The complete 2010 Japanese GP review

PRACTICE

Practice 1 - Friday AM

Red Bull established itself as the team to beat in no-nonsense fashion as the Japanese Grand Prix weekend got underway. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber breezed to the top of the times on Friday morning, 0.048 seconds apart, and a clear half second in front of third-placed Robert Kubica, whose Renault was the only car within a second of the leaders.

Force India's Adrian Sutil was the man in fourth, despite technical issues holding him back in the garage for a long while, as Red Bull's title rivals had tricky morning.

Ferrari's lack of pace - neither of its cars breaking into the top 10 - would turn out to be simply due to a more conservative programme for first practice, but McLaren's issues were real.

Lewis Hamilton had only completed a few flying laps when he ran wide at Degner and ploughed into the barriers, while Jenson Button came very close to replicating his team-mate's accident with a very similar excursion half an hour later.

Williams took encouraging sixth and seventh places, while Michael Schumacher thoroughly enjoyed himself in eighth. His team-mate Nico Rosberg was 10th, behind Nick Heidfeld's Sauber, having been delayed by a gearbox problem.

Practice 2 - Friday PM

Red Bull dominated again in the afternoon, this time with Vettel fastest by 0.395s.

Kubica was third again, despite a wild spin through the gravel in the S curves, while Ferrari showed its hand this time, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa up to fourth and fifth.

Button was sixth, but Hamilton was only able to fit in eight laps by the time McLaren had completed the substantial repairs his car required, leaving him 13th and desperately short of mileage on this crucial weekend.

Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi had similar excursions to Kubica, and Schumacher became the latest man to push too hard at Degner, though he managed to keep the Mercedes clear of the barriers.

Saturday Practice

Many teams hoped that a wet Saturday would give them a chance to achieve a shock grid position. Unfortunately for them, morning practice suggested that it would be a miracle if they had the chance.

With rivers running across the circuit and every driver reporting horrendous aquaplaning, only Jaime Alguersuari and Timo Glock actually completed flying laps rather than hurrying straight back into the pits - and they had spins along the way, as did Alguersuari's Toro Rosso team-mate Buemi.

Most ominously, the morning rain was fairly trifling compared to the downpour that the weather radars suggested was on the way for qualifying, and teams and drivers were united in their belief that there was no way qualifying could go ahead in such conditions.

QUALIFYING

For only the second time in Formula 1 history - and six years on from the first occurrence, also at Suzuka - qualifying was shifted to Sunday morning.

Whereas in 2004 the prospect of a typhoon led to an early decision to shut up shop and steer clear of the circuit all day on Saturday, this time the organisers hoped the rain would clear sufficiently for qualifying to happen. But after repeatedly delaying the start time, they had to admit defeat and postpone the session to 10am on Sunday morning - by which time the sun was out and only a smattering of damp patches remained.

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-6

Fastest in all three qualifying segments, Vettel breezed to his eighth pole of the year and second consecutive at Suzuka with relative ease - making it clear to his rivals that he would be extremely hard to beat in the race.

2. Mark Webber, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-9

Not quite on Vettel's pace but not far off either, Webber missed pole by just 0.078s and had the serenity of a man who know he still had a good points cushion over the only man likely to beat him in Japan.

3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-5

Given his crash on Friday and consequent lack of dry mileage, Hamilton felt third was definitely the best he could have hoped for. But any satisfaction he felt was tempered by the fact that a Singapore-related gearbox problem had been found the previous day - meaning he was in for a five-place grid drop and an eighth-place starting spot.

4. Robert Kubica, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 14-1

Kubica hadn't been entirely happy with his car on Friday, even though it had been extremely quick. He maintained that speed in qualifying, showing Renault's Spa form was no one-off as he claimed what would become third after Hamilton's penalty.

5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 12-3

Beating Red Bull always looked like a tall order for Ferrari in Japan, but losing out to Hamilton and Kubica's surprise last-gasp lap was a blow for Alonso, who was going to be hard-pressed to continue his winning streak to a third race from fifth.

6. Jenson Button, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-10

Button made a unique choice of the harder Bridgestones for Q3 - partly because he was less comfortable with the softer rubber over a single lap, but also because he felt a long stint on the more durable tyres would be the more competitive option for the race. But he was frustrated that his plan of a three-lap run didn't pay off, the tyres giving their best on lap one and leaving Button kicking himself for carrying two extra laps' worth of fuel.

