FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Montezemolo: We would definitely not put Alonso alongside Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was not in the running to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari next year, the Italian team has revealed, explaining that they would not employ anyone who would hinder Fernando Alonso's title bid.

With the seven time world champion ousted by Mercedes amid Lewis Hamilton's 2013 arrival, Schumacher had been linked with a possible return to his former team.

Together, Schumacher and Ferrari dominated the sport in the first half of last decade, until the now 43-year-old entered his first retirement phase in 2007.

He was replaced by Kimi Raikkonen, who won the 2007 title, and rumours suggest the Finn might also be an outside contender for Massa's seat next year.

As for Schumacher, Bild newspaper revealed that the great German spoke "for almost 45 minutes" with Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali in Singapore recently.

But, in light of that, Ferrari has told the newspaper: "The records show that Michael Schumacher is the best driver in Formula One history, and he still deserves a place in the field.

"But every love story must come to an end, as was the case between Michael and Ferrari."

There are reports that the leading contenders to replace Massa are actually Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, even though it is quite possible the Brazilian will keep his seat.

Indeed, Spaniard Fernando Alonso made his feelings clear in Singapore by deriding the "little names" that had been linked to Massa's cockpit.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said last week: "Fernando must first win the title and then we definitely would not put him alongside someone who bothers him."

"The decisions about the drivers are taken by us and, of course, shared with him [Alonso]," Montezemolo is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace.

A fascinating side-note to the whole story is that, by saying that Sergio Perez is not ready for Ferrari, the Maranello team has allowed its leading driver 'academy' member to be poached by main rival McLaren.

Autosprint magazine claims that Ferrari did not actually rate the 22-year-old Mexican overly highly, after Jules Bianchi went almost half a second faster in their most recent head-to-head test last September.

Referring to Perez's signing by McLaren, the magazine said: "Ferrari, as well as many others, were taken by surprise. But if Ferrari had been aware, would they have done something to stop it? Probably not."

Some have surmised that McLaren, whilst clearly rating Perez's performances at Sauber since his debut last year, see just as much promise in the driver's commercial links within Mexico.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said on Wednesday: "He's a very intelligent, humble individual and we think he's got greater potential than he's shown so far."

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Kovalainen and Caterham relationship souring

Heikki Kovalainen appears headed for the door at Caterham, as there appears to be a falling out between him and the team.

The Finn arrived at the 2010 startup with a battered image after his formative years with Renault and McLaren, but he is now linked with a move to a more competitive team for 2013.

He has also been in talks with Caterham, but team boss Tony Fernandes said when asked about Kovalainen's future in Singapore: "Well, it's…I don't know."

Under the Singapore lights, Caterham lost its lucrative tenth place in the constructors' championship to Marussia, having always previously enjoyed the status as clearly the best of F1′s three youngest teams.

Kovalainen has now told Turun Sanomat newspaper that, indeed, Caterham's advantage over its immediate opposition has narrowed in recent times.

He explained that the safety car helped Timo Glock to secure Marussia's season-best 12th in Singapore.

"Before, there was so much [of a gap] between us that even without something like the safety car we were still unable to beat them," said Kovalainen.

A further sign that Kovalainen's Caterham tenure is coming to an end is the news that Dutchman Giedo van der Garde – the team's well-backed GP2 driver – will drive Kovalainen's car in Friday morning practice at Suzuka this weekend.

In Singapore recently, the 27-year-old revealed that his supporters were pushing hard for a grand prix debut in 2013.

"We will do everything to make it happen," van der Garde is quoted by De Telegraaf newspaper.

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Force India boss Mallya grounds his troubled Kingfisher airline

Indian business tycoon and Force India F1 team owner Vijay Mallya is enduring a troubled run ahead of this weekend’s Japanese grand prix.

International media reports say that Mallya has temporarily grounded the entire fleet of his Indian airline Kingfisher, with staff revolting, having not being paid since April.

Kingfisher confirmed that it had locked out staff because some had instigated “unabated incidents of violence, criminal intimidation, assault” against some employees who were still trying to work.

“It’s sad [that] they are putting the blame on employees,” Indian airline advisor Harsh Vardhan told Bloomberg, “because nowhere [else] in the world anyone would accept this kind of situation.”

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MARK WEBBER TOPS FRIDAY PRACTICE TIMES:

Mark Webber set the fastest time in Friday's second Free Practice session in the Red Bull, ahead of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, with Sebastian Vettel in third.

The times were close once again, indicating that this is set to be another close fight between McLaren and Red Bull in particular with Ferrari picking up the pieces and Force India looking pretty competitive again.

Lotus once again tried to run its additional drag reduction device on the rear wing, but had a few problems and have decided not to use it in qualifying and the race.

Technical director James Allison said, "We evaluated 'The Device' in the morning but were unable to make it switch effectively so we won't be using it for the rest of the weekend."

