FORMULA 1 - 2013

[MIKA27]

  On 10/12/2013 at 6:37 AM, PaulP said:

Qualifying

01 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:30.915

02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:31.089 +0.174

03 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.253 +0.338

04 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:31.365 +0.450

05 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.378 +0.463

06 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:31.397 +0.482

07 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:31.644 +0.729

08 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:31.665 +0.750

09 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:31.684 +0.769

10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:31.827 +0.912

11 Sergio Perez McLaren 1:31.989

12 Paul di Resta Force India 1:31.992

13 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:32.013

14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:32.063

15 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:32.093

16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:32.485

17 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:32.890

18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:33.357

19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:34.320

20 Charles Pic Caterham 1:34.556

21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:34.879

22 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:34.958

As always, thanks for posting Paul!!!

Ok, my pick for Podiums:

- Webber

- Grosjean

- Hulkenberg

Perhaps the above is moreso wishful thinking but GRO & HULK especially have had great form of late.

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Formula 1 drivers to honour Maria de Villota at Suzuka

Formula 1 drivers will hold a minute’s silence at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday and dedicate the winner’s podium to the late Marussia test driver Maria De Villota, they said on Saturday.

A statement from the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), which represents most but not all of those on the starting grid, said the silence would be held before the drivers’ parade.

De Villota, who lost her right eye and fractured her skull in a freak accident during a straight line aerodynamic test in England in July 2012, was found dead in a hotel in her native Spain on Friday.

Her sister said the family had been told the 33-year-old, whose father Emilio was once a Formula 1 driver, had died in her sleep as a result of neurological injuries she suffered in the crash.

Maria de Villota walks with children during Safer Roads For All march on the grid in Barcelona ahead of the Spanish GP in May

The GPDA said all its members had been saddened by the news and extended condolences to the family.

“Her positive attitude, maturity and extreme commitment will never be forgotten and are something we have learned from,” the statement said. “Maria will be missed and always remembered by all of us.”

Japanese fans displayed a banner, in the colours of the Spanish flag, at the entrance to the Suzuka circuit with “Maria De Villota.

Rest in Peace’ written on it.

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Webber unlikely to adhere Red Bull team orders at Suzuka

Mark Webber does not sound like he would be willing to move over for teammate Sebastian Vettel at Suzuka.

With Vettel looking to put his fourth title away on Sunday, the German encountered problems in qualifying with a KERS failure aboard his Red Bull.

But he will be crowned champion in Japan if he wins and Fernando Alonso is ninth or lower.

Having retiring teammate Webber on pole is therefore not part of Red Bull’s ideal plan, particularly with memories of the ‘Multi-21′ team orders affair still lingering.

Asked if the drivers will be free to race on Sunday, team boss Christian Horner said coyly after qualifying: “They will do the best they can for the team.”

Webber was more specific as he played down the likelihood of following a ‘team’ plan.

“Seb’s had a phenomenal year,” said the Suzuka pole sitter. “He will do his race, I will do my race.”

Webber hinted that with Vettel so far ahead in the points standings, and with several races still to run in 2013, his ears are not open to team orders.

“It’s not like it’s the last race of the championship, obviously, in terms of what can unfold or whatever,” he said.

“Normally you talk about these things and they never happen but in general, yeah, we’ll be there for ourselves tomorrow.”

MIKA: Well if thats Webbers plan, brilliant, just hope he doesn't snooze at the start as he's record for starting clean and fast is pretty bad. I hope he doesn't follow team orders.

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McLaren confirm Red Bull's Prodromou

McLaren have confirmed that Red Bull's head of aerodynamics Peter Prodromou will be heading to Woking in 2015.

Prodromou previously worked for McLaren before heading over to Red Bull in 2006 where he played an integral role in the team's rise to the top of Formula One.

However, in 2015 he'll be heading back to Woking with his move coinciding with McLaren's upcoming partnership with Honda - but that "wasn't the clincher" according to McLaren's MD Jonathan Neale.

He said: "We do have to remember that the contract Peter has at the moment is a Red Bull contract and I have to respect that. It's for them to talk about what his terms are and what his leave dates are.

"In terms of our position, yes we have recruited Peter, we're really excited about him joining the team but it's not a one off thing that we are doing, there are other things we are doing to strengthen our team.

"It's a series of moves as we head towards 2015 with Honda to make sure this team stays at the forefront of Formula One and in winning ways.

"We don't intend to hang around here [at the current performance level] for very long. We've quietly been strengthening the team through this year as well and sorting ourselves out internally.