7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 13-2

Business as usual for Rosberg: he wasn't a match for the absolute frontrunners but felt he had got everything the Mercedes had to give as he took seventh.

8. Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 11-4

Barrichello was really happy with his pace and his qualifying lap - but a bit disappointed that Williams hadn't maintained its rapid speed on a green track from Q1, when the two cars had been second and fourth.

9. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-11

Hulkenberg had been a stunning second in Q1 for Williams, but ended Q3 frustrated in ninth, feeling that Hamilton had blocked him at the end of his best lap. A protest was rejected by the stewards, though.

10. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-13

It almost looked like Schumacher was going to miss out on Q3 again until he slipped through to 10th with his last lap. He was not entirely content to be beaten by Rosberg again, but it was far from his worst qualifying of recent months.

11. Nick Heidfeld, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-1

Heidfeld was the man who lost out to Schumacher's late progression into Q3, but 11th was still an impressive achievement in only his second weekend back - especially as the Sauber driver said he was still a long way from getting the best out of this year's tyres.

12. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-12

All the talk of Alonso benefiting from Massa as a wingman seemed a bit irrelevant after Ferrari's second driver qualified way back on the sixth row. Massa blamed traffic inconveniences for his lowly result.

13. Vitaly Petrov, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-14

Another disappointing qualifying for Petrov, who again languished in the midfield on a day when his team-mate Kubica was starring again.

14. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-8

The home favourite looked set to start in the top 10 for the first two thirds of an excellent Q2 lap, until an error at the chicane consigned him to a disappointing row seven spot.

15. Adrian Sutil, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 13-2

After his extremely rapid pace on Friday, to be at the back of the Q2 pack was a desperate disappointment for Sutil, who put the lack of speed down to discomfort with the soft tyres.

16. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-10

Alguersuari wasn't expecting much from a dry session, though felt he had managed to improve the car a little since Friday. Still the limit of ambitions was beating Force India, and a mistake at the chicane meant he couldn't quite do that.

17. Tonio Liuzzi, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-13

Liuzzi had similar issues to team-mate Sutil, and though the fact that they were only two places apart was some consolation, he was still half a second down on his team-mate.

18. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-5

For the first time all year, Buemi failed to get beyond Q1. Although the Toro Rosso wasn't a great package for Suzuka, he felt he would've made it easily had he not been baulked by a Hispania.

19. Jarno Trulli, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-7

Lotus flew in qualifying, and Trulli edged ahead in the intra-team qualifying battle as he beat Kovalainen by 0.118s.

20. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-8

Kovalainen narrowly missed out on new team pole to team-mate Trulli, but was still a long way ahead of the rest of the pack, with Virgin nearly a second off Lotus' pace in the morning session.

21. Lucas di Grassi, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-13

A brilliant late lap got di Grassi ahead of Glock on the grid for only the second time all season - and the delighted Brazilian was confident there was more time to come as he familiarised himself with the circuit further in the race.

22. Timo Glock, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 13-2

A disappointing qualifying for Glock, not only beaten by his team-mate, but a long way off the pace of the Lotus duo. The only upside was that at least he didn't end the session in the medical centre as he had 12 months earlier.

23. Bruno Senna, Hispania
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-5

A great early lap by Senna left him second in the new teams' group for a while. But as the Virgins and Kovalainen improved and the Brazilian did not, he was pushed back to a more familiar 23rd place - and was only just ahead of team-mate Yamamoto in the end.