Ferrari managed to complete a full programme of evaluation with both cars, but sense that they lack a little pace in comparison with the two front running teams. Suzuka has similarities with Silvesrtone and the tyre choice of soft and hard is the same as at the British Grand Prix, which Alonso led until just before the finish. But the Spaniard thinks they are chasing it a bit this weekend, "It's hard to say if we can be as competitive here as in Silverstone: that was three months ago and we don't know exactly how our rivals' cars have evolved compared to how much progress we have made. As for the small updates we have brought here, there's not much to say."

It was quite an eventful day with Paul di Resta and Michael Schumacher both crashing at Spoon Curve; "I think I was already concentrating too much on the corner ahead of me and therefore had a wheel on the dirt and went off," said Schumacher. Meanwhile Vitaly Petrov stopped near the end of the afternoon session without a rear wing.

Nico Rosberg was forced to change his engine between sessions after pulling off the circuit in the morning session.

Nico Hulkenberg, fending off questions about whether he is set to join Ferrari, managed to set the fourth fastest time in the afternoon session, keeping up Force India's recent run of form.

His team mate Paul di Resta, however, missed most of the session after crashing early on, pushing too hard too early, as he later admitted.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has said this weekend that they chose Perez over Di Resta because of his age and because they feel he has more potential so it's a tough weekend for Di Resta to move on mentally and the incident in FP1 was the last thing he needed.

Both Force India drivers are under examination by Ferrari this weekend, as is the incumbent Massa. Whitmarsh took Sergio Perez, despite Ferrari president Montezemolo saying he wasn't ready, will Whitmarsh's comments on Di Resta have any impact on Ferrari's decision?

As predicted tyre management is going to be critical in the race, with the decision on two stops and three finely balanced. The higher temperatures will tend to cause the Pirelli's a higher level of thermal degradation. On single lap pace, the soft tyre looked to be around 0.8s to 1sec faster than the hard.

And finally, Pirelli came up with a nice statistic to ponder: Suzuka is one of the most selective circuits of the year: since 2003, only drivers who are world champions have won.

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX, Suzuka, Free Practice 2

1. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m32.493 34

2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m32.707s + 0.214 32

3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m32.836s + 0.343 37

4. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m32.987s + 0.494 30

5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m33.093s + 0.600 28

6. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m33.107s + 0.614 35

7. Jenson Button McLaren 1m33.349s + 0.856 22

8. Bruno Senna Williams 1m33.499s + 1.006 35

9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.614s + 1.121 32

10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m33.750s + 1.257 13

11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m33.866s + 1.373 19

12. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m33.903s + 1.410 36

13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m33.9$3s + 1.490 33

14. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m34.291s + 1.798 12

15. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m34.300s + 1.807 33

16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m34.863s + 2.370 32

17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m35.080s + 2.587 34

18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1m35.711s + 3.218 41

19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1m35.870s + 3.377 37

20. Timo Glock Marussia 1m36.194s + 3.701 32

21. Charles Pic Marussia 1m36.636s + 4.143 28

22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1m37.342s + 4.849 30

23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1m37.701s + 5.208 35

24. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes No time 2

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Schumi: A lot of work to do

Michael Schumacher is "100 percent okay" after taking a hard hit when he crashed in Friday's second practice at Suzuka.

Tenth on the timesheets and over a second off the pace, the six-time Japanese GP winner was pushing hard through Spoon Curve when he touched the dirt.

Losing control of his W03, Schumacher was little more than a passenger as the car hurtled towards the barriers at pace.

The marshals were quickly on hand with the 43-year-old taken to the track's medical centre where he was given the all-clear.

"We had two quite eventful sessions today, with a lot of work on the cars and my off in the afternoon," said the German, who announced on Thursday that he would be quitting F1at the end of this season.

"I had to go to the Medical Centre which was a precaution from the FIA but I am 100 percent okay. I think I was already concentrating too much on the corner ahead of me and therefore had a wheel on the dirt and went off."

Schumacher's error coupled with set-up issues and team-mate Nico Rosberg's engine change early in the session meant the team did not spend as much time out on track as they would have hoped for.

"Overall, we had not been able to collect as much data as we would have wanted, as we had a lot of breaks working on adjustments to the cars, and we will also have to improve the balance," he added.

"Obviously, with these temperatures the tyres will be a limiting factor, too. We will now certainly have to work a lot off the track, in front of the computers, and try to find the best approach for tomorrow."

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Button 'can be competitive'

Jenson Button is confident he can challenge at the front in Suzuka after a solid showing in Friday's practices.

The Brit's Japanese Grand Prix weekend begun as it ended last season with a P1 as the 2011 winner topped the timesheets in Friday's first practice.

In the afternoon, Button lost out to his rivals, eventually finishing seventh, 0.856s behind pace-setter Mark Webber.

The Brit, though, is not at all concerned, saying he knows where McLaren went wrong in Practice Two.

"In P1 the car was good, in P2 we tried something that we couldn't go back on as it would take too long and it didn't really work for me that well," Button told Sky Sports.