"As you'd expect in our organisation, there is a pipe line of things coming through and I would say the one that has broken in the press today is the furthest away. There is a lot more that is happening in the short term."

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Sutil penalised, revised grid

Adrian Sutil was hit with a five-place grid penalty as Force India changed his gearbox after his crash in final practice.

The German had qualified 17th for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix but will start P22 due to the penalty.

Sutil, though, hasn't given up on achieving a top-ten result.

"With the grid penalty I will be starting at the back so I need to try and deliver consistent race pace and hopefully move towards the points," he said.

Two other drivers, Charles Pic and Jules Bianchi, were also penalised, both handed 10-place drops having been slapped with their third reprimands of the season in Korea.

They will start P20 and P21 respectively.

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Alonso: I'm not doing good enough

Fernando Alonso admits he needs to up his pace in qualifying after finishing eighth in Japan and three-tenths behind Felipe Massa.

The double World Champion has not had a great weekend at Suzuka, however, it did appear to be coming right in the first two qualifying segments.

Alonso was up there near the front in both Q1 and Q2 only to fall behind in the final top-ten shoot-out.

Crossing the line with a 1:31.665, he was 0.750s short of pole-sitter Mark Webber and 0.287s slower than Massa, who was P5.

"Nothing," Alonso told Sky Sports F1 when asked what had gone wrong in Q3. "I didn't have a good weekend so far.

"I've been eighth, ninth all weekend and didn't find the pace.

"In qualifying I'm eighth again, so I'm not doing good enough so far and I try to recover some positions tomorrow."

The double World Champion, though, is not giving up a solid points-haul as he looks to help Ferrari keep Mercedes at bay in the Constructors' Championship.

"The top five is maybe something realistic for us. We need to overtake a few cars.

"But we need to also race a little bit thinking in the Constructors' Championship.

"We have Mercedes only one point behind, they are both in front of me so I need to finish at least in front of one of them."

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Hamilton rues untouchable Bulls

Lewis Hamilton reckons it was "almost impossible" to beat the Bulls in Saturday's qualifying for the Japanese GP.

Mercedes have been Red Bull's closest competitor on Saturday afternoons of late and it was more of the same at Suzuka this weekend.

While Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel locked out the front row of the grid, Hamilton brought his Mercedes W04 home in third place.

The Brit's 1:31.253 was 0.338s short of Webber's pole position time.

But despite losing out, Hamilton says he had a good car at his disposal, it's just a case of the Red Bulls are too strong.

"I'm really happy," he said. "I think the team did a great job so far this weekend.

"Realisticly it was difficult, almost impossible to finish in front of these guys, they've had much better package than we for a long long time.

"But I think we've come a long way and to be as close as we are I think is a huge compliment to the team.

"The car was feeling good, my car felt awesome so I can't imagine how it felt for them but congratulations to Mark."

Looking ahead to Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton is hopeful of challenging the Red Bull duo.

"I hope that we can get a good start being on the cleaner side and be able to at least put up a little bit of a fight with these guys and don't let them walk away with it too easy."

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'Fuel vapour caused Gutierrez's fire'

Sauber have revealed that fuel vapour catching fire was the reason for the flames shooting up from Esteban Gutierrez's car during qualifying in Japan.

Sitting inside his C32 in the garage waiting to go out, Gutierrez was seen leaping from his car moments before a burst of flame shot to the roof.

His mechanics were quickly on hand putting out the fire and Gutierrez was soon back in the car and out on track.

"There was a little bit of fuel vapour that caught fire, presumably from a breather or something to do with the connector - but I'm not sure of the cause," Sauber's engineering chief Tom McCullough told Autosport.

"There was no damage to the car, it just burned in the air. It looked impressive but it was very little fuel.

"It happens every now and again with a hot car on a quick refuel. No harm done."

Gutierrez went onto qualify 14th for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix while his team-mat Nico Hulkenberg booked a top-ten starting position. He qualified P7, beating the likes of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

"He got all we had out of the car today," said McCullough. "The grid was very, very tight from the front to the back of Q2.

"Williams and Force India were strong, Toro Rosso a bit slow in that first sector but it was very, very tight and Esteban was unlucky just to miss out on Q3 by a tiny margin after doing a very good job all weekend.

"Nico squeezed everything out of it. Again we felt there was a bit more to come in Q3 so we decided to have a go and in the end seventh is much better than 10th."