24. Sakon Yamamoto, Hispania
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-5

Back after his food poisoning episode, Yamamoto was outqualified by his team-mate again, but was within a tenth of a second of Senna - a respectable performance on home ground.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Pos  Driver              Team         Q1         Q2         Q3
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull     1m32.035s  1m31.184s  1m30.785s
 2.  Mark Webber         Red Bull     1m32.476s  1m31.241s  1m30.853s
 3.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren      1m32.809s  1m31.523s  1m31.169s
 4.  Robert Kubica       Renault      1m32.808s  1m32.042s  1m31.231s
 5.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari      1m32.555s  1m31.819s  1m31.352s
 6.  Jenson Button       McLaren      1m32.636s  1m31.763s  1m31.378s
 7.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes     1m32.238s  1m31.886s  1m31.494s
 8.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams     1m32.361s  1m31.874s  1m31.535s
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg     Williams     1m32.211s  1m31.926s  1m31.559s
10.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes     1m32.513s  1m32.073s  1m31.846s
11.  Nick Heidfeld       Sauber       1m33.011s  1m32.187s
12.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari      1m32.721s  1m32.321s
13.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault      1m32.849s  1m32.422s
14.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber       1m32.783s  1m32.427s
15.  Adrian Sutil        Force India  1m33.186s  1m32.659s
16.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso   1m33.471s  1m33.071s
17.  Vitantonio Liuzzi   Force India  1m33.216s  1m33.154s
18.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso   1m33.568s
19.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus        1m35.346s
20.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus        1m35.464s
21.  Lucas di Grassi     Virgin       1m36.265s
22.  Timo Glock          Virgin       1m36.332s
23.  Bruno Senna         Hispania     1m37.270s
24.  Sakon Yamamoto      Hispania     1m37.365s

THE RACE

Some grands prix require extensive analysis to get to the bottom of how the race unfolded. But others, like the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix, are pretty straightforward: the Red Bulls were quicker than everyone else, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari was quicker than everything but a Red Bull, McLaren was close but not close enough, and everyone else fought over the scraps.

Mark Webber commented after the race that Sunday had been won and lost in qualifying, and that seemed to be pretty much the size of it. Once the race had settled down, there was little between the Red Bull duo in terms of pace, and the gap between the pair remained relatively constant at around 1.5s. It was a flawless drive from Vettel, which Webber blunted only slightly by pinching fastest lap honours from the German on the final lap of the race.

That said, Webber had a massive reprieve early on. While Vettel made a good start, Webber was jumped off the line by the Renault of Robert Kubica, and spent the first few laps trapped in third place. From a championship point of view this opened up all sorts of potential ramifications, but they were erased just as quickly when the Pole pulled off the road on lap three with an empty space where his right-rear wheel should have been.

With Kubica out of the picture, Webber was free to chase Vettel around for the rest of the race, leaving Alonso to claim an equally straightforward third. The Spaniard admitted freely that, barring something happening to the Red Bulls, the bottom step of the podium was about as much as the Ferrari was capable of at Suzuka. He's now 14 points behind Webber in the standings and level with Vettel, but at a track that was expected to favour Red Bull more than any of the three that still remain, Alonso considered that to be damage limitation.

"I think we have to be happy with the result," he said. "We lost points on a circuit that was not the best for us, performance-wise. When we arrive at circuits with more problems for Red Bull, we need to take the opportunities. Today, they took theirs."

Alonso was operating without a wingman, with Felipe Massa having been one of four casualties of the opening lap when he crashed into Force India's Tonio Liuzzi at the first corner. The other two retirees were former GP2 rivals Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg, who came together while shuffling for position off the line. That accident was triggered by Petrov veering left into the path of the Williams, and earned the Russian a five-place grid penalty for Korea.

And where was McLaren in all this? Lewis Hamilton, carrying a five-place grid penalty of his own following a gearbox change, made a great start from eigth to clear Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg and slot in behind team-mate Jenson Button. This was significant, as McLaren had decided to roll the dice and start the reigning world champion on the harder tyre while everyone else around him - including his team-mate - was on the softer compound. This gave him the opportunity to stay out longer as his rivals began to encounter degradation, but it also meant that Hamilton had an initial advantage in terms of outright pace.

This raised the obvious question of whether the team would try to reshuffle its drivers to give Hamilton a chance to squeeze the most out of his rubber, but as the laps ticked by it became clear that such a switch was not on the cards, and Hamilton duly stopped for new tyres on lap 24. Just to make his life difficult, he rejoined just immediately behind the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, who was still yet to stop. Hamilton addressed that problem with a great move down the inside of the Japanese driver at Turn 1 a few laps later.

Button wasn't having the easiest of times either, for the softer rubber was proving more durable than he'd anticipated. He inherited the lead when the others finally made their stops, but the appearance of the freshly-shod Red Bulls in his mirrors - the start of what would rapidly develop into a queue - confirmed that the gamble hadn't worked.

When he finally pitted on lap 40, he found himself a full 8.5s behind Hamilton. It was only the fact that the latter suddenly lost third gear that allowed Button to catch and re-pass him and cross the line a frustrated fourth.