"So we know how to put the car for P3 and with a few little improvements we can be competitive."

Looking ahead to Saturday's qualifying, the only session Button was not quickest in last season, the Brit said: "The car is working well here.

"I think it is going to be a competitive qualifying session, as I don't think any car really stands out at the front."

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Sauber renew Telmex backing

Sauber have renewed their sponsorship deal with Mexican telecommunications giant Telmex despite losing Sergio Perez to McLaren.

With last week's announcement that Perez would be heading to McLaren next season there were fears that Sauber's significant backing from Telmex would follow the Mexican driver.

However, at Suzuka on Friday the team's CEO Monisha Kaltenborn revealed that Telmex, part of billionaire Carlos Slim's empire, would remain with the Swiss team.

"We were informed by Telmex about this change and Telmex also told us that they have a long-term project with Sauber which will not be affected by Sergio leaving the team," said Kaltenborn.

"They have an overall vision regarding motorsports, which is not only their racing school (Escudería Telmex). They want to establish motorsport more in that part of the world."

The announcement of the continuation immediately sparked rumours that Sauber's current reserve driver Esteban Gutiérrez, who is Mexican, would be taking the step up to race driver next season.

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Hamilton: Between us and the Bulls

A relaxed Lewis Hamilton was full of smiles after spending his Friday lapping the "phenomenal" Suzuka circuit and doing so at pace.

With his future now sorted and all the questions and quotes asked and given on Thursday, it was down to business for the McLaren driver on Friday morning.

The 27-year-old finished the day's action second on the timesheets, 0.214s slower than Mark Webber. However, he was also almost four-tenths up on Championship leader Fernando Alonso in a session that saw two drivers crash out.

"I have the coolest job! Suzuka is such a phenomenal circuit!" said Hamilton.

"The first lap out of the pits felt great. Just driving through the first couple of corners and feeling the acceleration, it takes a few laps to get warmed up, but you keep getting faster and faster as you push the limits.

"But you need to be careful. At Spoon we saw a few people making mistakes today. If you put a wheel on the dirt, it's very easy to lose the car."

Hamilton, who has not tasted the victory champagne at Suzuka since his debut season in Formula One back in 2007, is relishing the chance for a second victory, confident that McLaren have the pace to challenge the Bulls.

"As always, we'll be fine-tuning the car tonight ahead of tomorrow's sessions, but it looks very close between ourselves and Red Bull.

"I feel comfortable with our car - it's the best that it's ever been around here - and I think I could have matched Mark's fastest time with an optimal lap.

"It's going to be very close in qualifying tomorrow."

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Ferrari: Windtunnel issues hurting title bid

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali believes his team needs to improve its windtunnel technology in order to be more efficient with its development next season.

As reported this week, Ferrari plans toshut down its windtunnel to make checks following issues with correlation.

Domenicali reckons Ferrari's current windtunnel is outdated, which is why he feels the updates to its car do not work as expected based on tunnel data.

"I think our structure is not the best one in that respect," said Domenicali on Friday at Suzuka. "It's quite old. We are trying to improve the quality of the tools we have, this is something we are trying to do, so we try and improve correlation and this is the plan that we should be able to do for next season."

Although Ferrari uses other windtunnels too, Domenicali feels closing down the team's unit to improve it is the way to go.

"We are using other facilities and in the next couple of weeks we will define programme to be more specific on that, to see what is best time to shut down and improve things that are not at the maximum level at the moment," he said.

He added: "I am sure it happened also to other teams but I have seen in the second part of the season when trying to bring new updates to the car that not all the updates are working on track. So we started to investigate it more and we found this issue.

"We considered it was coming from the tool that is not really up to the speed of the new technologies in the market. That is why we think we need to improve that, so that the percentage [improvement rate] of what we bring to the track is higher than we have now.

"I think the situation with the championship is clear: if you are not able to improve the car then it is more difficult to fight for the championship as we cannot rely on the problems of the others.

"We cannot rely only being third or fourth, we need to make sure we can win a race and then we see what is the situation with the others."

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Japanese GP: Lotus removes double-DRS again

Lotus has ruled out using its double-DRS system during the remainder of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend after testing it in practice.

The team tried the device for the first time at the German Grand Prix but has been unable to race it yet as it has not managed to get it to work at its full potential.

Raikkonen ran the double-DRS in opening practice at Suzuka, but the team has ruled out using it on Saturday or Sunday as it was unable to make it switch effectively.

"It worked a little bit but we are not going to run it," said Raikkonen.

"Plus we had some other issues during the running so it didn't help again to get the best idea. But it is not going to suddenly make us win if it worked 100 per cent."

Raikkonen admitted the device was also making the car harder to set up.

"It seems to be," he added. "I think you have to ask the team, but it started well the first time we tried it, and with all the things that were going on it hasn't been as easy as we had hoped, but we are learning with it."

The Finn was 14th quickest in the afternoon session, while team-mate Romain Grosjean finished in sixth place.