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Vettel won't whinge about KERS issues

Sebastian Vettel is refusing to complain about his KERS problem in qualifying, after all, he still finished second.

The Red Bull racer, who could wrap up the title if he wins this weekend and Fernando Alonso is ninth or lower, suffered a KERS issue in final practice that cost him 20 minutes of track time.

With the issue believed to be resolved, the German took to the track in qualifying, however, the problem resurfaced.

Losing KERS would have cost Vettel valuable tenths and could be billed as the reason he lost out to team-mate Mark Webber.

Vettel, though, says he won't complain about it.

"We had a problem but I don't think it made a difference in finding the rhythm as we've done plenty of laps around this track," he said.

"First of all congratulations to Mark he did a very good lap.

"Yeah we had an issue in qualifying but I'm not a big fan of 'without this, with this, if this' as it's always unknown but as a fact we are P2.

"Happy obviously with the result, front row for the team which is great.

"The car was phenomenal today as Mark touched on. The first sector is, I think you realise afterwards that the car was fantastic through there and you don't get many days like that where the car feels great and you can really push it to the limits.

"I enjoyed qualifying and I'm happy with second place."

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Grosjean 'really wants' that first win

Romain Grosjean was happy with his performance in qualifying as he not only mixed it up with the Mercs but he also beat Kimi Raikkonen.

The Lotus driver, who is determined to prove himself as his teams lead driver for when Kimi Raikkonen leaves at the end of this season, showed some impressive pace in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Grosjean clocked a 1:31.365, which put him 0.450s down on Mark Webber's P1 time and fourth on the grid.

"It was a good qualifying," he told the BBC.

"It was a difficult day yesterday, I wasn't happy with the car but the team found some pace. We showed we were competitive on both compounds.

"We knew we would be right with Mercedes. We are here and happy to be in the top five."

However, it wasn't just mixing it up with the Mercedes drivers that put a smile on Grosjean's face as he was also three-tenths clear of Raikkonen.

"I'm not going to lie, it's always good to be in front of team-mate but what I really want is to win races."

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Jenson Button says he was on limit of McLaren's pace

Jenson Button believes his 10th place in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix represents the McLaren's maximum potential at Suzuka.

Button said he while he was pleased to have made it into Q3, his consistency over qualifying proved he could not have extracted more from his car.

"That's as quick as the car will go; I couldn't go any quicker than that," Button said.

"I did three laps of 1m31.8s, a quarter of a tenth between all of them. That's the limit and I couldn't find anything else out there.

"At least we got the maximum out of it [the car] and I don't think we could have done any more with the set-up.

"It's tough that's only tenth but we are where we are. The car feels good, we're just not quick enough."

Team-mate Sergio Perez, who narrowly missed the Q3 cut, said his crash in Friday practice had put him on the back foot heading into qualifying.

"Obviously with the accident yesterday we lost a lot of track time, so today we had to recover with some set-up changes," he said.

"In the end we missed by just half a tenth - we were extremely close to making Q3.

"Not ideal, but on the other hand I think we're in a good position in tomorrow to score points."

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Brawn: I'll Stay At Mercedes If I'm The Reference For The Team

There has been a ramping up of speculation this week about the position of Ross Brawn at Mercedes.

In the gap between the Korean and Japanese Grands Prix the team principal was linked with a move to McLaren and Honda, but has denied this.

In Suzuka he clarified his situation, saying that he will stay with the team as long as he is the “reference” for the team, in other words that his role has authority.

Mercedes has a lot of chiefs, from Chairman Niki Lauda and CEO Toto Wolff, both of whom also have shareholdings, to Paddy Lowe, who is understudying Brawn’s role as head of technical and sporting matters, to Bob Bell who runs the technical department.

Within that technical department there are a number of former technical directors of other teams like Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis.

“There is a lot of discussion going on,” Brawn told BBC Sport. “We’ve got quite a heavy senior management team at the moment and we have got to understand what we are all going to be doing. And for me it’s important that there is clarity of responsibility and that I’m motivated by the role that is developed. That’s what we are discussing.

“Any successful F1 team has to have a reference, it has to have a senior reference and that’s the big question. We need to make sure that if I am to remain here that I’m the reference. If that can be achieved then it’s a very exciting year and that’s what we are working to.”

At the start of the year, when it became clear that Lowe was on his way and that the team was in danger of repeating the mistakes of Jaguar Racing, where there were too many leaders and no-one knew who was in charge, Brawn strongly asserted himself, “I’m the team principal and I’m in charge,” he said.

