Japanese Grand Prix

[Yandards 0]

Suprised no-one has commented on this yet.

 

Well, a very interesting race weekend, both in the qualifying and the race itself.

 

Hamilton proved just what a class act he really is and with Alonso making mistakes the championship has opened up a bit more.

 

Still can't believe Ferrari's excuse about running intermediate tyres, I would put money on that if any other team did that Ferrari would be jumping up and down and complaing, still it messed their race up quite a bit so there was some justice. (The race started behind the safety car, all teams were told to run full wets by the race director or they would be flagged for having an unsafe car, Ferrari decided to run intermediate wets and their excuse was that nobody told them about the full wets! But wierd as every other team knew along with both the commentators and pit commentators.)

 

If anyone thinks F1 drivers are overpayed prima donnas then just watching the on-board shots proves that they are all mad!

[MattWilde 10]

Yeah, great reace. Heart in mouth when Kubica hit Hamilton! Totally agree about Ferrari, shouldn't have been allowed to add fuel as it could have worked in their favour hugely, really losing respect for Ferrari at the moment. Can't wait for the last 2 races now!

[diggerbucket 0]

It was ace, totally mental driving conditions with all that spray :D

 

Raikkonen was awesome, he appeared to be the one pushing the limits and did some great overtaking.

 

Hamilton was good for different reasons, solid drive from him. Looks like it's in the bag now. Have to say I was hoping Raikonnen would come up and surprise him in the last few races but can't see it now.

 

Gutting for Webber, don't blame him for saying the f word on tv :lol:

 

 

I got a bit annoyed that the commentators thought the Ferraris were fueled to the end - it was obvious they weren't, they would only have made it to the end if they'd stayed behind the safety car all race. A rare slip up from Brundle!

[tonedef 9]

Watched the running commentary on the BBC website cos I was on site. Gotta admit Ferrari's excuse sounded rather far fetched to me.

 

Great to see Hamilton bearing up under the pressure, one more result to seal an historic season!

[BILLCOR 1]

Crazy last lap jousting/offroading from Massa and Kubica, fantastic :)

[Jay2 0]

Is it just me or are the most exciting F1 races always the ones when it p*sses down?

 

Seems to show who are the real drivers. :D

[Supercharged 2]

Yep, first complete race i've watched live for ages!!!

[corozin 0]

Once the pace car got out of the way the race was a real treat today; dare I say it one of the best F1 races I've seen in many years.

 

Worthy of special mention were Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Hamilton, Coutlhard, Massa, Button, Webber. Those guys showed real pace in terrible conditions even though not all of them finished.

 

Webber's comment on being taken out by Vettel this morning on the live (uncensored) feed was a corker. Also Ron Dennis to Hamilton after he crossed the line "So Lewis I guess that wet racing crossed off then" - quality.

 

The one thing that irritated me (as usual) was James Allen. Today the prat got too excited again and started comparing Lewis Hamilton's win today with James Hunt's title winning win in the wet at the same track (Fuji) in 1976. Except that James Hunt didn't win the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix (came 3rd) and although talented only won the driver's championship that year because Niki Lauda (who remember had missed three races that season due to his near fatal Nurburgring accident) refused to race in the conditions, along with about a third of the rest of the drivers. He won the championship by just one point.

 

None of that is to detract from either Hunt's performance or Hamilton's today. Hamilton has shown remarkable pace, consistancy, maturity and patience under pressure this season, and based on today's performance if nothing else he deserves to carry the driver's title this year.

 

John