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Pirelli would welcome Michael Schumacher as test driver

Michael Schumacher has been told he can have a Formula 1 testing role at Pirelli next year if he wants it.

In the wake of the seven-time champion's announcement that he will be retiring from F1 at the end of this season, Pirelli has said it would be open to using him for tyre development work in 2013.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery, who is evaluating testing options for next year just in case Jaime Alguersuari lands a race drive, says that Schumacher's vast knowledge of tyres would be invaluable.

"I think he is the most experienced tyre tester in the history of F1," explained Hembery.

"If he gets bored of being in the mountains of Switzerland, I am sure we can find something for him to do - although we haven't quite got £20 million for him. So it would have to be a labour of love rather than for financial gain."

Although Schumacher famously criticised Pirelli's tyres earlier this year, Hembery has said his company has enjoyed a good working relationship with Schumacher – and could tie up with him in any future racing activities.

"He has done some Superbikes with us, and we do rallying and GT racing," he said. "We had Kimi [Raikkonen] on our tyres in rallying and Robert [Kubica] is doing some work in rallying with us, so maybe Michael wants to try something else.

"We are open. If Michael is interested, we are open to offers."

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Japanese GP: Paul di Resta 'too ambitious' in practice crash

Paul di Resta admitted he was "probably too ambitious" after crashing during second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Force India driver lost control of his car at the start of the session when he put his right-hand wheels on the dirt approaching the Spoon curve. His car spun and hit the barriers.

Di Resta was unable to return to action in the session and failed to set a time.

The Scot was sorry about his crash, but is still hopeful the lack of track time will not hurt his chances during the weekend.

"The morning session was straightforward and the balance was good straight after lunch with the changes we had made to the car," said di Resta.

"Unfortunately I made a mistake quite early on and was probably a bit too ambitious.

"I found myself with my two right side wheels on the grass and lost grip on the loose dirt.

"It's a shame it had to happen so early in the session and it creates extra work for the guys tonight.

"You have to be on the edge to feel what the car is doing and sometimes these things happen, but hopefully it won't cost us too much for the rest of the weekend."

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Senna admits future is uncertain

Bruno Senna says he needs a big points-haul this season in order to "prove to everybody" that he deserves to be in F1.

Having raced for Lotus last season and HRT the year before, the Brazilian, nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, made the move up to Williams this year.

Senna, although lacking his team-mate Pastor Maldonado's race victory, has been the more consistent of the two Williams drivers, bagging points in seven grands prix.

As a result the 28-year-old has 25 points towards his campaign, just four less than his team-mate.

"Nothing has changed, we are just focusing on race by race," Senna told Reuters when asked about his future.

"For me, the results are very important and even though we had some strong races in the last few the points haven't been quite strong enough.

"Scoring some big points will be enough I guess to prove to everybody that I should be around next year."

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Grosjean: I'll play number two

Romain Grosjean says he is prepared to 'think about the team' and support team-mate Kimi Raikkonen's title quest.

With three podium finishes to his name the Frenchman had been in the running himself up until he crashed out at Spa.

But as Grosjean also took out title contenders Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in the first corner carnage, the Lotus driver was handed a one-race ban.

That put Grosjean on the back foot while Raikkonen worked his way up to third in the standings where he now trails Alonso by 45 points.

"We were racing fairly until Spa, but now it's logical to do it like this," said Grosjean.

"Kimi's fighting for the Championship and I don't have many hopes for that - I can be seventh if I score well, but he is right up there at the front.

"For now, I will let him past every time I can, and then of course we know it will be back to zero again at the start of next year.

"It's all about being intelligent, not being a fixed number or one or number two, and just thinking about the team."

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Japanese GP: Nico Hulkenberg calm about Force India's Friday speed

Nico Hulkenberg is staying cautious about Force India's form in the Japanese Grand Prix following a strong start to the weekend on Friday.

The German driver posted the fourth quickest time of the day as team-mate Paul di Resta failed to set a time aftercrashing out at the start of the second session.

Hulkenberg is optimistic that Friday's work is a good base ahead of the weekend, but the Force India driver downplayed the significance of today's times.

"It's early in the weekend," Hulkenberg told AUTOSPORT after practice. "I wouldn't like to say something now and then everything is different in the next two days. So I'm always a bit careful.

"It's a good starting point, but we need to carry it through the next two days and obviously Sunday is the most important day to get the points."

Hulkenberg is also optimistic that Force India's problems with tyre degradation are behind now, despite the nature of the Suzuka circuit.

"It's difficult to say, especially here. This is a tyre-killing race, with all the high-speed corners," he said. "Paul looked alright in Singapore. I certainly was OK as well, even if on a different strategy. So we are alright."

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Scene set at Suzuka for Red Bull versus McLaren

In a rare hot and sunny day of practice at the Suzuka Circuit, the McLaren versus Red Bull duel from Singapore carried over to Japan, with, in the morning free practice session, Jenson Button leading a McLaren one-two, and a few hours later in the afternoon session when the soft tyre came into play it was Mark Webber who clocked the fastest time of the day.

