Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to cross the finish line at the 2009 Japanese GP after 53 laps and a last minute safety car situation.
Second place went to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and the final podium position went to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Vettel, after scoring 10 crucial points, is now 16 points behind championship leader Jenson Button who only managed to score one point with his 8th place finish.
Ferrari scored some valuable points today with Kimi Raikkonen’s fourth place. Behind him was William’s Nico Rosberg and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld. Rest of the top ten was made up by Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Robert Kubica (BMW), and Fernando Alonso (Renault).
Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi failed to finish. In addition, Buemi was the only driver with a slow start as his car momentarily stalled. Mark Webber who started from the pits entered the pits three times within five laps. Timo Glock of Toyota did not start the race thanks to an accident during qualifying.
Towards the end of the race with just 5 laps to go, the safety car came in. Almost, if not all drivers maintained their respective positions. Kimi in fourth was right behind Hamilton and nearly overtook him. Button was still trying to make it to seventh place, but failed. Towards the end, he nearly gave his position to Robert Kubica in ninth.
Button currently leads with 85 points ahead of his team mate Barrichello with 71 points. Both Barrichello and Vettel have the chance of clinching the driver’s title, if Button continues to finish down the grid provided Barrichello and Vettel win race or two, and score as much points as possible.
In the Constructor’s Championship, Brawn leads by 35.5 points. Red Bull is in second place. The only chance for Red Bull to win is if it scores 1-2 victories in the two remaining races and at the same time both the Brawn’s don’t score a single point. Both circumstances are very unlikely, so it is safe to say that Brawn GP will win the championship. McLaren is closing in for third, just 2 points behind Ferrari. From the looks of it, Ferrari will lose its third place to McLaren.
With only two races remaining in the season, it looks like the championship battle will go down to the wire at the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi.
Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring TV programme and as our version of the Joker.
Oh yes, this is Battle Royale.
sad..no ferrari..
i agree, ferrari will lose their 3rd place to mclaren, kimi is their 'only' driver n he's disappointed being replaced by alonso..
i wish vettel would win the title (maybe it's highly unlikely) bcos button looks to be merely lucky judging on the difference between the early races and his current form..
Does anyone think all this drama is scripted? lol.
scripted? kinda possible actually. f1 already heading into the 'entertainment' industry rather than a sports event.
i tink if button wins the championship , its gonna be one of the most controversional champion…in a season of so much farce and controversey….its losing its credibility very fast….when u win bcos u found a loophone in the FIA rulebook…i doubt that makes u a genuine champion , i hate this F1 season…..
Kimi is the best…ferrari will be regret
hopefully our F1 team will be able capitalise this chaostic situation
and get to hire some good ,experienced and proven personnel
including a top driver. Heifield?Kovaleinan?Webber?
Brawn will win surely..
Alonso go to Ferrari is good news. He can't win again with Renault..
Naqib Ibrahim: Yeah, Ferrari is going to regret it!! Kimi is more suitable with McLaren after all.
Ferrari have become shitty since Ross Brawn n Jean Todt left. I doubt hiring Ape-lonso can do anything to improve them. Boo Ferrari booooo…
Next year I believe will be McLaren's year.
Wen said,
October 4, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
Does anyone think all this drama is scripted? lol.
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Yup, that thought crossed my mind too after the race… but can't be, why on earth you (as a manufacturer) want to enter some race series to be second to other manufacturer? this is not wresling… it not that simple, u also have sponsors who invest in your team which demand good results..
btw, great race… Vettel done a good job.. he showed his true colour… should have won in Singapore (or at least give Hammy a good fight till the end)… hmm… i think Button already secured the Championship, don't think 2007 will repeated itself…
@tokmoh,
u r a fortune teller?
tokmoh said,
October 5, 2009 @ 12:21 am
Naqib Ibrahim: Yeah, Ferrari is going to regret it!! Kimi is more suitable with McLaren after all.
Ferrari have become shitty since Ross Brawn n Jean Todt left. I doubt hiring Ape-lonso can do anything to improve them. Boo Ferrari booooo…
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I remember someone posting on a motorsport site his theory of Ferrari's current form…because it's currently run by an Italian! In the Jean Todt era it's successful coz it's not run by Italian! LOL!