The team has evolved a lot this year and the management team is certainly capable of running without him. However they would miss him, with his extensive experience and knowledge of what it takes to succeed.

But the way things are going, it looks as though the long term role for Ross is one with less authority and that may ultimately lead him to feel that his future lies outside Mercedes.

* Meanwhile it looks like a key member of the Red Bull technical team is on the move; McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh confirmed on Saturday that Red Bull head of aerodynamics Peter Prodromou, a key man in Adrian Newey’s team, has signed a contact with McLaren. Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that Prodromou will be working at his team “for some time yet.”

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Japanese Grand Prix: Vettel goes bananas and leads Red Bull rampage at Suzuka

Sebastian Vettel took a step closer to his fourth Formula 1 World Championship with a well judged drive to win the Japanese Grand Prix, after out witting teammate Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean, who had set the early pace at Suzuka.

After qualifying it was clear that the Red Bull duo would be hard to beat, as they annexed the front row, with Webber on pole for the first time this season and Vettel beside him on the grid. When the red lights went out, however it was Grosjean who made a tremendous start, and scampered into an early lead with Webber recovering and tucking in to second with Vettel in third.

It was bad luck for Lewis Hamilton, who started from fourth, and worked his way into second heading into Turn 1. But that was that, as in getting by Vettel, his rear tyre clipped the Red Bull’s front wing and by the time he was in Turn 1 his race was all but over – a puncture putting paid to his afternoon. He recovered to the pits but not long after the damage to the car (caused by the flaying rubber) forced the team to retire the Mercedes.

Early on Grosjean appeared to have the pace to keep Webber at bay, helped by no a no overtaking situation, as marshals retrieved the cars of Jules Bianchi (Marussia) and Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) who crashed in Turn 1. The Lotus driver is growing in stature with every race and proving to be a the thorn in Red Bull’s side in a race they were expected to dominate. In the end they got their 1-2 but the Frenchman made them work hard for the prize.

Vettel turned a mediocre start in to victory with well judged laps when it mattered, including ‘going bananas’ when ordered to do so by his pit wall. He stuck to a patient game plan, going longer than most with his second set of tyres, which enabled him to attack Grosjean effectively and decisively to claim his 35th F1 career victory, his ninth triumph of the season and his fourth win in five years at Suzuka.

For a change fans cheered the world champion, which he acknowledged afterwards on the podium, ”First of all I would like to say thanks to all the fans the support we get and the respect is phenomenal. I had a very poor start – I clipped the front wing but after that we were patient and I managed to get past Romain and beat Mark on the tyre strategy. The decision [on the tyres] was made on the first stint because we stayed out longer on the first tyres. It was not easy to make the two-stop work especially in the middle sector but it worked in the end.”

Suzuka podium: (L to R): Remi Taffin (head of Renault Sport F1 Track Operations), Mark Webber (second), race winner Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean (third)

Sure the title is still not his mathematically, but we all know that Vettel is the 2013 F1 World Champion elect, with a landslide victory merely a formality and the Suzuka victory a testament to one of the most impressive campaigns in the history of the sport.

Webber also managed his tyres well and in the last stint was able to bolt on the softer (white stripe) Pirelli which gave him the edge as he stalked Grosjean for second place. Credit to the Lotus driver who made life difficult for the Australian, but had to succumb eventually during a thrilling period with several cars – a lap down on the leaders – thrown in the mix to spice things up.

When the dust settled, it was Webber in second with Grosjean third and for us the ‘man of the match’ for his sheer tenacity in the face of a brutal Red Bull attack.

Webber summed up his afternoon, ”It’s an amazing circuit. The race today was pretty good, but I’d have liked one more step on the podium but there were different strategies going on. I’m pretty happy with second but you always want a bit more. I got the best from what I could today. In the end we went to a three-stop but we we got back to where we were.”

Grosjean reflected, ”What a start. Today was a very good race but the the Red Bull caught us but we were the only ones who were able to challenge them. It is always good to come here, the fans are great and it was a great race.”

Fernando Alonso turned eighth on the grid into fourth place and with it keeping the title fight teetering to the next round.

The Ferrari driver said afterwards, “There were some strong people in front of us and the threat from behind with Kimi [Raikkonen], but the race went [well]. Fourth is a good result but we were lucky with Mercedes’ problems. It was a good race in terms of points for the Constructors’ [title], but we didn’t have the pace for podium.”