“It looks very close between ourselves and Red Bull,” said Hamilton after the session, “I feel comfortable with our car – it’s the best that it’s ever been around here – and I think I could have matched Mark’s fastest time with an optimal lap. It’s going to be very close in qualifying tomorrow.”

While Red Bull and McLaren swapped times at the top of the order, high-speed Suzuka demonstrated why it’s a circuit capable of catching out the unwary. FP2 was red-flagged almost as soon as it begun, with Paul di Resta spinning on the entry to Spoon and slamming into the tyre barriers. The Scot was unhurt, but his Force India needed to be lifted clear before the session could resume.

“I made a mistake quite early on and was probably a bit too ambitious,” said Di Resta. “I found myself with my two right side wheels on the grass and lost grip on the loose dirt. It’s a shame it had to happen so early in the session and it creates extra work for the guys tonight. You have to be on the edge to feel what the car is doing and sometimes these things happen, but hopefully it won’t cost us too much for the rest of the weekend.”

Near the end of the session Michael Schumacher had an almost-identical mishap at the same place. “I think I was already concentrating too much on the corner ahead of me and therefore had a wheel on the dirt and went off,” said the seven-times champion.

Schumacher’s was not the only problem on a difficult day for Mercedes. Team-mate Nico Rosberg ground to a halt late in the morning session and missed the early part of the afternoon as mechanics completed an engine change. Rosberg later revealed the engine used in the morning had been reaching the end of its projected life.

The other notable problem of the day was a rear-wing failure for Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham. Though generally regarded as the worst possible structural failure for an F1 car, Petrov shrugged off the incident, which happened just before the FP2 chequered flag: “We’ll have a very close look at what caused that so we can make sure it doesn’t happen again but apart from that I’ve had an OK Friday,” the Russian driver said.

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Cosworth not ruling out V6 turbo engine supply

Cosworth has rejected reports it will definitely bow out of Formula 1 after 2013, and would consider supplying turbo engines for the new era

It has been suggested the independent British engine marque, currently supplying V8s to Marussia and HRT, is not in a position to commit to a costly V6 development programme for the radical 2014 rules.

But when asked about 2014, Cosworth’s F1 chief Kim Spearman said on Friday: “If we can find a commercially sustainable way to provide a competitive platform for some potential customers, we’d like to do that.

“We are in useful negotiations with customers and hopefully we’ll find a way to be in.”

He confirmed Cosworth has already started work on a 2014 project.

“Oh yes,” said Spearman. “We’ve been working on the engine for 18 months.”

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McLaren leave door open for Hamilton return

McLaren will ‘never say never’ to Lewis Hamilton returning to them one day even if that looks unlikely at the moment, team principal Martin Whitmarsh said on Friday.

Hamilton, McLaren’s 2008 Formula One world champion, has signed a three-year deal with rivals Mercedes and will take retiring Michael Schumacher’s place there at the end of this season.

The British driver assured reporters ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix that he was not leaving McLaren through the back door and that the path he had chosen to take could ultimately bring him back.

“Yes, certainly, I think it is (possible),” Whitmarsh said. “But he’s joining a strong team in Mercedes and I don’t think he’ll be coming back any time soon.

“I’m sure they’ve got a good contract… and I don’t think Lewis’s intention is to hop from team-to-team on an annual basis.

“But never say never and we’ll see what happens in the future,” he added.

There is a notable precedent for Hamilton, with four times world champion Alain Prost starting his Formula One career at McLaren in 1980 before moving to Renault for three years and then returning to win titles.

Hamilton’s 2007 team mate Fernando Alonso, now the championship leader with Ferrari, moved to McLaren from Renault and then went back to his previous team after an ill-fated season.

Whitmarsh also played down a suggestion by Hamilton on Thursday that he knew all about next year’s McLaren, with the driver telling his Mexican replacement Sergio Perez that it was sure to be good.

“I think he knows the people and what we’re trying to do but I don’t think there’s any great secrets in that,” he said.

“I think if I was pursuing intellectual property from other teams, I’d probably go for engineers not drivers.”

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LATE NEWS: SEBASTIAN VETTEL CRUISES TO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX WIN & BLOWS CHAMPIONSHIP WIDE OPEN:

Sebastian Vettel became the first back to back race winner in 2012 at the Japanese Grand Prix, cruising to an easy win after a start line accident eliminated championship leader Fernando Alonso for the second time in four races.

A separate incident also dropped Mark Webber down the order, Romain Grosjean once again the culprit in triggering an accident at the start. Webber recovered to finish 9th.

Felipe Massa scored a potentially vital second place, as far as his Ferrari career is concerned, from 10th place. It was his first podium for two years, although Ferrari celebrations will be muted as their hopes of winning the drivers’ championship took a massive blow today.

Kamui Kobayashi finished third, his first F1 podium, to the delight of the Japanese fans, the first home podium for a Japanese driver for 22 years.