"I think I stayed out too long for our first stint," he said. "As soon as we saw that the others were quick on the Option and I wasn't able to pull a gap, or pressure anyone in front, maybe it would have been sensible to pit at that point."

Hamilton was fifth, which, coming off the back of a dodgy gearbox and a grid penalty, was probably more than he could have hoped for.

Of the rest, Michael Schumacher looked far more convincing that he had in Singapore on his way to sixth, although it was a shame that the cracking battle that was developing between himself and team-mate Nico Rosberg ended when a failure on the latter's car pitched his Mercedes into the barriers.

Kobayashi was single handedly-responsible for most of the late-race entertainment. He was running a similar strategy to Button, but had still managed to pick off Force India's Adrian Sutil and Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari at the hairpin during his first stint.

Once he had new rubber to play with, he had to do it all again. He took care of Alguersuari once again; the Spaniard compounding his loss with a ham-fisted attempt at retaliation that succeeded only in damaging his front wing, and then picked off Rubens Barrichello and team-mate Nick Heidfeld. The chance to take Sutil's scalp for the second time was denied when the German's Force India expired with an oil leak late in the race.

Heidfeld crossed the line behind Kobayashi in eighth to claim his first points for Sauber, leaving Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi to complete the scorers.

Alguersuari was next, with Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli 12th and 13th, once again giving them the honours in the 'new team' class. Timo Glock was Virgin's lone representative in the race after Lucas di Grassi managed to crash on an installation lap, the German finishing 15th, with the HRT duo of Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto again bringing up the rear.

As races go, it was not a classic, and were it not for Kobayashi's late-race exploits, there wouldn't be a lot to save for the highlight reel.

But in the bigger picture, it's intriguing. Three races remain, and the next, Korea, is new territory. The title is looking increasingly like it's Red Bull's to lose, but it wouldn't take too big a distaster to strike to Austrian squad to bring Alonso and, potentially the McLarens, back into the frame.

Another win for Webber would put the Australian into a very, very useful position, but once again, if anything goes wrong for him, then both Vettel and Alonso are equally well-placed to make him pay for it.

This championship battle is only going to get better.

RACE RESULTS

The Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, Japan;
53 laps; 307.573km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:27.323
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     0.905
 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     2.721
 4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    13.522
 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    39.595
 6.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    59.933
 7.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:04:038
 8.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:09.648
 9.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +  1:10.846
10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:12.806
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
12.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +     1 lap
13.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +    2 laps
14.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
15.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
16.  Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
17.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    5 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:33.474

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         45
Kubica        Renault                      4
Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth            1
Massa         Ferrari                      1
Petrov        Renault                      1
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         1
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              1


World Championship standings, round 16:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Webber       220        1.  Red Bull-Renault          426
 2.  Alonso       206        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          381
 3.  Vettel       206        3.  Ferrari                   334
 4.  Hamilton     192        4.  Mercedes                  176
 5.  Button       189        5.  Renault                   133
 6.  Massa        128        6.  Force India-Mercedes       60
 7.  Rosberg      122        7.  Williams-Cosworth          58
 8.  Kubica       114        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             37
 9.  Schumacher    54        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         11
10.  Sutil         47       
11.  Barrichello   41       
12.  Kobayashi     27       
13.  Petrov        19       
14.  Hulkenberg    17       
15.  Liuzzi        13       
16.  Buemi          8       
17.  De la Rosa     6       
18.  Heidfeld       4       
19.  Alguersuari    3      
       
All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM BY TEAM

McLaren

McLaren knew that it probably wouldn't have the pace to fight with Red Bull and potentially Ferrari on equal terms, so from that point of view, the gamble to start Jenson Button on the harder tyre wasn't such a bad shout. However, it was clear fairly early that it wasn't going to pay off, and there's a case for arguing that the pitwall was not quick enough to react to that. He finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton's weekend started off on the wrong foot when he crashed on Friday, and that was followed with a gearbox change on Saturday that earned him a five-grid place penalty for the race. He partly overcame that with a great start, only to later lose third gear. All things considered, fifth was something of a miracle.

Mercedes

After a dire performance in Singapore, Michael Schumacher was much more convincing at Suzuka. Quick right from Friday practice, he qualified a relatively sedate 10th - which the team blamed on a mechanical problem - but overcame that with a great start and was battling with team-mate Nico Rosberg when the latter crashed out of the race when sixth. It had been an eventful afternoon for Rosberg up to that point; the German stopping very early under the safety car after losing places to a poor start.