“Even if Vettel doesn’t finish all of the races I need to win nearly all [of the remaining races], so it’s a matter of time [that Vettel will be Champion]. We have different goals now, and today they told me I have the record for the most amount of points in F1 history, so it’s a happy day – the leading points scorer in F1 is something great. I know the points system changed, but when someone overtakes me in the points no one will remember the points system change,” mused Alonso.

Alonso’s 2014 teammate, Kimi Raikkonen was comprehensively outshone by his current Lotus teammate throughout the weekend in Japan. nevertheless the Finn recovered from ninth on the grid to take fifth place.

Next up were the Sauber pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez in sixth and seventh respectively. Hulkenberg again mixing it with the top guns and at one stage looking strong for fourth place, slugging it out with Alonso and Raikkonen before his tyres gave up.

Gutierrez scored his first Formula 1 World Championship points, and also became the first rookie of 2013 to score points this season in what was an impressive afternoon for Sauber.

Nico Rosberg was on the back-foot all afternoon as he was released dangerously into the path of Sergio Perez’s McLaren during a pitstop which resulted in a drive through for the Mercedes driver. He toiled hard to finish eighth.

A final corner altercation (including WWF style contact) between Felipe Massa and Jenson Button decided the final two placings, the pair finishing ninth and tenth respectively – but only just.

Final word to Vettel, surely the soon to be crowned 2013 World Champion, ”I would like to enjoy today, I think it was a fantastic race.

I love this race, the people are great and make it a special race. It doesn’t hurt when you win for the championship. I’ve won four times here now, I’m already looking forward to next year. Regarding the championship, we have good gap but we keep pushing. It looks very good at the stage but it’s not over until it’s over.”

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Rosberg unimpressed by Perez

Nico Rosberg didn't have any kind words about Sergio Perez's driving after the Japanese Grand Prix.

The pair appeared to be attracted to each other at Suzuka as they nearly collided in the pit late following an unsafe release from Rosberg's pit crew, while they also made contact late in the race, which resulted in Perez picking up a puncture.

Rosberg went on to finish eighth while the late pit stop cost Perez as he was down in P15, but the Mercedes driver believes the Mexican was a little naughty with his blocking.

"It was a good start and I was very comfortable but I just got it stuck on the pit-stop and from then on it was difficult after the drive-through," said the German.

"It was enjoyable at time and then with Perez, it's not good what he's doing, we know he has issues. If you move once to block you have to move out of the way, the rules are clear.

"It was very good he punctured his tyre and then it was just onward from there."

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Alonso 'happy' with points record

He may not have done much for the title fight in Japan but at least Fernando Alonso now holds the record for the most points scored in F1.

Starting eighth on the Suzuka grid, Alonso was up to sixth by the first corner and later climbed to fifth as he took the position off team-mate Felipe Massa.

However, the Spaniard soon found himself stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg and struggled to overtake the much-improved Sauber.

It wasn't until lap 46 that he finally shot past and up into fourth which he held onto despite Kimi Raikkonen closing fast in the final laps.

"There were some strong people in front of us and the threat from behind with Kimi but the race went good," he said.

"Fourth is a good result, from the start we recovered some positions and then we've been a little bit lucky with some Mercedes problems - both going backwards - so I think it was a good race in terms of points for the Constructors' Championship.

"In terms of pace we didn't have the pace to be on the podium but after those three we have been very competitive in the race."

Alonso's 12 points, though, not only gave Ferrari some breathing room over Mercedes, they also saw the Spaniard set a new record for the most points scored in Formula One.

He now has 1571 compared to Michael Schumacher's 1566 while Sebastian Vettel, who is on the brink of his fourth title after winning Sunday's grand prix, has a total of 1351 points.

"Even if Vettel doesn't finish all of the races I need to win nearly all so it's a matter of time," Alonso said of title race.

"It's true that we have different goals now like the Constructors' Championship; today with the problems for Mercedes we are in a better position and also today they told me I have the record of points in history so it's a happy day.

"Leading the score in one sport like Formula One is something great.

"I know the points system change some years ago but when someone overtakes me in the points no-one will remember the points system so let's try to enjoy the moment and have a little celebration tonight.

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Webber 'got the best' he could

Mark Webber concedes his runner-up result in Suzuka was the "best" possible given his strategy.

Starting from pole position, the Red Bull racer was beaten to the first corner by Romain Grosjean and spent much of the 53-lap grand prix fighting with the Lotus driver.

On a three-stopper compared to Grosjean and Sebastian Vettel's two, Webber had to come in for his last tyre change with 10 to go which dropped him to third.

