Japanese Grand Prix Review

Suzuka is one of the few great tracks remaining on the F1 calendar. A terrific circuit has brilliant corners, but also has consequences that test the nerve and sort the men from the boys. But while Monaco's consequences are fewer than they used to be thanks to the re-profiling of some corners and the removal of armco barriers, and while modern F1 cars seem to deal with Spa with relative ease, Suzuka still combines awesome turns with consequences that capture the unwary.

Hence the incidents for Mark Webber in free practice 3, and in qualifying for Sebastien Buemi (twice), Jaime Alguersuari, Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen, many of them at the Degner curves. In a way, it was actually refreshing to see drivers being caught out; it fills viewers with awe for those who get it right. It becomes humdrum when drivers can negotiate modern Tilke-dromes looking as though they're shelling peas. There's no heroism involved in that.

However, the penalties post-qualifying for gearbox changes, for Buemi impeding Robert Kubica after his Q2 off, and for Button, Barrichello, Adrian Sutil and Fernando Alonso for not lifting sufficiently (or at all) in the yellow flag zone for Buemi's debris, were a farce. The penalties themselves were fair enough, even the yellow flag penalties. As a safety issue, the rules are clear. The fact that drivers didn't deem there to be any danger, or the fact that the Brawns had risked only doing one flying lap in Q2, is beside the point.

The real issue, rather, was the idiocy of applying penalties chronologically, such that Barrichello only dropped one spot, Button fell three, and Sutil and Alonso for example dropped four. That inconsistency speaks volumes in itself. So too did the fact that Sutil out-qualified Barrichello, both got penalties, and yet Rubens started two spots ahead! The obvious answer was to apply a five-spot penalty to all the miscreants, and fill in the remaining gaps thereafter. But why do the sensible when you can choose the absurd?

16 points behind Button with two races to go sounds like a lot, but Kimi Raikkonen came from 17 behind at the same stage in 2007. Weird things tend to happen in Brazil and Abu Dhabi is new for everyone, so there is a chance. On reflection, Seb and his RB5 have been the most consistent all season in terms of regular competitiveness. How he must rue his litany of critical errors and poor starts. The near-certain points lost in Australia, Monaco and Hungary, for instance, will also certainly cost him the title.

Spare a thought for Webber though. Five non-scoring finishes in a row have not only cost the Aussie a title shot, but it has allowed Vettel to seize the upper hand at Red Bull and will affect momentum going into 2010. Plus, Webber is now at risk from Raikkonen for 4th in the title. Here, his weekend was shot after his non-participation in qualifying, and his practice crash due to the car bottoming out was both driver and team-induced. But loose headrests and punctures in the race? When it rains, it pours.

Toyota have now finished 2nd in the last two races, which has come out of nowhere and for no rhyme or reason - except that both Glock and Trulli have been driving for their careers. There are many things that exemplify what's wrong with Toyota. The fact that Glock sat out Friday at Suzuka, then crashed in qualifying whilst checking his lap time, cut his leg so badly he missed the race, and cracked a vertebra such that he misses Brazil, adds another example to the litany of mediocrity.

The same can't be said for Kovalainen. Although Heikki ran in the points early, he dropped places at both his stops, and he finished where he started in 11th. Though he opportunistically dive-bombed inside the dozing Giancarlo Fisichella coming from his second stop, the Finn's race was black-marked by his incident with Sutil at the chicane, when the Force India had successfully nudged ahead but in refusing to concede Heikki barged Sutil off. His attempt to blame the German afterwards was, simply, codswallop.

Raikkonen started 5th and ran in that position pretty much all race, and probably would have finished there too had Nick Heidfeld in the BMW not had a slow rear right tyre change at his second stop which handed 4th place to the Ferrari. In the middle stint in particular, Kimi put on a blistering charge which once again underlined how much his recent results have been down to him rather than the car, especially in light of Fisichella's continuing embarrassment - another Q1 exit, and another nothing race.

Heidfeld ended up losing another place at the end to Nico Rosberg, who was one of the big gainers from the post-qualifying penalties, jumping up from 11th to 7th on the grid. Both of Rosberg's stops were significantly later than his rivals, but he got the jump on Heidfeld thanks to making his second stop when the safety car was coming out. The minimum sector time requirements should have ensured that Rosberg didn't get an advantage, but he was, in effect, caught speeding red-handed.

Leniency is what Kazuki Nakajima won't get at the end of the season. He has had a most disappointing season, and was knocked out in Q1 before doing nothing with his one-stop strategy in the race. More than that, he has always been in the Williams line-up because of the Toyota connection, but the Grove team has announced that it will be splitting from the Japanese manufacturer in 2010. It will come as a surprise if Nakajima secures a spot next season, even with the raft of new teams.

BMW should nevertheless be mildly pleased with the points from Heidfeld's 6th place. Nick drove well at Suzuka, not for the first time showing up his somewhat disinterested team-mate. Kubica fell for Button's dummy going into the chicane early in the race, but put in a strong second stint that might have given him a chance of challenging Button in the second stops, only for Raikkonen and Heidfeld to come out of the pits right in front of him, putting crucial distance between the BMW and the Brawn.

This meant that Button scored another valuable point as he stumbles towards the championship, but once again he was aided by good fortune. Having started 10th and dropped a place off the line, although his pass on Kubica was skilful, he was helped by the Kovalainen-Sutil incident and then by Robert being thwarted from challenging him at the second stops. Apart from Monza, Jenson has ridden his luck since Turkey but has done such a good job of damage limitation, the championship remains his to lose.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Buemi and Alguersuari
Gave Red Bull quite a repair bill

Once Alonso got penalised after qualifying, even though he thought he would end up being a beneficiary of others' penalties, that left him and Romain Grosjean 16th and 17th on the grid, facing a hopeless Sunday afternoon. They both ran one-stop strategies; Fernando made decent use of it to climb to 10th, whereas Grosjean for once had a relatively uneventful race. But he was not quick; he was the most-overtaken driven in the race, having lost places on track to Buemi, Fisichella and Sutil.

Sutil emulated his Monza form in qualifying, and was scintillating to get up to 4th in Q3. But once he got shafted, first by the yellow flag penalties, then by Kovalainen in the race, it dropped him into the lower midfield from which he never recovered. He still finished ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who has struggled since his stunning Monza return. Even without his gearbox change he was not competitive, at least not until the latter stages of the race when he passed Nakajima on the track twice.

Toro Rosso will be counting the cost of an extraordinarily costly weekend. The fact is, Buemi was incredibly fast on his first Suzuka visit, winding up 4th in Q1 despite only one flying lap having crashed on his first effort, underscoring the talent that we have seen in bursts this season. Alguersuari was no slouch either, making it into Q2 for the first time in his short F1 career. Like the Red Bull RB5, the Toro Rosso STR4 was a rocketship this weekend, the Adrian Newey aerodynamics perfectly suited to the track layout.

Buemi and Alguersuari's eyes must have lit up, but that was their problem. Ambition exceeded ability; both knew the speed was there, they just didn't know how to temper and harness it, and how to reach the limit without exceeding it. Which is not surprising, given that they are 20 and 19 respectively, and to some extent that is also the team's fault. But they left a trail of destruction as a result, in qualifying and, in Jaime's case, in the race, and that was enough to earn them a joint 'Reject of the Race' award.