Don't u think its funny, that within short period of time, Brawn is no longer performing as good as at the initial stage? IMHO, all these are "pre-set" and "scripted", F1 is now driven by profit rather than true passion for racing ..
common sensor said,
October 5, 2009 @ 12:25 pm
Don’t u think its funny, that within short period of time, Brawn is no longer performing as good as at the initial stage? IMHO, all these are “pre-set” and “scripted”, F1 is now driven by profit rather than true passion for racing ..
Are you talking about TonyFernandez the Sir RichardBranson
wannabe and his latest money making F1 1malaysia dream team ??
@common sensor,
no, it's not funny… it's normal in F1… BrawnGP r no longer team Honda… yes, they still have some 'key' men but their budget r not as much as last year,their workforce also being reduced… they r now among small teams on the grid.. how can you progress so much with limited resources & budget? i didn't say that it can't be done but the chances r slim… sooner or later the rest of the field will be right at their back, the big team gonna 'catch' them even faster (that's exactly what happen)… if they were Honda then maybe it will take others longer to be as fast but in the end still the same… BrawnGP do exactly what they need to do in the 1st half of the season, score as much points as possible before the rest of the grid 'catch' them with their developments…
common sensor said,
October 5, 2009 @ 12:25 pm
Don’t u think its funny, that within short period of time, Brawn is no longer performing as good as at the initial stage? IMHO, all these are “pre-set” and “scripted”, F1 is now driven by profit rather than true passion for racing ..
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It has been this way since the 90s, thanks to guys like Flavio Briatore. He was quoted saying "F1 is a business, not a sport." I'm glad that bugger got banned for life from being in F1, although I believe it's too late to turn F1 around back to what it once was.
Vettel is the next Schumi, plus he is from Germany too. By looking at his performance, it looks like another deja vu! MSchumi is back, in a form of a skinny kid! Hah!
The next two races will be intresting and not sewn up for Button (pun intended). I hope it goes down to the wire just like last year, where there is drama until the last lap.
If the F1 race is scripted, then Force India would win this year's championship. Just like in the Bollywood Movies, the heros always win at the climax. Maybe just for added drama, the winner of the last race would crash his car just after crossing the finishing line? After all the smokes and derbis have settled down, the Hero/driver slowly got up from his car and waves to the crowd, who had been waiting in anticipated silence.Now, that's a good script!
Leave F1 to the real racing enthusiast teams like Brawn GP Williams, Jordan,Sauber ,Mclarens,ToroRosso,ForceIndia, JPS Lotus, Lola and the likes,the rest of the big boys manufacturers teams should take a back seat and race in a different Formula race of their own as there are too much politics and commercialism leading to high costs and conspiracies.
These true racers can focus on the racing without the mafia or sponsors pointing the daggers behind the backs and let us enjoy watching F1 again.
Merc , Ferrari, Renault, Porsche , Honda, Cosworth , BMW can supply the engines and still compete on a different level.
Otherwise the sport will suffer and all will lose out.
This race was in Suzuka while last year was it in Fuji?
to be idiots.
You guys really are.
Well, most of you.
Really.
Scripted?
really?
Scripted?
First year watching F1?
Some of you come up with the most retarded, and i mean retarded, comments. Not to mention the conspiracy theories.
That's what happens in the mamaks, coffeeshops and warongs la, kan bang?
osh_kosh: no la, but I'm a die-hard Kimi supporter hehehe…
But I do seriously believe McLaren has the strongest driver line-up for next year. Ferrari have slowly lost it's magic since Brawn left, and I doubt they'll get any faster until they hire someone who's as good as Brawn to build their car. There's just so much a driver can do, the car is very, very important to win.
tiadaid: Something like Lamborghini la. When they're on their own technology, their car always break down. Since Audi owns them, they're among the most reliable supercar lol
common sensor said,
October 5, 2009 @ 12:25 pm
Don’t u think its funny, that within short period of time, Brawn is no longer performing as good as at the initial stage? IMHO, all these are “pre-set” and “scripted”, F1 is now driven by profit rather than true passion for racing ..
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I wouldn't exactly say 'pre-set' or 'scripted' though everyone knew it was likely they would lose the pace in the latter part of the season. It wasn't as if someone told them that is how they must perform this season but F1 common sense will tell you that they will lose the advantage because they do not have the resources of Honda to progress the car in the season to match the progress of the big budget front runners.
However they've got Mercedes seriously behind them from next season onwards so they could be competitive still for 2010