What followed was a thrilling tussle with Grosjean which Webber finally won on the penultimate lap.

However, it was too late to try chase down Vettel and he finished second, 7.1sec behind his team-mate.

"The race today was pretty good, but I'd have liked one more step on the podium but there were different strategies going on," said Webber.

"I'm pretty happy with second but you always want a bit more. I got the best from what I could today.

"In the end we went to a three-stop but we we got back to where we were."

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Hamilton 'really unlucky'

Lewis Hamilton bemoaned his bad luck in Suzuka that saw him suffer first lap damage and retire laps later.

Fighting for position at the front of the pack at the start, the Mercedes driver and Sebastian Vettel made contact with the German's front wing slicing through Hamilton's tyre.

Limping back to the pits, he put on fresh rubber and returned to the action only to pit again on lap nine with "data showing abnormal readings and high rear brake temps."

Hamilton parked it.

"It was just really unlucky," the 28-year-old told the BBC.

"I feel bad for my guys - they work so hard. And as a team we deserve better.

"It's a shame.

"I had the best start I have had all year - such a good feeling, so really disappointed but that's life."

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Great satisfaction for Gutierrez

It may have taken him 15 races, but Esteban Gutierrez has finally opened his points account in Formula One.

The Sauber driver has been the best rookie on the grid all season, but he just couldn't manage to finish in the top 10 until the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on Sunday.

Although he started P14th on the grid, he was up into the top 10 before the end of the first lap and he was as high as sixth place at one stage. He eventually dropped to seventh, but had to hold off Nico Rosberg to finish there.

Naturally the 22-year-old was delighted that he got his first points in F1.

"Finally we can feel great satisfaction after the race," he told BBC F1. "I said we need to stay optimistic and this is proof. It was overall a great race and a good job done done today.

"I like to be fair and competitive and at the same time aggressive and you need to balance all three. It is about racing and not screwing someone else's race, that is the way I have always tried to race and it is nice today to have a positive result."

Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn admits it's a relief that the Mexican is finally on the scoreboard.

"He has had a tough end to the season and we all were just waiting for this time to come," she said. "We knew he would, he's such a talent. It's such a relief when it works and it's great to see him now there."

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Van der Garde: I had nowhere to go

Giedo van der Garde is okay despite taking a hard hit that put him out of Sunday's Japanese GP.

Battling with the Marussias for track position at the start, there was contact between the Caterham driver and Jules Bianchi that resulted in both going off.

Van der Garde, though, took the brunt of it as he slammed nose first in the tyre wall at pace.

The Dutchman was, thankfully, not hurt in the crash.

"My start was ok but going into Turn One I was squeezed between both the Marussia cars and had nowhere to go," he said.

"I lost my front wing in contact with Bianchi and then the car went straight off and into the wall.

"It was quite a heavy impact but I'm ok.

"Obviously that's disappointing, but it was a racing incident and sometimes these things happen so now we'll move on to India and push for a better weekend there and for the rest of the season."

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Domenicali: The problem at Ferrari is not Domenicali, I’m first to work and last to leave

Ferrari failed to beat Red Bull for a fourth consecutive season because of two main factors, according to team boss Stefano Domenicali neither of which is himself claims the team chief.

Speaking to the Spanish sports newspaper AS, the Italian denied he is the main problem, ”You wouldn’t change Domenicali and win tomorrow.”

“Sure, my boss could do it, and if he does, I would always be grateful to Ferrari,” said Domenicali. ”But in Italy there is a saying: ‘When you leave the road you know, the other could be worse’.

“The problem is not Domenicali,” he added. “Domenicali is the first to come to work in the morning and the last to leave.

“If we had won in 2012, Domenicali would be a phenomenon, he would have done his job well,” he said.

Indeed, together with Fernando Alonso – whose patience may now be running out – Ferrari has come tantalisingly close to winning under the Domenicali reign.

Domenicali thinks the main problems in 2013 were technical ones.

“The first is that at the beginning of the season we had a car that was competitive in qualifying and very good in race pace.

“The problem is that we could not improve the car steadily, because unfortunately in some cases we brought developments that, instead of improving, actually worsened the car,” he said.

Domenicali said Ferrari has been working hard to right that wrong, including by completely overhauling the Maranello wind tunnel, and installing technical bosses – James Allison and Pat Fry – who are renowned for success in Formula 1′s aerodynamically-focused era.

He explained that the second fundamental problem in 2013 has been Pirelli.