Red Bull was expected to be strong at Suzuka, and so it proved. Vettel gave himself the upper hand by edging Webber out of pole in qualifying, and never allowed his team-mate close enough to pose a threat in the race. Indeed, it was Webber who initially found himself on the back foot when he was passed by Kubica off the start, and he was fortunate that the Pole's race would only last three laps. On the whole though, as straightforward a 1-2 as you're likely to see.

Fernando Alonso knew that he wouldn't be able to fight the Red Bulls on equal terms, so in finishing third he left Suzuka knowing that he'd claimed as many points as were realistically available. It was a different story for Felipe Massa, who described his weekend as "cursed". Given that the Brazilian's Sunday began with him failing to get out of Q3 (which he blamed on traffic) and ended with him smashing into Tonio Liuzzi at the first corner, you can't really blame him.

Williams has shown some encouraging flashes in recent weeks, but Japan wasn't one for the team's scrapbook. Things started well enough with both cars getting into Q3 in eighth and ninth, but that was about as good as it got. Rubens Barrichello spent the afternoon struggling with a car that was "skating all over the place" and admitted that he'd expected more than ninth, while Nico Hulkenberg paid a heavy price for his poor getaway when he was cleaned up by Vitaly Petrov at the start.

With both cars out before the third lap, Renault's one bragging right from Japan was that it was probably the first team to have its flight cases packed. Both drivers qualified quite well, but Vitaly Petrov's race ended when he clipped Nico Hulkenberg at the start and spat himself into the wall - earning a five-place penalty for Korea in the process. Robert Kubica, meanwhile, made a good start to claim second from Mark Webber, only to have his right-rear wheel fall off.

Both Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil struggled in qualifying, although Liuzzi made a good effort at overcoming it by making up a few positions off the start. His hopes of building on that ended when he was torpedoed my Felipe Massa at the first corner. Sutil also made a good start and was on target for a few points when an oil leak developed in the closing stages, causing him to spin on his own lubricant before crawling into the pits with smoke billowing from the rear of his car.

Sebastien Buemi was pleased to secure a point for 10th after failing to make it out of Q3 for the first time this season; a situation he attributed to a problem with the car's floor. If anything he was actually slightly annoyed, as he was catching Rubens Barrichello rapidly in the final stages of the race, and felt that he could have caught him had he switched to the option tyres earlier. Buemi's point had earlier been destined for Jaime Alguersuari, but the Spaniard cost himself badly with a belated attempt to stop Kamui Kobayashi going past that resulted him breaking his front wing and forcing him to pit for a replacement.

Once again, Lotus was the standard-setter for the new teams. Twelfth and thirteenth for Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli respectively owed a lot to the retirements of those ahead of them, but both declared themselves delighted with the Lotus's pace. Trulli had a hydraulic problem in the closing laps, but the team claimed it had no significant impact upon his speed.

A sixth double-finish of the season for the HRT squad, which was a decent achievement given the casualty rate up ahead of them. Bruno Senna led Sakon Yamamoto home, the pair crossing the line 15th and 16th respectively, with the only reported problems being a fuel pressure glitch on Yamamoto's car.

Virgin was a one-car team in Suzuka after Lucas di Grassi managed to crash heavily at 130R on his first installation lap. "We have studied all the information from his car and there is no indication of a failure," team principal John Booth said. That left Timo Glock to have a frustrating afternoon all by himself. Having failed to get the option tyres to work, the team called Glock in for back-to-back stops to get the softer rubber out of the way, only for him to wind up stuck behind the HRT of Sakon Yamamoto. He finished 14th.

Japan's latest hero Kobayashi couldn't quite deliver a top 10 qualifying position - an error at the chicane saw to that - but he charged through impressively from 14th early on with bold moves on Alguersuari and Sutil. Staying out for a long stint on hard tyres didn't pay off though, so he had to do it all again. He escaped contact that left Alguersuari with a broken front wing as he surged through to an excellent seventh. It ended up being Sauber's best result of the year, with Heidfeld following Kobayashi home in eighth. The German nearly made it into the top 10 in qualifying too, denied only by Schumacher's late jump up the order, which edged Heidfeld back to 11th.