It was Vettel’s third win of the season and the 24th of his career. It was also his third Japanese GP in the last four years and it means that he cut Alonso’s championship lead to just four points with five races to go. His winning margin was a massive 20 seconds and several times he had to be told to slow down by his engineer.

And with Red Bull hitting peak form in its car development and rumours of a double DRS device on the car this weekend, there is a momentum about Vettel’s campaign which Alonso will find extremely hard to halt.

“We had a good start which was important because there was a crash,” said Vettel. “I saw a Ferrari was out and I worked out it must have been Fernando. When you dream at night you dream about being able to drive a car like this.

“It was an important step today. We don’t know what happens in the next race, but it was good to take the points today.”

Kimi Raikkonen moved into third place in the championship on 157 points, amazingly just 37 off the front, thanks to his sixth place, with Hamilton five points behind the Finn.

Pre-race expectations were that tyre degradation could be a decisive factor, with the front tyres the limitation. In the end everyone was able to make it in a conventional two stop strategy, although Webber effectively did a one-stop after pitting on the first lap.

The start was explosive; Fernando Alonso was eliminated by an incident into Turn 1, as he squeezed across to the left and tagged Raikkonen, getting a puncture which put him into a spin. He was out for the second time in four races, so too Nico Rosberg.

Alonso questioned why Raikkonen had not lifted off, but accepted that it was a racing incident. Raikkonen had been involved in hurting him for the second time in the weekend, after the Lotus driver’s spin in qualifying had ruined his chances of starting on the front two rows.

Meanwhile Webber’s race was ruined by Grosjean driving into the back of him into Turn 2. Webber had to pit on the first lap and switched to the hard tyre and a one-stop strategy from there, as a Safety Car was sent out.

The race was restarted before Webber had rejoined the tail of the pack, he was 20 seconds off the back of them at the restart.

Grosjean was given a 10 second stop/go penalty by the stewards, which he served on lap 8. It was a suitably tough penalty for Grosjean, the stewards clearly sending him a message that they were unhappy he had not learned from the one race ban after Spa.

Webber called Grosjean a “first lap nutcase” and added, “The rest of us are trying to fight for decent results. Maybe he needs another holiday. He needs to have a look at himself, how many times can you make the same error. It’s embarrassing at this level.”

It was a dream scenario for Vettel from a race and championship point of view, with two of his main rivals taken out of contention and Kobayashi in second place as a buffer to hold up the cars behind him.

At the restart Raikkonen made a bold pass on Perez into Turn 1, for fifth place.

Perez and Hamilton battled, with the Mexican ambushing the man he will replace at McLaren next season.

After 10 laps Vettel led by almost 6 seconds from Kobayashi, with Button up to third from 8th on the grid, Massa fourth, Raikkonen fifth, Perez sixth, Hamilton seventh, Hulkenberg eighth, Maldonado ninth and Riccardo 10th. Heikki Kovalainen was up to 11th.

The first stops came on lap 14 with Raikkonen, Hulkenberg and Button pitting for hard tyres. Kobayashi came in a lap later.

Kobayashi and Button were held up by Riccardo, as Massa took his chance to pit and rejoined ahead of the pair of them, up to second place, clever strategy giving him a chance to make a big gain.

Sergio Perez was eliminated on lap 20, as he came out of the kink too quickly and almost collided with Hamilton in sixth place. Hamilton had got ahead in the pit stops.

Button meanwhile was struggling with a gearbox issue, ironic given that he had been forced into a change before this race and a 5 place penalty as a result. It stabilised and he was able to continue pushing.

At the half way stage the order was Vettel ten seconds clear of Massa, with Kobayashi third four seconds ahead of Button, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Maldonado, Webber in ninth and Ricciardo 10th.

Webber had done 25 laps on a set of hard tyres when he pitted on lap 26, taking a second set of hards. This told all the strategists that the hard tyres were easily good for a two stop strategy.

Felipe Massa was running well in second place, the Ferrari lapping consistently and with Kobayashi not making any ground on him, the top three looked fairly static.

Raikkonen pitted on lap 31, Hamilton a lap later and he rejoined alongside the Lotus, holding his line into Turn 1 and taking the seventh place.

Button stayed out longer than Kobayashi trying to jump him, but his pitstop wasn’t fast enough due to the right rear wheel taking longer than usual to go on, so Button came out behind Kobayashi.

Massa pitted on lap 37, with Vettel a lap later, the race completely under control.

Vettel had a 17 second lead over Massa by lap 40 but had to be told to slow down by his engineer, who was worried about him overheating his tyres.

The main interest of the end of the race was whether Jenson Button could catch and pass Kobayashi. McLaren had managed the strategy so that Button would have the fresher tyres for the end of the race. He closed right up on the final lap but couldn’t pass him. It was Sauber’s fourth podium of the season.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth, ahead of Raikkonen and Hulkenberg.

Mercedes ended up without any points again, Rosberg out at the start and Schumacher unable to pass Ricciardo for tenth place at the end of the race.

