Weekend review and results round-up
After several months of scandals and politics dominating grand prix weekends, Suzuka saw a return to a more traditional topic of Formula 1 conversation: driver market speculation
The long-awaited confirmation of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari move on the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend kickstarted the silly season, and meant the future plans of Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica and Toyota in particular were at the centre of the news at Suzuka.
On track, when the rain and red flags abated, it was Sebastian Vettel who came through to utterly dominate for Red Bull - and revive his title hopes in the process, although Jenson Button remains an overwhelming championship favourite after another tenacious points salvaging exercise.
The best action of the weekend came from the British Touring Car Championship finale at Brands Hatch, where title outsider Jason Plato did everything he could by winning all three epic races, but Colin Turkington managed to wrap up his first crown.
MotoGP and the World Rally Championship delivered possibly their least exciting events of the season in Portugal and Spain, but the results were hugely significant for the title contests.
Jorge Lorenzo's commanding win at Estoril keeps Valentino Rossi under pressure in the championship with three races still to go, while Mikko Hirvonen's lead over Sebastien Loeb is down to just one point heading for the Rally GB decider after Ford failed to stop Citroen running away with the Rally Catalunya.
The F1 sessions
Kovalainen tops first Suzuka practice
Sutil tops rain-hit second practice
Trulli fastest in final Suzuka practice
Vettel grabs pole in disrupted qualifying
Vettel storms to Japanese GP victory
The F1 headlines
Hockenheim secures Formula 1 future
Kubica still undecided on future drive
Glock rubbishes Toyota exit talk
Alonso wants to end career at Ferrari
Willis poised for Formula 1 return
Raikkonen says he might leave F1
Barrichello sure he'll be in F1 next year
Massa: Piquet crash robbed me of title
Prince Feisal calls for FIA unity
Trulli optimistic he'll be in F1 next year
Hamilton unmoved by Massa comments
Barrichello: Suzuka is still dangerous
Teams set to reject 14th entry
Button title hopes suffer grid blow
The motorsport action
NASCAR Nationwide: Logano takes Nationwide Kansas win
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Stewart wins at Kansas
Superleague Formula: Bourdais wins for Sevilla at Monza
Superleague Formula: Petiz takes Sporting's maiden victory
250cc: Simoncelli dominates at Estoril
MotoGP: Lorenzo takes dominant Estoril win
125cc: Espargaro wins as Simon crashes
BTCC: Plato takes dramatic last-gasp win
BTCC: Plato win takes title decider to finale
BTCC: Plato wins again, Turkington seals title
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments