-out Tamburello bend when his Williams refused to turn into the corner.  The rest they say is history….

Ayrton Senna may have not endeared himself to everyone.  However, his skill behind the wheel of a racing car cannot be questioned, nor could his charitable work he put in for many local Brazilian and worldwide charities.  His speed, desire and commitment to win were immense, even if some of his tactics had to be questioned.  A devote Christian, Senna believed that God would save him on the racetrack.  His death brought shock to the whole world – and the funeral that followed brought Brazil to a complete standstill.  Chillingly, he had predicted that the new regulations for the 1994 season would bring serious accidents, possibly even bring the horrible fatality that he feared could happen.  On May 1^st 1994, the world lost a famous icon, and although Williams found replacement drivers easy to come by, Formula 1 will never see the likes of him.

Ayrton Senna is a legend who leaves an endearing legacy to many, and is a sporting legend that will never be forgotten.

21st March 1960 - 1st May 1994