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX, Suzuka, 53 laps

1. Vettel Red Bull 1h28:56.242

2. Massa Ferrari + 20.639

3. Kobayashi Sauber + 24.538

4. Button McLaren + 25.098

5. Hamilton McLaren + 46.490

6. Raikkonen Lotus + 50.424

7. Hulkenberg Force India + 51.159

8. Maldonado Williams + 52.364

9. Webber Red Bull + 54.675

10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1:06.919

11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:07.769

12. Di Resta Force India + 1:23.400

13. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1:28.600

14. Senna Williams + 1:28.700

15. Grosjean Lotus + 1 lap

16. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

17. Glock Marussia + 1 lap

18. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap

19. De la Rosa HRT + 1 lap

[ptrthgr8]

A "first lap nutcase" is incredibly understated. How is Grosjean even driving in this series? He needs to go back down to midgets or Big Wheels. I'm glad Vettel won and I always chuckle whenever a Ferrari drops out, but I hate seeing POS drivers like Grosjean impacting the results like that.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.

[MIKA27]

CALLS FOR GROSJEAN TO FACE FRESH BAN AFTER LATEST START INCIDENT:

Mark Webber has led calls for Romain Grosjean to face another driving ban after he was taken out by the Frenchman at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, the seventh such incident Grosjean has been involved in this season.

Grosjean received a one-race ban after causing a pile-up in Spa, but today’s incident shows that either he has not learned or he has some in-built problem when it comes to the instinctive phase of the racing driver’s art – the chaotic race starts.

Because race starts are an instinctive moment, many ex-drivers in the paddock argue that this is not something that can be trained into him.

Webber called Grosjean a “first lap nutcase” and added, “The rest of us are trying to fight for decent results. Maybe he needs another holiday. He needs to have a look at himself, how many times can you make the same error. It’s embarrassing at this level.”

Grosjean said, “After the ban I am very careful at the start. I kept my line trying to avoid any contact with Perez, who was on my left. I was focussing on that and I didn’t see the delta speed with Mark.

“Trying to avoid any contact was my main objective, but it didn’t work, it’s a stupid crash.”

FIA stewards at Suzuka handed him a ten second stop-go penalty during the race, but the GPDA will clearly want to look at this and discuss it together with FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting.

What do you think should happen?

MIKA: I think this is a shame that Romain has had these mishaps because when he doesn't, he clearly has immense talent IMO and does better than Perez and Maldonado. If he can sort himself out, he will be a future champion. If not, he may lose his seat at Lotus and other teams may not take him on board.

[MIKA27]

KOBAYASHI CELEBRATES PODIUM WITH FANS, BUT WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

His future at Sauber is still not clear, but Kamui Kobayashi certainly made sure that the fans in Suzuka felt part of his success, by celebrating with them last night and again this morning at another event.

Of all the F1 drivers Kobayashi is probably one of the most active at giving something back to the fans, especially in Japan. He took part in the FOTA Fans Forum at Woking last year and again in Japan this year and has organised many engagements with fans in Japan.

"I've been busy since the race was over," he said in a statement issued by the Sauber team on Monday. "Last night there was a party with fans in Suzuka, and this morning I went straight back to Suzuka circuit because there was another event organised with more than 5,000 fans. In every respect it was a very intense weekend.

"I had a lot of confidence before we came to Japan. I've always felt that if you ever want to look back and regard yourself as a Formula One driver, you have to have been on the podium at least once. Without such a photo it's a bit as if you had never been there. So it means a lot to me.

"It was a fantastic feeling to see all the people in my home country so emotional and happy. It gave me such a lot and I will never forget that moment. I want to thank the Japanese fans for the great support they gave to the Sauber F1 Team and to myself."

Kobayashi has been under pressure this season to secure a podium for the Sauber team, especially after his team mate Sergio Perez had managed to get three of them in the first 13 races. This has propelled Perez into the big league with a long term McLaren contract secured from 2013.

For Kobayashi, however, prospects of retaining his seat have been quite shaky in recent weeks and it is not clear whether the podium will save his seat or whether the team has already decided to move on and this podium will be merely a sweet memory. There are other drivers sniffing around the Sauber team, which has been one of the revelations of 2012, with its class leading aerodynamics.

With the technical rules set to stay relatively unchanged in 2013, the Sauber is a highly prized seat. One rival for Kobayashi is Nico Hulkenberg, who looks likely to be disappointed by Ferrari as they look set to retain Felipe Massa for another year.

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn noticeably played down the effect this result could have on Kobayashi's chances of staying. She kept referring to the fact that, "We know him very well. We know his strengths very well, so we don't need these kind of results for that."

Ironically this sounds like the rhetoric used by Williams management when letting Hulkenberg go in 2010; they had evaluated him over several years as a test driver and then a season as a racer and felt that he didn't have what it takes at the highest level. Time will tell how accurate that assessment turns out to be in his case.