“I do not mention why or whether it was right or not, but in changing the tyre type we have not been able to exploit the best feature we had – our competitive race pace,” said Domenicali.

He also said that, despite coming so close in some years, not winning in the end had now increased the pressure on Ferrari to fever-pitch.

That has now resulted in the Alonso exit rumours, and “general criticism” that Domenicali thinks makes little sense.

“Like when it comes to the drivers,” he said, “many times I’ve read in the past ‘Ferrari has to change Felipe (Massa)’.

“But now I read ‘Felipe has to stay!’ Which is it? A little rationality, please,” Domenicali insisted.

“I’m the first to defend Felipe and I always will, because he is a special lad, someone dedicated to the team, but you have to make a professional assessment,” he added.

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Boullier: Hulkenberg is our choice, we would love to sign him

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has admitted that Nico Hulkenberg is Lotus’ first choice as successor to Ferrari-bound Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen recently said that he decided to leave the Enstone based team only for financial reasons.

Lotus has been sweating on a deal with a group of private investors originally called ‘Infinity Racing’, who in June committed to buying 35 per cent of the team.

But team boss Boullier admitted as recently as at the weekend in Japan that the deal is still not sealed.

In the meantime, Infinity has changed its name to Quantum, to avoid confusion with Infiniti, the luxury Nissan brand that is Red Bull’s title sponsor.

“We want to now close this Infinity partner story because this should give us the ability to at least be secure and move us on to the next step,” said Boullier.

An obvious ‘next step’ is the identity of Raikkonen’s successor.

The clear frontrunner is German Hulkenberg, who was also considered by Ferrari and McLaren for 2014, and remains in the running either to return to Force India or stay at Sauber.

But if the ‘Quantum’ deal falls over, Boullier may have to go down the path of a pay-driver, even if the Frenchman admits “This is not the way to go”.

Boullier hinted at Suzuka that he is also in talks with a sponsor, as well as engine supplier Renault, who could deepen their relationship with Lotus in 2014 and beyond.

If all the pieces fit together, Hulkenberg will surely be signed.

“Since he has been talking to us he has been doing a good job,” said Boullier. ”I would love to [sign him],” he is quoted by Sporting Life. “[Hulkenberg] is our choice.”

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Vettel on course for fourth title and to rewrite Formula 1 record books

With Sebastian Vettel’s fourth successive Formula 1 title now just a formality, the more intriguing question is whether the Red Bull driver can go on to match a record that has stood for 60 years.

The 26-year-old should become the sport’s youngest quadruple champion in India next week with the German 90 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, the only man still mathematically in contention, with just four races remaining.

After winning Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, Vettel need only finish fifth at the Buddh Circuit to be sure of the title. He will not need to score another point if Alonso fails to finish first or second.

The Champion has won the last five races and is on his way to closing out the season with nine successive victories, a feat only one driver has ever managed – Italian Alberto Ascari, with Ferrari in 1952-53.

“Sebastian has won every race since the summer break, which is an incredible achievement. There’s still four races to go,” Red Bull principal Christian Horner told reporters.

“Our target is to try to carry this momentum into the last four races. I don’t think any of us could have imagined that he would have had the run of success that he has. The way he’s driving at the moment is quite supreme.”

Vettel is only the sixth driver to win five times in succession, the most recent being Michael Schumacher with Ferrari in 2004 when the seven-time champion went on to win seven in a row.

Schumacher also holds the record of 13 wins in a season, another milestone that Vettel can match after taking his current tally for the year to nine with a performance that Horner hailed as exemplary.

Asked whether he would rather join Schumacher and the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio as the only drivers to have won four successive titles, or win every race on the calendar, Vettel said he preferred the second option.

“You know, I love racing,” he said. ”It’s incredible what has happened over the last couple of years but nothing has changed in the way that I still love racing. I love the challenge.”

The German had dropped to third at the first corner of the race at Suzuka, after being pipped to pole by Australian team mate Mark Webber and then overtaken at the start by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus while racing against Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton.

A two-stop strategy, with Webber switched to three, then brought the race to him.

“He picked up a bit of damage from the incident with Hamilton that took about 20 points of downforce off the front wing, so he had a damaged car,” said Horner.

“And he just managed to adapt. He played the thinking game…he watched, he waited in that first stint. He preserved the tyres.

“He knew he wasn’t going to get priority at that first stop because we had discussed it before the race and the lead car would get priority. So he was very, very smart in the way [that] he handled the race.”

Sunday’s win was Vettel’s fourth in five years at Suzuka and that wealth of experience also paid off.

In 2011, when he won his second title at the Japanese circuit, he had led only to be reeled in late in the race by those who had more left in their tyres. Vettel ended up third.

“We lapped slower than the others who were on fresh tyres in order to push them later in the race,” he said on Sunday.

“We had a similar race in 2011, where I think I came in always as the first and I was under enormous pressure towards the end of the race and got passed by two cars. So this time we did it the other way around.”

The title will have to wait a few more days but it was always a long shot for Suzuka, depending on Vettel winning and Alonso finishing outside the top eight, even if Red Bull’s domination this season has been such that some observers clearly felt that they should have wrapped it up.

“I am absolutely gutted to have achieved a one-two finish in one of the best races strategically and operationall …the whole team is massively pissed off,” joked an incredulous Horner when it was put to him that he might be feeling disappointed.

“We came here to try and win the race today and the Championships will take care of themselves. We’ll go to India and we’ll attack that weekend as we have here and if we score more points than the others then we’ll win the Championship.”

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Mercedes aims to uncover and match Renault engine mapping trickery

Mercedes has vowed to catch Formula 1′s runaway Renault-powered teams, as it risks losing millions in Concorde Agreement bonus money.

Formerly looking set to finish second behind Red Bull in the lucrative Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes had a bad weekend in Japan and is now ten points behind Ferrari.

Not only that, Lotus – whose Romain Grosjean was challenging for victory at Suzuka – is no longer far behind in the teams’ title chase.

Mercedes, on the other hand, has lost ground.

“Red Bull has taken a big step forward since Singapore,” Toto Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport, adding that the similarly Renault-powered Lotus is now a few tenths ahead.

“We need to analyse what they have done,” said Mercedes’ motor sport chief.

The German report said that Wolff suspects that the top two Renault-powered teams are now streaking away with a clever engine mapping and exhaust-blowing solution.

“If that’s the case,” Wolff said, “we need to find out why we have missed something.

“We think we [now] know what they’re doing. The only question is whether we have the resources to implement something in the last four races. Perhaps we will need to reallocate some resources,” he added.

The problem is that, at Mercedes’ Brixforth engine facility, all the test benches are reportedly being used for next year’s turbo V6 development.

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'Hulkenberg to Force India'

Eddie Jordan, the man who brought us Schumi's return to F1, says Nico Hulkerberg will be heading to Force India - not Lotus - next season.

The former team boss has proven to be right several times in the past when making outlandish predictions.

Not only was EJ the first to reveal that Michael Schumacher would be back in Formula One in 2010 with Mercedes but years later he also announced that Lewis Hamilton would be taking the German's place at the Brackley outfit.

And now he's predicting that Hulkenberg won't be heading to Lotus next season as many are expecting. Rather, he'll be returning to Force India.

"Jordan believes Nico Hulkenberg will return to Force India next season, with Felipe Massa probably going to Lotus," the BBC reported.

Having spent 2011 as a Force India test driver, Hulkenberg took a race-seat in 2012 only to leave after one season and move to Sauber.

As for the German, he's not saying much about his future except that he expects it to be resolved in the near future.

"I'm sure it will happen in the next couple of weeks, I'm confident we will get something sorted," the Sauber driver told Sky Sports F1.

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Bottas: Pastor forced me off the track

Valtteri Bottas has voiced his frustration after team-mate Pastor Maldonado forced him off the track on the final lap of the Japanese GP.

Fighting with Sergio Perez for position, Bottas was overtaken by the McLaren driver on the final lap while his team-mate Maldonado tried to take advantage of the situation.

Diving up the inside of Bottas, Maldonado forced his team-mate to run off the track in order to avoid a collision.

And Bottas isn't happy about it.

"I was trying to block him on the inside, but he braked so late that I didn't have anywhere to go other than straight over the chicane, so it was quite risky," the Finn told Autosport.

"If I had kept to my line, we would have crashed for sure.

"Maybe it was not the fairest move, there was a big risk of colliding.

"I braked late, but he braked so late that there was no space for two cars and I was on the outside and he was right on the white line so I had to go straight."

Maldonado, though, called it a "clean manoeuvre" while Williams chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar put it down to a racing incident.

"We didn't have any team orders," he said.

"All race, we had Valtteri in front and Pastor behind and we let them race and on the last lap they came close at the last corner, but that's how it is sometimes.

"You don't want to damage the car, but I guess it's part of racing."