Kobayashi has now done 55 Grands Prix and Sunday was his first podium. He is a known quantity, capable of some very strong qualifying performances, such as Spa and Suzuka, but also with a history of struggling to qualify consistently well. He's a better racer and and also very capable in wheel to wheel combat and overtaking. He has had only one retirement on technical grounds this season, so he's certainly had a clear run at it in a very good car. Prior to Sunday's race he had scored 35 points at an average of 2.5 points per race.

Despite the return of four podiums from 15 races, there is a feeling at Sauber that they could and should have had significantly more results with this car and some of the blame for that lies with Kobayashi, who hasn't been as consistent as Perez.

Kaltenborn is confident that despite Perez' departure the support of Carlos Slim Jr and Telmex will remain for next season and this could see Mexican reserve driver Esteban Guttierez being given a chance. He's served his apprenticeship reasonably well in GP2 and Sauber has a strong record of giving rookies a chance.

Money is increasingly an issue for the midfield teams and there are other drivers around with budgets, who could be placed alongside a known quantity like a Hulkenberg.

With no sponsorship money forthcoming from Japan to back Kobayashi the question Kaltenborn has to ask herself is, can another unfunded established driver give us a more consistent return, especially if they accept that having a rookie means probably not scoring as many points from that car?

IMO: The driver of the day. I feel that Kobayashi's win took away Vettels victory.

[MIKA27]

Massa: Podium vital for my future

Felipe Massa is hoping his return to the Formula One podium will be enough to secure his future with Ferrari.

The Brazilian finished runner-up in Sunday's Japanese GP, claiming his first top-three result since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.

But whether it will be enough to persuade Ferrari to hold onto him remains to be seen.

"It's an important result psychologically and also in terms of my future, at least I think so," said Massa.

"It's really a relief and I'm sure it will be so important for me, for my brain and for my future as well.

"Sometimes, in the hardest moments the best things come. The first people I want to thank right now are my family, my wife and my son."

He added: "Being back on the podium after almost two years away is just great and I feel really uplifted.

"They have been two tough years for me and, sometimes, a million things go through your mind, some of them bad, but finally I can be happy!

"This race motivates me even more for the rest of the season. It's even better getting back on the podium here, at a track I like so much and that I have known since the start of my career."

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Brazilian media on Sunday afternoon, Massa revealed he's hoping to have his future resolved in the not-too-distant future.

"The conversation we have been having until now has been that it [a contract extension] should happen," Massa said. "I'm hoping it will be confirmed as soon as possible."

[MIKA27]

Schumi: Point-less but not bad

After starting 23rd on the grid Michael Schumacher reckons his 11th place at Suzuka was "better than we expected" even though he missed out on a point.

A slow qualifying for the seven-time World Champion was made even worse by a ten-place grid penalty for driving into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne at the previous race in Singapore.

Despite starting on the back foot, Schumacher slowly but surely clawed his way up the field resulting in a battle for the final World Championship point with Daniel Ricciardo. It was the Toro Rosso driver who won.

"I have mixed feelings after the race here in Japan, because it's obviously unfortunate to come so close to scoring points and not manage it, after a race which went better than we expected," said Schumacher.

"In the final laps, I had a nice and interesting battle with Ricciardo, but in the end I couldn't get past him because the Toro Rosso was so quick on the straights.

"That's why we have to say we couldn't have got much more out of it today. Now let's see how things go in Korea."

Schumacher, though, at least got to spend his Sunday afternoon racing his car, something his team-mate Nico Rosberg failed to do.

The German was taken out on the opening lap by Bruno Senna, who was handed a penalty for the incident. That, though, didn't help Rosberg get back into the race.

"I had a good start to the race but unfortunately it ended fairly quickly today," he said.

"In the first corner Grosjean spun into Webber and that also led to my accident.

"I began to brake but Senna crashed into me from behind which destroyed my rear tyre and meant that I had to retire.

"It's a shame as I felt very comfortable with my car on the installation lap, and I was confident that we could score some decent points."

[MIKA27]

Kimi 'had nowhere to go'

Kimi Raikkonen insists his accident with Fernando Alonso that took the Spaniard out of the Japanese Grand Prix was unavoidable.

The two touched as they squabbled over track position heading into the first corner and Alonso's rear left tyre was punctured.

That resulted in the Spaniard spinning into the gravel and out of the grand prix. Alonso later stated that Raikkonen should have backed off.

The Lotus driver, though, says he had nowhere to back off to.

"I was on the left hand side all the way since the very beginning of the start," said Raikkonen.

"He kept coming left more and more. I tried to go further left but I had nowhere to go.

"They all came over on my side and touched my front wing so I couldn't go anywhere else."

The 2007 World Champ went on to finish in sixth place, earning an addition eight points towards his title campaign and is now just 37 behind Alonso with five races remaining.

"The good thing is we still managed to score points to stay in touch in the Championship.

"Sixth wasn't the result we were hoping for but unfortunately we didn't have the speed to do better."